Thought Picnic: Tolerating diversity on the streets of our humanity

Death on our streets

“Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” Karl Marx [Wikipedia]

One fateful day in May 2013, a young 25-year old father of one who had served his country in the treacherous battlefields of Afghanistan and returned unscathed was butchered on the streets of London, his name was Lee Rigby.

The scene of that murder, macabre, gruesome and beyond belief was the handiwork of Michael Olumide Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Oluwatobi Adebowale, 22, both black, British and of Nigerian descent.

Just like me

Nigerian descent by reason of both their middle names and surnames which are of Yoruba origin, very much like mine are, we are Third Culture Kids.

“A Third Culture Kid (TCK) is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents' culture. The TCK frequently builds relationships to all of the cultures, while not having full ownership in any. Although elements from each culture may be assimilated into the TCK's life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of similar background.” [Wikipedia]

That is probably where the similarity ends, beyond having Christian names this tale takes a turn for the worse.

Drugged by religion

They took religion, became religious and adopted an outlook to life and circumstances that seem to give cause to what they presumed was their oppressed existence – their fellow Muslims were suffering around the world; that appeared to justify their heartless act – to take an innocent human being off the street and butcher him like a dog and that informed their soulless utterances – expressing no empathy, care or remorse for the evil acts wrought by their hands.

They were opiated by religion that nothing they did made sense and whatever made sense to them was to any other human being manifestly evil, incomprehensibly beyond words and lacking in humanity that they had become demons in human skin.

Blinded by belief

They represented the extremes of how religion can blind people to the community, communion and commonality of our humanity with all its differences and diversity. The tendency to feel one has right by some deity or some instruction to lose perspective of the fundamental human rights of another and thereby deprive them of their freedom, their life, their expression and their pursuit of happiness.

As we battle with our conscience we sometimes lose consciousness of the fact that regardless of what we believe or what we are persuaded of, we may not understand the world of others besides ourselves, but as fellow human beings they have a right to live, survive and thrive in the world we all share – free of persecution, prosecution and execution - it is called tolerance.

Harm no one

The greater lesson here is not so much about heritage, culture or religion, but the need to recognise within ourselves our Good Samaritan humanity not to harm others because of our persuasion, omission, commission, inclination, indifference, silence or utterance.

Examples of which is fearfully expressed in the Boko Haram menace in Nigeria where children and people are massacred, and a government continually stand clueless of ability, purpose, resolve or empathy apart from the wringing of hands, the miniskirt ban in Uganda, the new homophobic laws of Nigeria and Uganda along with the religious and cultural expression that underpins such inclinations.

Free our streets from offence

As we all freely walk the streets and justice is served by taking extremists off our streets, we must be careful not to hound off the streets others whose only offence to us is to be different, diverse and divergent from what is our norm but not their norm.

Back to England, may Lee Rigby rest in peace, his family, relations and friends find some closure and strength in the fond memories of that innocent man and that we all learn that religious fanaticism can lead to ruinous consequences for both believer to the wider society. Our humanity must always inform, temper and moderate our beliefs, not the other way round.

Dummies Guide to Hanging

Blood-thirsty voyeurism

I did not avail myself of the opportunity to view the humiliation of Saddam Hussein, the reports were graphic enough, and one had to be spared that additional savage voyeurism that came with the true videos of the real judicial murder.

As if that were not enough, additional videos were published taken by stealth of a large gash to Saddam Hussein’s neck and some bruising to his face which hopefully was caused by the hanging rather than the rats who rejoiced around the corpse as they worked out the frenzy of revenge.

Now, the other two condemned ones were hanged just before dawn and we are informed that this was also filmed, this time; I hope the government would not lie to us about the events, most especially the shameless lying National Security Advisor; I just cannot bring myself to like him on any level.

Most importantly is the hope that the witnesses were more circumspect than the first mob of disrepute, but that would not take away from the certain other detail that has now been revealed.

Hangman’s Manual 101

No one it seems attempted to determine that the body plunge at the releasing of the trap door and the dislocation of the spinal column in the neck area might exert a greater effect as to have the head rolling off, probably into the laps of the onlookers.

The BBC link offers a general idea of what should happen

Execution intended to break the neck, not strangle

‘Long drop’ method developed in late 19th Century

Length of rope calculated using prisoner's weight

Drop is usually 4ft-10ft (1.3m-3m)

Too long a drop leads to decapitation

It would appear the method used to hang these men is Victorian – in 2007? Thus far has civilisation brought us that we return to crude methods of killing that make mean savages of otherwise intelligent men.

