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musings of mark since 2001

   First month of 2003 is over, long week on the road for me with everyday going to the 4:35 ferry. That’s about six hours worth of driving with the whole day coming out to 7-1/2 hours, a bit much.
   The weather isn’t helping either, lots of gray and rainy days to remind me that it really is winter. Hopefully get some sunny periods this weekend though to keep working on getting the garden ready for the warmer weather that is sure to be just around the corner. Gripe, gripe – actually the temperature is about 7 or 9 above freezing, not much to complain about when you look at the rest of the country in a deep freeze. We really need this rain too.

   Reading the Iraqi newspapers, and it looks like Bush has confirmed Saddam’s martyrdom. His State of the Union address has created a large concern from almost every country around the globe, and the 3000+ year old area of Baghdad and Iraq and the people in it are feeling like some young bully has come along to try to usurp their heritage. Even if Saddam is killed or removed early in the game, (unlikely), the general population of the Middle East is not predisposed to western morals and ways. They’ve been doing it their way for many centuries, and the young people of Baghdad are informed and aware of the rest of the world. They don’t act or believe in things like North Americans, Brits, Chinese, or Hindus either for that matter – it’s like they are in a whole ‘nother country eh. One in which Americans will not be welcome, even if their was no oil and they were there with the best of intentions. It seems Bush is making the mistake of being the ugly american tourist to the rest of the world, except he’s brought his six shooters with him and he’s decided somebody is gonna die. He executed a record number of people as the governor of Texas, most of them blacks. Not much of a leap for him to be the judge, jury and executioner for whole other countries now.

   The beautiful weather just keeps on coming, thermometer down at Snug Cove was at 14 yesterday afternoon as I walked Brenda halfway home. The lagoon was full of water and the fish ladders were churning, we sure needed that rain.
   The garden is getting a little more cleared off, I spent a couple hours on it and Brenda and Steve worked out a deal for her to help get it ready for this coming season. There is already all sorts of young stuff coming up, and we’ve had roses all winter. Steve got the grape vines trimmed and tied up, there’s still a ton of old hay/grass for me to clear off, but it’s getting there
   The long grass is hiding all sorts of bulbs and flowers that are being choked off, and as I uncover it Steve and Brenda figure out what the heck that it was he planted three years ago. Kinda like Xmas, but all the presents are new plants and the wrapping is this overgrown yellow grass covering everything.

Iraq daily Newspaper:
   This is an ancient people with a civilization 7000 years old (Iraqis point out that the United States is barely 300 years old), an economy that until the 1980s was a model for the entire Middle East, and with a free health service that was ahead of the National Health Service in the UK. The streets are now rubble-strewn, most of the middle class have left, and people are selling their household goods on street corners in order to survive.
   Twelve years of sanctions, which were intended to make the Iraqi people revolt against their leadership, have had the opposite effect. Sanctions have simply disabled Iraqi people through hunger and the wholesale disintegration of their infrastructure.
   They feel defiance towards Bush and Blair, which their leader can constantly reinforce, since their sense of honor is continuously provoked. The humiliation is very deep and very dangerous.
In these circumstances a war and subsequent occupation of Iraq will no doubt fuel the fires of hatred and terror, and consequently the risk of attacks on the West.
Partial quote taken from www.transnational.org/

• Margarita Papandreou, former First Lady of Greece
• Scilla Elworthy, Director, Oxford Research Group, UK
• Denis Halliday, former Assistant Secretary-General of the UN and UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Iraq
• Christian Harleman, the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, Sweden
• Jan Oberg, Director, the Transnational Foundation, Sweden
• Zeynab Oral, Winpeace and Peace Initiative, Turkey
• Omaima Rawas, peace activist and Vice President of the Syrian Arabic League, Syria
• Fotini Sianou, President, Women’s Committee, European Trade Union Confederation

   All sources of news are reporting the inevitability of the US and Britain going into Iraq very soon. Unocal has got the way cleared for their pipeline through Afghanistan, now it’s Halliburton’s turn for some juicy profits and tweaking the Soviet’s nose while they are at it. The war room plans no doubt call for a massive missile strike on Baghdad itself, so much for not wanting to hurt the Iraqi people.
   Most asked question then becomes when? The Vegas line is for the day after Valentines Day, but with support eroding for military action daily might not the call be made to have the bombing start during the State of the Union speech to Congress on Tuesday? It’s well documented that Bush was a bully from Texas all his life, and when bullies find the crowd is beginning to sway against them they respond with more violence. With his finger pointing at the TV cameras and much of the world watching, he has a great chance to put some bang into his speech.