"But surely, it would make more sense if..."

These words came back to me this morning, as I listened to the news of the homecoming of the mohammed-teddy-bear teacher on the radio. Apparently, the big cheeses who went out to secure her release, were a bit shocked to find that there were others petitioning for a re-trial with a view to getting a harsher sentence. As Lord Ahmed is reported as saying in The Grauniad, "There was clearly division in the regime. There were some who wanted a retrial and editorials in newspapers saying 'shoot this woman'. Others say this is an embarrassment."

"But surely it would make more sense..." was something one would say during the first few weeks in Libya when confronted with another insane bit of logic from the-powers-that-be, (hereinafter, tptb). After a while, you'd stop saying it, and acknowledge illogicality as part of the territory, and enjoy cynical laughter when you heard newbies saying it.

I think it came back to mind because these big cheeses from the House of Lords went to Sudan with a construct of the situation, and were completely scoobied by what they actually found there. To western eyes, things would make more sense if... But you're not in the west, matey.

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