If by my title you think this is a screed against the imminent invasion of Iraq by the Americans and as many allies as they can muster, then you are wrong. I support it. Unless of course Saddam Hussein turns over a complete new leaf, cries “Uncle!” and comes up with all his weapons of mass destruction. Alas, I don’t think that’s going to happen. Nor do I think he’ll go into voluntary exile or allow himself to be assassinated before the “balloon goes up”.
I have to say, this is not a view shared by many in my circle of friends, who appear to be against the war under almost any circumstances. In fact, shrinking violet that I am, I usually keep mum on the subject.
But am I alone in finding this a bit strange?
Saddam Hussein is a cold-blooded and sadistic killer who maintains his rule in the most brutal manner imaginable. He has invaded his neighbors twice already at the expense of millions of lives, gassed almost 100,000 hapless Kurds, and for over the past 15 years sought to arm himself with nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. Does anyone really believe he wouldn’t have used nuclear blackmail to maintain his occupation of Kuwait if he could have? Does anyone seriously maintain that he has now destroyed all his nasty weaponry, as several UN resolutions and the Gulf War ceasefire requires him to do? If Iraq under Saddam succeeds in going nuclear sooner or later there will be a war using them. Far better get rid of him now.
In my view Tony Blair is right on the button. Whatever his domestic politics, on this he is a man of principle and better yet, he can actually string a sentence or two together. He actually knows where abroad is. Everytime I see Dubya on TV I just cringe. How on earth could over 80% of Americans ever support such a man? With those squinty narrow eyes, pointy boots , lone star buckle belts and a cowboy hat, who thinks sincerity is something you get out of a TV teleprompter. Despite what he does to the English language I don’t think he is a stupid man, but “best and brightest”? No way! He smacks of preppy bullyboy playing good ‘ol boy macho. How did an honest-to-God patrician like Poppy who, whatever you thought of his politics, you knew was a gent and had had a “good war”, ever produce a kid like that?
A Scary Crew.....
And worse, just look at the people around him. Now that’s really scary. Cheney seems to me a deeply sinister character, head of a sleazy cabal who’ve hijacked the nation and put it in the pocket of Big Biz under the cover of all the excitement of 9/11 and Iraq. As for that “sex object” Rummy, God help us! He wouldn’t know what a softball was if it bounced up and bit him on the perineum. And the one that really gives me the willies is John Ashcroft. My blood runs cold when I see this guy. One look at that baleful and malignant face and you know you’re in the presence of the Witchfinder General. America executes more criminals than almost any country in the world except China and Ashcroft is a man on a mission to make the US No.1. The only senior figure in the entire administration with any gravitas or apparent sense of integrity seems to be Colin Powell. Other than that - What an Awful Crew!
How did America come to this? Where did America go?
How do the religious bigots and Big Biz get to run the nation, or at least appear to, all whipped on by that godawful Fox TV? (I just knew letting that Rupert Murdoch become an American citizen was a BIG mistake). How can Americans sit back approvingly, while a handsome and hard won surplus is turned in a twinkling into a huge deficit and a looming recession, the rich get massive tax relief, the middle class get squeezed and the poor poorer; as the nation’s civil liberties are trampled and the healthcare system destroyed, the environment ransacked and polluted? And all the while, they say it ain’t so.......If I was an American, I’d be embarrassed........
Come Back Bill......!
God I miss Clinton! And Hillary. Great team. If only that stiff Gore had had the smarts to listen to a political master we’d probably be in a better place right now. Whatever bargain Hill & Bill may have struck way back when, you knew at heart they were good democratic 60’s folk, smart as pins, consummate politicians. Whatever political fudges they had to make along the way, you still believed their hearts were essentially in the right place and they wanted to make a better world for everyone. Their attempt to make over the US healthcare system was truly a brave act, but a bridge too far. A penchant for trailer trash and pudgy interns is none of our dam’ business. Anyway, my guess is that was part of the deal. If he’d have laid a finger on anything remotely classy she’d have had his guts for garters.
