Cardinal pities Saddam, criticizes U.S.

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Wednesday, December 17, 2003

[JohnHuang2]

'WE GOT HIM!'
Cardinal pities Saddam, criticizes U.S.
Top Vatican official says captors treated ex-dictator like animal

---

Posted: December 16, 2003
12:01 p.m. Eastern

© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

A top Vatican official says he felt pity for Saddam Hussein as he watched video of the deposed Iraqi dictator in captivity and thinks the U.S. treated him like an animal.

Cardinal Renato Martino, a leading critic of the war in Iraq, said he was moved to compassion as he saw images of "this man destroyed, [the military] looking at his teeth as if he were a beast," the BBC reported.

Saddam Hussein in U.S. custody

A senior U.S. official defending the video said there was no attempt to humiliate Saddam, arguing the broadcast of him undergoing a medical exam is allowed under the Geneva Conventions in order to maintain peace and security.

Martino asserted, however, the U.S. "could have spared us these pictures."

"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 told reporters, according to the BBC.

Cardinal Renato Martino

The cardinal called the arrest a "watershed development," but said it would be "illusory" to believe it would "repair the dramas and the damage" brought by the war.

The comments came as Italian police responded to a warning the Vatican could become a target of the al-Qaida terrorist network during the Christmas season, Catholic World News reported. The warning was issued by the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad. Among the precautions is the closing each night of the main road to the Vatican, the Via della Conciliazione.

The Vatican has been a consistent opponent of the U.S.-led effort in Iraq.

A Vatican envoy who met with President Bush on March 6, just before the war began, said he "clearly and forcefully" conveyed a message from Pope John Paul II that a war against Iraq would be a "disaster."

Cardinal Renato Martino at U.N. conference in 1998

"You might start, and you don't know how to end it," Cardinal Pio Laghi said after a half-hour meeting at the White House. "It will be a war that will destroy human life. Those people that are suffering already in Iraq, they will be in a really bad situation."

Laghi, a former Vatican ambassador to the United States and a friend of the Bush family, said the U.S. should not act against Iraq without the sanction of the United Nations.

"It will be an American-Iraqi war, and that is not the way to do it because the government of the United States has appealed to the United Nations," he said. "Let's wait for the United Nations, whether they would give a green light in one way or the other."

[JohnHuang2]

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

Quote of the Day by San Jacinto

[little jeremiah]

Here's another article about this clown:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1041891/posts

What a creep. False compassion. Where's the compassion for the millions that suffered under the ogre?

In this case, justice IS compassion.

[chiefqc]

People who live in glass houses should not throw rocks.

[river rat]

Yet another reason why Church and State should remain - SEPARATE..

The "people" do NOT control who becomes the Church "leaders"....or "voices"....

Semper Fi

[Paul_B]

More BS from the liberal ivory tower curia. Yeah, I'm really going to follow these idiots.

[Fenris6]

Ahem. Preaching to us while their internal matters go unresolved.

Sorry. Not listening. No credibility.

[goldstategop]

The good father has not one word of sympathy for Saddam's innocent victims? No wonder the Church is perceived by many as a morally bankrupt institution enslaved to the cynical calculations of earthly politics. Which is far removed from God's justice.

[Smile-n-Win]

"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 told reporters, according to the BBC.

See my tagline, Cardinal.

[Bombard]

I feel sorry for all the young men that were attacked by Catholic clergy over the years. I was raised Catholic but it is this kind of action that caused me to change to a Protestant way of thinking. The Catholic leadership should worry more about itself and its problems and less about how a mass murder is treated when he is captured.

[WildWeasel]

I think this Cardinal has a really good chance at being Pope when John Paul II dies.

[BlessedBeGod]

There are a number of bureaucrats in the Vatican who are idiots, including the Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano. As a Catholic, you learn to ignore them.

[ArrogantBustard]

Archbishop condemns saddam, praises US

Which one do the presstitutes (and 'way too many FReepers) ignore, and which one do the pick up on? What does this tell us about them?

