The Whole Paradigm is Wrong: Hypocrisy of Hoopla over Hussein Capture

- By Jared McBride

During the trial of Saddam Hussein, I want one of the following questions answered: what was the United States government's reaction to Saddam's crimes in the time they were committed? How did the United States react to the gassing of the Kurds? What was our resolve when it was announced at the UN that Iraq was using chemical weapons against the Iranians? Amongst all of the smug smiles and smirks on the faces of CNN broadcasters, the militant Senators, and GW himself, not once will such questions be answered. No one will even dare bring them up. The History must be bastardized for the masses.

The whole paradigm is wrong.

When a lowly despot kills 10,000 it's a crime against humanity that whole world abhors and shrieks with fright, but when a nation kills 10, 000 innocents to capture the despot they supported it's a humane act and a gleaming example of what a virtuous country stands for. This system of logic makes no sense at all. Let us remember: the war was not sold to the American people to capture Saddam Hussein - that was not our initial prerogative or concern. The war was sold to protect the American people from weapons of mass destruction - "we were in danger" is exactly what we were told. Now, in the ever-changing rotating axis of reasons for war, we will hear in the upcoming days that it was to capture Hussein. All along we had simply invaded to save the Iraqi people from Saddam, because he was a brutal dictator who terrorized his own people. America does not allow dictators to rule…anywhere. That's this week though.

The whole paradigm is wrong.

Of course if the following logic that "we invade to dispose dangerous dictators" is to be true, then we are going to be a busy country. And that will have to break off a few relationships very soon (that is, before the invasions start). Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, just to name a few. The aforementioned beware - we are on our way over, because we cannot tolerate countries that terrorize their own populations.

In his address to the American public, President Bush made sure to thank the American troops who have died in this struggle to free Iraq, but why did he not mention the thousands of Iraqis killed during our invasion of Iraq? Have they not lost out both under Saddam and now under American rule? Are they not victims of our own aggression? How much longer will they continue to lose out? Will the new Iraqi government speak for them? Does anyone honestly believe we will allow the Iraqi people to create their own government? Is that rather what a 21st century democracy actually is - all obedient to the Empire?

The whole paradigm is wrong.

All the conservatives who will begin to point fingers again at everyone who refused to support this war. They'll explain, "See, we told we were righteous", "We are on track all along", and "We have done a noble thing." Little do they know that the capture of Saddam Hussein has proven absolutely nothing. We've detained an old ally who refused to obey us. It is a meaningless piece to a broken puzzle. It will not stop terrorism. It has proven that in using ubiquitous violence and occupation to detain a murderer you become nothing more than a reincarnate of the murderer yourself. To murder to capture a murderer in order to show that murdering is wrong is a faulty logic.

The whole paradigm is wrong.

We are the brazen colonizers of the new millennium. We borrow the logic, methods, and tactics of the colonizers that have come before us - the British, the French, and the Romans. Though we have new tools now. We strike quick and hard. We work unilaterally. We fight on many fronts. The traditional battlefield is almost non-existent. We economically as well as militarily. We now attack with global institutions, such as IMF, World Bank, and the WTO. We believe we are holy and righteous in all of our actions. The Empire makes no mistakes. The Empire apologizes to no one.

The whole paradigm is wrong - Americans just do not understand it yet. No empire understands its own evils until it's too late. America will be no different. The empire cannot act on its own accords whenever it feels necessary, the empire cannot rule with the iron fist, the empire cannot disguise democracy and expect the masses to buy it, the empire cannot kill and expect no consequences. The empire cannot expect its citizens to remain quiet and passive forever. The day that ends is what it fears the most. The empire's fear is what you see in streets in of Washington DC, Seattle, and Miami. It is what you'll see in the streets of Boston and New York this upcoming summer and fall.

When the next terrorist attack comes on American soil, I want each and every America to ask him/herself, how did the war in Iraq prevent this from happening? What did the capture of Saddam Hussein do to prevent this?

The entire paradigm is wrong. Wake up.

Jared McBride is a History major at Northeastern University; he can be reached at JaredHW61@yahoo.com.