Well, you did a better write up than I would've done. I would've just hit the high points (so to speak) in an executive summary. I thought about taking him the last round and basically flipped a coin and chose Assad.
Yeah, I figured since the weekend was over it was my turn again. I asked and nobody replied, so I went ahead and picked. But I guess I should have waited.
So, to be clear, you get Videla. Do other people need to pick before it's my turn? As far as Videla, I think it's about right that he gets picked in this round. He certainly deserved to be picked, because of the depth of cruelty. But I am glad it waited until this round. I was hoping he (or the junta) wouldn't be picked too early because frankly they don't deserve to be up there with the greatest tyrants of the 20th century. Videla was a rather petty tyrant, who took advantage of the country's chaos to take power, and who operated in secrecy, in darkness and in the shadows, kidnapping people at night and torturing them in secret places, and officially denying that he was doing it. And, as soon as the people got fed up with him and mounted an opposition, he crumbled like a coward paper tyrant and resigned. A great choice at this stage, though.
One time I saw him in person, because our highschool band was participating at a military act in which he was a speaker. This was before all the evil came out, I think it was while Isabelita was still president, but still with my schoolmates we were commenting that the guy looked evil. He had cold eyes and a cold smile, that betrayed the kind of human being that he was, if he can be called a human being.
According to the big board... Matt in the Hat soccernutter peledre YankHibee Well, after you get past the second or third round, it's pretty hard to distinguish between degrees of tyranny. After all, it's easy to pick a Roman emperor, but in their day, were most of them all that bad? You were expected to be brutally oppressive and kill a few uppity peasants, but in the 1970s, 300 years after the Enlightenment? That takes some flair.
True, true. I'm comparing to the other 20th century guys. He qualifies in terms of pure evil, but come on, the guy resigned under pressure from a bunch of old ladies at the plaza and... Jimmy Carter? He should have said, ******** Jimmy, ******** the US! I'm staying in power until I die, I own the army. I'm tired of working in the shadows, I'm taking my soldiers and my tanks and I'm rolling over those ********ing madres de Plaza de Mayo. Then he'd be a worthy first rounder.
Sometime after I pick, damit! I'm thinking of opening a prision in your name, and placing you there...alone! Actually, I would have replied but I did not have access to BS from about 10am (our time) to now. I agree with this thought. The only exception is when ASF starts the round. I think there should be about 24 hours to let everybody get caught up. I've been away from accessing, so I haven't sent out my customary PM at the end of the round. I say wait until tomorrow monring when you pick at the customary time of 8am...I mean 5am.
I'll take our "enlightenment" and raise you a For my next picking, I will steal from INT and take Mullah Mohammed Omar What did he do? Is the leader of the Taliban Was the defacto leader of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 Men were forced to grow beards and avoid non-Islamic haircuts or dress. Cinemas were closed and music banned. Theft was punished by the amputation of a hand Rapist and murderers were punished by public execution. Married adulterers were stoned to death. In Kabul, punishments were carried out in front of crowds in the city's former soccer stadium. Cultural artifacts that were deemed polytheistic were also destroyed including the Buddhas of Bamyan. Did I mention that he had the pervious leader (Najibullah) and his brother hanged.
Looks like it's my turn. I'm going in a different direction. I choose El Patron, Pablo Escobar. Leader of Medellin Cartel he rose to power the traditional tyrant way, by murdering those above him and taking over their positions. As expected, he had many of his political opponents and agitators executed, and imported thousands upon thousands of Kilos of Cocaine into the US. He amassed a fortune of close to $30 bil and was looked on as a hero by many locals for his Robin Hood tendencies.
******** ******** ******** ******** ******** ******** ******** I was sure that nobody would pick this guy...nobody other than me in the next round.
Ok. Soccernutter says I can pick. HO CHI MIN Vietnam Prophetic words, but he sold himself short. As Vietnam was being destroyed, Ho Chi Min remained committed to fighting for its independence and for his communist ideals. His own generals said he would have fought to the last man if necesary, but he died before achieving his final victory. Nevertheless, his victory was achieved, against all odds, against the world's most powerful nation, and at a price too high and horrible to even conceive. His stubborness and unbending will would have allowed no other possible result. By the time of his death, it is estimated that more than three million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians had died, and millions of others fled the country during the war and in its aftermath, most of them braving the ocean in small boats and leaving everything behind but what they could carry with them. Vietnam was victorious, but was left in ruins. Here is a Time Magazine article on Ho Chi Min http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/hochiminh.html
I'm going to be offline Thursday night till Monday night, who should I send my pick list too? Or should I just wait till Monday and make my picks?
Since the others didn't pick, I'm making my "steal" for the 6th round. Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralín Marcos, President of the Philippines from 1965-1986 While in law school, killed an opponent of his father and successfully got himself freed by the Supreme Court. Fought in World War II where he claimed a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star, and a Distinguished Service Cross. Allowed commodity prices to go out of control. Ruled the country under martial law in which thousands were arrested, tortured, and killed. Considered to be behind assassination of Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. He and his family have been accused of looting billions from the state treasury. After his death, a religious group in the country began worshiping him as a god.
For my next pick I'm going to take Lucius Corenlius Sulla. Not the Roman some may have expected me to pick, but his bloodletting and his creativity at it surpasses all other Romans picked thus far. The first Roman official to actually march on Rome, Sulla did so as an elected consul (all of his senior officers refused to join him). He executed a tribune of the plebs immediately upon taking the city and then left on a campaign to the East. Upon his return, he defeated his foes, had hundres of prisoners executed in Rome within hearing of the Senate, threatened to set fire to Rome. After taking the city, he instituted a program of proscriptions pursuant to which thousands were murdered and their heads stuck on pikes in the center of Rome. Caesar was rumored to have been proscribed at one point, but spared. Sulla rewrote the constitution to strip the plebs of nearly all of their powers, instilled very rigid pro-aristocratic provisions and made other certain changes to promote oligarchy. Upon the termination of his office as dictator, he retired to a country villa to indulge in a several year long orgy with men, women, girls and boys, including likely uses of mind altering substances. Sulla also succeeded in erasing nearly all memory of Gaius Marius from Roman life, who was the leading Roman of his day, but Sulla's nemesis.
I suppose he also gets extra credit for taking absolute power at a time when Rome was still a Republic, and for setting precedent for the rule of the Caesars.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You bastard. I mentioned proscriptions early in the thread with every intention of taking Sulla right about now. Read all about him in the Colleen McCullough series 'Masters of Rome. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masters_of_Rome