Ted Rall for December 21, 1998

Transcript:

Never mind impeachment never mind dead Iraqis why Saddam? Whenever Clinton mentions the president of Iraq, he refers to his first name. (Bill Clinton: I offered Saddam a chance for peace, but saddam offered nothing but his suple buttocks.) Why not call him "Hussein"? Would we lose the first name thing if he was named Kevin Johnson? (Bill Clinton: And Kevin used wapons of mass destruction against his own people!) But it isn't an anti-arab thing- after all, we didn't call ayatollah khomeini by his first name. (Woman: Well, actually we didn't know his first name.) And it isn't dictator demonization either... we didn't call noriega "Manuel" or Mao Tse-Tung "Tse-Tung" (It's the opposite in China.) (Man: I'm gonna kick manny's ass!) So the question remains: Why Saddam? (Bil Clinton: We're both US government employees- duh! No, wait- I never said that.)