BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraq fails to sell Saddam’s yacht
Whom should one pity? The billionaires whose failing fortunes prevented them from purchasing this ridiculous yacht (equipped with rocket launchers, gold plated amenities and an escape hatch leading to an escape submarine)? Or Saddam Hussein, the original owner of the yacht, who imiserated an entire nation for the privilege of owning this magnificent ship and yet never managed to board it?
The sale of the yacht would have benefited the Iraqi people. In over forty years, they have never suffered any good fortune. They are, perhaps, better off than Rwandans, Congolese and Palestinians, but is the greater suffering of others a legitimate source of relief?
Is it more appropriate to pity billionaires who had once known greater times, or the most wretched of the earth, those who have never known good times? Were it not for the miserable times being suffered by all, there may have been enough sympathy and good will toward mankind left to make the posing of the question relevant. As it is, I truly don’t care, and I’m certain that no other soul on earth does, either.
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