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This war has been and still is the worst war in history and I will tell you why. Firstly, by now humanity should have learned from history a few things. Supposedly we learned that taking an Aboriginal child away from its mother and family, as they did in the 50's and 60's, is not only harmful to the child, but a downright disgrace to human rights. Not to mention the appalling things that befell those poor children.
As in war, some things never change. People are sent by others to kill and maim fellow human beings. "What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world." Robert E. Lee, in a letter to his wife, 1864
Another famous saying: "The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science without humanity; and worship without sacrifice." Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi
I do have great admiration for Gandhi, however I do not agree with his last statement. I do not believe there is a need to 'worship' anything or anyone. And sacrifice isn't always beneficial to one's soul. There are times when sacrifice is necessary and times when it is not. A wise person knows the difference.
In every war there is an aggressor (the bully) and a receiver of that aggression, (the victim). Back in the days of colonisation, Governments sent their best to conquer land at any cost. That was at a cost to themselves and to their victims. They plundered and pillaged, raped and killed, all for the sake of greed. None of these acts were legal in their own country, perpetrated by an individual. To this day, nothing has changed in that regard.
What has changed is the sophistication of weaponry. No one has explained to me why Iraq can not, by International Law, have weapons of mass destruction, but the United States can. I have written several letters, including to Prime Minister John Howard and the United Nations, asking this same question. So far no one has seen fit to reply. The same goes for torture. Saddam Hussein was a monster, was he not? What was he a known as a monster for? Was it not for torture and for the killing of men, women and children? Or was it for something that I have not heard about? Yet the very same people who derided him for these things, are doing those very same things, by order of their Government. You know very well who I am talking about.
Ever since Sen. John McCain's (Republican-AZ) amendment, outlawing torture was passed in the Senate by an overwhelming majority, the Bush administration has been doing its best to prevent it from becoming law. Dick Cheney has repeatedly visited Capitol Hill trying to get it toned down; insisting that at least some government agents should be authorized to torture people. Now the struggle is coming to a head.
ABC On-line News Australia *European govts almost certainly knew that The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was using European airspace and airports to transport terror suspects to other countries, a report says. Swiss MP Dick Marty is heading the investigation into alleged secret CIA prisons in Europe. He has presented a report to Europe's human rights watchdog. In the report he accuses the United States of "outsourcing" torture. He also says it is highly unlikely European governments would not have been aware that the CIA was using their airspace and airports to fly terror suspects to other countries. Human Rights Watch spokesman John Sifton agrees. "A lot of people now think that the UK Government quite likely knew quite a bit about secret renditions that were taking place," he said. Mr. Marty says 100 people have recently been affected by "rendition" - the practice of transporting prisoners to countries where they may be tortured. The United States admits picking up terrorism suspects but denies sending them to secret prisons where they can be tortured. The United States says it does not condone the use of torture.
The United States, has for years thought itself beyond reproach, beyond International Law and beyond punitive justice. When I was working in Vietnam during the war in the late 60's and early 70's, the GI's would say that they were "going back to the world" when they derosed. Often, when I told a GI that I was from Australia, they had never heard of it. It proves how insular many Americans can be; they consider their country an island, surrounded by nothing else of importance.
As much as I despise Saddam Hussein's purported regime, I can not see that he is any worse than many, many other Heads of State. That includes George W Bush, Bush senior and any leader who sanctions torture in any way shape or form, to either civilians or military personnel. Second to that, the use of weapons of mass destruction, including cluster bombs on Iraq by America, is in my opinion much, much worse than anything Saddam Hussein was purported to have done. Let's say he did what he is purported to have done to the Kurds, couldn't he justify his actions? We may not be able to justify it, but he did. Similarly, George Bush justifies his actions in the very same way. Honorable and wise persons can not justify his actions. I am mystified as to how George Bush and his family can attend church services as Christians, when one of the Ten Commandments is: Thou Shalt Not Kill.
The Question I am asking is :Why doesn't the ordinary person in the street understand this? How can they possibly think that the US Government is doing the right thing? Are so many people so very, very ignorant? Has the average citizen been brainwashed by the media, who has acted irresponsibly in order to gain from backing any incumbent government? And lastly, how unconscionable is it that the mainstream media can behave in this way? Why do we have to go to Websites that risk persecution to get to the truth? In 2003 I had 11 Websites, 10 of them were about the war on Iraq and about my government and the US Government. One was a spiritual site called Lightworker. The Lightworker Website is still floating around, even though I haven't up-loaded anything for 3 years. Neither have I registered it on any Search Engines. I stumbled upon it the other day. The other 10 were all shut down in 2003, either by the US Government, or by my own. I lost two Domains and two paid Web Hosting. The others were on free sites. After a while I was banned from up-loading to any free site. I was never told I was banned, but I was unable to FTP. The US Government will remove people who oppose their regime. I hope you know what I mean, when I say 'remove'. A friend of mine spoke out about the Iran-Contra affair at a rally. He said that he had proof that The CIA was 'drug running' and 'arms smuggling'. He was arrested on trumped up charges and jailed for 6 years. This is a spiritual and sensitive man whose only desire was to tell the truth. When he got out of jail, within 3 days 'they' tried to kill him by sabotaging his car. All in all, 3 attempts were made on his life. Have you noticed that all whistle blowers are treated poorly and worse? This is not just in America, this also happens in Australia and The UK.
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