Is it ok to say the Ba'athist regime was monstrous? Or is that a contravention of the Correct Line as well? If it is, better tell Noam Chomsky and Tariq Ali, who both used that sort of language when I interviewed them.
Doug ---
The thing is that it is perfectly possible for "normal" people to do "monstrous" things. Was the pilot in the Enola Gay a "monster"? I doubt it. Probably the great majority of massacres in the history of the world have been performed by non-monsters. If you asked Saddam why he was so ruthless, I would hazard that he would probably say that any of his rivals would have done the same thing.
My personal guess is that ALMOST ANY regime ruling over an artificially created country divided into groups that hate each other is going to be brutal just to keep centrifugal forces from breaking the country apart.
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