St. Peter to Yasser, "No sir!"
I saw the following scroll across the bottom of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on NBC last night. On a return from commercial (just before or after "Headlines", I don't remember) the news ticker appeared to have been running; it was completing a cycle that was barely readable (it went too fast) but then continued and the full message was readable. St. Peter to Yasser, "No sir!"
I think someone thought they were being funny and I hope they get fired. Leno making a joke in his monologue is different than NBC running something across their news ticker--I thought it was tasteless and inappropriate for that medium.
I haven't yet found anything on the web about it; I don't know if this is because no one cared or everyone else was watching "Family Guy".
Hypocrisy in action.
Iraq's interim defense minister Hazem Sha'alan had the
following quote, "Where was Kofi Annan when Saddam was slaughtering the Iraqis like sheep?" This was directed because Annan had written a letter against invading Fallujah, stating that it would not advance the peace and would cost tremendous lives.
Well, anyone can look up Annan's record and find that for most of Hussein's rule Annan had no direct role in those affairs because it wasn't his job. However, we do know that Presidents Reagan and Bush I provided Hussein with many of the weapons he used to slaughter his own people; they continued giving him weapons after he gassed his people (Remember those "mass graves"? We had our part.) and continued giving aid until we declared war in 1991. While this is a different president, the players are the same: Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Armitage, et al.
So in response to the interim minister I ask: Where was the U.S. during that period? Where were the individuals who now form the interim government? The U.S. government prefered Hussein's rule and encouraged it. This government protected the people of Kuwait while shunning the people of Iraq. The interim government is primarily formed of exiles who have spent the last few decades in the U.S. pushing their own agenda, not that of the Iraqi people.
Kofi Annan has plenty of flaws and skeletons, but this is akin to criticizing the FDR while taking money from Stalin.
