Tyrant in his pants!

Thats the front page of today's edition of the british tabloid "The Sun" and it features the once mighty Saddam, tyrant of Iraq, in his underpants. It is also rumored that there are other pictures of him sleeping, washing his clothes and has been equated to a street bum.

Obviously, the US military are red in the face. They say it is in direct violation of the Geneva convention and other Defense Department directives aimed at the humane treatment of detainees and have launched an investigation. Saddam probably didn't afford detainees any luxuries either but publishing inappropriate photographs and ridiculing a public figure (he was after all the president of Iraq), I think, is in bad taste. On being asked if this will trigger another anti-america wave, President Bush had this to say - "I don't think a photo inspires murderers. I think they're inspired by an ideology that is so barbaric and backwards that it's hard for many in the Western world to comprehend how they think." "We want to look at the story and weigh the news value of it," said Dean Baquet, managing editor of The Los Angeles Times. "But we don't see any ethical reason not to run it. This is clearly a story". Huh?? Run that by me again. No ethical reason not to run it and is clearly a story. A story? I must have missed the tabloid journalist led revolution. I wonder what that story would have been if President Bush's underwear was all over CNN - I really have to reassure myself that this high value of journalistic integrity would have been maintained in publishing this story.

I am not pro-Saddam but just don't entirely agree with the way the US has handled him.

It's hard for many in the western world to comprehend - that pretty much wraps up how President Bush and the military have handled the war on terrorism. It has turned into a PR mightmare for the military with less than respectable showings by military personnel in Abu Grahib and Guantanamo Bay. The whole war on terrorism, in my opinion, has turned into a America Vs. The muslim world. Their lack of understanding of muslim ethos and apparent lack of any interest in trying to learn just keeps them busy first shooting themselves in the foot and then in the inevitable damage control exercise.

Edit 1: I just read that the US is investigating lock up deaths in Afghanisthan. This wraps up what I said.