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Things I read in the New York Times this morning:

The man known as Chemical Ali for his role in gassing villages in northern Iraq stood up and identified himself as “the fighter, Ali Hassan Al Majeed” today, during the first day of the trial for his role in suppressing the 1991 uprising in the south of the country…

He and some of his 14 co-defendants adamantly protested their innocence as their trial began, and at one point several lapsed into a diatribe that prompted the Iraqi judge to cut them off. They are charged with four counts of crimes against humanity: willful murder, persecution, torture and what amounts to unjust imprisonment.

Things I read in The Onion last week:

Calling last December’s execution of Saddam Hussein “anticlimactic,” White House officials announced Monday their intention to hang the late Iraqi dictator again this year in an attempt to garner a more favorable response from the public.

“We’re really looking for something that will refocus the American people’s attention on all the positive aspects of this war,” White House press secretary Tony Snow said. “We were counting on the death of this brutal despot—who, by the way, gassed his own people and was just like Hitler—to be a major media event for us. Instead, we wasted three or four great news days at a time when we really could have used a few high points.”

Beyond parody.

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