Wading in Abu Ghraib

Mud glorious mud

Being one never to admit to having big feet the events that have been filling our screens and news feeds from the Iraqi rabbit hole has meant that only a wade would help one keep balance as the truth throws up more mud than the marriage banquet of King Hippopotamus.

Apparently, the despicable pictures of prisoner torture and humiliation are only the tip of the iceberg which could be as large as Antarctica. Pardon me for being given to uncensored hyperbole, but exaggeration in this case probably is just a poor imitation of reality.

The facts of the matter are clearly the following:

1. Junior ranks and contracted personnel involved in the preparation and interrogation of prisoners must have been following orders or set down procedure to get critical intelligence
2. Photos taken posed or not, served to thrill the perpetrators and their protagonists
3. If photos where taken, what was not taken and where was the line drawn?

Digital cameras are the rage

Anyway, the supposed candour of Mr Rumsfeld was a little short of acceptable sincerity on account of the fact that he continually riled the illegal publication of the photos rather than address without duplicity the cases of abuse.

Feigning ignorance of these volatile issues till they were so caught out, we now have a mass hysteria of contrition and apologies even the proposal for compensation - if the compensatees live to make a claim.

Keeping this review short, it is interesting to note that how Guantanamo bay plays into these events; it happens that the commandant of that legal black hole became a consultant to the interrogators in Abu Ghraib or even something more.

By comparison, we know about Abu Ghraib and the utterly sanctimonious acts of the British in Basra because of a modicum of press freedom and those persons who so annoy Mr Rumsfeld by taking pictures with their state-of-the-art digital cameras

We also owe it to ABCs 60 Minutes II who refused undue Pentagon interference to suppress the information we all should be been informed of a lot earlier by those who should have known better.

Guantanamo Reloaded

The only apparent court martials from Guantanamo Bay are related to intelligence breaches or espionage charges the irony of such discipline and adherence to all procedures for prisoners who are neither prisoners of war or covered by Geneva Conventions. Executive privilege holds sway of scrutiny by courts or independent review.

One cannot begin to imagine what the occupants in Guantanamo Bay experience in the light of the revelations in Iraq - one is tempted to say, we did have regime change but the same demons that possessed Saddam's cohorts in Abu Ghraib found new hosts in the Americans.

It goes to show that human beings are susceptible to base and primitive manipulation especially if you are of the first world and very American.

The Summer Collection

The families of the accused have probably missed the point by protesting the good-natured characters of their sons and daughters when back at home.

Not being one to cast aspersions on the dignity of such well meaning Americans following orders as one should in the forces - putting it all in perspective the hooded prisoner was just on a mini cat-walk showing off the Abu Ghraib summer collection.

The one on a leash was taking part in a commercial on how to pose with your dog - subjects for photography competitions have to be more radical and ground-breaking in these times.

Demanding Courtesy

Escalate this!

After the utterly spiteful mail I received from my boss on Tuesday, I had gotten to a point where I would not stand for any of it any more.

There has to be someone in the company to whom I could appeal to redress this situation and make it right, just and good. The idea that occurred to me was to forward it to both the CIO and HR Director, but on the insightful advise of a colleague I included the CEO in the circulation.

Do not get me wrong, all I wanted was for someone to attend to it and create a situation where I could leave the company in the best of spirits, having not burnt any of my bridges. Copying in the CEO was for the effect of having him wonder why he mailbox received this nonsense and have the other parties sort it out forthwith.

I sent the email under the title of Managerial Conduct on Wednesday evening and even copied in my boss, lest he be surprised at what I was stirring up.

By Thursday, afternoon, I was invited for a meeting with the HR Director and CIO. Not knowing what slant it would take, I asked if I could bring a colleague. The meeting arranger paused and then returned later to suggest that the meeting was going to be friendly and completely non-confrontational.

So, giving the benefit of doubt, I had my friend on standby but attended the meeting alone with some biscuits for coffee.

The meeting was pleasant, heart-warming and very positive, apart from condemning the lack of courtesy on the part of my manager, they offered to let me go immediately if I so wished. I however, decided I needed to finish a few tasks before leaving and so set the date for my last working act for the next Tuesday - 3 working days away.

