Month: December 2006

A “tribute” to Saddam Hussein

~ Inquisitor

“At night, he heard the sound of weeping from other parts of the building, and asked a guard what was going on. “Those are the Anfal prisoners,” the guard replied, “and they are leaving the prison.” Halabja, in other words, was not part of the Anfal operation. “Where are the Anfal prisoners being taken?” Faraj asked another guard the next morning. “That is none of your concern,” the man answered. “If you ask that question again, you will be sent off with them too, to be lost forever.”

[Human Rights Watch, “Genocide in Iraq: The Al-Anfal Campaign against the Kurds” (1993), ch. 8]

“…all persons captured in those villages shall be detained and interrogated by the security services and those between the ages of 15 and 70 shall be executed after any useful information has been obtained from them, of which we should be duly notified.”

[“Chemical” Ali al-Hassan Majid, Saddam Hussein’s cousin, Iraq Directive SF/4008, 20th June 1987]

Am I glad we’re rid of the bastard, the same way I was with Pinochet? Sadly, no.

This one is a bit harder than the Pinochet “tribute” because Saddam is a very different case, since we’ve killed him. Whilst the world is better off without him in power, this is only in that the world is better off with one less mass-murdering, genocidal despot. Unfortunately, we have managed to screw up so badly in Iraq that hundreds of murdering wannabe genocidal despots have taken his place, and this death will not change that one bit.

That report quoted above is 1993, describing actions that took place in 1987/1988, at a point in time where Western arms manufacturers were happily selling production capability for VX and mustard gas to Saddam’s Iraq (at the same time as surreptitiously selling arms to its main enemy at the time, Iran, perhaps purposefully in order to prolong the war.) We had a responsibility then to the world not to support Saddam, and we blew it big time. The Guardian’s obit makes clear the extent of his depravity throughout his career, all well known and televised; yet it was ignored until Kuwait made it impossible to ignore. The world should never let such a thing happen again, but it will.

Spotted in the New Years Honours List:

~ Inquisitor
  • A knighthood for John Scarlett, current head of MI6 and Hutton Enquiry participant. And James Dyson, right after he outsourced all his production to China.
  • Peter Greenaway gets a CBE, and Hugh Laurie gets an OBE.
  • So, however, do Rod Stewart, Steven Gerrard, and the FA’s David Davies.
  • “46% of those on the New Year list had been nominated or supported by members of the public.” [source: BBC News] If so, oh dear.

James Brown has died.

~ Inquisitor

As the Tom Tom Club nearly put it: he was the Godfather of Soul, you know, so check it out.

And if there wasn’t James Brown, there wouldn’t be a “Funky Drummer” sample and there’s so much hip-hop that would simply not have happened without him; without soul  and funk samples, after all, a lot of music wouldn’t have happened at all, especially stuff like “Paul’s Boutique” or “Endtroducing”. It’s a great loss to music. Besides, anyone in The Blues Brothers deserves our lasting respect.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

~ Inquisitor

Yes, it’s Christmas Day and I haven’t posted for weeks. Sorry. More stuff coming up over the Christmas period as I finally start remembering to write again…

As penance, here is a Youtube video of something funny: Mystery Science Theater 3000’s “Let’s Have A Patrick Swayze Christmas”.

Golden Globe nominations

~ Inquisitor

It’s as per usual: lots of films we haven’t seen, having been released for One Week Only in New York and LA in order to qualify. Interesting spots: the amazing Chiwetel Ejiofor for Best Comedic Actor (for Kinky Boots, which he was by far the best thing in), two Leo DiCaprios for Best Dramatic Actor (Blood Diamond and The Departed), two Clint Eastwoods for Director (his Iwo Jima pair), lots of nominations for Inarittu’s Babel, good nominations for Dreamgirls and The Departed, Apocalypto and Eastwood’s Japanese-language Iwo Jima film for Best Foreign Language (Pan’s Labyrinth should win) and Borat in the best musical/comedy section.

