Postcards from my life

Kissinger.
Nixon.
Reagan.
McCarthy.
Cheney.
Bush Sr.
W. Bush.
McNamara.
Rumsfeld.
Powell.

I don't get it. Seriously, can someone explain it to me? I thought we were supposed to learn from our mistakes? Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't that something we get taught as children? Apparently not in America.

Korea.
Vietnam.
Chile.
East Timor.
Guatemala.
Iraq.
Kuwait.
Iran.
Cambodia.
Indonesia.

When did the most isolanist state in the world become the one that doesn't know how to stay out of other people's business'? I am not advocating dictatorships to be let alone. Or to let people suffer. But when did the US take on the role of moral guide? With their history, and track record, you'd think the world would have removed them from that role a loooong time ago. But no. I wonder, when Ford and Kissinger were planning on how to best overthrow the democratically elected Allende government in Chile, did they realise they were talking about PEOPLE? Did they think only in numbers, or did they know that the 'numbers' they were discussing were someone's daughter, son, grand mother, sister, brother, mother, father? What have made the great super power in the West into one of the most arrogant countries in the world? I know that they are not all like that. Of course they're not. Many, many Americans are amazing people with good values and ideas. BUT! Never the less, they did reelect Bush..... But then again, they did also elect Obama. Gave back a little hope to the rest of the world that they weren't completely lost.

I'm still wondering though when they will get it. When they will understand that they are digging their own grave. Seriously. They gave money to Iraq to fight Iran. They gave money to Iran to fight Iraq. They then gave support to Kuwait when Iraq invaded. They trained Usama Bin Laden. Usama Bin Laden attacks the US. Do they realise that by doing what they're doing they're not helping?

I'm sorry. I know I'm being harsh. But at some point we need to stop being afraid of insulting someone. We need to stop worrying about upsetting the big power in the West. Because if we're not careful, if Obama doesn't live up to all promises he has made (I'm still hoping, trust me), it's not only going to be US who is in trouble. Because our European states are too scared and too powerless to dare do anything that might upset the big one across the ocean.

Watch this youtube-clip. It's interesting. Watch the whole movie. Bowling for Columbine. I'm sorry to all my Americans friend, but I'm glad I'm European. (And to those American friends, please don't be insulted. I'm criticising your government(s), and maybe to some extent you for electing them. I do know people are different and that there's a lot of you and that you do not all share the same views!)

I don't know, to me it seems a bit strange. Awarding a man that is just at the start of his presidency, a man that has made many promises but still needs to show that he will follow up on them. To me the Nobel Peace Prize is an honourable award that should be given to people that have achieved greatness. Such as Muhammad Yunnus. Or Jimmy Carter. People that have worked effortlessly for peace. I am not discrediting Obama in any way. I like Obama. And I believe in him. I really do. I think he might be one of those people that actually can change the world. But he hasn't done it yet. He has a long, long way to go. I would have loved to see him win the prize, in a few years time. When he has proved himself to the world. As one person said: "A man that is currently running two wars got the peace prize." I agree, it's strange. The committee says that it is to encourage his politics. That his ideas and beliefs go together with what the peace prize is about. That is very true. But shouldn't your actions go together with the idea of the peace prize? Your actions, and preferably the results of these actions.

I must say I don't agree with this. I'm usually a huge Obama-fan. And I still am. It just seems a bit preemptive to give him such a nobel prize without even being close to the same standard as Dag Hammarskjöld, Martin Luther King JR and Mother Teresa. I'm sorry, but he's just not there yet. I hope one day he will be, cause that means that a lot of things in this world will hava changed.

I was just reading an article about Lynndie England. She is the woman that has become famous due to the tortures at the Abu Grahib-prison outside Bagdad. She is the woman that held the dog leash that was tightenend to a dog collar around one of the detainees necks. She has been released after serving half her prison sentence, one and a half years. She says that she wants the leaders whom sanctioned the torture methods to be the ones being punished, not the people that just did what they was told.

It's a very fine balance to walk. To what extent is it the men and women's fault? To what extent should they be charged for their actions? In one sense, everyone can say no. Anyone can walk up and leave when they have to do something they do not agree with. However, if getting up and leave will make you a 'traitor' then how far can it be expected of that person to get up and leave? Lynndie England has now been kicked out of the army. For following orders. I am not condoning what she did. But I do believe that we have to look further. How is it that political leaders such as Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pinochet, Habyarimana, Pol Pot, Mugabe, the list can go on. How come they are remembered for the atrocitites they did not only do themselves, but what they made other people do in their name? I know this is pulling it to a stretch, so don't judge me too quickly. But it's like with the imperius curse in Harry Potter (I know it's only a book, and I know it's fiction, BUT it does contain moral lessons on so many different planes so I'm gonna use it anyway!). People are forced to commit crimes. They are manipulated, and in some cases even threatened. If there is the option between doing what your leader says and keeping your job, family and in some cases your life; or going against your leader and risking all that. I honestly do not know what I would do. I don't think anyone of us do. Except those that have been in those situations. And we should not be too quick to judge. Instead we should judge the cowardly people sitting at their fancy desks in an other part of the world pushing through orders. Orders that means that they are not only harming the people these orders are inflicited upon, but also the people that have to execute them. I wrote an entry at the beginning of this blog that relates to this. About a man working at Guantánamo and about two theories that relate to this topic. The Stanford Obedience Experiment is an experiment that deduced that good people do evil things when told by an authority. So then, is it the authority or the person that should be sent to trial and sentenced? Tricky question indeed. And I cannot say what I think should be done to the men and women that did these actions in Iraq, Gunatánamo or other places around the world. I find it difficult in my head to say that they shouldn't be trialed for their actions. At the same time I do believe in the Stanford Obedience Experience and the Lucifer Effect (good people do evil things in in evil environments.) I do believe though that the authorities, in the case of Lynndie England this would be the former US-administration, should be trialed for what they did.

And that might also be a way of the US to show that what they have done is wrong. Not only to the world, but to their own people as well. To not take responsibility for your actions, to not do anything to show remorse, is to me something America can't afford. Everyone, I believe, sees the different way US has turned since Obama took over the presidency. However, I do not believe this is enough. We see his will. We see the will of the American people. Unfortunately I don't believe that one man, together with his administration, has the power to change the world view. It will take time to heal the wounds Bush and his men gave their own country. Perhaps a first step would be to apologise. To stand up for their actions and admit that they were wrong. But considering their view of the world I doubt that will ever happen. I do believe that in some messed up way they believed they were doing the right thing. They told themselves it so many times that for them it became true.

It's scary how little it takes to break something done. And how long time it takes to build it up again.
Will the world ever forgive the United States of America?
-I hope so. Because with the problems we are about to face. Environmental, economical and political, I think we will need the superpower of the world. I think they have to face their mistakes. Deal with them. And move on. Because wether we like it or not. We need them. They're too powerful and too big to neglect. I just hope they stop using their power for evil. They're like Anakin Skywalker I just realised (many fantasy-connections today!). He used evil for what he believed to be a good purpose. And then he became Darth Vadar. He saw his mistakes though in the end. And faced them. Lets hope the US can do the same.