Justice, Revenge, Forgiveness

Carpe Diem Ethiopia has a brilliant posting titled "Revenge: A Dish Best Served with Civility" that is worth your time to read. He discusses the opportunity missed by the Iraqi government to show civility with their bungling of the hanging of Saddam Hussein and compares that with the sentencing of Mengistu Hailemariam and the other Red Terror defendants. He lauds the Ethiopian High Court for the life sentence decision it handed out to the defendants last week, but wonders out loud whether the decision was made for them in the palace for political purposes. Carpe Diem Ethiopia reminds Ethiopians that forgiveness is more powerful than revenge and that the cycle of violence that started with Mengistu must come to an end.