Ahmed Al-Shamlani Al-Anzi is dead.
Saudia Arabia has crucified a convicted murderer.
That's right. I said crucified.
Not exactly like you remember it, but crucified just the same.
http://www.cnn.com/...
In this particular instance Al-Anzi was beheaded. Whether it was a clean cut or a prolonged
session of sawing depravity, I don't know.
I'm guessing the latter.
Then, sometime after the blood stopped pumping from the neck of the now corpse, they actually took the time to sew the head back on the body and affix it to a pole for the edification of the viewing public.
I wonder what the rate is for that job? Did the person that did the cutting and the person that did the sewing have the same union? Did they go home and have dinner with the family and kiss the little ones goodnight?
What goes through your mind as you're brushing your teeth that night? Do you just rub your gums raw as you stare into your reflection in the mirror
and relive the day's events in a trance.
Do you wake up screaming in the middle of the night?
Crucified.
You may feel a sudden urge to check your calendar, but the only thing it will confirm to you is that the human race still has a hell of a long way to go, and even though the calendar says 2009, a large portion of our brains is still stuck in a pre bronze age way of thinking.
Even if you are a supporter of the death penalty, I don't see how this can be viewed as a display of justice or a deterrent. As it's intended.
Some disagree:
http://www.riseheretic.com/...
I can certainly offer no defense against the crime that Mr. Al-Anzi committed, and from anyone's standpoint, I think it can be agreed that what he did is just about the absolute worst thing that anybody could ever do.
He killed a child after or during a sexual assault. By strangulation.
Then, when the boy's father came looking for him and confronted Al-Anzi, he murdered him with an axe.
Then, in the least of his crimes that day he's guilty of standing off police at the end of a knife.
This is a very bad man we're talking about and he certainly deserved a strict punishment.
But this is just sickness.
I don't view an atrocity as fair measure for an atrocity.
I can't feel anything but disgust for our supposed allies and their 3rd century way of handling things.
I can't feel anything but shame that the United States hasn't a moral leg to stand on when we condemn this barbaric act.
As we surely will.
I can do it here and now because personally I don't have blood on my hands.
Unless you count the fact that I pay taxes.
I certainly wouldn't fault you for it, as I can't keep the thought of those who have died unjust deaths out of my mind as I view the deductions on my pay stub, and just because I don't like to think about it, that doesn't mean I'm not guilty too.
I can imagine a perfect world even as I wallow in this imperfect one with the rest of you.
I guess until enough people imagine it along with me, news like this will continue to be made.
Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall for a little while.