A reason I hate my government.
Onto a more serious note now. This is not fiction or something funny.
Hours leading into the official start of the Iraq War in March of 2003, I remembered having a heated debate between my manager and myself over whether we should give the government of Iraq an ultimatum before dropping waves of bombs onto innocent civilians.
We were at a client site, in the midst of a huge project that was about to go live. Naturally, the client provided us access to news coverage around the clock while we worked 12 hour shifts.
My manager at the time, like so many ill-informed and narrow-minded Americans, wanted to just go into Iraq and "bomb their asses." It had been a year and a half and no progress has been made into capturing Osama bin Laden, the known perpetrator behind 9/11. Somehow America was jaded into believing that Saddam Hussein was involved in the terrorism against the United States, and that a preemptive strike would solve the problem and make the world a safer place to live.
Fast forward to today. It has been years now, and we now know W. Bush lied. Close to 3,000 innocent Americans have died in Iraq, and countless Iraqi civilians perished. "We have to stay the course." Focus of the war no longer became a preemptive strike against a nation who had "proven" intentions of using its weapons of mass destruction against us. It shifted over to justifying the war because President Hussein was a monster and terrorized his own people and those of neighboring nations. Never mind the fact that our government provided many of the tools to facilitate his actions, while we turned a blind eye in the past.
It has never been about principles. It has always been about what we can get out of a situation. Much like we used, and endorsed, the Taliban to further our own agenda. And like we used and endorsed Saddam Hussein for similar purposes in the mideast. Now we are in Iraq because we needed to tap into their oil preserves, a surefire guarantee of having our own supply of oil at dirt cheap bargains.
If we really wanted to go after those who violate human rights, why not go after other nations that are more severe and barbaric? Africa has many such dictators that we could take out. South America, too. And don't forget Asia. If you're a Bush supporter and are ignorant of such facts, just think of Darfur. And that is not the only place where genocide occurs daily today.
If we really want to be the world police, then shouldn't we apply our principles equally? We should not pick and choose which nation to pick apart and destroy solely on what riches said nation can provide us. If human rights are so important, then maybe we should look into our own American society. We are the only advanced (or Western, like some of you like to call it) who would prosecute children under 18 years of age and provide the death penalty. Seriously! What of the human rights of our own children within our own borders?
We always blame other nations of blocking headways initiated by us in the United Nations for paving the ground towards some sort of a sanction against a nation in our own list of rouge states. We blame China when they veto against our measures to punish another nation in our interest. We blame France when they veto against our harshest of words against Iraq. All this blaming reminds me of smear campaigns that our local government candidates run on TV. We accuse others of having some prejudicial or biased interest. Well, what about ourselves? Any measure that was brought up by any other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council against Israel, an ally or ours, has been vetoed by our government. And why is it that we turn a blind eye towards the atrocities that the Israelis commit everyday?
And why not go after China? We fought tooth and nail to win our independence from Her Majesty. Why not go on the record and support the Republic of China, who has been fighting for independence for decades from the Communist China? Is it because China is the new economic center of the world? A potential billion dollar market that American companies can tap into so that the wealthy Americans can get wealthier? But look! The Chinese does not exactly have a clean record of respecting human rights. In fact, they are right up there among the worst! So what is preventing us from going after China?
So what started this tirade? An overwhelming sense of pain came over me when I watched a recent video. It captured an act of the Chinese government so sad and atrocious that made me angry. A total disrespect for human lives. And what are we going to do about it? Continue doing business with the Chinese government and turn a blind eye, not calling out a foul? Don't forget that Condi Rice is in China right now trying to sanction North Korea. Is she going to bring this violation of human rights caught on tape, and seen by the world, to the Chinese leadership? Please don't tell me that it wasn't on the agenda and did not have the time to talk about it.
And that is why I don't like my government.
2006.10.20 - Update: Yesterday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay officially condemned and protested this act of atrocity by the Chinese. Bush and Condi, what the hell are you going to do about it? You can't ignore Tibet and the Chinese oppression of human rights forever.
