pitiless

John F. Burns in the New York Times:

That I could feel pity for [Saddam, on one brief occasion] struck the Iraqis with whom I talked as evidence of a profound moral corruption. I came to understand how a Westerner used to the civilities of democracy and due process — even a reporter who thought he grasped the depths of Saddam’s depravity — fell short of the Iraqis’ sense, forged by years of brutality, of the power of his unmitigated evil.

A useful reminder for those of use us who cannot take the leap of imagination—or empathy—necessary to understand what it is that our military is fighting, and dying, for in Iraq.

And yet, after reading the details about the ugly circumstances under which Saddam was executed the other day, I am sick to my stomach that we must support this current government in Iraq—that we, for the moment, have no other option.