Occupation of Iraq: from 1% right to 100% wrong.

Some of my local friends might remember their frustration with me during the build-up to the Iraq war. I was never in favor of the invasion, but living in The People’s Republic brought out the antagonist in me. I couldn’t be bothered to mask my relief when Saddam Hussein was chased from power.

Two years earlier, Hussein had moved to criminalize homosexuality. Repeated homosexual acts became punishable by death. Saddam Hussein had to be stopped. Of course, it’s clear to me now that we can’t invade every country that engages in severe human rights abuses against its gay and lesbian population, like, say, Jamaica, nor should we. If only I’d believed my own mother, who warned me (as did others) that his replacement would likely be no better.

Flash forward to 2009. Just when even my own country has finally agreed to sign onto the UN gay rights declaration, look what’s happening in the new, free, democratic Iraq that we, uh, helped set up. From UK Gay News:

LONDON, March 30, 2009  –  More than 100 prisoners in Iraq are facing execution – and many of them are believed to have been convicted of the ‘crime’ of being gay, the UK-based Iraqi-LGBT group revealed this afternoon.

I weep for these people, and I’m sorry.

ADDED 4/1/09: Not that it’s any excuse, but maybe I’d been reading too much of this guy.

UPDATE 4/6/o9: I’ve removed one sentence from the end of the original post: “Thanks to Joe.My.God. for spreading the word on this.” The hyperlink in that sentence has been dead since 4/1/o9, but today Joe.My.God. posted a similar story. In a comment on that new post, I asked Joe why he’d taken down the previous one. His reply: “Some of the facts in that story are in dispute. That post may return when certain items can be confirmed.” Of course I hope the details turn out to be not so grim. I’m leaving this post up anyway, since the details aren’t likely to challenge my overall point.