Iraqi Justice: Texas Style...Almost

Today's Telegraph ,one of the UK's leading daily newspapers, carries two very disturbing, and yet strangely not surprising, stories. They both deal with the immediate effects of the hand-over of the nortorious Abu Gharib prison to the Iraqi government. The headline for the first article reads:Tortured screams ring out as Iraqis take over Abu Gharib . The new government has embraced it's own set of "traditional values" by reinstituting torture and starvation as normal prison routine. The article also links to the second story, which reports on the announcement yesterday by the Iraqi government that they had hanged 27 prisoners at Abu Gharib. It would seem that mass executions are once again to be normal routine at this prison, as they once were under the infamous Saddam Hussein.

I am sure that George Bush, former governor of Texas, would see this as a step towards proper western-style democracy. Texas, although not yet bold enough to hold them en masse, does lead the USA in the number of inmates executed. So I am sure that George is very proud of his fledgeling democracy.



This also does a lot for the morale of the American people. It seems, according to the article, that the prisoners being held at Abu Gharib miss their American guards and their comparatively humane treatment. They long for the good old days.


Don't you just love the irony?



There will be few happy endings in sight for the Iraqis, and I am sure that most of the population will feel little sympathy for the prisoners awaiting justice. But I do hope that this new government, should it survive the impending civil war, will not find it necessary to emulate Saddam's particular brand of justice or to embrace it with Saddam's despotic enthusiasm.