[Reader-list] can we have one too please?

[Rana Dasgupta]

Jonathan Glover, in his "Humanity: A Moral History of the 20th Century" has
a category called the "Cold joke".  The cold joke is part of the vocabulary
of organised violence.

"Among the strongest expressions of lack of respect is the cold joke.
During the occupation of Kuwait, some Iraqis who had killed a boy told his
family they wanted money to pay for the bullet.  They could simply have
forced Kuwaitis at random to give them money.  The added cruel humour in
this demand is what makes it a cold joke."

R

-----Original Message-----
From: reader-list-admin at mail.sarai.net
[mailto:reader-list-admin at mail.sarai.net]On Behalf Of Andreas Broeckmann
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2003 8:58 PM
To: reader-list at mail.sarai.net
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] can we have one too please?


on this point -

the Berliner Zeitung recently reported that the US government has
seized iraqi assets in the us as well as in switzerland - money in
bank accounts which is now being used to pay for the services of
us-american companies that are rebuilding the infrastructure that has
just been destroyed by the bombs. (you would think that even if this
money belongs to saddam himself, it should be given back to the iraqi
people, rather than to the us-finance dept.)

i wonder whether they are also making the iraqis pay for the fuel of
those b-52s flying in from britain to drop the humanitarian bombs ...

but i am sure that the liberated iraqui people are enlightened and
kind enough to share their oil wealth with their great peace-loving
friends, modernisers and liberators, so things are cool!

-a


>"The oil of Iraq belongs to the Iraqi people" says Colin Powell.
>
>treasury secretary john snow says: "This effort will ensure that the assets
>and funds belonging to the Iraqi people are dedicated to the wellbeing and
>benefit of their nation."
>
>Bush has repeatedly said that it is time to remove the evil leadership of
>Iraq so that the Iraqi people can live in peace and liberty and benefit
from
>the oil wealth that is their own.
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