The Redemptive Death of Saddam

Put on your seatbelt and leave your thinking cap behind (it won't do you any good) because the high-octane realm of Middle Eastern, ah, debate is to be believed only when seen.

In this MEMRI clip the owner (Mish'an Al-Jabouri, on the right) of pro-insurgent television station Al-Zawraa gives us food for thought on how the Middle Eastern mind can consider a tyrant butcher to be a blessed saint by the simple fact that he didn't cry like a baby when he died. From the transcript:

"As you know, Saddam executed my own brother[-in-law] and many of my relatives. He executed the uncle of my children, but the way he was executed proved Saddam was a brave man. He has truly become our martyr, and we will visit his grave like the graves of the righteous."

Got that? Saddam can kill hundreds of thousands of people with utter contempt, including members of one's own family, but he should be completely forgiven and now worthy of the highest respect because of the "dignified" way he died. Thus "bravery" cancels out any and all transgressions, no matter how morbid.

Click here to watch the mayhem (opens Windows Media player).

Or go here and click "view clip" button.

(via lgf )

UPDATE - Sami Moubayed of the daily Oman Times echoes this assessment in this piece from the AP.

...he [Moubayed] "tried hard" to sympathize with Saddam while watching the execution. "But I could not find a single thing worth praising about Saddam."

"However, the fact that he was executed under the watchful eye of the United States, at a time when Iraq is occupied, makes him a national hero to the Arabs," he wrote.

Again, a Muslim can commit genocide, use wepons of mass destruction and wage war against other Muslims (supposedly forbidden in the Koran), and be universally despised by Muslim and non-Muslim alike. But if the infidels, namely America or especially Israel, have anything to do with bringing justice to such a monster as Saddam, he is immediately a hero.

Gotta love people with principles.