Battleangel

Agonist.org Bulletin Board: Saddam - he’s not so bad. Has a couple of good points to think about. Dean for example writes:

And as for “SH having WMD in 10 years.” Frankly, who cares?
He had them ten years ago, fifteen years ago. He used them with our blessing on the Iranis (who also used them with our blessing on the Iraqis — the famous Halabja story), he then used them on the Kurds who were in armed insurrection (at our urging) against the government. Remind me, what do we do to citizens taking up arms against our government? Oh yeah, the death penalty.

I suppose most people don’t see it like this. But they should. If Florida took up arms and tried to overthrow Washington I think that there would be hell to pay as well. Especially if Iraq had started the revolt in an effort to topple the US regime. It’s like if the Michigan Militia got support from Iraq and went trigger happy.
People really need to pay more attention to the fundamental principles by which nations operate. What is democracy for example (you will get a thousand different answers to this) and how does it relate to the actual population? Thinking has become a luxury and that we can not afford. There needs to be universal interpretations of common themes such justice, law and order. Or at least an effort. I’m getting bored with recaps of what Saddam did or did not do 20 years ago. But maybe that is to be expected from the only western country that still holds the death penalty? A decade or two on death row without a fair process is not uncommon in the US.
I find it questionable that the US is able to pass judgement over someone that they themselves were bedfellows with in the 80’s. You know what they say .. regime change starts at home.