Monday, November 28, 2005

Don't blink or you'll miss it: Eight Sunni Arabs arrested in alleged plot to kill judge.


I'm not one who puts much stock in conspiracy theories or one who constantly gives a nervous glance backward in an attempt to watch out for 'them', so this next observation is merely a comment on human nature.
Have you ever noticed that the news stories coming out of Iraq (or most anywhere) that shed a positive light on things rarely see prolonged exposure or follow up? They are relegated to their obligatory 15 minutes of daylight and then disappear.
This story, written in Baghdad by Bassem Mrou for the Scotsman, is a good example. A big tip 'o the hat must go to the police in Kirkuk who thwarted this plot to kill the investigating judge, a man named Raed Juhi. It was he who prepared the case against Saddam Hussein. According to Colonel Anwar Qadir, a police commander in the city of Kirkuk, one of Saddam's chief rats, Izzat al-Douri, a former top deputy, was behind the plot.

I think this is big news and worthy of some fanfare.
But human nature being what it is, most people yawn at good news and look for titillation elsewhere. Like the mob that stops to stare at a car wreck, we are a fickle creatures and demand that our news shock and awe our senses with wretchedness or outrage or its just not worth more than a scant glance. People are so strange.

And speaking of strange, Saddam's trial has been postponed again after being briefly restarted from the previous 40 day delay. This postponement is until Dec. 5 so the defense can get some new lawyers since the some of the last bunch was assassinated or fled after being wounded.
I'm confused.
Isn't it the Sunni radical's from Saddam's former Sunni dominated regime that are doing this killing of the lawyers who are trying to defend Saddam from the new, democratically elected Iraqi government trying to give Saddam a fair trial followed by a first class hanging? It appears these radical Sunnis have no love for lawyers or the new government.
I'll give 'em a pass on the former.