[Quix]

A cardinal pitying one of satan's main recent tools?

Fascinating.

Cohorts?

Hard to explain, it seems to me.

[cyncooper]

Thank you.

[BIGZ]

Child abuse GOOD. Capture of Saddam BAD.

[gcruse]

As a Catholic, you learn to ignore them.

You know, that sounds reasonable.  As a supporter of Bush, I try
to ignore Ashcroft, in spite his trampling the Constitution.
I tell myself that Bush is not ultimately responsible for
Ashcroft.  But you know what?  I'm just kidding myself.
So are you.

[pseudo-ignatius]

The good father has not one word of sympathy for Saddam's innocent victims?

I think everyone here is being less than charitable (and by that I mean failing to exercise the principle of charity, which is essential to fair and balanced discussion--the principle of charity is that you always assume the best with respect to the words of others until proven otherwise. You interpret what they say in the most favorable and most reasonable light until it is very clear that they have spoken wrongly). If it were a Republican speaking and quoted in this way in an article, many of you would be quick to suggest that he was quoted out of context. Frankly, you don't know whether the Cardinal had anything else to say about the crimes that Saddam committed, or about his innocent victims. You don't know whether these were offhand remarks or a part of some formal statement.

As for your tagline, Smile-n-Win... if compassion for enemies is a betrayal of your friends, then Christ Himself commands betrayal. "But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you." (Mt 5:44)

[Smile-n-Win]

I think everyone here is being less than charitable (and by that I mean failing to exercise the principle of charity, which is essential to fair and balanced discussion--the principle of charity is that you always assume the best with respect to the words of others until proven otherwise.

In other words, the presumption of innocence.

Well, of course a mere article posted on the Web doesn't prove anything, given that the whole article might possibly be a fabrication. But ASSUMING that the content of the article is true AND that the Cardinal meant the words he said (as opposed to saying them sarcastically or quoting someone else disapprovingly), it does follow that he deserves condemnation.

Now, how much reason do we have to doubt the veracity of the article? When a paper like the Los Angeles Times publishes an article about the alleged misdeeds of a gubernatorial candidate they are known to hate just a couple of days before the election, we have rather good grounds for dismissing the article as a cheap attempt at mudslinging that is probably false. When an article states that a ranking member of an institution that has been known to interpret the New Testament in a particular way has made a statement consistent with that interpretation--and also consistent with the previous pronouncements of said institution regarding the liberation of Iraq--there is no particular reason to dismiss the article as mudslinging.

"But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you."

Oh, it is one thing to have good will toward bad men and pray for them to see the light and change their ways--and quite another thing to feel "compassion" for the perpetrator of several thousand counts of murder, rape, and horrible acts of torture when you see a tongue depressor inserted into his mouth. Saddam felt absolutely no compassion for anyone, so he doesn't deserve any compassion either.

if compassion for enemies is a betrayal of your friends, then Christ Himself commands betrayal.

...according to certain interpretations of his words. So either 1) compassion for your enemies is not a betrayal of your friends, or 2) Christ commands betrayal, or 3) Christ's words are misinterpreted by the Cardinal in question and those who agree with him.

I chose this tagline when the Supreme Court upheld the unconstitutional "campaign finance reform" law. President Bush knew there were problems with the bill, but he still signed it into law. How come he did this? Isn't this a contradictory action? The one thing in his worldview that seems to explain it is his belief in "compassion." Apparently, he felt he had to be compassionate with the proponents of CFR, so he couldn't bring himself to veto it. Although he didn't mean to betray anyone, his "passion for compassion" (if you forgive the pun) led him to actions that betrayed his voters--the freedom-loving people of America.

This, and a number of similar cases in this otherwise great President's course of governance, have led me to the recognition that compassion for your enemies is a betrayal of your friends.

As for option 2), well I hardly believe Christ would command us to betray our friends. So we are left with 3).

Note that I have nothing against honest, freedom-loving Catholic people--I just can't really identify with certain teachings of the Catholic church. I hope you find this reasonable.