We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Ali Hassan al-Majid RIP Burn in hell ‘Chemical Ali’ is dead at the age of 64, killed in a true ‘coalition’ attack: blown apart by an American bomb called in by a British forward air controller. He has now gone to join the unquiet ghosts of the 200,000+ Kurdish and Iraqi people whose murder he was personally responsible for supervising. Two hundred thousand people… that would be as if Janet Reno had ordered about 2,600 Waco massacres.
There are several intellectually viable reasons for opposing this war but I assume that the anti-war protestors who marched against it on the grounds that the cost to Iraq’s people would be intolerable will be distraught to learn of his death, as this fine specimen of humanity would still be alive today if they had gotten their way, continuing to ply his dark trade across that unhappy land called Iraq.
I would spit in a million of their faces if I could because the perpetuation in power of ‘Chemical Ali’ and his evil brethren was the reality of what they were marching for.
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The sad comment is “we were 15 years late”.
We should be watching the Arabic media on this. Are they going to come to terms with the remarkably low number of civilian deaths caused by Coalition attacks and admit they were wrong?
Some prodding might be in order here.
I wish that was Saddam but ‘Chemical Ali’ is not bad. They are after all related. Maybe this death will be something that runs in the family? (haha)
Anyway, let me join you in your spitting…as I’ve always said, the anti-war protestors are naive. They are just as fooled as Saddam wants them to be. His propaganda works better in EUrope than Iraq…
It would be a shame to see anyone needlessly risk their life to capture this piece of excrement, but it would have been nice to turn him over to the Shia’ he had tyrannized, and have them give him a summary trial, followed by the full Mussolini. These tyrants are, besides the obvious evil, overwhelming egomaniacs. Hitler offed himself in the bunker because the prospect of a publicly humiliating execution like Mussolini’s horrified him more than anything. Same thing with Goering biting the cyanide pill. Maybe we’ll get lucky and grab up Hussein or his shitty little sons alive, and be able to let the Kurds have at’em.
God! The reek of this still-lancing abcess! Still much work to be done and my heart with every one of these brave US, Briton & Polish troopers. Not just that — for the brave men and women exposing this filth to light via the newsmedia. Theirs is not a particularly easy job — but the klieglights do help to expose the blinking carrion-chewers of this historic evil, even to the coalition of the willingly blinkered. God Bless the Men and Women of the Coalition of the Willing! Strengthen their arms!
Alex Kroll Jr
bitter bitter.
calm down; people who share your opinions are in charge. you’re getting your way. now stop being so childish.
To paint the anti-war protesters as ‘pro-ali’ or pro-any of these other evil bastards is stupid. Stupider even than absolutist “peace at any price” protesters.
Many of those protesting had/have valid concerns about the motivations of the powers behind this war, & the possible consequences of it, both on the Iraqi people and the world. Saying this makes them pro-saddam, or pro-evil or whatever is plain stupid. As stupid as saying most samizdata posters are pro-BNP just because they’re anti-socialist.
Please try & keep to the point; for all the bitching about the “america evil” pronouncements, and lack of balancing criticism of Saddam, there’s been far more bitching about the evil nature/naivete of the French/socialists/whoever’s crossed you of late, who basically share many of your values, than there has been about saddam. Usually it’s along the lines of “evil bastard! hah… that’ll show those stupid peaceniks”, & it’s getting boring.
If most potesters *were* genuinely pro-saddam, this would be ok, but they’re not, so you’re operating in a vacuum where reality and sensible debate are suspended, replaced by fictions which help make you feel good, crossed with a very safe form of self-righteousness, with added dashes of nationalism/ideas about anglospheric cultural superiority, all of which are complacent and dull to observe.
A_t: Actually the Illuminatus did write in his article:
So saying he is painting *all* anti-war folks with the same brush is not a fair criticism. The Illuminatus is clearly having a go specifically at the people who only seem to care if Iraqis die when they are killed by US or UK forces yet seem strangely unmoved to march for them if Ba’athist Socialist Iraqis are the ones who are murdering them… for over two decades.
People who oppose the war on other grounds may indeed reasonably claim to not be supporting Saddam Hussain, such as those who argue that the cost to them in terms of increased domestic taxation and growth in government is too high a price to pay for curing the ills of a place far away… I do not see it that way and I know SI does not either… but unlike the idiots who claim to be trying to protect the Iraqi people from harm and yet did nothing to protest about Halabja or any other of Saddam’s atrocities, at least those people are not taking an illogical position.
The Illuminatus was making a clearly targeted attack…your criticism is therefore off the mark.
in that case, apologies for my misreading; reading the piece again, you’re perfectly correct.
In that case, these were people who were mistaken, perhaps foolishly so, in their belief that many more iraqis would die, but still hardly seem to deserve the venom directed at them. If they were genuine supporters of the Baath party, then certainly they’d be worthy of contempt, but otherwise, wanting to spit in their faces seems overblown & frankly childish, particularly given that the one wishing to do the spitting has very little reason to be bitter, seeing as events have unfolded very much as he would have liked, and his predictions have been vindicated.
Nasty!
Even obliquely comparing Janet Reno to Chemical Ali is beyond the pale, as far as I’m concerned.
Not only is it gross hyperbole, but it drastically reduces the respect you should wish to have from your opponents. Saying something so stupid, allows people to easily dismiss everything else you have to say.
I’m used to seeing the Bush=Hitler stuff coming from the left. This is nearly as bad, and is beneath the level of debate usually seen on Samizdata.
You have rather got the wrong end of the stick, Anno.
Although I do indeed regard what happened at Waco as an act of mass murder for which a great many people in the USA belong in jail (but who never will go to jail because of who they are)… the fact is of course the vile Reno does not compare to Chemical Ali in the vileness sweepstakes: the article makes it clear that I regard Chemical Ali as no less that 2,600 time worse!
In fact, the point of holding up Reno is precisely because I am sick of the ludicrous equivalencies being made by some conservatives and, I hate to say it, some libertarians, that I made that point. When I hear “Well the USA also has its hands covered in blood and so we have no business passing judgement on people in Iraq…etc. etc.”, it drives me crazy. I detest Reno and yet the Ba’athists are far far far worse and THAT is what justifies overthrowing their tyranny. Our home grown evils are small beer by comparison.