I also asked that the CIO arrange a meeting with my boss to ensure that we met and parted on very amicable terms and that happened this afternoon.

Face-saving addict

As usual, in the persistent, interminable and obsessive face-saving nature of my boss, he consulted with one of my close colleagues, suggesting he allowed the CIO and HR Director to meet with me without him being present. It speaks volumes; as if I would have agreed to attend if he was to make a showing.

The CIO and HR Director had already said they would overrule him with regards to whatever redress I wanted, he either reports to them or the meeting and assurances were a farce. Sometimes the effrontery of the man blows me away.

He also suggested that my need for recognition was excessive, considering there are many more who have done a lot more and have received no acknowledgement or recognition. My point exactly, what is wrong in expressing gratitude to help increase productivity, goodwill and effectiveness at work?

Anyways, I am of the view that I would be well regarded when I leave and apart from referring to my boss, my activities are in a better light with everyone else but probably him.

The Letter what done it

Dear Lady/Gentlemen,

After much reflection, I am compelled to highlight what I regard a gross injustice in relation to my tenure of service at this company which runs to over 2 years.

I illustrate in some detail three particular grievances

1. The way my resignation was handed and how I am being treated by my manager
2. The inability of HR to mediate and adjudicate in conflict resolution
3. The laissez-faire attitude to what could have been a better handled exit and handover process

I decided to seek other career opportunities immediately after a meeting with my manager Mr Boss which included 3 other attendees to defend my implementation of SMS in the Enterprise following standard Microsoft guidelines and 8 years of experience providing this service to conglomerates.

That meeting which was chaired by Mr Boss was a display of the most unacceptable and untenable use of language, innuendo and threats, none of which I have ever encountered on over 16 years of employment.

The way we were treated disrespectfully, shabbily and without integrity was legendary, it was the very last straw in a litany of events that forced a decision to leave.

When I handed in my notice of resignation, it was received with disdain and no acknowledgement of whatever I might have done in service to this company, even though I do have 2 performance review statements that commend my service, loyalty and professionalism.

In working out what is effectively going to be 7 weeks notice, I appealed to the good nature and reason of Mr Boss and well as the record of my service to allow either an early release or a 4-day week of 40 hours to no avail.

This was complicated by the fact that HR was unable to offer any mediation or conflict resolution. The medical opinion of my doctor was that this was creating a stress level impacting negatively on my health and ability to work, but I returned to work anyhow to complete my assignments as best as I could.

I am seriously concerned that nothing was being done to ensure that my activities and responsibilities are effectively handed over to some other personnel.

I suppose there is a difference of opinion between my colleagues who think my leaving would create a vacuum and my manager who by inference contends that my presence or absence is of no significance.

This is just an opinion, but I believe I deserve better than this petty attitude and use of reckless communication.

Whilst I am not under the illusion that anything would be done to redress this matter with a person so high in the management structure of the establishment, I am putting this on record as the view that the company represents of my service until refuted by a competent authority.

I have also attached for your perusal all email exchanges with Mr Boss, starting with my Letter of Resignation of the 10^th of June 2004.

Thank you for your forbearance and time.

Yours sincerely,

That did it and did it well, I feel vindicated and everyone else who can see through this whole charade knows that it is best not to stand for discourtesy, no matter how high up the cadre the person is or how old-fashioned it seems.

Utterly Spiteful Sower

The Sin of Resigning

You would have learnt over the last few weeks that I resigned my appointment from a cable company in early June and in previous blogs I highlighted reasons why I had to go.

This is all documented the listed blogs

The man and his institutions
Resignation?
No Sir! We would not take the rap
The psychology of resignation
The context of career development

However, I will entertain you to a commentary of events that took place after my last review of the situation in the next few blogs.

Meanwhile, it transpired that my boss who did nothing in the spirit and letter of developing his team decidedly held me to the letter of my notice period, details of our exchanged correspondence and the unfortunate impotence of our Human Resources department in conflict resolution would appear hereafter.

