All's Fair In Love and War?
06/11/06 19:50 |
Personal
So
a tyrant is to be hanged. Yes, after a trial lasting
a year, several different judges and a handful of
dead lawyers, Saddam Hussein has finally been
pronounced guilty and sentenced to death for Crimes
Against Humanity. If his appeal against conviction is
unsuccessful he could be dead within two months and
as I understand it, he could have been facing even
more horrific charges. So why do I not feel
comfortable about any of this? Why when most of the
red top tabloids were celebrating the verdict this
morning was I feeling left out? It is simple; if it
smells rotten it usually is!
At
the end of the first Gulf war General Norman
Schwarzkopf (Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces)
had forced the Iraqis out of Kuwait, beaten all
resistance from their elite Armies and was at the
gates of Baghdad where he would probably have had
Saddam in custody within hours. For some inexplicable
reason he (Schwarzkopf) was stopped and instead was
ordered to negotiate an Iraqi ceasefire resulting in
Saddam being allowed to escape unpunished. Why? We
have never been told, but as sure as eggs is eggs it
is likely to have been for reasons of convenience to
the US administration based thousands of miles away
in the safety of Washington. One could speculate that
perhaps Saddam was still of use to them in some way;
or perhaps they (the US politicians) did not want to
be lumbered with the problem of a highly public trial
where they would be seen as the "bad guys" in the
eyes of the rest of the world. You will notice that I
have been charitable so far in not mentioning
anything about Iraq's oil supplies!
And so life went on for several years until the latest US government - which as we all know is "coincidentally" led by the son of the President in office at the time of the first Gulf War - decided he had intelligence that good old Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and the whole world was at risk. Seeing himself as a "good bloke", Bush The Younger decided to save us all by bludgeoning the UN into handing him a mandate to "liberate" Iraq. While this might sound like an invasion, it was not of course because riding into battle at his side was the good old British Government who had been spun the same story about WMD by it's omnipotent leader Prime Minister Blair.
As we all know, the "liberation of the people of Iraq" was over very quickly by the use of superior technology and a good smattering of bombs. However, although the "war" was easily won the peace has been harder to achieve. The powers that be seem to have forgotten that one man's liberator is another man's army of occupation and of course surprise surprise, the reaction to being occupied er sorry liberated was to resist strongly and at every opportunity. The Americans tend to label anyone who resists their will as a terrorist and so the justification for the occupation shifted to become a war against terrorism. I would though, like to think, that if anyone invaded good old Blighty, I would immediately and actively start resisting and would myself be seen in the eyes of those occupiers as a terrorist!
Saddam was discovered soon after the main hostilities ended hiding at the bottom of a well and once again the US were given the problem of what to do with him. Someone came up with
the
great idea to have him tried by his 'own people'.
That way the US could pull the strings but not get
the blame for his ultimate death, as it would be the
Iraqi's who would be seen to be placing the noose
over Saddam's neck. So despite the protestations of
the outside world and requests for Saddam to be given
a fair trial outside of Iraq - possibly in The Hague
where other Despots and Tyrants have successfully met
justice face to face - the Americans decided they
possessed a far greater wisdom than others and we now
find ourselves with the result they wanted but did
not want to be seen obtaining.
All well and good until I started to think about it and realised that almost as many deaths have occurred since Saddam was deposed as happened during his rule. While the responsibility for these deaths cannot be directly laid at the door of the "liberators" they would do well to at least have a few sleepless nights while they ponder the results of their actions.
If
Saddam is feeling short changed by his verdict he
might be interested to learn that the word Tyrant is
defined in the dictionary as:
a person exercising power in a cruel, unreasonable or arbitrary way and
a ruler who seized power without legal right
Suddenly, it all seemed a bit close to home!!
Hello Mr Saddam I have Messrs Bush and Blair on the line.............!!!
And so life went on for several years until the latest US government - which as we all know is "coincidentally" led by the son of the President in office at the time of the first Gulf War - decided he had intelligence that good old Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and the whole world was at risk. Seeing himself as a "good bloke", Bush The Younger decided to save us all by bludgeoning the UN into handing him a mandate to "liberate" Iraq. While this might sound like an invasion, it was not of course because riding into battle at his side was the good old British Government who had been spun the same story about WMD by it's omnipotent leader Prime Minister Blair.
As we all know, the "liberation of the people of Iraq" was over very quickly by the use of superior technology and a good smattering of bombs. However, although the "war" was easily won the peace has been harder to achieve. The powers that be seem to have forgotten that one man's liberator is another man's army of occupation and of course surprise surprise, the reaction to being occupied er sorry liberated was to resist strongly and at every opportunity. The Americans tend to label anyone who resists their will as a terrorist and so the justification for the occupation shifted to become a war against terrorism. I would though, like to think, that if anyone invaded good old Blighty, I would immediately and actively start resisting and would myself be seen in the eyes of those occupiers as a terrorist!
Saddam was discovered soon after the main hostilities ended hiding at the bottom of a well and once again the US were given the problem of what to do with him. Someone came up with
All well and good until I started to think about it and realised that almost as many deaths have occurred since Saddam was deposed as happened during his rule. While the responsibility for these deaths cannot be directly laid at the door of the "liberators" they would do well to at least have a few sleepless nights while they ponder the results of their actions.
a person exercising power in a cruel, unreasonable or arbitrary way and
a ruler who seized power without legal right
Suddenly, it all seemed a bit close to home!!
Hello Mr Saddam I have Messrs Bush and Blair on the line.............!!!
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