| GREG-STRANGE.COM |
"If you haven't found something strange during the
day, it hasn't been much of a day." -- John A. Wheeler
day, it hasn't been much of a day." -- John A. Wheeler
PROVIDING SUBSTANTIVE COMMENTARY ON THE
PEOPLE, POLITICS, EVENTS AND ABSURDITIES OF
OUR TIME. SERVED UP WITH ACERBIC WIT, YOU
SHOULD FIND IT QUITE SATISFYING.
PEOPLE, POLITICS, EVENTS AND ABSURDITIES OF
OUR TIME. SERVED UP WITH ACERBIC WIT, YOU
SHOULD FIND IT QUITE SATISFYING.
Parliamentary Pusillanimity
"The Iraqi parliament convenes today to confirm its
rejection of the evilness . . . of the U.N. resolution and to
reiterate its support for his excellency the president." ---
Saadoun Hammadi, speaker of the Iraqi parliament after it was
recently called into special session by Saddam Hussein.
Well, what else was Mr. Hammadi going to say? "We
strongly disagree with President Hussein's obstinate position
and we vote to accept the resolution requiring immediate
disarmament of our weapons of mass destruction." That would
have gone over like a lead balloon with "his excellency."
In fact, his excellency probably would have made a phone
call which would have led to Hammadi's bullet-riddled body
being dumped in the desert somewhere to be picked cleaned by
scavenging varmints. In the Iraqi parliament it pays to be a
pragmatist. One's survival depends on it.
But first things first. Who knew that Iraq even had a
parliament? Is this something Saddam recently came up with
to prove to the world that he's really not the absolute
totalitarian dictator he's been painted to be? Actually, no, it's
been around for a long time, though it isn't exactly sharing
company with the world's more august legislative bodies.
Let's put it this way: Checks and balances to Saddam's
power, it ain't. It's more like one of the world's most
transparent shams. It's more of a sham than Miss Cleo. Or
Vanilla Ice. It's like this: When Saddam says "Jump!" all the
parliamentarians stand in unison and ask, "How high?"
Nobody in his right mind is going to go against Saddam's
opinion on anything more significant than how many dinars to
allocate to the Baghdad public library.
But a funny thing happened only a few days after this
adamant declaration by the Iraqi parliament. Saddam decided
to accept the much-maligned U.N. resolution, and guess what?
Nary a peep of dissension was heard out of the parliament. No
profiles in political courage there. You either go along with
Saddam or, as already noted, you wake up dead.
Everything in Saddam's Iraq is a sham, a lie, a subterfuge, a
farce. Take what happened a few weeks ago. Saddam staged a
referendum on his leadership and--will wonders never
cease--he received 100 percent of the vote. C'mon, already,
ONE HUNDRED PERCENT! Where are his PR advisers? A
ten-year-old kid could have told him, hey, with a hundred
percent you're not fooling anybody. Make it only ninety and at
least you fool the peacenik bohemian crowd.
But it doesn't even matter and he knows it. When it comes
to forcibly removing Saddam from power, the entire civilized
world, with the exception of the U.S. and maybe Britain (sort
of), is on his side. Yes, Saddam is one of the most brutal,
mass-murdering dictators in modern history. Yes, Iraqis are
suffering horrendously under his reign of terror. Yes, the idea
of Saddam acquiring nuclear weapons is one of the world's
worst nightmares.
But remove him from power through military force? The
very idea has the world utterly aghast. It wouldn't be right, it
wouldn't be legal, it wouldn't be moral to invade a sovereign
nation and remove its leader, however dictatorial, by force.
America is out of control. No war with Iraq. Down with
imperialism. No blood for oil. The entire region would
explode. It would start World War III. Yadda, yadda, yadda.
So for now the farce continues. Sure, the U.N. has its
resolution, finally, for weapons inspections, but it had to be
dragged kicking and screaming to come up with that. Imagine
what will happen when Saddam violates the thing. Without
American prodding, they would debate what to do until hell
freezes over.
Anyway, the paper the resolution is written on is worth
about as much as Enron stock certificates. What are they going
to do, dig up the entire country? Archaeology is an incredibly
slow and painstaking process, but looking for Saddam's
weapons of mass destruction will make archaeology look like
an afternoon of raking leaves.
