The thing about Saddam Hussein is that everybody always calls him Saddam, and it pisses me off.
Comparing Saddam Hussein with Adolf Hitler is retarded, but if you'll forgive me for doing it this one time I'd like to point out that nobody in the thirties and forties called the German chancellor "Adolf." At least I don't think they did.
(Small Detour-)Today at work I was talking to a co-worker named Tim (this journal could be named "Andrew Interacts with his Co-workers"). Tim went to my high school, now he is a lawyer who has just passed the bar, and is waiting until after Christmas before he goes off to Russia or some damn place I don't know specifics because I was only half-listening. Tim loves to talk, about 1. Himself and 2. International Politics, and sometimes 3. His future role in International Politics. If you listen to everything he says you will cry and hit him, so you have to filter some of the shit out.
When I told Tim I broke my foot he told me that he broke his foot once, and he never got a cast and that even though it hurt and took a long time to heal he wouldn't let it stop him from playing basketball. That's what kind of a jerk Tim is.
(And here the point-) Today Tim told me that the reason we call him Saddam instead of calling him Hussein is because that's the way it's done in the Middle East. There are thousands of Husseins, and the best way to communicate which one you mean is to call him Saddam.
While I respect the Middle East and fully acknowledge that they are entitled to their own customs and I to mine, I refuse to yield to this informality. He is not the captain of a rival softball team, he is a tyrant and a mass murderer and I am going to address him with the appropriate level of respect. I will continue to call him Saddam Hussein.
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