Linkmeister

No, but it's pretty grim, both that photo and the Hussein Bros. deaths. Seems to glorify massacre. ugh. Not that I thought that the Hussein Bros. were capable of reform but we can report the killing with dignity, right? Right?

From what I've read, there was a great deal of civic pride in both Coffeyville and in Northfield when the James-Younger gang was wiped out; sort of "they didn't know what they were gettin' into here" attitude.

Saw the pics of the Brothers Hussein. Horrible. Now many Iraqs want the bodies dragged thru the streets...or they will not believe they are truly "the boys"...
What the hell happened here???

I haven't bothered looking for the Hussein pix; I was willing to believe it, but then I wasn't terrorized by those two for years.

I remember this photo well. I also remembered the famous one of Mussolini strung up in the town square.

But you know, I just wrote a post about the double standards here: we bitch when Al Jazeera shows images of GIs lying in their own pools of blood, but it's okay for us to do this?

I've heard a lot of rumblings about the Geneva Conventions over this one, which would be goose for the gander, since we, apparently, tried that one already when it was done to us.

I've been thinking about this for a bit. I almost decided to avoid commenting, but then I think I know Linky pretty well and he'll have something reasonable to say. So, here goes.

The images of the Hussein Brothers are grisly and grim. I've seen a lot of war images and find nothing pleasant about them. These images are consistent with what I've observed before. War is a grisly business and there is no glory in it.

But, I can understand the decision to air the images, even if I think the images are distasteful. The Iraqi people have been oppressed (there's a nice euphemism) for decades by these thugs. It is difficult for the Iraqis to believe that their oppressors are actually dead. It is also cultural for them to show images of the dead.

There is no comparison between dead GI's and the Hussein Brothers. The former are soldiers, who were doing their jobs and fell in the line of duty. The latter are thugs, responsible for the killing of who knows how many innocents.

If we had shown images of dead Iraqi soldiers being drug through the streets by jubilant Americans, then there would be a strong case for a double standard. However, I don't think that the images of the Hussein Brothers is a fair comparison.

But, it's just my opinion.

I had no qualms at all about showing the pictures in Iraq; I think that was required to prove the two were actually dead and gone. I have some doubt about the showing of them in the US, but not much. After all, the Administration wanted to justify why we went to Iraq in the first place.

I was a little bemused by the disclaimers the networks kept giving before showing the pix; as I said to my mother, the sports people have no qualms about showing boxers with just as much gore and no warning, so what was the big deal?