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![]() Just Above Sunset
July 11, 2004 - Amnesty for the Bad Guys? Martial Law for the Good Guys? Whatever.
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The week started with the
controversial idea floated by the new government of Iraq that perhaps it would be wise to grant amnesty to the “insurgents”
fighting there right now – not all of them, but at least the small-fry. The
idea was to divide “the opposition,” so to speak. The MAN (Bush) says this
bad guy is going DOWN, but the deputy sheriff (Allawi) says, well, maybe not. We
could pull him in and make him a partner. "The lives of the Iraqi people are in danger, they
are in danger from evil forces, from gangs of terrorists," said Human Rights Minister Bakhtiyar Amin. They
are learning. Evil forces! They’re
getting the idea now. But
Rick, the News Guy, says not be alarmed – Have to admit it, but I'm with them
on this one. As much as we may actually be
under threat by someone who might want to blow themselves up along with some average-sized U.S. city, we still don't have
"insurgents" doing to us on a daily basis what they're doing to them. It's definitely a lose-lose, damned
if you do or don't situation over there, and the only way the Iraqis who want neither a theocracy nor a return to the previous
Baathocracy have a chance of overcoming this is if they do this themselves. If I were a religious dude, I'd say my prayers are with them, but all I can say is that I wish them the very best. Agreed,
and the Patriot Act, or their version of it, is probably necessary right now. I
don’t see our Patriot Act being necessary over here, now. Secretly tracking
what we all check out from the library or rent from Blockbuster? Calling people
enemy combatants and making them disappear for years with no explanation to anyone? Maybe
such things really are necessary in Baghdad. Well,
no one has blown up Hollywood so maybe such things really are working here. And
maybe real martial law, formal suspension of habeas corpus and canceling the November elections would make things even
safer over here. We’re edging toward the first two. I
don’t like it. But since I’m still alive, I guess I could be wrong. |
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This issue updated and published on...
Paris readers add nine hours....
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