[optimistically_conservative]

Lee Harris misses the point here.

Saddam was not beaten by our soldiers, so the analogy is baseless.

Saddam chose the circumstances of his capture. His was not humiliated by us, he humiliated himself by becoming a fugitive and the conditions he created to unsuccessfully hide and then surrender.

It's true that our moral instinct is untroubled when our ignorance is complete. However, my moral instinct is not to sympathize or fret over the condition Saddam was found in. Saddam had many choices. He chose to run rather than surrender. He chose to hide rather than lead. He chose to forego basic hygiene while nursing his delusions.

I am also not ignorant of the professionalism of our soldiers. Saddam was not, and will not, be mistreated - by us nor will we allow those most deserving of vengence to mistreat him.

He invokes no sympathy.

[Tolik]

His argument is not with you. Honestly, I doubt Harris himself had any sympathy to Saddam. (I am in no position to speak for him, I can only infer from what I read over the last few years). His argument is with that people who do have such instinctive sympathy and he is using analogies and logic that supposed to ring a bell to them.

You and I are the choir he does not need to preach to.