The Saddamification of Meles Zenawi

Saddam Hussein is playing cutesy about democratic rights and how he’s being “mishandled”. Hm.

Approaching the microphone in the dock, he said he had been deprived of his notes and a pen before entering the court, and roughly treated by American guards who had taken his Koran from his manacled hands as they ascended the stairs to the court.

He was bitter about having to climb up four flights of stairs because the elevator was on the blink.

In the kind of borderline adorable, psych ward belligerence reminiscent of… who does that remind me of…? Mr. Hussein continued his rabid inanity.

…Mr. Hussein invoked a verse from the Koran, on this occasion one that seemed intended to suggest that the ultimate judgment on the events that occurred during Mr. Hussein's 24-year rule in Iraq would rest with God, not with the court. "Do you think that you will enter paradise without Allah judging those among you who fought hard in his cause, and remained steadfast?", Mr. Hussein said, reciting the verse from memory.

I ain’t no Qoran expert, but I am sure it must say something in there about not gassing people to death.

And back in October,

When presiding judge Rizgar Amin asked for his full name, Hussein refused to give it. "You know me," Hussein said at one point. "If you're an Iraqi, then you know."

Okay… everybody together … awwwww.

Back in July 2004, Mr. Hussein made his first court appearance.

Saddam Hussein, described by reporters at the hearing as both defiant and downcast, denounced the proceedings as "theatre" and questioned the validity of the law he was to be tried under.

"I am Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq," he replied when asked to confirm his identity at the hearing…

This… it just sounds so familiar… I just can’t pinpoint who it reminds me of…

Hearing the charge relating to Halabja, where about 5,000 Kurdish civilians died in a single day, Saddam Hussein said, "Yes, I heard about that."

He became most agitated when he was accused of invading Kuwait in 1990.

"How can you, as an Iraqi, say the 'invasion of Kuwait' when Kuwait is part of Iraq?" he asked the judge, whose face was not shown on the film and whose identity is being kept secret for security reasons.

He said he invaded Kuwait "for the Iraqi people" and referred to Kuwaitis as "dogs", for which he was rebuked by the judge.

Ahhh… delusion of unsung proportions, regressive, lethargic logic… yes… it’s coming to me…

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Wednesday that opposition leaders and newspaper editors under detention will face treason charges, which carry the death penalty in Ethiopia, for their alleged roles in protests last week in which at least 46 people were killed.

I knew it reminded me of someone! And then comes the Saddamification of Ato Meles:

"I don't know what the prosecution will ask for but the death penalty is still legal in Ethiopia. On a personal note that is not the penalty I would like to see applied," Meles said. "It is for the prosecution and courts to decide, but if I have any say on it I would prefer prison sentences rather than death sentences."

Never mind that in a normal society it would be the prosecutor that brings up charges. Here, Prime Minister Meles has brought the charges, already convicted his opponents and then quibbles about the punishment.

The way Mr. Hussein talks about civil rights is the way Ato Meles talks about democracy and due process: they both pepper their rhetoric with that certain brand of deranged ignominy exclusive to autocrats.

It gets better when Prime Minister Meles tries to live up to his “enlightened African leader” lore.

Ato Meles was lobbed softball questions at the conclusion of something called the German-Africa Partnership Forum on November 7, which the prime minister saw fit to attend despite the heightened tension in Addis after government forces gunned down another 46 unarmed people.

Asked for an update on the situation back home…

In addition to the answers that President Mbeki gave which is that I talked to President Koehler even when he was the Managing Director of IMF for only one reason, not for the colour of his eye.

Huh?

Oh. He’s being cute. I get it. Not that discussing the color of President Koehler’s eyes is necessarily off topic in meetings like this with Africa’s “enlightened leaders.”

We have very frank discussions. He told me I was wrong. I told him he was wrong on one specific issue and that we agreed on remaining issues and he told me as no IMF Managing Director has told me before that we shall agree to disagree on the points of disagreement and proceed together on the points of agreement. That principle for me was a very important principle and I couldn’t under any circumstance allow myself to be absent from the meeting whether there is a room to agree and proceed together on the points of agreement and rooms to disagree and agree to disagree.

Of course. This is the kind of obfuscation that makes Jeffrey Sachs’ handy gauge for “one of the most brilliant leaders in the world” get a hard on.

I wanted to discuss the problems on my country with two of my senior and very close friends, big brother Obasanjo, very broad shoulders and of course, President Thabo Mbeki. And we did discuss the disturbances in Addis.

At which point I am sure Mbeki was offended that his shoulders were not referred to as “broad.”

Here’s an idea… how about talking to, I don’t know, opposition leaders about what was happening in Ethiopia? Oh, yeah. They’re all in jail.

So, we said let’s have dialogue to resolve these practical issues and also address the root causes.

Ahh… before you get all excited that this refers to domestic turmoil Ato Meles finds himself in these days…

Our cousins in Eritrea have not yet been prepared to engage in the dialogue. That is the problem we face. We have a peace plan, the five-point peace plan that I share with both President Obasanjo and President Mbeki which was supported by them and many others and still is on the table.

And so on… and so on.

Prime Minister Meles is not aware that the jig is up. His attempts to sound reasonable only resonate as the ragged cogitation of a desperate man, shrill and revisionist as he attempts to shove the toothpaste back in the tube. Just like Saddam Hussein, whose newfound religiosity strikes no one as a genuine connection to the Almighty, Ato Meles’ frail attempt at playing “enlightened leader” on TV (even as his thugs shoot a wailing mother in front of her children) sound more and more like the utterances of a schizophrenic warlord.

In Ethiopia today, thousands of mothers and fathers roam the city holding pictures of their missing sons and daughters.

Many have already searched the hospital morgues. Often the Red Cross visit proves fruitless. Inundated each day by hundreds of people, the Red Cross has to turn some away, telling them to return later.

But soon, stories and pictures of teens and pre-teens dumped in disease-infested camps will come to light. Ato Meles’ western supporters (read: Tony Blair) will trample all over themselves to dissociate themselves from him.

And Ato Meles will keep on giving interviews echoing Saddam Hussein’s wretched babbling.

“How can you say I am not a democrat?” a flustered Ato Meles will say. “I allowed those dogs their day in court and it was the prosecutor who asked for the death penalty. How can you say I am not a democrat? I released 8,200 prisoners.”

And people will look at him and shake their heads. The jig is truly up.

Hmm… The New York Times actually opined on Ato Meles.