Castro Casts Stones

Fidel Castro has added his voice to the chorus of those on the Left who are concerned because the U.S. military wasn't nice to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

HAVANA (AP) -- President Fidel Castro called the U.S. airstrike that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi a "barbarity," saying he should have been put on trial.

The United States acted as "judge and jury" against the leader of the al-Qaida in Iraq, Castro said late Friday.

"They bragged, they were practically drunk with happiness."

"The accused cannot just be eliminated," he told a literacy conference. "This barbarity cannot be done."

Castro sounds just like Howard Dean.

Dean refused to pass judgment on Osama bin Laden's guilt in the 9/11 attacks, reserving judgment until bin Laden got his day in court.

In December of 2003, Dean said "I've resisted pronouncing a sentence before guilt is found. I will have this old-fashioned notion that even with people like Osama, who is very likely to be found guilty, we should do our best not to, in positions of executive power, not to prejudge jury trials."

Similarly, Castro believes the U.S. should have given al-Zarqawi his day in court.

He considers the bombing to be barbarous.

There's something truly bizarre to hear a lecture about barbarism coming from dictator Castro.

Castro and other Lefties loudly condemn the U.S. for killing an enemy in the War on Terror; yet they remain silent about the barbarities of the insurgents in Iraq (AKA Freedom Fighters, according to Michael Moore and Cindy Sheehan).

Videotaped beheadings, for example, don't receive anywhere near the condemnation from Leftists that they reserve for the actions of the U.S. military.

A case in point -- A graphic tape of three beheadings by insurgents surfaced on the Internet Saturday.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Insurgents signaled the fight is still on after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death, posting an Internet video Saturday showing the beheading of three alleged Shiite death squad members in revenge for killing Sunnis.

The video _ as grisly as any the al-Qaida in Iraq leader issued _ was clearly designed to quash hopes that the Sunni-dominated insurgency might change tactics by ending attacks on Shiite civilians and institutions, especially the police.

...It was the first known footage of beheadings to be posted by any insurgent group in months, and possibly timed to make clear to the U.S. and Iraqi governments that there will be no change in tactics even though al-Zarqawi is gone.

With its gruesome killings and militants chanting "Allahu Akbar", or "God is Great," the 15-minute video illustrates the depth of Shiite- Sunni rivalries.

It shows three men in military uniform, sitting on the ground with their hands bound behind their backs in a small concrete room with gunmen standing around them.

Under questioning, the men say they are members of the "Wolf Brigade," a special Iraqi police commando unit that Sunnis accuse of being a front for Shiite militiamen who kill Sunni Arabs.

Text in the video says the three were part of a "Shiite death squad" that kidnapped and killed Sunnis at checkpoints south of Baghdad in March and April. It says they were among 10 police commandos captured by Ansar al-Sunnah last month.

A militant off-camera asks them about the incident and other alleged slayings of Sunnis. The men reply in low voices, looking terrified. One mostly stares with his mouth hanging open.

"They (the Sunnis) were beheaded by those who took and detained them," one of the three says. Next the video shows the three captives lying on the ground outdoors. A militant sharpens a knife before he, with the help of others, beheads the men one by one.

At the end of the tape, the group warns Iraqis against joining the security forces: "Otherwise, you will live in terror until we eliminate you and your fate will be in hell."

How is it that this gruesomeness is ignored by the Left?

Why doesn't Castro speak out against these barbarities?

Without question, there's a double standard at work -- a disgusting, moral relativism.