Batman Abandons Gotham City!
"I am proud of the efforts we did. We liberated that country from a tyrant. I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude, and I believe most Iraqis express that. I mean, the people understand that we've endured great sacrifice to help them. That's the problem here in America. They wonder whether or not there is a gratitude level that's significant enough in Iraq." - George Bush, 1/12/07
I just found this quote on Robert McClelland's blog. He is asking readers what they make of it. I know what I make of it. The Americans are laying the groundwork for the blame game. It's an exit strategy of sorts, I suppose. Along the lines of, "What more can we do? It's got to be up to the Iraqi people now. We've done our job."
It's America's Batman to Iraq's Gotham City.
Except Batman is washing his hands of Gotham City. And what the President of the most powerful country in the world is really saying, isn't: "They wonder whether or not there is a gratitude level that's significant enough in Iraq." It's: "Fuck 'em. My approval rating is at 27%. That is NOT how it's supposed to go for a War President."
We all know this. And I guess there's nothing for it now but to nod along. Because those Damned Yankees re-elected Bush the Junior, pretty much knowing everything we know now. It's not like Bush the Junior suddenly became a corrupt lying bastard capable of commiting terrible acts of unconscionable evil.
He was born that way.
Or was he? Because I don't believe in monsters. Saddam Hussein is often described as a Monster. Ostensibly because he was responsible for the murder of lots of people. But I think it had more to do with the desire by lots of people to have themselves a "no backsplash" execution. De-humanizing the inevitably-to-be-executed is good for post-dramatic public relations. Not that anybody was about to say, "Well, he wasn't THAT bad", anyway. Because he was.
But it's not like Bush the Junior hasn't been responsible for the deaths of lots of people, too. And I'm not calling HIM a Monster. Of course, I'm not calling for his execution, either.
That's because I don't believe in capital punishment. That's right. Just as I believe in a woman's unassailable right to abortion services paid for by our public healthcare system, I don't believe in state murder. It hit me that succinctly today thanks to the Ottawa Citizen's own David Warren, pundit-by-the-pound:
This line from the piece, in particular, fair leapt off the page at me:
"The more fanatic opponents of capital punishment cannot be moved by arguments of mercy, let alone justice."
"Fanatic opponents of capital punishment"? Gee, like who, David Warren? The Pope? But yeah, I feel like that about opponents of abortion rights - that they "cannot be moved by arguments of mercy, let alone justice".
And the only time I'd use the term "fanatic" in the context of people opposed to abortion rights would be when discussing those people (notice I don't use the term "monster") who shoot people in order to save the unborn. Something, I suspect, David Warren would admire. Even applaud.
But that's me. I believe morality is practical. And practicable. And since I don't believe in monsters, I don't believe we can execute them. That we can execute human beings - yes. We can. Bush the Junior has done it many times over.
Should we? No. We shouldn't. Does it matter that the victim is Saddam Hussein? Yes. Just as much as it matters when the victim is a borderline retarded person sentenced to death row on insufficient evidence.
Because capital punishment is just the old west lynch mob - dressed-up. Is there justice? Of course there is. It's remaining civilized, it's "Doing Unto Others As You Would Have Others Do Unto You" - even when you're the guy with the power. ESPECIALLY when you're the guy with the power. So, clearly, Americans are not the ones to bring justice to the world. They are, as yet, uncivilized. The United States is an uncivilized country. It has no business claiming a moral superiority - over anyone. Its President is a Thug. A democratically-elected Thug.
Quite frankly.
And correct me if I'm wrong, but... the quote that begins this piece would have me to believe he's become quite a whiny Thug at that.
Justice? American-style? I don't think so.
