A Collection of Writings
"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you."
Friedrich Nietzsche 19th Century German Philosopher.
Just to be awkward, I prefer the old New Year, the day after the Winter Solstice, around the 22nd of December. And to be even more curmudgeonly, I like to think of Spring as starting on St. Valentine's Day, February 14th. Which has nothing whatsoever to do with the present state of nations, but does point out how out-of-step I appear to be with current thinking and attitudes. Which is why I am surprised to find myself in step with the majority of world-wide opinion.
Saddam Hussein's execution, if you can still call it that, is a travesty of justice. War President Bush declared openly when Saddam was captured that the Iraqi dictator would hang. And hang he did. In a Good Ol' Boy Texas style lynching. Which says more about the lynch mob, America, Britain and the Iraqis, than any desire for justice.
Why was it handled so badly? There is not a shadow of doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein was a monster. I have been told this repeatedly since the time he carried out an experiment with poison gas which, incidentally, he received from the Americans. I'm sure it was a misunderstanding. The US probably thought that he had an overwhelming infestation of vermin and gave it to him with the best of intentions. After all, at that time, Saddam was one of the shining lights in the Middle East and supported by both the USA and Britain.
So it seems a little bewildering that his trial, with murders of officials and the non-musical chairs of judges, was rushed through and a verdict of death announced, before the Iraqi Dictator could be tried for other, more open and shut cases. Was it because there was fear in some quarters that evidence might emerge that revealed things which should remain cloistered? Was this, indeed, the reason that the farce of justice administered by a proscribed Iraqi court was favoured over what would have been more proper, and possibly more legal, trial by international judge and jury in a court of law outside the jurisdiction of the Coalition Forces. Please, no feeble argument that the Iraqi court was sovereign and not in thrall to the administration of the US led invasion.
It is thought provoking to think that the Golden Age of Greece lasted for roughly two hundred years (500-300 BC) and then, through the inability of the two great nation states, Athens and Sparta, to rub along together went into a decline and never recovered its former glory. The Romans then became rulers of the known world. They lasted for roughly five hundred years and bred their own destruction in stupid internecine wars and corruption. Spain were the next to pick up the baton. In the 16th and 17th centuries they were the tops. They took control of the biggest Empire the world had ever known. By the beginning to the 19th century, Spain was a spent force and could do nothing to stem the growth of the British Empire, which for three hundred years spread its nationals across the globe in the belief that they were saving the world from falling into the hands of the devil.
Then came World War 1. England fought itself to a standstill and were then joined by the Americans who performed the coup de grace on the enemy. Britain, weary of war, and facing bankruptcy, tried to keep a lid on the fester pots of Europe for twenty years but were then forced into a war they didn't want and for which they were not prepared.
The Brits had made a pact with Poland to come to its defence if its borders were invaded by an enemy. That Quixotic gesture ensured that the British Empire would fall apart. The USA stood on the sidelines and fed the British war machine with weapons to ensure it would stay in the fight. America, in the depth of a Depression with a 'Buddy will you spare a dime' mentality, was suddenly booming. As European cities were razed to the ground, the US stood back and waited for the protagonists to exhaust themselves.
When it became obvious that Hitler had made a major error in taking on Russia, the USA stepped in once more. By now it was obvious that Europe would be a long time recovering from the massive efforts the various countries had made and the destruction they had suffered. Roosevelt had triumphed through the tried and trusted rule of Divide and Conquer. Stood back to see which way the winds of war were blowing, before stepping in on the side which seemed the least likely to lose.
The Americans' timing was immaculate. It only needed a cunning under ploy to assure that Britain and its Empire would not rise from the rubble of Europe. Desperate for money to keep going, Britain had to accept the idea of Lease-lend or go under. That single event guaranteed that America, unsullied by enemy bombs and with brand new factories which could easily be turned to peace time employment, would come out of the European conflagration as top-dog.
Maybe that sounds cynical. I think it is meant to be. But it is how the world turns and the British, with their overcrowded island and dependence on the Empire faded as the Empire faded. Hitler had predicated a Thousand Year Reich. America looked set to have the makings of an Eternal Empire.
For a while they had to pull their horns in. Russia stood large and menacing, countering every American move. Then the Soviets imploded, leaving America supreme. Everybody loved America. It had everything that other nations aspired to. But then they caught the Roman Disease. They began to think that they could exist without the rest of the world. That what they thought was right - was right!
Then to compound the folly, the nation which could have been the new Utopia got War President Bush. The principle of 'Divide and Rule' was disregarded when the War President declared those who opposed him, particularly in the Middle East, an Axis of Evil. With one stroke Bush gave the squabbling nations a common identity. A few incautious words for which the rest of the world will have to pay. The USA, which had appeared to be the beginning of an Eternal Metropolis at the beginning of the 21st Century, was revealed as a nation that had believed its own publicity, believed they were what they saw on the silver screen. A nation feeding on its own hubris.
It is not a good time for the most powerful nation in the world to appear to have lost its way. China is out there with a massive population and an exploding economy. Then there is Brazil. A country sitting on the US doorstep, but with no great love for what America stands for. What about Russia? The West was the enemy for so long that it is silly to think that no animosity remains in Putin's democratic Giant.
War President Bush has stirred the pot, but has no idea what he is making. Impeaching a President leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. So does hanging one. Saddam has gone, taking with him any faith in the justice system that America loves to brag about. Perhaps there needs to be more sacrifice. If the War President was slung out it would show the rest of the world that American Justice is for real. At the moment it is only for the victors. The American Empire looks decidedly dodgy. It could be struggling to last out the Century.