Hours leading into the official start of the Iraq War in March of 2003, I remembered having a heated debate between my manager and myself over whether we should give the government of Iraq an ultimatum before dropping waves of bombs onto innocent civilians.
We were at a client site, in the midst of a huge project that was about to go live. Naturally, the client provided us access to news coverage around the clock while we worked 12 hour shifts.
My manager at the time, like so many ill-informed and narrow-minded Americans, wanted to just go into Iraq and "bomb their asses." It had been a year and a half and no progress has been made into capturing Osama bin Laden, the known perpetrator behind 9/11. Somehow America was jaded into believing that Saddam Hussein was involved in the terrorism against the United States, and that a preemptive strike would solve the problem and make the world a safer place to live.
Fast forward to today. It has been years now, and we now know W. Bush lied. Close to 3,000 innocent Americans have died in Iraq, and countless Iraqi civilians perished. "We have to stay the course." Focus of the war no longer became a preemptive strike against a nation who had "proven" intentions of using its weapons of mass destruction against us. It shifted over to justifying the war because President Hussein was a monster and terrorized his own people and those of neighboring nations. Never mind the fact that our government provided many of the tools to facilitate his actions, while we turned a blind eye in the past.
It has never been about principles. It has always been about what we can get out of a situation. Much like we used, and endorsed, the Taliban to further our own agenda. And like we used and endorsed Saddam Hussein for similar purposes in the mideast. Now we are in Iraq because we needed to tap into their oil preserves, a surefire guarantee of having our own supply of oil at dirt cheap bargains.
If we really wanted to go after those who violate human rights, why not go after other nations that are more severe and barbaric? Africa has many such dictators that we could take out. South America, too. And don't forget Asia. If you're a Bush supporter and are ignorant of such facts, just think of Darfur. And that is not the only place where genocide occurs daily today.
If we really want to be the world police, then shouldn't we apply our principles equally? We should not pick and choose which nation to pick apart and destroy solely on what riches said nation can provide us. If human rights are so important, then maybe we should look into our own American society. We are the only advanced (or Western, like some of you like to call it) who would prosecute children under 18 years of age and provide the death penalty. Seriously! What of the human rights of our own children within our own borders?
We always blame other nations of blocking headways initiated by us in the United Nations for paving the ground towards some sort of a sanction against a nation in our own list of rouge states. We blame China when they veto against our measures to punish another nation in our interest. We blame France when they veto against our harshest of words against Iraq. All this blaming reminds me of smear campaigns that our local government candidates run on TV. We accuse others of having some prejudicial or biased interest. Well, what about ourselves? Any measure that was brought up by any other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council against Israel, an ally or ours, has been vetoed by our government. And why is it that we turn a blind eye towards the atrocities that the Israelis commit everyday?
And why not go after China? We fought tooth and nail to win our independence from Her Majesty. Why not go on the record and support the Republic of China, who has been fighting for independence for decades from the Communist China? Is it because China is the new economic center of the world? A potential billion dollar market that American companies can tap into so that the wealthy Americans can get wealthier? But look! The Chinese does not exactly have a clean record of respecting human rights. In fact, they are right up there among the worst! So what is preventing us from going after China?
So what started this tirade? An overwhelming sense of pain came over me when I watched a recent video. It captured an act of the Chinese government so sad and atrocious that made me angry. A total disrespect for human lives. And what are we going to do about it? Continue doing business with the Chinese government and turn a blind eye, not calling out a foul? Don't forget that Condi Rice is in China right now trying to sanction North Korea. Is she going to bring this violation of human rights caught on tape, and seen by the world, to the Chinese leadership? Please don't tell me that it wasn't on the agenda and did not have the time to talk about it.
And that is why I don't like my government.
2006.10.20 - Update: Yesterday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay officially condemned and protested this act of atrocity by the Chinese. Bush and Condi, what the hell are you going to do about it? You can't ignore Tibet and the Chinese oppression of human rights forever.
posted by StHalcyon at
13:06
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