RIP - December 30, 2006
It's over. Saddam Hussain has been executed. The news channels inform you that he was tried and executed for the mass murder of 180 odd people of a certain village where he escaped an assassination.
I'm no fan of the man, but somehow his death in this manner was most disturbing. Call him a despot, dictator what you will but the people who consigned him to this death are no less. Singularly the American president has become the biggest bully, despot, mass murderer, psychopath and every other vile term that comes to mind.
The American presidents of old were men of principles, and they were led by Abraham Lincoln who immortalized the fundamental principle of patriotism in the line “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. Today American presidents have decided that they will determine the destiny of other nations and they will unilaterally decide what “other nations will do in exchange for what they choose to do there”.
If history is a teacher, then the silly American presidents have not learnt their lessons. The Second World War was won with brute force. A decision to bomb two towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by Harry Truman has gone down as an acceptable act of war, because it was done by the Americans, the saviours of the world. I’m sure if the same bomb was launched by the Axis powers on any of the Allied nations then we would have had another mass murderer. Why judge Hitler and Truman on different yardsticks?
Strange are the kind of double standards we live with, America has the biggest stockpile of nuclear weapons and has been the only nation to use it in an act of war and yet nobody condemns them. I suppose even a small portion of their arsenal would suffice to decimate the world but yet they choose to retain such huge arsenals. And the hue and cry that is raised when any of the aspiring nuclear nations try to develop their nuclear expertise is appalling. India among others was till date treated like a nuclear pariah till the supposedly “ground breaking”, “earth shattering” agreement with the US was signed recently. I do not know the gist of the treaty but knowing how the American presidency works, I’m sure it is loaded unfavourably towards India.
Vietnam, Korea, Cuba, Somalia, (well actually what is known is a few what is unknown is numerous) are some of the countries where the American president over the years has been humiliated over the years for his follies. The stories are all similar and they have the same sickening end after a stupid unpardonable entry into the country by brute force, the Goliath is always slayed by David with the contemporary equivalents of a slingshot and pebbles. Goliath is so shocked that he cannot beat a quick retreat and he is so big when he falls he causes greater damage. However the price of the collective follies of the American presidents is paid by the poor unsuspecting civilians who are wounded, maimed and often killed. They are often reduced to an insignificant statistic with a glorified term “collateral damage”.
The massacre of the innocents is probably the worst possible crimes committed against humanity and their spin offs including lawlessness, riots, starvation, poverty, diseases etc etc the visuals of which are the staple of most news channels are born from that space between the two ears of the American president. He is a criminal and the blood of so many innocents is on his hand.
At the risk of sounding stone hearted, the 9/11 incident did not deserve the kind of public outrage that it got. The incident was yet another bombing in a city, however the media blew it up and the fact that the crime was done in America made it the mother of all crimes. I’m sure that the world would not have blinked an eyelid if the same happened elsewhere. Bombay has suffered worse and will the world give the same knee jerk reaction to those explosions?
9/11 was but David’s answer to what Goliath had done in David’s town. It is said that “As you sow, so shall you reap”. I was pained at the extent of collateral damage that the people suffered there but surely the reactions could have been discounted by at least 80%. The Al Quaeda is protesting with the weapons at their disposal to defend the rights of their people . But they are not americans, they are muslims so they are terrorists, american backed gunmen are "freedom fighters". We see enough similar incidents where the comparative factor should be the number of lives lost, irrespective of the colour, race or nationality. Are Americans, God’s gift to humanity and the others children of a lesser God?
It will be grossly unfair to condemn the president alone for this, the rest of the world has approved of this big bully attitude and have fallen in line because they benefit from it. They get aid, they get technology, they get the friendship of the big brother etc so they turn a blind eye to every excess committed. The price they pay, the loss of their self respect. The pariahs of the world who stand up to the American hegemony are victimized, sanctioned, condemned, invaded and if given a chance executed. Now that Saddam has gone, Bush Jr. will surely get bored and will have to start on a new adventure. Iran looks like a good target and the fanatic Ahamed Jinad looks like a good punching bag, then there is always the favourite Kim of Noth Korea. So there is more excitement in store for Bush.