So yesterday, after so much angst expressed by colleagues who felt concerned that a replacement was not being found for my role, I called them into a meeting to help me decide the best way to address this issue.

We finally decided on clearly delineating what is left to be done and highlighting that fact to my boss. I reproduce the complete communication below, you might recognise some of the jargon or even the company this pertains to, if you do, you at least know what enquiries you have to make before joining that department.

My Concern about Handover issues

Sir,

For all intents and purposes, I think I need to address the following basically for your information.

My last working day is the 30^th of July 2004 and there are quite a number of projects and activities that I am involved in and trying to complete, especially those just recently raised.

These activities concern the following:

• The EuroPC for ECC – Completion of the application repackaging set to be deployed on the client – Remedy, Contivity VPN Client testing and refining other applications after the first testing is performed, hopefully soon.
• Repackaging of the Q.mail client, configured for the replacement of the existing server and a client version upgrade.
• Repackaging of the Clarify eFrontOffice client SR1.8 – this would deal with outstanding Derby issues, remove the development tools and conduct the cache cleaning in a better managed way.

Furthermore, I had ideas for the SC&D which would have been in the pipeline execution in the next few months.

• Working on Mozart 2.0 – refining the image, Java Runtime and Acrobat Reader updates, probable Office 2003 upgrade.
• Upgrade to SMS 2003

Whilst, I would strive to complete these outstanding issues, I am not aware of anyone who would carry on any of these functions after I have left, it would be unfortunate that after having given what is effectively 7 weeks notice, this issue has yet to be properly addressed. It is unlikely that I can fulfil the outstanding issues, conduct a handover and fully document SC&D by the time I leave.

The functions PEBO covers are just the operation of the SMS environment.

Finally, considering how understanding and favourable you have been towards my departure, I have now taken the liberty to withdraw the offer made in my resignation letter to help out whoever takes over my role after I have left.

I trust I have duly acquainted you with the situation at hand.

Thanks and regards.

His reply

Hi Akin,

Thanks for sharing your concern for SC&D after your departure, I am sure the company will survive.

Best regards

My response

Sir,

That is fine with me, I never considered myself indispensable. It has been a pleasure working for you.

My best regards

His final response

Akin,

All the best wishes.

Best regards

Commentary

I did forward this to HR just to highlight the fact that our relationship had deteriorated to such a level that one would really wonder what might have gone on before now.

The whole episode speaks volumes, but hey! I only have 8 more days of working for a man who in not coming to terms that I had resigned has mismanaged what could have been the most amicable parting and it only shows that my 2 years of service to him amounted to nothing when the reckoning was made.

It is a good thing I jumped; I wonder what would have happened if I was pushed, I probably would not be here to tell the tale.

Holidays do end

Knowing how to play

A radical Nigerian educationist once said, "They who do not know how to work, do not know how to play" Tai Solarin.

Contrasting the whole idea of holidays between the Nigerians and the West makes interesting reading.

I remember quite vividly many of my parent’s generation who took their annual leave, then did the utmost to exhaust themselves that by the time they return to work they are really in need of rest.

Not that they did not know how to work, but many had to work under undue stress, from management pressures, unstated expectations, career difficulties and the ever present superstitious psyche of being affected by situations that are always out of their control.

Everything is attributable to something no matter how inconsequential.

R-rated holidays

The ideal for some would be not in work in any month that contains the letter "R", though it could be argued that it is better to go on holiday in the months that contain the letter "R" - go figure.

Anyway, after 2 weeks that saw lots of sun and probably the signs of burning which might show as skin peeling in 2 weeks time and the attendant re-tanning of the tanned hue, one could conclude that it was good fun and I am well rested.

July, presents a host of new opportunities, a new job, starting a Master’s degree and relaxing in the knowledge that things would be OK.

More about the holidays later.

Not really Ready to Wear

My local dry cleaner

I have not been pleased with my local dry-cleaner for many reasons. At first you have to pay up front for a job you cannot guarantee would be up to standard.

