The Workday Liberal

Remember Baghdad Bob? He was the official spokesperson for the regime of Saddam Hussein during the invasion of Iraq. It was his unfortunate duty to tell us black was white, sweet was sour, and the tanks rolling through the streets of Baghdad just a few hundred yards from the site of his press conference were not the invading Americans... who were committing suicide at the gates of the city... At the time this was all very humorous.

Well I think we have a contender for most absurd explanation from an Iraqi spokesperson in an attempt to declare the obvious truth is actually not what it appears to be. Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffaq Al Rubaie gives the world his interpretation of the tawdriness we all saw at the Saddam execution. In describing the taunting of Saddam with a chanting of Moqtada, Mowaffaq explains:

"Basically they were doing their congregational prayers and supplications, and they mentioned at the end of their supplication the name of Moqtada," Rubaie said

In the context of the issue at question, it is clear that Moqtada is not being "mentioned" at the end of a prayer. It is shouted, in a chant... in an obvious attempt to humiliate Saddam. I'm not an expert on Islamic traditions, but I'm fairly certain that shouting the name of a sectarian leader is hardly an integral part of Moslem prayer and supplication. I may be wrong about that, but I'm willing to bet that I'm not.

Clearly Mowaffaq is prevaricating, just based upon the logic he posits on the chanting issue alone. Then he ramps up the absurdity level and pops off with the following explanation as to why the attendees of the execution followed the hanging by dancing around Saddams body:

"This is the tradition of the Iraqis - when they do something they dance around the body and they express their feelings," he said. "What is wrong with that?

I freaking KNOW Mowaffaq is lying... If Iraqi's danced around dead bodies because of some sort of weird national tradition, there would be endless dancing in the streets of Baghdad. The city would be a veritable carnival of dance, and the dancing dancers that dance them. The best dancers in the world would hail from Iraq, and they would be famed for their stamina.

Or Mowaffaq is full of it. I rather think the last option is the one that is true.