The mayor of the Iraqi city of Najaf has been arrested by coalition forces on charges of kidnapping and corruption. The mayor had been using blackmail and hostages in order to raid Iraqi banks.
While this may seem like a setback, and it is, it also has the effect of sending a strong message that the coalition forces are serious about law and order in Baghdad. Even people who had been appointed by the coalition are not immune from the law, and those who break the law will be brought to justice. One of the pillars of a stable government is a strong and independent judiciary, and this action is a step in the right direction for rebuilding Iraq.
the smoking gun…
for those who read french : http://www.lemonde.fr/article/0,5987,3222–326016-,00.html
for the others, just imagine that the Pentagone finally found the proof that a country used toxic gas against its own people during the 60’ss and 70’s.many times, on different locations around the world.
this country is not irak, not china, not russia, not france…yeah everyone, this country is USA.
shall we remove the government, and track the leaders to death with a deck of cards in hand? I know where their palace is. bomb the doors of the White House(looks better on TV instead of just opening it).
against his own citizens Jay! You must hate this terrible country now?(according to my sources, alaska and texas are the states you want to make free first…for democratic reasons)
Did Le Monde report that our troops are in Baghdad, yet?
Vincent is right..it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes..or Inspector Cleuseau…to find a corrupt officila in Iraq.
Maybe Jay Reding would like to investigate the French reactor sold to Israel in the 1950’s?
It might not take Sherlock Holmes to find one, but arresting/enforcing is another issue.
ie, UN…
There’s an English version of the article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-2853826,00.html
Of course, even the Guardian points this out:
"The United States scrapped its biological weapons program in the late 1960s and agreed in a 1997 treaty to destroy all its chemical weapons."
And we proved that we destroyed those weapons, BTW – something the Hussein government never did.
Of course, it’s not as though our French friends and allies would ever do something disgusting like commence live nuclear testing in the South Pacific despite many treaties banning such a practice. No, we all know they would never do something that reaked of simplisme like that…
Why would we ever need chemical/biological weapons anyway? We can already more than end the world if need be…
That’s basically what Clinton said a while back – justifying his cuts in the military budget. Ofcourse, after 9/11 our military preparedness was questioned time and time again by democrats.
Hypocritical, no?