# Cardinal feels "Compassion" for Saddam? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 17, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541 "2003-12-17T15:29:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/1 "2003-12-17T15:29:01Z")
WTF?? A Cardinal from the Vatican sees the video of Saddams capture and feels “compassion” for him and was angry that they showed him being treated like a cow by inspecting his mouth. Where have you been the last 10 years??? Drinking the communal wine and smoking inscence??? The guy had millions of people killed and tortured and you now feel sorry for him because we made him open his mouth?? Hello? Does anyone even care anymore about what the vatican has to say about anything? ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/2 "2003-12-17T15:50:30Z")
See what you think of Orwell’s [“Revenge is Sour”](http://www.resort.com/~prime8/Orwell/revengesour.html). I’m still not sure what I think of it after many years of reading it, but it has me thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/3 "2003-12-17T15:58:29Z")
You’re surprised at a cardinal showing compassion? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/4 "2003-12-17T16:02:25Z")
If the Vatican came out with a statement saying they have no compassion for Saddam, I have a feeling you’d start a Pit thread decrying the hypocracy of an organization that promotes the “respect of human life on all levels.” ---
**Author:** ![Computer\_Guru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Computer\_Guru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Computer_Guru)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/5 "2003-12-17T16:05:47Z")
I read this earlier, and I’m like bull crap. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/6 "2003-12-17T16:14:51Z")
Yeah, damn those Christians! Showing compassion and stuff! Boo! Because, you know, Jesus would be all “Burn him!” and shit… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/7 "2003-12-17T16:26:21Z")
I admit, that is exactly the same feeling I had upon seeing Saddam. Looking at this frail, broken-down heap of a man, I wondered how it could possibly be that he was the bogeyman of nightmare, the killer of thousands, the wretch which had created so much harm. And I knew that I could not kill him then, were it up to me. We had toppled his empire, kicked its foundations apart, and we were setting out to crush all his former friends and erase his state from history, and we had killed two of his sons. I could not take his life away, if it were up to me. We’ve already taken everything that mattered, and I have no more bitter taste for killing. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/8 "2003-12-17T16:29:26Z")
**Hampshire** , WTF is wrong with you? After a guy rises to power by executing anyone who might oppose him, brutally murders people, gasses whole villages because of their religious beliefs, lives in luxury while his own people suffer in poverty, invades innocent neighboring countries, and fathers sons that are described as homicidal monsters - you’re _supposed_ to feel sorry from him. Shit, didn’t you see how the mean doctor made him open his mouth real wide? That must have hurt the poor guy. Please try to post only relevent rants in the future. Bubba ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/9 "2003-12-17T16:30:17Z")
I’m with the cardinal (and against post-eating hamsters, dammit). One of the most important differences we can draw between ourselves and Saddam’s ilk is our compassion even for our worst enemies. Work to make the world a place in which future and present Saddams have no power, but take no pleasure in his suffering. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/10 "2003-12-17T16:38:06Z")
Get a grip people. The guy was filmed **opening his mouth** for chrissakes. They weren’t prodding him and parading him through the streets. They were examining him! Bubba ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/11 "2003-12-17T16:39:00Z")
**BubbaDog** , I can shoot a mad dog and still feel bad that it came to this. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/12 "2003-12-17T16:44:58Z")
Saw it on O’Reilly last night. Bill said it was good to show cause it would deter future dictaotrs. I can’t quite see that, but for God’s sake,if thats humiliation,I guess everyone who goes to the dentist gets humiliated! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/13 "2003-12-17T16:47:16Z")
Where’s an Old testament Cardinal when you really need one? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/14 "2003-12-17T16:53:04Z")
Didn’t Bush declare Hussein a prisoner of war? Doesn’t the Geneva Convention have rules about showing prisoners of war in the media? Isn’t that the justification the Pentagon uses for not showing POWs in Guantanamo? Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/91b2a8/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_Sandwhich)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/15 "2003-12-17T16:53:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hampshire \* > Hello? Does anyone even care anymore about what the vatican has to say about anything? \*\* Apparently you do. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/16 "2003-12-17T16:57:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Left Hand of Dorkness \* > Didn’t Bush declare Hussein a prisoner of war? No. Hussein is being afforded the same treatment and rights as a POW, but his precise classification has yet to be determined. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/17 "2003-12-17T17:02:01Z")
Thanks for the link, Hawthorne. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/18 "2003-12-17T17:03:30Z")
Okay, thanks, **friedo**! Does his eventual status have an effect on his current treatment? Of course, my understanding is that the Geneva convention has no teeth in it at all; whether the US is violating the Geneva convention in its treatment of Hussein may be a moot point. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/19 "2003-12-17T17:03:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Left Hand of Dorkness \* > \*\*Didn’t Bush declare Hussein a prisoner of war? > > Doesn’t the Geneva Convention have rules about showing prisoners of war in the media? Isn’t that the justification the Pentagon uses for not showing POWs in Guantanamo? > \*\* If they didn’t show him, who would believe that he had really been captured? Haj ---
**Author:** ![YoudNeverGuess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a587f6/32.png) [@YoudNeverGuess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoudNeverGuess)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541/20 "2003-12-17T17:05:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jayjay \* > **Yeah, damn those Christians! Showing compassion and stuff! Boo! Because, you know, Jesus would be all “Burn him!” and shit…** 😃 That’s what I was going to say but you put it better! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cardinal-feels-compassion-for-saddam/219541.md?page=2)