Demagogue

This article in today's Washington Post reports on a Sudanese rebel leader's triumphant return from Kenya, where he had signed a peace treaty with the current Sudanese government.

The rebel leader, John Garang, was greeted at an airport in southern Sudan by well-wishers. A photo that accompanied the article pictured Garang, basking in the welcome as he stepped around a dead cow. The photo's caption reads as follows:

John Garang, top left, leader of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, steps behind a cow that was slaughtered as a peace offering at the Rumbek airport.

Garang told a reporter, "You can see the people are very happy."

Yes, but a fireworks show or a lengthy round of applause might have been a better, less violent way for them to show their happiness. I suppose that suggestion makes me an insensitive, western-centric pig.*

* To everyone, that is, but the members of PETA.