Dr Johnson in Baghdad
Samuel Johnson made many pithy statements, but none was more succinct and accurate than this: "Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully." Proof of the timelessness of the good doctor's dictum came today in Baghdad when the condemned Saddam Hussein declared: "I call on all Iraqis, Arabs and Kurds, to forgive, reconcile and shake hands." It's a bit late for the bloodstained dictator to start showing remorse and reason, but every attempt to halt the senseless internecine killing in Iraq is welcome.
As Saddam prepares to meet his fate, he might dwell upon another of Samuel Johnson's wise sayings: "It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time."
