tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15240289.post7367791577323620993..comments2023-12-27T09:00:42.844-08:00Comments on The Workday Liberal: Celebrating Muslim charity the Bush waybhfrikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10261648934732735275noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15240289.post-18919048397568273532007-01-10T18:47:00.000-08:002007-01-10T18:47:00.000-08:00Heres the big enchilada to put this entire debate ...Heres the big enchilada to put this entire debate to bed. President Bush to reporters, briefed immediately before his surge speech: Video of the execution of Saddam <a href="http://dailynightly.msnbc.com/2007/01/white_house_dia.html#below-fold">ranks just below Abu Ghraib</a> in terms of damage. There is no better description than that... and I must admit this is one of the rare times I find myself in agreement with the President.bhfrikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10261648934732735275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15240289.post-30691136087763326262007-01-08T14:49:00.000-08:002007-01-08T14:49:00.000-08:00Actually Jeff, I am very happy you replied as you ...Actually Jeff, I am very happy you replied as you did. It is highly instructive of what has made this execution so very disastrous. <br /><br />It is not your or my mind that we need to win over in the war on terror. I'm on board. So are you. We both acknowlege and wish to protect our nation from the threat of militant Islam. <br /><br />It is the perception of the execution by Arabs and those we need to sway to our side that makes this a disaster. <br /><br />You may want to denigrate their opinion based upon their nationalities and so on, but those are the people we are trying to influence... Their opinions are important.bhfrikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10261648934732735275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15240289.post-59186853615105627522007-01-08T08:37:00.000-08:002007-01-08T08:37:00.000-08:00Thank you. Now I can better see where you are com...Thank you. Now I can better see where you are coming from. <br /><br />One arab calls it a disaster, another calls it divine justice. Those opposed to the death penalty found it deplorable. Most westerners agreed that the hanging didn't have proper solemnity. Saddam supporters were outraged.<br /><br />I'm personally relieved that he's dead and consider the hanging a success. If he weren't dead, that would be a disaster.Jeff Colemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15487617570444403143noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15240289.post-75846263430322454102007-01-04T14:09:00.000-08:002007-01-04T14:09:00.000-08:00Jeff... the verbiage I use is mine alone. I never...Jeff... the verbiage I use is mine alone. I never claimed that everyone or anyone else used the term "disaster". My contention is that the hanging itself, as it was conducted and viewed by the world was a disastrous event. <br /><br />To say that Hitchens does not hold my point of view because he does not use my exact verbiage is just ludicrous. Heres Hitchins own words: "How could it have come to this?" "To watch this abysmal spectacle as a neutral would be bad enough. To know that the U. S. government had even a silent, shamefaced part in it is to feel something well beyond embarrassment." Well I suppose since he did not use the word "disaster", that means I was wrong... <br /><br />Links to respectable people who also think the execution was...erm... well I'll include the persons own verbiage in the link so as not to set off any recriminations... John Prescott, Englands Deputy Prime Minister under Tony Blair: <a href="http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1981993,00.html">deplorable</a> Major General William Caldwell: U.S. "would have <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070103/pl_nm/iraq_saddam_usa_dc_1">done it differently</a>" The Vatican Newspaper: "<a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/01/vatican-uk-deputy-pm-deplore-manner-of.php">making a spectacle</a>" of the hanging had turned it into "an expression of political hubris" (I know the Vatican by default is against the Death Penalty but this criticism is not based upon that policy, but upon the actual execution itself) <br /><br />Heres an opinion that uses the term disaster. <a href="http://www.naaponline.org/conference05/speakers.cfm#HishamMilhem">Hisham Melhem</a>,(links to a brief biography) the pro American spokesman from Al-Arabiya called the execution a "<a href="http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/01/01/a1.saddam.0101.p1.php?section=nation_world">total disaster</a>"<br /><br />I could find another set of respected punditry who think the execution was botched (again, my verbiage for the overall sentiment), but this reply is already book length...bhfrikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10261648934732735275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15240289.post-46299855113454472822007-01-04T09:44:00.000-08:002007-01-04T09:44:00.000-08:00No, I haven't seen the video. But I did a quick s...No, I haven't seen the video. But I did a quick search and didn't find anyone who agrees with you about the event being a disaster. Even Hitchens didn't use that term, although he is opposed to the death penalty in general.<br /><br />Can you give me a pointer to a reputable source (not a blog) who shares your view?Jeff Colemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15487617570444403143noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15240289.post-87282391445879285262007-01-03T09:37:00.000-08:002007-01-03T09:37:00.000-08:00I'm saying the event itself was a disaster. Have ...I'm saying the event itself was a disaster. Have you seen the video? Seriously... whether you're glad the thug is dead or not, the manner of his passing is simply a disaster to our cause. You can't have jeering militia men from the other side of a sectarian civil war than Saddam ruining that moment. That has made Saddam a martyr. <br /><br />I'm hardly out there for saying this either. It's not like partisanship has clouded my judgement on this. When the President loses Christopher Hitchens over this one, you have to know it's bad...bhfrikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10261648934732735275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15240289.post-36591309539677687522007-01-03T08:13:00.000-08:002007-01-03T08:13:00.000-08:00"If anyone who ever reads this blog questions the ..."If anyone who ever reads this blog questions the truly disastrous nature of the Saddam execution as an event..."<br /><br />I don't understand. Are you saying that the execution was a disaster? I am glad Saddam is dead.Jeff Colemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15487617570444403143noreply@blogger.com