Cardinal Says U.S. Treated Saddam 'Like a Cow'

Yahoo! News / Reuters ^ | 12-16-2003 | Philip Pullella

[sitetest]

[LM's note: This thread is degenerating a bit into Catholic bashing and general flaming, and is in risk of being moved to the smokey backroom. Please stop. I've locked it once, and it has continued. Any more and it is gone. Thanks.]

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A top Vatican (news - web sites) official said Tuesday he felt pity and compassion for Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and criticized the U.S. military for showing video footage of him being treated "like a cow."

Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's Justice and Peace department and a former papal envoy to the United Nations (news - web sites), told a news conference it would be "illusory" to think the arrest of the former Iraqi president would heal all the damage caused by a war which the Holy See opposed.

"I felt pity to see this man destroyed, (the military) looking at his teeth as if he were a cow. They could have spared us these pictures," he said.

"Seeing him like this, a man in his tragedy, despite all the heavy blame he bears, I had a sense of compassion for him," he said in answer to questions about Saddam's arrest.

Martino was referring to the videotape released by the U.S. military which showed a grubby, bearded and disheveled Saddam receiving a medical examination by a military doctor after his capture in an underground hole Saturday.

Martino was one of the Vatican officials most strongly opposed to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq (news - web sites).

"It's true that we should be happy that this (arrest) has come about because it is the watershed that was necessary... we hope that this will not have worse and other serious consequences," Martino said.

"But it is not the total solution to the problems of the Middle East," he said.

Martino said the Vatican hoped the arrest of Saddam "can contribute to promoting peace and the democratization of Iraq."

He added: "But is seems to me to be illusory to hope that this will repair the dramas and the damage of the defeat for humanity that a war always brings about."

The Vatican did not consider the war in Iraq "a just war" because it was not backed by the United Nations and because the Vatican believed more negotiations were necessary to avoid it.

Martino said the Vatican wanted an "appropriate institution" to put Saddam on trial but he did not elaborate.

U.S. forces were keeping the ousted 66-year-old dictator at a secret location for interrogation before he is put on trial in the months ahead. He could face the death penalty.

The news conference was called for Martino to present the World Day of Peace message, in which Pope John Paul (news - web sites) took a swipe at the United States for invading Iraq without the backing of the United Nations.

[Jeff Head]

I felt pity to see this man destroyed

A truely, unbelievably atrocious statement.

Pity to see someone who destroyed who has been the source for the suffering of tens of millions and the brutal deaths of many hundreds of thousands, possibly millions?

I do not pity that destruction, I thank God for it.

[sitetest]

Dear Loyalist,

I'm sure there were a few of these hanging around at the time.

Fortunately, the guy who counted didn't give much for their advice.


sitetest

[yoe]

Whoever released those pictures will have to answer to the Cardinal's cow accusation. However where was Cardinal Renato Martino's pity when thousands of Iraq's were being tortured or murdered for some 30 years? This is typical palaver/rhetoric from Rome...a day late and a dollar short if you ask me.

Saddam’s mouth was/is the mouth from hell, maybe the Cardinal knows something about that...............

[Redleg Duke]

And how, might I ask, will the invading soldiers of Islam treat this cardinal after they have slaughtered the Swiss Guards and the useless Rome Police?

[FeliciaCat]

Where is the compassion for Saddams victims? Totally misplaced compassion imo.

[hellinahandcart]

Justice and Peace, Peace and Justice. Those words have become associated forever in my mind with appeaseniks and communists and leftwing organizations who ONLY see injustice in the United States, nowhere else.

I can't even abide the phrase "Justice of the Peace" anymore. It's gotten that bad.

[sitetest]

Dear SpinyN,

It wasn't my intention to post this article as a jumping-off point for anti-Catholic bigots.

But I suppose that was naive of me.


sitetest

[boxerblues]

The exam was not for dental hygiene...looking were for suicide capsules

[Wonder Warthog]

"Now a pig, on the other hand..."

Watch it with those racist comments, buster!!! :^)

[DooDahhhh]

How about those guys Saddam put through the meat shredder? Personally, I would rather have someone look in my mouth, thank you very much.

[Bluntpoint]

Cardinal Renato Martino:

"Why could you not just quietly transfer Saddam to another, unsuspecting country, where he could tyranize a whole other population. If anyone complains later call them Catholic bashers."

[dsc]

"No matter how cynical I get, the RC Church always beats me by a mile."

Come on, that's like blaming all Americans because Algore said something stupid again.

"but I guess I just can't quite "get it" that the same church that protects pedophiles would surely protect murdering tyrants."

1. It was never Church policy to protect anyone. Those who did were rogues in defiance of Church directives.

2. The actual number of perpetrators was lower than found in the general population.

3. Only an infinitessimal number of the perps were pedophiles. Over 90 percent were garden variety homosexuals, preying on adolescents as homosexuals do, and not pedophiles.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

"I felt pity to see this man destroyed, (the military) looking at his teeth as if he were a cow. They could have spared us these pictures," he said.

I guess with all the pity for Saddam in the Holy See's heart, there is no room left for the hundreds of thousands the bastard tortured and massacred and dumped in mass graves.

[vigilo]

"A good reason why religious people should not get involved in politics. I would like to hear what he would have saiid in the spectacle of the Red troops going through Hitler's ashes. This guy should shut up because he is a fool.
"

Hummm, interesting comment. I'm a religious person and I think he can't be executed soon enough. You don't know as much about religious people as you think you do.

[CatoRenasci]

This is one of the clearest examples of the degree to which the Church hierarchy is out of touch with reality. Regardless of whether one is a Catholic traditionalist or liberal, it is hard to respect these men who hold the High Offices in the Church. While the Lord may work through failed vehicles, at some point other men need to tell the bad officers of the Church to go, get themselves to a monastary, and pray for salvation, but to go.

[GingisK]

BULL

[NavyCaptain]

I am a Catholic and know that Jesus tells us to "forgive." But maybe this guy ought to be more interested in the "Justice and Peace" that needs to be secured for the little boys and girls put upon by his brother priests! Even Jesus cleared out the temple!

[DB]

Either the Church denounces this guy or he speaks for them.

You can't have it both ways.

[dsc]

"I guess with all the pity for Saddam in the Holy See's heart"

This clown is not the Holy See, nor does he speak for the Holy See. He's just one of hundreds of functionaries.

Isn't it rather obvious that the lamestream media would seek out someone like him to get a quote like that, rather than someone who might have said something sensible?

[af_vet_1981]

A top Vatican (news - web sites) official said Tuesday he felt pity and compassion for Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and criticized the U.S. military for showing video footage of him being treated "like a cow."

Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's Justice and Peace department and a former papal envoy to the United Nations (news - web sites), told a news conference it would be "illusory" to think the arrest of the former Iraqi president would heal all the damage caused by a war which the Holy See opposed. "I felt pity to see this man destroyed, (the military) looking at his teeth as if he were a cow. They could have spared us these pictures," he said.

What can I say?

You could say Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's Justice and Peace department and a former papal envoy to the United Nations is like Grima Wormtongue.