Once hailed as a pioneering effort to wipe out corruption, critics now say it depicts a security apparatus run amok: framing victims, extracting confessions through torture, extorting business empires and visiting retribution on the political rivals of Mr. Bo and his friends while protecting those with better connections.
"Beersheba", a simple revenge story of retribution visited upon a lout who once engaged in bad behaviour, is a perfect example of the futility of trying to breathe life into a cliché.
The retribution visited upon the suspect, Yousif Salih Fahad al-Ayeeri, known by a nom de guerre translated by the Saudis as Swift Sword, was hailed in Saudi Arabia as a significant blow to the Qaeda network in the country and proof that the Saudi authorities were willing to bring the war on terrorism home.
Mr. Von Erck lives in an apartment in Portland, Ore., but rarely gives out his address, and he would not allow a reporter to visit because he feared retribution from men exposed by his group.
No similar retribution can be visited on private billionaires who decide to place ads themselves.
The desire for retribution has been visited on tobacco companies, who have been slapped with staggering "punitive damages".
When difficult times came, he said, "the electorate will have marked our card indelibly, and retribution will be visited upon us".Portentous stuff.
Mr O'Connor was freed only after fellow dissidents armed with rifles visited leading Provisional IRA volunteers and threatened retribution unless he was immediately released.
It might have been Vieira whom Bolton's supporters were booing, or upon whom Kevin Nolan came visiting with a body check in retribution.
The less savory side of all this was the retribution — often bloody, sometimes lethal — visited on operatives and finks less lucky than I.
He was twice visited in his office by Hamilton, who promised retribution against The Tabor City Tribune and its advertisers.
