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Cardinal Says U.S. Treated Saddam 'Like a Cow'
Tue Dec 16, 7:59 AM ET Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo!
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By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A top Vatican (news - web sites) official said Tuesday he felt pity and compassion for Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and criticized the U.S. military for showing video footage of him being treated "like a cow."

Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's Justice and Peace department and a former papal envoy to the United Nations (news - web sites), told a news conference it would be "illusory" to think the arrest of the former Iraqi president would heal all the damage caused by a war which the Holy See opposed.


"I felt pity to see this man destroyed, (the military) looking at his teeth as if he were a cow. They could have spared us these pictures," he said.


"Seeing him like this, a man in his tragedy, despite all the heavy blame he bears, I had a sense of compassion for him," he said in answer to questions about Saddam's arrest.


Martino was referring to the videotape released by the U.S. military which showed a grubby, bearded and disheveled Saddam receiving a medical examination by a military doctor after his capture in an underground hole Saturday.


Martino was one of the Vatican officials most strongly opposed to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq (news - web sites).


"It's true that we should be happy that this (arrest) has come about because it is the watershed that was necessary... we hope that this will not have worse and other serious consequences," Martino said.


"But it is not the total solution to the problems of the Middle East," he said.


Martino said the Vatican hoped the arrest of Saddam "can contribute to promoting peace and the democratization of Iraq."


He added: "But is seems to me to be illusory to hope that this will repair the dramas and the damage of the defeat for humanity that a war always brings about."


The Vatican did not consider the war in Iraq "a just war" because it was not backed by the United Nations and because the Vatican believed more negotiations were necessary to avoid it.


Martino said the Vatican wanted an "appropriate institution" to put Saddam on trial but he did not elaborate.


U.S. forces were keeping the ousted 66-year-old dictator at a secret location for interrogation before he is put on trial in the months ahead. He could face the death penalty.


The news conference was called for Martino to present the World Day of Peace message, in which Pope John Paul (news - web sites) took a swipe at the United States for invading Iraq without the backing of the United Nations.

I read this earlier... the honorable Cardinal can bite my a$$

Overkill??? I'd kill a fly with a howitzer if I had one.

_________________
\"One of you is gonna fall and die, and I'm not cleaning it up\"

And the good Cardinal's point is...?

Hajji, you can run, but why die tired?

_________________
\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

truthfully I wouldent expect a holy man to say anything different, but the cow thing was just a weird statement lol

"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us". George Orwell

Fighting For Justice With Brains Of Steel !
<img src="http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/atengun2X.GIF" border=0>

_________________
The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

Holy man ? Where I am still looking but I aint seeing any. The Holy See ? The Holy See ? I am so sick and tired of that organisation issuing Papal Bulls throughout history and NEVER publicly withdrawing them. Supporting uprisings when they jive with a political agenda, but only secretly, and acting as though they really dont have a political agenda. Gimme a break. And they have an appropriate institution for dealing with judgements they are called the Jesuits. <img src=newicons/anim_cussing.gif border=0 align=middle>

Sorry guys........lost my head.

By this time tomorrow I shall have gained either a pearage or Westminster Abbey........Nelson

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YGBSM !

The cardinal can kiss my Irish ass.

<img src="http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/sigs/snipersig.jpg " border=0>

muahaha, if you ask me, vatican is full of senile as<img src=newicons/anim_cussing.gif border=0 align=middle>les

BTW How do you treat a cow???
I´d think about "eat them" or "milk them"....<img src=newicons/saevil.gif border=0 align=middle>

"Marge, I agree with you -- in theory. In theory, communism works. In theory." -- Homer Simpson

_________________
\"My name's Pitt, and you ain't talkin' your ass outta this shit.\"

I don't know, Homer...

In the Middle East, people spell "girlfriend" a little differently:

L-I-V-E-S-T-O-C-K

“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.” Benjamin Franklin, 1759

<i>The cardinal can kiss my Irish ass. </i>

I thought you said you were a Swede?

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
I don't know, Homer...

In the Middle East, people spell "girlfriend" a little differently:

L-I-V-E-S-T-O-C-K

“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.” Benjamin Franklin, 1759

<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>I thought that was Burleson.

Overkill??? I'd kill a fly with a howitzer if I had one.

_________________
\"One of you is gonna fall and die, and I'm not cleaning it up\"

Also a swede, lol.

So he can kiss my Scots-Irish, Swedish ass...

<img src="http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/sigs/snipersig.jpg " border=0>

Scottish and Irish?
That's a whole bunch of love of fighting!

* I thought I was bad.

I supposed the Philly upbringing contributes to that too...

<img src="http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/sigs/snipersig.jpg " border=0>

I think the cardinal and friends need to get a handle on the pedophilia problem with the help.....then they can feel free to comment on how we take care of dirtbags.

"face it....perhaps your only purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others!"

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
He added: "But is seems to me to be illusory to hope that this will repair the dramas and the damage of the defeat for humanity that a war always brings about."

<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

<img src=newicons/anim_bs.gif border=0 align=middle> This guy needs to check his history books. War to bring an end to Hitler isn't a defeat for all humanity. Any war to bring liberty to a people oppressed by a dictator is not an illusion of hope. Liberty is a right paid for in blood over and over in history. Does the Vatican not value freedom? Does it think freedom is free?

Did the pope send emmisaries to Iraq for years to try to try to end the oppression peacefully? Then stop being hypocritical. You can't just say peace and not back it up.

I got carried away too.<img src=icon_smile_blush.gif border=0 align=middle>

He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others. --Samuel Johnson, LL.D