Then, they do not seem to know anything about materials, you effectively are giving them carte blanche to perform a service you have paid for, that they cannot guarantee and you waived every right to complain by signing an "At your own risk" slip for anything that is vaguely of value.

Then, you take in a suit and it is treated as a separate jacket from the trousers, really, what is the point here? If perchance you have similar suits, there is no guarantee that they would be returned in the right pairing.

In fact, they never have been returned in the right pairing (the suits have proper and different but matching designer labels in the jacket and trousers), buttons have been broken and lost. It is just a lackadaisical approach to a service that should be a whole lot better. Pambo’s is the pits, in a fit of pique; I just had to mention the name of the place.

It really amazes me that the dry cleaner still gets any custom apart from the fact that they are a monopoly in my locality, they have nothing that enthuses me about their service.

A good example was when I did think of a situation where the service is substandard and what I would have to do. So, on that Monday morning I put on my suit only to find out that the lapel/collar was not pressed or ironed right. I took it back to the lady receptionist who could not see what was wrong with it.

Eventually, when she realised the error, she offered to have it corrected, which was fine, but I had to come back in two days. You must be kidding me, two days to sort out a simple ironing job. Did I lose my rag or what?

Anyways, that has lead to me seeking a better and sure service which hopefully has the service on-site. That is the problem with franchised outlets where they are just collection and delivery points, no added value service can be provided at best and no redress is possible in the worst case scenario, it is both a con and rip-off.

Shopping for a suit

So, on realising that none of my suits at home are nicely wearable for the fact that they need dry cleaning; the impulsive personality thought a spot of shopping is the done thing. So, here I was in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the capital city of Gran Canaria some 30 or so kilometres from Playa del Ingles where I am staying.

The first suit shop seemed to have all I want, but there was no fitter or dresser who spoke English. Now, for a T-shirt, you probably do not need any assistance, however, for a suit, you need plenty - to ensure it fits right and proper and especially deal with the trousers.

Whilst, I would be willing to learn Spanish, I really cannot confidently pick up another language when I am still struggling to sort out my Dutch. So, this fell through and I moved on to the main store Corte del Ingles.

This fits nicely

Whilst the first store seemed to have an in-house tailor considering the number of pins I could see stuck in most of the clothes, this store seemed to have everything ready to wear, or so I thought.

First, the helper can communicate in English, I use communicate rather than speak and I hope you can understand the subtle difference. I ask for a black or grey suit, which are all single-breasted with 2 buttons. I presume double-breasted suits are going out of fashion, recently, I have seen none in the shops.

Well, it is size 52 in the measurements that use in Spain; I suppose that equates to 42 in the English fashion shops. One thing I have not conveniently converted to is the sizes for clothes from the English notation to the Continental European standard, I am learning.

So, I end up with 2 suits, which I try out, one fits quite well, but the trousers need adjustment, the other was a something of an off-suit, I tell the helper and he recognises that fact. As for the trouser adjustment, I had to return in 3 days for it. Let me just assess this carefully and considerately.

I have just visited a "Ready to wear" shop with a formal clothing department. There are no bespoke services or fitters about, which would imply I could get a complete suit and walk out of the shop with my purchase.

Contrast this with my buying a watch with a linkages strap, we do a fitting and decide 3 links have to come off, in 15 minutes this is done by the in-house horologist. I pay and I have my purchase. One would think a trouser adjustment would take at most an hour using the in-house tailor.

From another perspective, if I pay about 400 Euros for a suit in a Ready to Wear shop, I expect to take it out with me, in a bespoke shop, it is understandable that you are being measured, checking the material you want from cloth and probably need to give it a week for completion.

The whole idea that on buying the suit, I have to seek out a tailor to shorten the length for another 20 or so Euro is too irksome to contemplate though I suppose I would still end up getting the suits anyhow. Logic, bargains and commonsense have colluded in an unholy alliance at variance to my reasoning.

My advocacy is for in-house services from dry-cleaners, watch sellers, suit and formal wear shops, even leather goods shops would punch new holes in your belt, or the shoe repairer would do it all whilst your wait, so should other services for the convenience of the many like me who cannot wait to see what you have already paid for transmogrified into something you wish you had not purchased.

