View this link:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/article5348745.ece

The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoe at President Bush was recently beaten and tortured by the police, which the Times Online UK heralds as a great achievement for democracy. To quote Lenin from Lenin’s Tomb:

It claims that the protest “demonstrated how far Iraq has come”, and that Iraqis “have learnt to enjoy freedom of expression.” It would be redundant to go through all the ways in which this disgusting reverie constitutes both a moral and intellectual insult. But one has to wonder: if a Times journalist was bleeding internally, with broken ribs and a smashed arm after suffering a severe beating by police, would its leader column be waxing wistful and ironical about ‘imperfect’ freedom?

I wonder how long it will take before our own government begins referring to Guantanamo Bay as a case of “imperfect” freedom?