21 March 2003
editorial
Lusaka — We have just seen on television images of the brutal way in which the United States and Britain are murdering Iraqis.
And these are governments that try to deceive the world by calling themselves defenders of human rights. This is how they try to clear their consciences of the helpless and defenceless people they are murdering in cold blood.
They will get their world, the world they seek, a world that will be steadily more and more ungovernable. They will not be able to go on sustaining this unjust order they are imposing on humanity; that habit of wanting to govern the world, telling everyone what to do; of even insulting presidents that they refer to as friends. It can't go on forever.
More and more people are gaining consciousness, rising up, those who are sick and tired of seeing a world in which hegemony has been imposed by a power capable of telling lies to the whole world - lies that show the lack of scruples and morality that exists within the heart of the United States.
The world is truly today witnessing an incredible act of United States and British barbarism.
And no matter how many lies they generate, they cannot convince any honest and fair minded person that their invasion of Iraq is legal, just and necessary. The war against Iraq is illegal, unjust and unnecessary.
But this barbarism will have a devastating effect on world peace - it marks the end of democracy in international relations. It has struck a devastating blow on the United Nations Charter as a guarantor of peace and legality of international relations.
The United States wants to play the role of a new world-wide Roman super power, which, of course, will last much less than the Roman empire; and it will meet with universal resistance.
It is clear that the people of Iraq would rather stand under bombs than surrender. In such an adventure it is not difficult to die. There's no greater glory! At least the Iraqis are setting an example for others by resisting the most unbearable bombs without hesitation.
It must be said that this war, of which no sensitive or sane person can be proud, is a barbaric war. Whatever victory they may claim from this war will be morally pyrrhic and the war genocide.
Why do we say it is genocide? What is genocide? The attempt to exterminate a population: you either surrender of face extermination.
Look at how noble, how generous and humanitarian the United States and Britain are! What is the fault of Iraqi children aged from zero to one, 10, 15 years old? What is the fault of the old people? What is the fault of the pregnant women, the retired, ordinary men and women who are living through such a traumatic experience?
Often, the most traumatising consequence of bombing is the explosions, the noise. The Nazis, who have been quite well imitated in this merciless war, used terrifying sirens in their Stuka planes when dive-bombing their targets. They were toy bombs compared to the ones being dropped by the United States and Britain on Iraq.
The terror of bombings produces lifelong trauma, much more so in a child of three, four, five, six, seven, eight who remains day after day and every night hearing the noise of the sirens and the explosions. Yet they must now be punished by the United States and Britain - the false prophets of human rights.
It is clear that in order to live with dignity in this world one has to struggle.
And it is very shameful to see how the Japanese are exchanging principles, their dignity for interest or convenience!
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2003 The Post. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
