Here’s a noteworthy article from Al-Ahram. According to one housewife, a

graduate of the American University in Cairo, “Whatever crime they [Saddam’s

sons] committed, is beside the point. Killing them was a crime, a murder, it was

sacrilegious because the body belongs to God not to people.” And Saddam’s

crimes and murders? Those of his sons? (The head of the student union at the

Suez University did admit that the brothers “were despotic,” but immediately

retorted that the US had “no justification” for their killing–”otherwise what

would courts be for?”) Some elementary distinctions are being blurred here.

The article also quotes an Islamic scholar who immediately appeared on

al-Jazeera after footage of the brothers was broadcast and concluded that it was

“an illegal act that violates Shari’a and the Geneva Convention.” Of course,

that is the official line of the Vatican’s newspaper.

Ah, well, at least we have Chaput–whose book, Living the Catholic Faith, for

those who may be interested, is excellent.