On this evidence, the Oscars should be interesting this year- and much harder to predict than usual (except Scorcese not getting it, which is becoming close to an unfortunate yearly event.)

Merciful release

~ Inquisitor

I’ve just picked up the digipak rerelease of the Sisters of Mercy’s First and Last and Always – I’m not a goth, honest, I just like some of the music. Others have commented on the much improved sound quality on the Sisters remasters (all distinguishable by digipak cases and sleeve notes taken from a recent Uncut magazine profile) and I’m going to confirm that: there’s detail on this thing which was just completely inaudible on the previous CD release, and it’s got that proper oppressive tone that the album should really have. Worth £5 from Fopp, definitely, as long as you like that sort of thing.

It’s interesting that this is a Warner/Rhino release with the Merciful Release logo prominent – Andrew Eldritch infamously burned his bridges with Warner in the early 90s at the same time as many other artists were doing the same thing (Prince also with Warner, resulting in that symbol and ‘SLAVE’, George Michael with Sony) by giving them in lieu of his contracted recordings a truly horrendous dance album, and since then the rotating Eldritch+session players Sisters lineup has been touring new material and releasing nothing. So this could possibly be a sign of reconciliation: the detail in this release (including embossed Eldritch lyric sheets and recording studio tape orders obviously from his personal file) indicates that they might be back on speaking terms and so could finally record again. It’s an intriguing possibility, as long as any recording is better than Vision Thing.

A “tribute” to Augusto Pinochet

~ Inquisitor

“My husband was under arrest. I went to see the commander of the regiment, and he told me not to worry, that they were going to release him for Christmas, that he was a good person. I went to see him December 31, but they told me he was not being held there any more. I came home. A truckload of soldiers had just left a sealed coffin at my front door a few minutes before.”

[Report of the Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation, Part Three, Chapter Four ]

Good riddance to the bastard. And isn’t that video of Baroness Thatcher cosying up to Pinochet in 1998 (long after we knew what he’d been up to) just sickening?

The Guardian’s obituary, the report above, the various Wikipedia articles on Pinochet’s favoured methods of disposal of troublesome opponents and these tables provide the necessary context to appreciate this statement. Good thing we aren’t supporting any mass-murdering dictators anymore.

[I was intending on putting this little tribute to Maggie’s own favourite dictator up the second I heard of his death, but my net connection was down over the whole weekend. Oh well, just as apppropriate now.]

Good news for comedy fans everywhere!

~ Inquisitor

Out of the Trees (a sketch show written by Douglas Adams and Graham Chapman, shown once in a dead BBC2 slot in 1975) has been found by the BFI’s Missing Believed Wiped, having been taped at the time by Graham Chapman’s partner on an antiquated pre-Beta video system. People have now seen it, but unfortunately I’m not in London – I’d have given a lot to have been able to. And the BFI don’t tour with this, as far as I’m aware. Damn.

Hopefully the BBC will be smart enough to put it as an extra on a Hitchhikers or Python release, because this really does need to be seen – there’s apparently a lot of decent material on it beyond the small exerpts that have survived before, and besides it’s Adams and Chapman.

What’s more, Out of the Trees‘ reappearance after thirty years since its deletion gives hope that all those Hartnell and Troughton Doctor Who, the second Nigel Kneale 1984, Hardwicke House beyond episode two, Not Only But Also, the second series of Dad’s Army and all those lost Beatles/Stones/etc TV appearances that the BBC felt that it had to junk for “cost saving” might just turn up in a barn somewhere. We’ve already come far with this and the currently recovered Doctor Whos, so TV fans everywhere can only hope that this trend towards rediscovery continues.

[And if you have the bootleg tape of the full Hardwicke House – that is, beyond episode one and two – that is currently rumoured to exist, we’re all anxious to hear from you. Just thought it was worth a try.]