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« "In action how like an angel" | Main | "Seeking shelter beside a sleeping monster" »

January 02, 2007

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Did The Black Marauder and Tabby come to claws or was primal screaming the choice of innate wisdom. I personally am an animal with enough insight to understand that a life of peace and safety depends on a society of rules and manners that rewards conforming to the rules and punishment to fit the violation of the rules. The Judeo-Christian manners and rules of behavior as practiced in the late 19th century thru the mid-twentieth seem to my limited experience and knowledge the best compromise yet established to deal with the savage animal nature of man.

Goomp and Sissy.....what great minds operate at sisu. This is an outstanding post. Plus, I love the play by play narration and photos of the cat standoff.

I am sure that the speedy dispatch of Saddam to his own level of hell has done more than just about anything else the Iraqi government could have done to move things along in a better direction.

Now the Sunnis know the penalty and that it will be enforced (lesser beings will not have the grand trial by network news). I'm getting very tired of all the whiny people out there who still wait for the "Arab Street" to rise and wreak havoc after every perceived major crisis.

As for Tiny and Baby... they could teach lots of humans a thing or two about protecting their way of life. *grin*

We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it.
-Sir Winston Churchill

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
-Abraham Lincoln

After hearing the words of the excellent Pope Benedict, I found myself severely challenged about the Saddam Hussein execution (while being rather dazzled by the expeditious meting out of justice in Iraq). In the end, I realized that MY OPINION doesn't matter a fig to the Iraqui on the street who suffered through the brutal years of Saddam's regime and that I could not affect in any way the coming death of a monster but only MY reaction to it.

I think that those who are now raising such an enormous hue and cry may have some small degree of hubris in thinking that THEY can affect the law of Iraq and its enforcement.

Meanwhile, I applaud the Chelsea Greys for defending their territory, but I must say that the black kitty is showing good taste in wanting to hang out Chez Sissy and Tuck!

Just popped back in to see the glorious photos of very brave cats again.

I have a similar cat situation but it strikes me that the Adam Smith quote could apply more aptly to the Ford pardon of Nixon and cronies (though since It's OK if you're a Republican [IOKIYAR] covers that I guess it never occured to you).

Since the porch cats involved are all strays, I have more empathy for the "bully" of the group than you seem to for your interloper since his situation is in no way his fault (in your situation, the outsider cat is doing what cats do - jockeying for position).

I may have to make some tough choices should he not come to accept "peaceful co-existence" but certainly will not relish dropping the hammer of doom on him. He's living proof (currently) that life is as Thomas Hobbes put it, "nasty, brutish, and short."

We, too, have a Black Cat, whose visits are not only growled at by our three felines, but summarily terminated by our GrandDog's barking and lunging at the windows. We can lend her to you; she's good with the cats-in-residence.

I am glad that Justice was meted out to Saddam, but sorry that the new government couldn't keep a proper leash on their dogs. It is now up to them to right the wrongs they permitted during what should have been a properly somber, slightly sad, necessary event.

If they want justice for all, they must ensure the dignity of all, even criminals going to their execution.

"Mercy for the guilty is cruelty to the innocent"

Maybe if Saddam had hand-picked a second in command, and stepped down, that newly appointed leader could have pardoned him. I'm sure, since all here are the model of consistency, you'd likely have been echoing the words of the US pResident of Vice - Dick Cheney when you praised Saddam's successor for "understanding that there can be no healing without pardon. The consensus holds that this decision will cost him. That is very likely so. The criticism will be fierce. But Saddam's successor has larger concerns at heart. And it is far from the worst fate that a man should be remembered for his capacity to forgive.

In politics it can take a generation or more for a matter to settle, for tempers to cool. The distance of time has clarified many things."

You coo about the wisdom of Ford, yet I am inclined to think you'd be howling with indignation over something like the following:

"As we are a nation under Allah, so I am sworn to uphold our laws with the help of Allah. And I have sought such guidance and searched my own conscience with special diligence to determine the right thing for me to do with respect to my predecessor in this place, Saddam Hussein, and his loyal wife and family.

Theirs is an Iraqi tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must.

There are no historic or legal precedents to which I can turn in this matter, none that precisely fit the circumstances of a private citizen who has resigned the Presidency of Iraq. But it is common knowledge that serious allegations and accusations hang like a sword over our former President's head, threatening his health as he tries to reshape his life, a great part of which was spent in the service of this country and by the mandate of its people.

After years of bitter controversy and divisive national debate, I have been advised, and I am compelled to conclude that many months and perhaps more years will have to pass before Saddam Hussein could obtain a fair trial by jury in any jurisdiction of Iraq under governing decisions of Iraq Special Tribunal.

I deeply believe in equal justice for all Iraqis, whatever their station or former station. The law, whether human or divine, is no respecter of persons; but the law is a respecter of reality.

The facts, as I see them, are that a former President of Iraq, instead of enjoying equal treatment with any other citizen accused of violating the law, would be cruelly and excessively penalized either in preserving the presumption of his innocence or in obtaining a speedy determination of his guilt in order to repay a legal debt to society.

During this long period of delay and potential litigation, ugly passions would again be aroused. And our people would again be polarized in their opinions. And the credibility of our free institutions of government would again be challenged at home and abroad.

In the end, the courts might well hold that Saddam Hussein had been denied due process, and the verdict of history would even more be inconclusive with respect to those charges arising out of the period of his Presidency, of which I am presently aware.

But it is not the ultimate fate of Saddam Hussein that most concerns me, though surely it deeply troubles every decent: and every compassionate person. My concern is the immediate future of this great country.

In this, I dare not depend upon my personal sympathy as a long-time friend of the former President, nor my professional judgment as an Iraqi leader, and I do not.

As President, my primary concern must always be the greatest good of all the people of Iraq whose servant I am. As a man, my first consideration is to be true to my own convictions and my own conscience.

My conscience tells me clearly and certainly that I cannot prolong the bad dreams that continue to reopen a chapter that is closed. My conscience tells me that only I, as President, have the constitutional power to firmly shut and seal this book. My conscience tells me it is my duty, not merely to proclaim domestic tranquility but to use every means that I have to insure it.

I do believe that the buck stops here, that I cannot rely upon public opinion polls to tell me what is right. I do believe that right makes might and that if I am wrong, 10 angels swearing I was right would make no difference. I do believe, with all my heart and mind and spirit, that I, not as President but as a humble servant of Allah, will receive justice without mercy if I fail to show mercy.

Finally, I feel that Saddam Hussein and his loved ones have suffered enough and will continue to suffer, no matter what I do, no matter what we, as a great and good nation, can do together to make his goal of peace come true.

Now, therefore, I, Saddam’s successor, President of Iraq, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Saddam Hussein for all offenses against Iraq which he, Saddam Hussein, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from July 16, 1979, until April 9, 2003."

From: http://watergate.info/ford/pardon.shtml (with minor revisions)

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