How much longer will the world put up with psychopathic,
Orwellian dictators like Saddam Hussein? You can't talk
reason to these maniacs, you can't win them over to the
inherent good of Jeffersonian democracy. All you can do, if you
want to put an end to their mayhem, is blow them out of the
water.
When will the Iraqi parliament be free to act like a real
parliament? If left up to Saddam, or the U.N. for that matter, it
will forever remain a body of cowering yes men.
"The Iraqi parliament convenes today to confirm its
rejection of the evilness . . . of the U.N. resolution and to
reiterate its support for his excellency the president." ---
Saadoun Hammadi, speaker of the Iraqi parliament after it was
recently called into special session by Saddam Hussein.
Well, what else was Mr. Hammadi going to say? "We
strongly disagree with President Hussein's obstinate position
and we vote to accept the resolution requiring immediate
disarmament of our weapons of mass destruction." That would
have gone over like a lead balloon with "his excellency."
In fact, his excellency probably would have made a phone
call which would have led to Hammadi's bullet-riddled body
being dumped in the desert somewhere to be picked cleaned by
scavenging varmints. In the Iraqi parliament it pays to be a
pragmatist. One's survival depends on it.
But first things first. Who knew that Iraq even had a
parliament? Is this something Saddam recently came up with
to prove to the world that he's really not the absolute
totalitarian dictator he's been painted to be? Actually, no, it's
been around for a long time, though it isn't exactly sharing
company with the world's more august legislative bodies.
Let's put it this way: Checks and balances to Saddam's
power, it ain't. It's more like one of the world's most
transparent shams. It's more of a sham than Miss Cleo. Or
Vanilla Ice. It's like this: When Saddam says "Jump!" all the
parliamentarians stand in unison and ask, "How high?"
Nobody in his right mind is going to go against Saddam's
opinion on anything more significant than how many dinars to
allocate to the Baghdad public library.
But a funny thing happened only a few days after this
adamant declaration by the Iraqi parliament. Saddam decided
to accept the much-maligned U.N. resolution, and guess what?
Nary a peep of dissension was heard out of the parliament. No
profiles in political courage there. You either go along with
Saddam or, as already noted, you wake up dead.
Everything in Saddam's Iraq is a sham, a lie, a subterfuge, a
farce. Take what happened a few weeks ago. Saddam staged a
referendum on his leadership and--will wonders never
cease--he received 100 percent of the vote. C'mon, already,
ONE HUNDRED PERCENT! Where are his PR advisers? A
ten-year-old kid could have told him, hey, with a hundred
percent you're not fooling anybody. Make it only ninety and at
least you fool the peacenik bohemian crowd.
But it doesn't even matter and he knows it. When it comes
to forcibly removing Saddam from power, the entire civilized
world, with the exception of the U.S. and maybe Britain (sort
of), is on his side. Yes, Saddam is one of the most brutal,
mass-murdering dictators in modern history. Yes, Iraqis are
suffering horrendously under his reign of terror. Yes, the idea
of Saddam acquiring nuclear weapons is one of the world's
worst nightmares.
But remove him from power through military force? The
very idea has the world utterly aghast. It wouldn't be right, it
wouldn't be legal, it wouldn't be moral to invade a sovereign
nation and remove its leader, however dictatorial, by force.
America is out of control. No war with Iraq. Down with
imperialism. No blood for oil. The entire region would
explode. It would start World War III. Yadda, yadda, yadda.
So for now the farce continues. Sure, the U.N. has its
resolution, finally, for weapons inspections, but it had to be
dragged kicking and screaming to come up with that. Imagine
what will happen when Saddam violates the thing. Without
American prodding, they would debate what to do until hell
freezes over.
Anyway, the paper the resolution is written on is worth
about as much as Enron stock certificates. What are they going
to do, dig up the entire country? Archaeology is an incredibly
slow and painstaking process, but looking for Saddam's
weapons of mass destruction will make archaeology look like
an afternoon of raking leaves.
How much longer will the world put up with psychopathic,
Orwellian dictators like Saddam Hussein? You can't talk
reason to these maniacs, you can't win them over to the
inherent good of Jeffersonian democracy. All you can do, if you
want to put an end to their mayhem, is blow them out of the
water.
When will the Iraqi parliament be free to act like a real
parliament? If left up to Saddam, or the U.N. for that matter, it
will forever remain a body of cowering yes men.