Posted on 11/09/2010 9:41:12 AM PST by WebFocus
The decision of the Iraqi war crimes tribunal to sentence Tariq Aziz to death is one that needs to be vigorously opposed for several reasons. Although it is true that, as Saddam Hussein's longtime henchman and deputy, he is morally tainted with some of the most appalling crimes in modern history, Aziz was not, in fact, condemned to execution for his part in the annexation of Kuwait, the destruction of the Marsh Arabs, or the attempted genocide against Iraq's Kurdish minority. (Indeed, there is some evidence that he advised his boss against the insane attack on Kuwait in 1990.) For his relatively minor role in those and other events, he has in any case already been sentenced to terms of imprisonment that would keep him in jail until he died—old and infirm as he now is—of natural causes. No, Aziz has been ordered to hang because of his long-ago role in repressing the Dawa movement, a Shiite religious faction with ties to Iran, which under the Baathist dictatorship conducted armed resistance and which is now a political party. Its leader, Nuri al-Maliki, is currently—or should one say nominally?—the prime minister of Iraq.
The decision to put Tariq Aziz to death is almost the only sign of "life" to have emerged from Iraqi official circles since the elections of March 7 this year. It seems only to confirm that Maliki looks at politics through the cold eyes of a habitual religious sectarian.
I received a letter from some comrades in Baghdad this week, as exactly eight months elapsed since the voters last went to the polls. The Iraqi political class, they wrote, had achieved the apparently impossible by making Asif Ali Zardari's regime in Pakistan look like a model of pluralism and good government.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
We don’t need Christopher Hitchens or Tariq Aziz.
Hang them both, lol
OK Chritopher. Calling Vlad Tepes, call for Prince Vlad Tepes....
+1
Shouldn’t Hitchens want Aziz dead?...he is a Chaldean Catholic you know.
But Hitch makes an excellent point: Azziz is being excuted by a religious faction as a service to an Iranian cliche arising in Iraq.
Ah, yes, libs oppose the death penalty even for mass-murdering war criminals. But they’d put regular Joe Republicans to death in a New York second.
I don’t know the specifics of the case against Aziz. However, if they are as Hitchens describes them (his only crime being the supression of Malaki’s religious sect), then this smells and sounds like some political payback. And I would have to agree with Hitchens, lock him up and throw away the key but don’t hang him.
Oh, wait... Never mind!
Agree.
I can think of worse problems all over the world to worry about than hanging a mass murderer for the wrong reasons.
K...!
Hang his fat azz.
Hitchens Admits To Being Fellow Traveler, Perhaps Even Communist: details at 11:00...Oh, wait; never mind. This isn't news, it's common knowlege.
Hang him now!
The same place they did Saddam.
I don’t care if the conviction is for putting on a Band Aid upside down.
Hang him.
I want Dr. GERM also hanged. She is downright evil.
Mr Hitchens make a good argument and I’m inclined to agree.
I love doing these things, just to see who does or doesn't need a tag to know if they should laugh or not.
OTOH, we do factually know Hitchen's past associations, leanings, and loyalties.
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