I’m just tired and bored with myself
A free tro-tro ride to anywhere in the Greater Kumasi area to anyone who can name the song from which the title of this post was taken.
But seriously, I don’t have much interesting to say about the past few days, as they have been fairly repetitive and uneventful, but also productive.
So instead, I’ll turn to a subject I almost never talk about. Current events. I saw today on the net that three hostages were rescued in Iraq: two Canadians and a Brit from the Christian Peacemaker Teams. Obviously, this is great news, although it’s horrifying that their American colleague was killed and tortured. CPT put out a statement expressing its joy at the securing of the three men while at the same time condemning the US-led coalition for creating the conditions that led to their abduction.
How about a little gratitude? From what I read, this was a planned operation, not luck, that freed these men. Talk about Stockholm Syndrome. Even though their colleague and friend was murdered and tortured by the ‘insurgents’, the CPT saves its harshest words for the people who freed the three men.
The CPT say that they are there to show solidarity with the Iraqi people. Well how about standing firm against the terrorists (oops, I mean militants) who are currently blowing up Iraqi civilians every day in marketplaces, mosques, police stations, etc? Where were the Christian Peacemaker Teams when people were being fed feet-first into shredders or confined in rape rooms when Saddam Hussein and his psychopathic sons were in power? They were comfortably at home, probably criticizing the US for something else. The point is, idealists like the Christian Peacemakers can operate only where the very people they condemn provide them an umbrella under which to work. The CPT is deluded in drawing a moral equivalence between the coalition and Iraqi forces and the headhackers and suicide bombers they are trying to stop.
Choosing to be neutral between the coalition and the ‘insurgents’ is not a virtuous position. One side is trying to win the hearts and minds, with some successes and some failures. The other is simply blowing them up. To curse them both equally is outrageous.
But seriously, I don’t have much interesting to say about the past few days, as they have been fairly repetitive and uneventful, but also productive.
So instead, I’ll turn to a subject I almost never talk about. Current events. I saw today on the net that three hostages were rescued in Iraq: two Canadians and a Brit from the Christian Peacemaker Teams. Obviously, this is great news, although it’s horrifying that their American colleague was killed and tortured. CPT put out a statement expressing its joy at the securing of the three men while at the same time condemning the US-led coalition for creating the conditions that led to their abduction.
How about a little gratitude? From what I read, this was a planned operation, not luck, that freed these men. Talk about Stockholm Syndrome. Even though their colleague and friend was murdered and tortured by the ‘insurgents’, the CPT saves its harshest words for the people who freed the three men.
The CPT say that they are there to show solidarity with the Iraqi people. Well how about standing firm against the terrorists (oops, I mean militants) who are currently blowing up Iraqi civilians every day in marketplaces, mosques, police stations, etc? Where were the Christian Peacemaker Teams when people were being fed feet-first into shredders or confined in rape rooms when Saddam Hussein and his psychopathic sons were in power? They were comfortably at home, probably criticizing the US for something else. The point is, idealists like the Christian Peacemakers can operate only where the very people they condemn provide them an umbrella under which to work. The CPT is deluded in drawing a moral equivalence between the coalition and Iraqi forces and the headhackers and suicide bombers they are trying to stop.
Choosing to be neutral between the coalition and the ‘insurgents’ is not a virtuous position. One side is trying to win the hearts and minds, with some successes and some failures. The other is simply blowing them up. To curse them both equally is outrageous.
posted by Tony at 10:50 a.m.
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