Islamic Justice

Yesterday Viewpoint posted the story of a young Iranian girl sentenced to death by an Iranian court for some sexual offense. As disgusting as that story is, this one may equal it. AllahPundit features this out of Tehran:

TEHRAN, Aug 19 (AFP) - Iran's judiciary ordered a man to be released after he killed his unfaithful wife in the courtroom, because the woman's immediate forebears are not alive to claim retaliation, press reports said Thursday. According to the newspaper Shargh, the man, identified as Mahmoud, had filed a complaint against his wife and her lover when he had found out that she was cheating on him.

When she appeared in court in Shahr Ray city in Tehran province in 2003 he lost control and stabbed her to death. But a court sentenced him Wednesday only to pay compensatory "blood money" to the "parents of the blood", who are in fact himself and their three children, because the parents of the murdered woman, Fatemeh, 29, are dead, Iran's newspaper said.

It should not be assumed, however, that the disciples of the Prophet and the devotees of Islam have no sense of justice. The dead woman's lover is to receive several lashes for having allowed himself to be seduced by the unfortunate lady and thus contributing to her offense.

In Favor Of the War Before He Was Against It

KerryOnIraq.com has a 12 minute video collage of statements by Senator Kerry that trace his various positions on Iraq and the need to depose Saddam Hussein. It really is quite devastating although some of the statements seem to be clipped so as to possibly cut off context that might make the statement less damning. Even so, the overall effect of the video is to show a clear pattern of waffling and position switches that are quite disconcerting.

If you go to the site click on "Watch Now" to view the tape.

Tough Call

President Bush probably did the politically wise thing when he repeated his opposition to all 527 ads on both sides and called for them to stop. He, or his surrogates, can now point out that Sen. Kerry has never lifted a finger to stop MoveOn.org or Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 or any of the other dissimulations that have been perpetrated against him by the left and about which, it needs to be pointed out, he never once complained in public. Indeed, Bush even said at one point that we're free in this country to say what we want even, he implied, if it's unfair and hurtful.

Now Kerry's being stung by ads calling his integrity into question, and he's whining that the President should condemn them. Rather than come out and face the charges squarely he's trying to stop them by both legal intimidation and by getting the other guy's "mommy" to tell them to stop picking on him. Apparently he's very opposed to 527 ads when they're directed against him, but he's much more sensitive to the virtues of political free speech when "unaffiliated" Bush-haters run ads and movies which slime his opponent.

Anyway, I wish the President hadn't said what he said. As a matter of principle he shouldn't have done anything to undercut the witness of these men who, contra Sen. McCain, have behaved exceptionally honorably throughout the last two weeks. As combat veterans themselves, they have the right to defend their honor and the historical record against what they believe to be serious calumnies and distortions.

Unless the President actually knows they're lying, something which is highly unlikely, he really has no business suggesting that they should stop defending their reputations and the historical facts. This is not really about George Bush. It's a fight between John Kerry and the men who served with him, and it's a noble fight because it's about truth and honor. The President should stay out of it.

They Can't Be Serious

The North Korean chapter of the disciples of St. Francis of Asissi located in Pyonyang have weighed in on American presidential politics:

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea (news - web sites) described US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) as an "imbecile" and a "tyrant" who was worse than Adolf Hitler, and ruled out holding new talks on nuclear weapons with the United States.

In an unusually strong attack, a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said comments by Bush calling North Korea a tyrant during campaigning last week in Wisconin were "malignant slanders and calumnies".

"He is a political imbecile bereft of even elementary morality as a human being and a bad guy," said the spokesman, quoted by the official KCNA news agency.

The spokesman blamed Bush for starting wars in Iraq (news - web sites) and elsewhere, and said the United States was trying to topple the legitimate government of North Korea.

"Bush's assumption of office turned a peaceful world into a pandemonium unprecedented in history as it is plagued with a vicious circle of terrorism and war," said the statement.

The spokesman went on to describe Bush as "a tyrant that puts Hitler into the shade" as well as "an idiot, an ignorant, a tyrant and a man-killer."

He said that following Bush's comments, it would be "impossible" to hold working-level discussions to prepare for a new round of multilateral talks on the nuclear issue. The talks bring together the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

"This made it quite impossible for the DPRK (North Korea) to go to the talks and deprived it of any elementary justification to sit at the negotiating table with the US," he said.

Well. Sounds like the gentle souls that rule North Korea have taken time out of their busy schedule crushing their people under their Stalinist boots to read Howard Dean and Al Gore speeches from last Fall.

If one of the cruelest, most oppressive, most morally retrograde regimes on earth dislikes Bush so much he must be doing something right.

Word has it that Sen. Kerry, having called for Pres. Bush to denounce the Swift Boat vets' ads, is even now busily preparing a vigorous denunciation of this scurrilous attack on his political opponent.