Even this simple exercise of hanging could not be conducted with a modicum of professional application.

Their nightmares begin

Anyone who was within earshot of the gruesome straining sound that had the body snap off to make a hanging an outright decapitation would remember that sound for a long time, the ones who saw the body separate from the head would dream of it till the day they die – it is no curse.

Men have had nightmares unspeakable for seeing or hearing a lot less, we shall see if the justice done for those of Dujail shall now been read as justice served for those of Halabja.

The lament I hear is that of death and destruction that has been visited upon Iraq, unwarranted, illegally, unabated and continually – May the souls of all Iraqis dead – Rest In Peace, be it of the good or the evil, we leave the rest to God.

The Iraqi Travesty - Saddam escapes justice

Conned with a false promise

To use what I think is an Americanism, it was a no-brainer that dawned on the Iraqi High Tribunal despite the protestations to the contrary before the 30^th of December 2006.

A whole set of charges were laid against Saddam Hussein but there was an innocuous proviso that allowed for Saddam to be condemned to death and then have that sentence carried out before all the other charges were tried in court.

Every sensible person opined that there was no way the tribunal could legitimately try a person who is already dead, in fact, we also found as in the case of Ken Lay of Enron, whilst his first trial found him guilty, his death before sentencing or appeal meant the whole case had to be set aside.

Like I said before, no lawyer would waste their time defending a dead man except if there is a principle at stake.

Saddam innocent and cannot be proven otherwise

As it now transpires, the Iraqi High Tribunal has dropped all charges against Saddam Hussein and invariably there is no legal sanction for all the other atrocities that Saddam committed against his people.

Technically, whilst Saddam Hussein might have directly or through his proxies committed crimes against humanity, legally, he is not charged with anything, hence, he cannot be tried for anything and the principle of the Presumption of Innocence abides that everyman is innocent till declared guilty.

In this case, Saddam Hussein is only guilty of the crime against the 148 of the village of Dujail, a crime for which he has been totally and fully punished – his book is now closed, though issues still are pending.

A government immune to good sense

Obviously, the government of Iraq who are immune to constructive discourse and criticism view the death of Saddam as the panacea to all Iraqi ills and the opportunity for a new beginning; well, that was a possibility they squandered with their rush to the gallows where everything that could go right went wrong.

The National Security Adviser himself still has the gall to appear on television to advise the people to move beyond Saddam having told a bare-faced lie about the atmosphere around the execution.

Where really is the integrity, honesty, probity and equity in this puppet contraption of government masquerading as a democracy?

Now, the blood of the innocent

The blood of the innocent should be requited and this could have been legitimately, legally and consummately done with trying Saddam for each and every offence, bringing to scrutiny the evidence of those atrocities – finding against Saddam would have served as a point of change, healing and reconciliation.

However, Saddam the tyrant and despot before death has at the point when the noose went round his neck with the sectarian taunting of the observers that included the cool National Security Adviser who was caught in a lie, is now becoming Saddam Hussein the martyr.

The irony of it all is not so much that Saddam’s evil was unforgivable, but that Saddam was a symbol of an Arab or Middle-Eastern personality standing up against the West – a lesson none of the Neo-Conservatives ever took on board.

Meanwhile, there is the simple matter of who now bears the blood of the innocent since justice could not be done – for those who have no part in this debacle, learn and learn well – this is how men bring great damnation upon themselves, by errors of omission when they rush to incomplete justice.

Spare and pardon the Saddam video guard

They lied to us

If there are lessons to be learnt from the hanging of Saddam Hussein, it is not about preventing mobile phone camera devices from having access to the proceedings but the fact that a better class of witness needs to attend the execution.

We were told that Saddam Hussein was a broken man as he approached his death and even the National Security Advisor of Iraq claimed Saddam was treated with dignity and not humiliated in any way.

Well, we all now know better, we were being lied to and the more reason why exposing the real episode is a service to democracy.

He exposed a lie

All the outcry about the guilty person wanting to destabilise the country is hogwash, if Saddam were treated with dignity such that the government was not caught is a bare-faced lie; there would be no kafuffle about this event.

We cannot in a fledgling democracy have the levers of information manipulated subjectively by the government to further their good intentions through propaganda when in fact they are doing something completely different.

