...trying to find the slightest iota of sympathy for Sunnis in Iraq who complain about bodies being mutilated by decapitation. Especially this particular body.

Looking, looking...

Nope. No luck.

trying to find the slightest iota of sympathy for Sunnis in Iraq who complain about bodies being mutilated by decapitation.

To begin with, there are English-speaking Sunnis who have been threatened with assassination for working for the American occupation, and who are now more likely to be beheaded because of what was shown on television. Maybe they deserve some sympathy.

I'm willing to offer them sympathy. I certainly have none who have expressed support for the head hackers, almost all of whom are Sunni.

I'm willing to offer them sympathy.

Yeah, but are you really? Because the Bush Administration is doing almost nothing for these people. They think that there is little point to political asylum for Iraqis now that they have been "liberated". Even Chaldeans --- Iraqi Christians --- who were caught at the Mexican border are languishing in jail, as if they were just another group of wetbacks.

Like the country song says, my give-a-damn's busted.

So, uh, some people who were already under threat of murder are now possibly marginally more likely to be decapitated (which was already a popular form of execution, wasn't it?) because of that?

Cry me a river, super-anonymous.

So, uh, some people who were already under threat of murder are now possibly marginally more likely to be decapitated because of that?

This one incident by itself doesn't mean a whole lot. The hope was that the invasion would boost the value of human life in Iraq. Instead, human life in Iraq is worth ever less, for many reasons. Televised decapitations don't help anything, even if the deceased was a murderer too. It also doesn't help that the Iraqi government skirted its own laws in pursuit of mortal vengeance.

But I agree that it's a small matter in the grand scheme of everything that's going wrong in Iraq. The greater issue is that the United States is helping Iraqis very little, because our leaders don't want to admit to their real problems. The colossal refugee crisis is one main example.

The greater issue is that the United States is helping Iraqis very little,

That's pretty out of touch with reality. It sounds like good propaganda, and I'm sure you are willing to back it up with various incidents that are small in unrelated, only to act like they are all some massive activity to be taken together. For instance, claiming that more Sunnis will be beheaded for the executions and the decapitation. Do you visit Islamic websites and suggest that if they keep planting IEDs, then the Americans are bound to stay in country and retaliate?

If it comes to that unfortunate situation where we just have to pull out, we have a responsibility to those Iraqis irrespective of religion, who have been sticking out their necks and helping us in our efforts. If their lives are truly threatened in a future Iraq we have a responsibility towards them; if they reached out their hands to us in cooperation with our goals, we owe them security. I don't think anyone should argue with that. Many of the Iraqi Christians are now apparently in Jordan as refugees. I'd like to see the actual numbers if anyone has the data.

If it comes to that unfortunate situation where we just have to pull out

We're already there. Thousands of Iraqis who worked for the US occupation have fled. 8,000 Iraqis applied for refuge in European countries in the first half of 2006. Very few bothered to apply to the US because they were told that they have no chance. Syria and Jordan have each accepted hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees. But in 2006, the US resettled a whopping 200 Iraqis, most of whom applied before the invasion.

Most of this is amply documented in the New York Times article, "As Iraqis flee, few are gaining sanctuary in U.S."

It's not as if we can decide in a snap that we have to pull out, and then announce "okay, Iraqis, you can escape on Monday". Closing shop can take years, and it has already started, and it will take years as long as Bush chases after "total victory". That's why the administration is doing almost nothing for the refugees --- it would be a way to admit defeat.

Sigivald: So, uh, some people who were already under threat of murder are now possibly marginally more likely to be decapitated (which was already a popular form of execution, wasn't it?) because of that?

Cry me a river, super-anonymous.

So, going by the tone of the room we're all still ok with the murder and decapitation thing, right?

To put things in perspective, there is a difference worth considering, between miscalculating the drop for a hanging of a mass murderer, and deliberately sawing the head off of an innocent person.

So can we dispense with the moral equivalency?

Not that Simberg ever expressed any sympathy for the
35000 iraqi civilians who were killed last year either.

When has Simberg ever expressed any sympathy with
the Iraqis.

Like Bush, he's angry at their lack of gratitude.

So can we dispense with the moral equivalency?

This isn't about moral equivalency, it's about moral inadequacy. The Bush Administration was never up to the task of saving Iraq from its problems. At this point, no one could be. Any decent president, Democrat or Republican or anything else, would withdraw.

Okay, there is one point of moral equivalence. The such-as Iraqi "government" may not be morally any better than Saddam Hussein. Not so much because of these botched executions --- they are just the nth red flag --- but because it sides with the Shiite militias.

So, going by the tone of the room we're all still ok with the murder and decapitation thing, right?

Murder? Do you mean are we ok that a man was executed by the state after being found guilty in conspiring to kill several hundred people? I'm ok with that. Am I concerned that during the execution his head was decapitated? Not really, he would have been dead just as quickly. I prefer that the body not be mutilated, but unfortunate things happen. I certainly don't see the moral equivalency between the botched execution of one person and the chemical gas attack on a village of 148.

Why do you think they are the same, Adrasteia?

I would hate to think there could be any sympathy for the Iraqi Sunnis. After all, we've invaded and wrecked their country, murdered and imprisoned thousands, stolen their oil and privatized their economy. That's after assorted bombings and decades of sanctions that crushed their country. And we're supposed to feel sympathy with them?

I prefer to let my country designate those who deserve my sympathy because I'm obviously too stupid to make independent decisions on my own. Furthermore, any consideration of basic human compassion has been successfully trained out of me by jingoistic squawking news programs, which I watch in order to feel informed.

In short, I'm a patriotic American happily goose stepping along with the greatest terrorist in the world, the U.S. government.

In short, I'm a patriotic American happily goose stepping along with the greatest terrorist in the world, the U.S. government.

No, apparently you're another anonymous moron, who makes moral equivalences that would be laughable if they weren't almost criminal.

I didn't say I have no sympathy for Iraqi Sunnis. I said I have no sympathy over Iraqi Sunnis who are complaining that their hero's head came off in the process of meeting a long-overdue justice.

Simberg

"I didn't say i have no sympathy for the iraqi sunnis"

True, but, you don't have any sympathy for the iraqi sunnis.

Nor the Iranians, who you want this country to kill in Air raids.

Your sympathy is reserved for the Settlers of the west bank and their likudnik friends

I was wondering when Anonymous Moron would remind everyone who the real enemies are. Way to stay ON MESSAGE!

True, but, you don't have any sympathy for the iraqi sunnis.

Nor the Iranians, who you want this country to kill in Air raids.

Your sympathy is reserved for the Settlers of the west bank and their likudnik friends

Simply stating unsubstantiated and unsubstantiable bullshit doesn't render it true, Anonymous Moron. You don't have the first clue who or what I have sympathy for. I have sympathy for all in the Middle East who wish to live in peace with their neighbors, Sunni and Shia, Arab and Persian. I will confess, though, that I have no sympathy for vile immoral anti-semitic little turds like you.

Ah Simberg

Playing the anti-semite card.

What being unsympathetic to the likudniks is not anti-semitism