Saddam did a lot more harm than Campbell lets on

Steve Campbell's Wednesday column, "Iraqi regime provides many examples of ruthlessness," actually downplayed the savage nature of Saddam's rule. There was no mention of the 5,000 Kurds Saddam Hussein gassed in 1988. When he crushed the uprising following the Gulf War, he did not just kill thousands of Kurds in the north. He murdered 50,000 Shiites in the south, destroyed 3,000 Kurdish villages, 900,000 Kurds were displaced and entire families were deported. [Read article]

Living in one of those God-disturbed times

In Akira Kurosawa's film "Ran," which is an adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear, an aging warlord divides his kingdom among his three children, one of whom he banishes and two who later betray him. The warlord then descends into madness while his once mighty kingdom crumbles around him.

In this bleakest of moments, two loyal servants lament over all that has gone wrong. One questions God, asking Him why does He do such things to man? Is God so bored that he has to crush men as if they were ants? He weeps bitterly then says: "Man is born crying, and when he has cried enough he dies." [Read article]