A market opportunity is hereby revealed to those with the acumen to exploit a too obvious opening.

Phew! Shopping could be such a chore.

The Bush Doctrine

Pre-emptive thinking

When Dick Cheney introduced us to the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive action, which is to strike the threat before they strike us, many would have thought that was an unfunny joke.

Well, we learnt the very hard way; the logic follows that you choose an enemy, throw a few reasons about your decision to attack in the basket and then coerce your weaker allies to join in your bludgeoning of the tougher allies and the enemy.

In the process call every voice of reason irrelevant, lump all opposition with your enemy, justify that stance with any means possible and this is by no means unilateral.

As we know, you are doing a tough job, making tough decisions and taking well, liberties.

The Underhand

The read in the news yesterday morning that the coalition had performed the underhand to the representative exiles that constitute the new Iraqi government was as pre-emptive as you could get.

A bit of trivia informs us that nine were educated in the United Kingdom and eight in the United States and by consequence they know Western values and freedom.

It obviously pre-empted every thought and preparation for the original hangover date of the 30th of June 2004 no matter how unprepared they are for this onerous task.

Definitely, this has also pre-empted the almost definitely expected carnage that might have been unleashed by the insurgents on the day of the underhand, maybe smart, we knows with these pre-emptive actions.

However, I still contend that Western values of democracy, freedom and liberties may still not be as adaptable to the Middle East as the theoreticians of the American neo-conservative doctrine might have hoped.

Premature ejaculation

Excuse my use of a rather crude phrase, but it all smacks of a problem you cannot talk about, that bothers you so much and you wonder what to do.

All the worry only tends to complicate the problem until you read an advertisement placed by some charlatan with more degrees than a lake of molten magma in the classifieds of a reputable broadsheet newspaper offering a cure for all your ailments.

Desperation, curiosity and daring-do challenge all your faculties of reason in this inordinate quest for a cure which you never get.

The allegory only baffles you about what other pre-emptive actions might be taken apart from the others like awarding the Iraqi contracts to only America and its allies, then asking the non-allies to forgive Iraqi debt.

Consider the pre-emptive actions of officially sanctioned prisoner abuse then realising that you have forfeited moral high ground to seek an extension to your waiver from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Now you take other pre-emptive by signing bi-lateral agreements with 90 little Bantustans to undermine the scope of the ICC.

In the obscure situation surrounding the sovereignty of the Iraqi government and the coalition who would now defer to Mr John Negroponte, the erstwhile US ambassador to the UN, now US ambassador to Iraq - I suppose it is a just reward from hothouse diplomacy based on faulty intelligence to another hothouse prison to protect you from the insurgents.

That apart from the expected pre-emptive - a misnomer - bargaining power that he holds by withholding funding, or releasing it at whim, the American troops who have done so well to maintain the security of the large Green zone in the middle of Baghdad do not pull out too soon.

Even I am being presumptuously pre-emptive about suggesting that. Another thing, Al Paul Bremer has left the country.

American misconceptions of a greater world

Nations and identities

It is with interest that one observes the way the general American public thinks about world issues.

At first is the anomaly of calling national sports finals the World Series, though rightly or wrongly, the provenance of World is probably related to some other function rather than the world itself, however, on first hearing it one would wonder what other countries are involved in a game primarily played in the Americas.

It might be something fundamentally wrong with the American education system that allows them to see American as a country and then every other grouping of people in terms of geography, race, religion or affiliation is pigeon-holed into an equivalent entity.

This gives rise to comparisons like America and the World, America and Europe, America and the Middle East, Democracy and Terrorism, Christianity and Islam and so on.

Yet, America only consists of just about 300 million people out of the 6.2 billion of the global population, a twentieth of human kind.

Them and Us

The way the present American regime has played up this issue is unfortunate, desperate and radically unethical. For all the goodwill accruing to America in the advent of the terrorist attack of September the 11th 2001, they managed to convert that account into an amazing deficit, just as they have the economy.

