After this weeks carnage in Baghdad I wonder why I was stopped short by an artickes in Al Jazeera (20/4/2007). It reports that capital punishment in the new Iraq is nearly as high as in China, Iran and Pakistan. Of course we new about Saddam and the botched execution of one of his colleagues. Amnesty International cannot compare it with Saddam’s regime since the figure for capital punishment are obscure. What I’m wondering is how much state violence aggravates the worsening situation.
Bush’s belief that a final push in Iraq could work things out is being proved as useless as critics told him it would. The British folly of joining in unapologetically isn’t improving things at home or abroad either. In Britain the continued attacks on anything Islamic, compounded time and again by a succession of uncomprehending ministers, is downright sinister.