I read some where that Bush is devout Christian. I fail to understand whether Christianity is different in America, for Christ came to speak of love and universal brotherhood. Surely he must have heard “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and he and his predecessors will have been taught “Love thy God with all you heart, with all your mind and love thy neighbour as yourself”. I suspect that in their busy schedule to save their world they had little time to save themselves.
The American president today is a bully but his true nature can be seen as compared to their national emblem the bald eagle:
“It is said the eagle was used as a national emblem (of America) because, at one of the first battles of the Revolution (which occurred early in the morning) the noise of the struggle awoke the sleeping eagles on the heights and they flew from their nests and circled about over the heads of the fighting men, all the while giving vent to their raucous cries. "They are shrieking for Freedom," said the patriots. Thus the eagle, full of the boundless spirit of freedom, living above the valleys, strong and powerful in his might, became the national emblem of a country that offers (sic) freedom in word and thought and an opportunity for a full and free expansion into the boundless space of the future – From the internet.
However this can be seen in true perspective in the words of Benjamin Franklin who said
“ I wish that the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country, he is a bird of bad moral character, he does not get his living honestly, you may have seen him perched on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing-hawk, and when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to its nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes it from him.... Besides he is a rank coward; the little kingbird, not bigger than a sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest. . . of America.. . . For a truth, the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America . . . a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards, who should presume to invade his farmyard with a red coat on.”
At the advent of a new year, I pray for the departed soul of Saddam, may he be forgiven his sins, for all those who suffer from dictators, despots, wars, etc and for the perpetrators of the same. May God give bless and heal them.
I'm no fan of the man, but somehow his death in this manner was most disturbing. Call him a despot, dictator what you will but the people who consigned him to this death are no less. Singularly the American president has become the biggest bully, despot, mass murderer, psychopath and every other vile term that comes to mind.
The American presidents of old were men of principles, and they were led by Abraham Lincoln who immortalized the fundamental principle of patriotism in the line “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. Today American presidents have decided that they will determine the destiny of other nations and they will unilaterally decide what “other nations will do in exchange for what they choose to do there”.
If history is a teacher, then the silly American presidents have not learnt their lessons. The Second World War was won with brute force. A decision to bomb two towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by Harry Truman has gone down as an acceptable act of war, because it was done by the Americans, the saviours of the world. I’m sure if the same bomb was launched by the Axis powers on any of the Allied nations then we would have had another mass murderer. Why judge Hitler and Truman on different yardsticks?
Strange are the kind of double standards we live with, America has the biggest stockpile of nuclear weapons and has been the only nation to use it in an act of war and yet nobody condemns them. I suppose even a small portion of their arsenal would suffice to decimate the world but yet they choose to retain such huge arsenals. And the hue and cry that is raised when any of the aspiring nuclear nations try to develop their nuclear expertise is appalling. India among others was till date treated like a nuclear pariah till the supposedly “ground breaking”, “earth shattering” agreement with the US was signed recently. I do not know the gist of the treaty but knowing how the American presidency works, I’m sure it is loaded unfavourably towards India.
Vietnam, Korea, Cuba, Somalia, (well actually what is known is a few what is unknown is numerous) are some of the countries where the American president over the years has been humiliated over the years for his follies. The stories are all similar and they have the same sickening end after a stupid unpardonable entry into the country by brute force, the Goliath is always slayed by David with the contemporary equivalents of a slingshot and pebbles. Goliath is so shocked that he cannot beat a quick retreat and he is so big when he falls he causes greater damage. However the price of the collective follies of the American presidents is paid by the poor unsuspecting civilians who are wounded, maimed and often killed. They are often reduced to an insignificant statistic with a glorified term “collateral damage”.
The massacre of the innocents is probably the worst possible crimes committed against humanity and their spin offs including lawlessness, riots, starvation, poverty, diseases etc etc the visuals of which are the staple of most news channels are born from that space between the two ears of the American president. He is a criminal and the blood of so many innocents is on his hand.