First was the pledge by the president to be a uniter and not a divider only to make the American society the most polarised along all lines of debate from the congress through to basic everyday issues.

Then allies who were unceremoniously challenged and riled in the UN with the view that only support for whatever America had in mind was the right way and any opposition was in favour of terrorists at best and made the UN irrelevant at worst.

The Rumsfeld theory of old Europe versus new Europe was interesting, considering it was the so-called old Europe that created the entity into which the new Europe had striven for years to join.

Old in some cases tempers the feisty with recognition of insight, wisdom and caution - all of which were lacking in America’s pursuit of its unilateral aim of deposing Saddam Hussein.

Them and us almost sounds like them and US (The United States of America), united they might be in name, and only in name as an entity.

Spain had the unfortunate situation of a terrorist attack perpetrated by Al Qaeda operatives which the then government tried to pin on local terrorists.

As the truth of the situation broke out, people for once reacted to the fact that a democratically elected government out to blatantly cajole and deceive its people is not worthy of the prize of government and leadership.

That lie was suppressed in favour of accusing the Spaniards of timidity, more so because the new government promised to withdraw their troops forthwith from Iraq and they did what they promised.

Everyone knows that Spain has suffered terrorist attacks for over 30 years, well before 9/11/2001 was hatched in the mind of Al Qaeda.

It was the most disingenuous thing to suggest; more places in the world have suffered harrowing terrorist attacks that the one in America was probably the biggest does not make the sufferings of others less significant.

America had thought themselves immune to attacks because of the Atlantic Ocean and the removal of weapons of mass destruction.

Well, the fact is that the terrorists trained in America for up to a year, and used nothing of the sort expected by the expert analysts that review terrorist activities.

Tom Clancy probably has more to say about hatching terrorist plots from what one can read in his best selling books.

Islam is neither a nation nor a people

This misconception is compounded by references made by supposedly intelligent commentators who have decried the lack of condemnation from the Muslim world about 9/11 whilst the Americans expressed revulsion at the events in the Abu Ghraib prison.

Just as there is no clear entity to identify a Christian world, Hindu world, Atheist world or some other belief system world and I can clearly state that the Muslim is not an existential entity of reference.

Rather it is simply people of the earth, scattered around the globe though more concentrated in some areas that adhere to the teachings of Mohammed.

Whilst the Pope in the Vatican is at times mistakenly considered the head of the earthly Christian religion, his remit is primarily the Catholic branch, there is the Anglican, Evangelical, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Coptic and so on; branches of Christianity, and so we have many branches in Islam, the more prominent being the Sunnite and the Shiite, leaders of these branches in the various countries are not a few.

However, we can clearly say that countries that are predominantly Muslim like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia, Morocco or even Pakistan can speak through their governments about their revulsion of these attacks, but America having alienated Iran, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan as terrorist supporters or part of the Axis of Evil; silence or glee might as a consequence replace expected commiseration.

You cannot make public enemies of states and then expect them to sympathise with your plight, no matter how heinous. It is a standard human emotion and quality.

No single country is a representative of global Islam, just as America is not a representative of global Christianity. There are more professed Christians in other parts of the world than America.

Whilst Al Qaeda has tried to create the notion of a global Islam through their pronouncements and activities, America has helped foster that view by lumping each regional terrorist event as a synonymous Al Qaeda and Islamic fundamentalism threat and event, they in turn have promoted this view as a Islam versus Crusader conflict.

I have my doubts about America being the leader of the free world, each nation is free according to what its people allow. More so, the nations of Europe have lesser impediments to their freedom than America, where their freedoms have lead to more restrictions through the surreptitiously named Patriot Act.

As we all have seen with communist states, the People’s Democratic Republic of Bantustan is never about the people, hardly ever democratic, republican for eliminating a monarchy but still having a corrupt ruling class, and surely, every country needs to have a name - in this case - Bantustan.

American has much to learn about the world; the geography is easy, but the people and their cultures are an entirely different matter; a lack of commitment to educate, inform and enlighten from their educational system and their press is what has failed the many who if they knew better might express better and intelligent opinions and vote objectively after good consideration of the issues at hand.