Protest of the day

They braved the wind
They braved the cold
And icy stares
Their signs to hold...

Yes, they were back. Having taken MLK day off, (I guess...I wasn't around) they were back with a vengeance. Four, in parkas and clinging desperately to signs and hope that someday, somehow they would get through the thick skulls of the passing murderers and terrorists. A new sign for today:

The US occupation of Iraq is a Crime and a Sin

Ah, the legal and moral arguments, straight from the Washington Post, are so compelling. If only they had basis in the facts. On the legal side 1) from the 17 UN mandates (if you are an internationalist), 2) from the right of self-defense (if you are a traditional Westphalian type) after 12 years of conflict (ONW/OSW) and threats of instability to the region, or 3) from the rejuvenated doctrine of preemption in the post 9/11 era of WMD, it is legal, though arguably not an occupation, as we are there at the behest of the Interim Iraqi Govermnent. On the moral side, sin is something a nation as a whole can commit, or something a leader of the nation can commit on behalf of the nation, or something an individual can commit. However, sin (estrangement from God or direct disobedience of His will), freeing oppressed people is not.

I have been there, I have seen what Saddam had done to ‘his’ people. The ISG (and others, I’m sure) had reams of videos of such perversions as nightmares are made of: hands hacked off; women tied down, stripped naked and raped, with the video sent to their husbands to watch as a warning; men hooded with hands tied behind their backs pushed from two story buildings (high enough to cause great pain and injury, but not high enough to kill); tongues slowly cut out with razors and the victims left to twitch helplessly on the ground as blood spurted from their mouths.

I have a strong stomach, but after only a few minutes of seeing the tapes, I couldn’t eat for a day. These were not isolated cases, these were the ways he maintained control on a continuing basis. And it was all filmed so that he and his sons and his minions could watch these pleasant experiences again and again.