Save the guard petition

It would be unjust to punish the guard for exposing a lie which has embarrassed the government, they created the mess and these are the consequences, they should face up to their mistakes rather than look for a scapegoat.

They hopefully, from now on, would learn to conduct themselves with dignity and comportment whilst being completely truthful about what they are doing.

You Toob Brute Shows the Real Saddam Execution

No dignified execution

I can only add to the sentiments if not indignation of Nkem in African Shirts on the death of Saddam Hussein since he has written his piece before me.

Generally, I have never been in favour of the death penalty because there is no really dignified way of observing a man die except on his deathbed surrounded by those with whom he shares the fellowship of love.

Even in America where an almost blood and gore manifestation of a Moses leadership reminiscent of the Old Testament during the Exodus would find resonance, the states of Florida and California recently suspended all execution activities on humane grounds that the science of killing still caused too much pain and discomfort, it probably unsettles the observers more than the person being killed.

It would appear a bit of modern-day civilisation is creeping in the polity of the death penalty; it can only be the right thing.

We cannot do vengeance right

However, it is interesting to note that even Jesus the leader of the Christian values that the Americans so profess did say that revenge, on the basis of an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth was passé, there can be no closure, no restitution, no relief, no release if your life waits for judgment to be taken on those who have offended you, most especially if they have to die.

When the Scripture says vengeance is the Lord’s, there is probably something more at play than we see of the issues that surround us, what if the person that so offended us has now made peace with his God? Here we are baying for blood and flesh, the person with assurance and dignity takes the punishment meted out by his fellowmen who think he is off to hell, but then he is off to the comfort and bosom of his God. What a mystery.

The democracy of information rules

With this out of the way, let us return to the execution of Saddam Hussein, we were offered an official silent movie of the event, however, it became evident that the introduction of talkies did change the way audiences relate to films, someone of the You Tube generation was able to record the whole event and then publish for us to see, vision, sound and all, this is democracy and it is hightime the Iraqi government gave up on trying to find out who gave us this insight into their machinations.

How it could be that amongst the ruling Shia, they could not find people who could hold themselves in dignified reverence at the execution of a man who was once their leader. The ridicule of it all was exemplified in the fact that the man being executed was hoodless whilst his executioners and some of the people who taunted him wore hoods.

It showed how sectarian Iraq had become and how the rush to judicial murder was more an exercise of revenge that followed on from the circus of a trial that he had before. None of what happened as the trap-door swung open would do well to assuage the violence that plagues Iraq.

Dignified in death

If Saddam had anything to say, even at what was his most vulnerable, he was not the broken man we were told he was, in fact, he was a picture of dignity who berated the less-than-men who congregated like a Coliseum crowd that roared to the lions that ate humans or a rowdy mobs of idle hands who witnessed witch-burnings of old.

The savages who were about to eat Allan Quatermain would find a higher pedestal of dignified acknowledgement than these men who for good measure should be exposed for their public shaming.

As America tries to backtrack from being complicit in this rush to dispense of Saddam Hussein before the New Year, it would not be lost amongst the Sunni Muslims that Shia Muslims chose to perform this act in the middle of Hajj – a new schism could well develop out of this singular act – if only men could be more aware of the consequences of their actions.

This was botched execution which in no way would serve the justice and need for peace that the Iraqis do deserve in 2007.

Saddam was innocent of 9/11

A killing less amusing

So, they have killed Saddam Hussein and so what next?

There is no need to gloss it over as an execution, it was a killing, and a sort of executive homicide; the hanging rather than a firing squad would not make the death any less a miscarriage of due process.

Saddam Hussein for all his faults and misdeeds simply exercised the opportunity he had in leadership to perpetrate control over his people.

He terrorised the few to maintain control over the many, this is not to belittle the sufferings of those who paid the ultimate price as subjects in Saddam´s rulership, but this man is no greater tyrant than Hitler, Stalin, Pinochet, Pol Pot, Idi Amin or Pinochet, none of whom was subjected to the kangaroo court show trial that lead to his condemnation.

The lies of war

Let us examine the facts again; Iraq was invaded because some analyst put it into the head of some world leaders that there was tenuous link between Saddam and Al Qaeda with regards to the September 11^th 2001 attacks.

Then, the scare of “Weapons of Mass Destruction” lead to regime change and the introduction of democracy in the quest to enfranchise the Middle East and democratise radically Islamic lands with a brand of Western democracy and capitalism.

