DICTATORS ON PARADE: Parade has published David Wallechinsky’s list of the Top 10 worst living dictators:
1) Kim Jong Il – North Korea (Age 61, in power since 1994)
2) King Fahd & Crown Prince Abdullah – Saudi Arabia (Ages 80 & 79, in power since 1982 & 1995, respectively)
3) Saddam Hussein – Iraq (Age 65, in power since 1979)
4) Charles Taylor – Liberia (Age 55, in power since 1997)
5) Than Shwe – Burma (Age 70, in power since 1992)
6) Teodoro Obiang Nguema – Equatorial Guinea (Age 60, in power since 1979).
7) Saparmurad Niyazov – Turkmenistan (Age 62, in power since 1990)
8) Muammar al-Qaddafi – Libya (Age 60, in power since 1969)
9) Fidel Castro – Cuba (Age 76, in power since 1959)
10) Alexander Lukashenko – Belarus (Age 48, in power since 1994)
As RCP notes, though, the “list is based solely on human-rights abuses. If you take the list and cross-reference it with respect to those dictators who pose the greatest threat to US national security and assisting potential terrorists, the list would change to include Iran – probably at the number two slot – as well as Yemen. Syria, Sudan and Libya would move up the list, displacing Liberia, Burma and Equatorial Guinea. In the end, you’d be left with (GASP!) the Axis of Evil and a host of smaller Arab countries that have both atrocious human rights records and a soft spot for militant Islamists.”
Indeed. And it should be noted that neither George W. Bush nor John Ashcroft made the list. (via RCP via Hit and Run)