I just don’t get it. I’ve spent a lot of time in America over the years, not just on either coast - middle & mountain too, and always had lots of American pals outside the US, but none of them, I swear, could ever be a George W. Bush Jr supporter. I like most Americans. So how come I never met a John Ashcroft or the other half of the nation, who all think Dubya’s a born again dream? Maybe I just mix in the right circles........
I don’t just miss the Clintons. but I’ve a sneaky respect for Poppy and the Gipper too. And Carter, such a dear man. If pushed, I’ll admit to a fair dose of nostalgia for the good old days of East Coast Waspy/Jewish Liberal, even Irish, co-rule. There, that dates me. How did the word “liberal” ever become such a dirty word in America that almost nobody uses it except as an insult?
Evolve! Taking a Long View?
I have a lot of respect too, for the folk who truly think through the philosophy of Ghandian non-violence. I don’t suppose that even they would say it would have worked as it did in India against a Stalin or a Hitler as opposed to a British raj, which however brutal in practice, was ultimately accountable to some sense of humanity and the rule of law. I reckon the only way the principle of non-violence can stack up is if you are working on a very long time-frame. I mean millennia, I mean evolutionary. Are my “peace at any price” friends really on for that? I don’t think so. My guess is that in their heart of hearts, apart from any sense of avoidance or appeasement that may be going on, they believe that since peace is a “good thing”, then good must prevail. Yes, it may. But what if it’s 20 years down the pike and at the cost of 20 million lives?
Violence, death, crime and all manner of bad things go on in this world. We know that. Life itself is based on doing violence. What do most of us eat? Our immune systems are savagely effective, killing anything they see as an “outsider”, no questions asked, no quarter given. That is nature, and that is where we are from. But we have evolved and continue to evolve. Based on the numbers of people killed it may not look like it, but we are. In olden days our rulers were no more that high-born thugs. If you weren’t, you didn’t last. A good king was a thug who possessed other qualities, a bad king was just a thug. Stalin may have killed more people than Genghis Khan but he was a communist and to the extent that he believed in that, he believed in an eventual greater good for humanity. The Great Khan said, “there is no greater joy for a man, than to kill his enemy , take his treasure and sleep with his wives”. So you see, we’ve come a long way.
Right decision, Wrong Man.....
I do hope I am not misjudging George Bush Jr. just because I don’t like the cut of his jib. They say he’s really sincere about all this and he believes he’s doing God’s work. Right or not, society, any society, will seek to protect itself against what it sees as threatening. That’s the way it is. If you, as a long-haired, psychotropically-crazed radical, serially-relating, and sexually liberated HIV-positive gay New Yorker, went and lived in a small town in the deep South and started hitting on the locals, you might expect some kind of reaction from the society around you, mightn’t you? The world evolves at it’s own pace and if things get too out of whack some re-alignment happens, whether we want it to or not.
So I reckon Dubya’s right to go in. I just don’t think he’s up to it. I distrust his Manichean view of the world, I think he went about it all in a way that could not be more calculated to alienate his allies, I don’t think he’s got a clue as to the complexities of what he’s set in train, nor do I trust him to stick around for the cleaning-up afterward if any lasting good is going to come out of this. And, I can’t believe the Great American People voted a man like this into office and foisted him on the rest of us!
By the time you get to read this, the shit may have already hit the fan. Or if not, failing a miracle, anytime soon. In which case let’s just pray that it’s quick and as bloodless as can be. After that, while it may be overly optimistic to expect peace, love and democracy to blossom overnight in the Middle East (at least it’s not a mushroom cloud) let us hope we can then all get back to our evolving as best we may.
“ One look at that baleful and malignant face and you know you’re in the presence of the Witchfinder General. America executes more criminals than almost any country except China and Ashcroft is a man on a mission to make the US No.1”.