All these grand plans have brought us to the point where the US Army on the day Saddam Hussein’s sentence was affirmed, had lost exactly the same number of soldiers in combat as those who perished in the 9/11 attacks – 2,973 in all; as the country is on the verge of disintegrating into civil war.

It is now all evident that Saddam had no contact or interest in Al Qaeda and their machinations, neither did he have any part or knowledge of the 9/11 attacks, in fact, he was quite well contained by the sanctions (despite the oil-for-food) and no-fly zones, albeit, dissidents painted fantasy stories of his activities which the West swallowed and trusted without verifying.

First order hypocrisy

They who stood in judgment over Saddam should and would have a lot to answer for when history pens these events for posterity and the study of world government, where the ascendancy of democracy, the prevalence of market economies and globalisation, the collapse of communism, the rise of fundamental Islam and the politics of energy supply have left us all in a precarious situation than we have ever been since civilisation began to have meaning to all.

The crimes that Saddam committed against humanity are in consonance with those who now try to exculpate themselves from his tyranny having aided him morally and materially through the years.

The Iran-Iraq War

The Invasion of Iran between the years, 1980 – 1988 could not have been done without the help of America who were smarting from the Iranian Revolution who had American citizens held for 444 days. He was aided with weapons and logistics to obliterate Iran in which millions of lives were lost; he was a tool and war that extended beyond the borders of the self-same activity.

Halabja-Dutch connection

The Crushing of the Kurdish Uprising in 1987 – 1998, just towards the end of the Iran/Iraq war which included the unfortunate Halabja gassing of over 5,000 had a Dutch businessman as the source of the gas, obviously, all parties knew that the gas would not be used in lighting stoves.

Kuwait keeping the oil price low

The Occupation of Kuwait in 1990/1991 leaves many complicit, the Genesis of this was in the oil glut that Kuwait was exacerbating, and meaning Iraq was not getting enough funds for their oil after a debilitating 8 year war. The many warnings Iraq sent to Kuwait were ignored and other Middle Eastern countries sympathised but did nothing to act in favour of Iraq, the West would not have wanted oil prices to increase substantially, however, Saddam’s desperate actions to help his country get funds by annexing Kuwait, created the desired effect of raising the price of oil for a while, a situation of unintended consequences for the West and the start of the first Iraq invasion.

All talk and no support

The Crushing of the Kurdish and Shia uprisings in 1991, leaves much to be desired of the coalition that forced Iraq out of Kuwait. They goaded the people into clamouring for the overthrow of their leader but did nothing to support the uprising. With foreign armies out of the way, as any leader would do, he unleash terror on the uprising and crushed it whilst the West looked on having secured a security footing in the Middle East for the control of oil resources.

No care for the environment

The destruction of the Iraqi Southern Marshes from 1991 to 2001 was environment habitat vandalism that destroyed the livelihoods of the Marsh Arabs, making them refugees in neighbouring countries, if we had paid as much attention to the destruction of this habitat as we do of other animal species, maybe a lot more would have been done to prevent this.

There is no doubt that Western machinery would have help bring this about, despite the fact that we hated Saddam we wanted the contracts that paid huge sums of money.

Repressed and distressed

Finally, there was the internal repression of the Iraqi people by the cabal of Saddam’s kith and kin, he was tried for the killing of 148 from Dujail out of the possibly 300,000 that lost their lives.

None of these would have happened without the support of those who now rejoice at his condemnation and execution, most especially in the White House.

However, the farce of this whole event would be the posthumous trial of Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity, now Iraq has been know for a lot of precedents, but flogging a dead horse is not the going to win any races just as a dead Saddam would not have opportunity to defend himself if the trial would be in anyway just.

Martyr or healing?

What Iraq needs is to convert this travesty of a court into a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to find the truth and consider amelioration or compensation for the crimes of the state against its citizens.

If this trial does continue, it would be the birth of a martyr to a cause we have condemned but cannot control and in the end, never has an endeavour to war on a suspect purpose yielded so much loss for a goal that seems unattainable – America will not leave Iraq with its pride intact and the death of Saddam would not offer them the moral ground to justify the situation we have so far witnessed in Iraq.

The mess in Mesopotamia is America’s doing because of 9/11, but whilst Saddam who had nothing to do with it hangs from the gallows, Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar Mohammed remain alive to deal terror like they did before – why are the real criminals still free now that the distraction of Saddam is over?

Some chronological material was acquired from articles in the Daily Telegraph of the 30^th of December 2006.