At the risk of sounding stone hearted, the 9/11 incident did not deserve the kind of public outrage that it got. The incident was yet another bombing in a city, however the media blew it up and the fact that the crime was done in America made it the mother of all crimes. I’m sure that the world would not have blinked an eyelid if the same happened elsewhere. Bombay has suffered worse and will the world give the same knee jerk reaction to those explosions?
9/11 was but David’s answer to what Goliath had done in David’s town. It is said that “As you sow, so shall you reap”. I was pained at the extent of collateral damage that the people suffered there but surely the reactions could have been discounted by at least 80%. The Al Quaeda is protesting with the weapons at their disposal to defend the rights of their people . But they are not americans, they are muslims so they are terrorists, american backed gunmen are "freedom fighters". We see enough similar incidents where the comparative factor should be the number of lives lost, irrespective of the colour, race or nationality. Are Americans, God’s gift to humanity and the others children of a lesser God?
It will be grossly unfair to condemn the president alone for this, the rest of the world has approved of this big bully attitude and have fallen in line because they benefit from it. They get aid, they get technology, they get the friendship of the big brother etc so they turn a blind eye to every excess committed. The price they pay, the loss of their self respect. The pariahs of the world who stand up to the American hegemony are victimized, sanctioned, condemned, invaded and if given a chance executed. Now that Saddam has gone, Bush Jr. will surely get bored and will have to start on a new adventure. Iran looks like a good target and the fanatic Ahamed Jinad looks like a good punching bag, then there is always the favourite Kim of Noth Korea. So there is more excitement in store for Bush.
I read some where that Bush is devout Christian. I fail to understand whether Christianity is different in America, for Christ came to speak of love and universal brotherhood. Surely he must have heard “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and he and his predecessors will have been taught “Love thy God with all you heart, with all your mind and love thy neighbour as yourself”. I suspect that in their busy schedule to save their world they had little time to save themselves.
The American president today is a bully but his true nature can be seen as compared to their national emblem the bald eagle:
“It is said the eagle was used as a national emblem (of America) because, at one of the first battles of the Revolution (which occurred early in the morning) the noise of the struggle awoke the sleeping eagles on the heights and they flew from their nests and circled about over the heads of the fighting men, all the while giving vent to their raucous cries. "They are shrieking for Freedom," said the patriots. Thus the eagle, full of the boundless spirit of freedom, living above the valleys, strong and powerful in his might, became the national emblem of a country that offers (sic) freedom in word and thought and an opportunity for a full and free expansion into the boundless space of the future – From the internet.
However this can be seen in true perspective in the words of Benjamin Franklin who said
“ I wish that the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country, he is a bird of bad moral character, he does not get his living honestly, you may have seen him perched on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing-hawk, and when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to its nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes it from him.... Besides he is a rank coward; the little kingbird, not bigger than a sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest. . . of America.. . . For a truth, the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America . . . a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards, who should presume to invade his farmyard with a red coat on.”
At the advent of a new year, I pray for the departed soul of Saddam, may he be forgiven his sins, for all those who suffer from dictators, despots, wars, etc and for the perpetrators of the same. May God give bless and heal them.
The saddam story is very upsetting along with the local news of what happened to the 11 yr old Arvind in Chennai and all the innocent lives in Noida, Delhi... Last year need not necessarily have ended in a ghastly manner!
ReplyDeletecoming to the international story! thats how its treated by the media... firstly im strictly opposed to capital punishment going by the catholic doctrine that however evil the other person is you have no right to judge or condemn saying he/she is never going to be a new leaf turned over, worse kill the person as punishment!!! if God had to punish people in such a manner, the earth will be filled with corpses.... for the bible says not one us is righteous in simple terms without sin...EXCEPT HIM who came to die for our sins...
and if we claim to be immaculate we are LIARS! and the if they say(Americans) that saddam was guilty of innocent lives... what are they then, killing their own soldiers for their own whim and fancies?!
all said and done they (Americans)will continue to do their brotherly job faithfully to our woes... they only thing left for us is pray and HOPE this Christmas Season that things will change for better and amicable living on this BLUE planet.