We live in a topsy-turvy world bereft not only of moral standards that our forefathers cherished so much but also of reason. Look at it this way - when the French killed thousands of their fellow countrymen for collaborating with the Nazis they were quickly labeled brave men - men with a mission. But Hitler’s propaganda machinery called them terrorists. The French- and the rest of the ‘free world’ eulogized them so much that till today their memories are sanctified and recorded for posterity and hardly an independence day passes by without some media or government spokesmen making an honourable mention of their sacrifices for France. That’s fine.
Conversely, on the other side of the spectrum we have the wretched Iraqis fighting for their freedom and independence from American - British - Japanese - Australian - etc; etc; occupation, but the propaganda machinery of the occupying forces, quite in the same style as Hitler, chooses to call them ‘terrorists’ for doing the same thing the French did to free themselves and their land from Hitler.
Against this backdrop come the London bombings, which snatched away more than fifty precious lives. Prince Charles quickly moved into gear asking the Muslims ‘to root out terror’ though I cannot recall him ever making a similar call to the IRA or Sinn Fein after they failed to nail the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in a bomb attack similar to the one that killed his relative Lord Mountbatten. Perhaps the Prince has missed a beat here? He is the heir to the British throne and consequently the ‘defender of the faith’ if he becomes king, and since he is a man of the world well known for his egalitarian views wouldn’t it have been more appropriate for him to tell his Prime Minister Tony Blair to stop -the slaughter of Afghans and Iraqis and also to put an end to helping the Americans steal their nations’ wealth? If Blair had not unleashed his terror in Afghanistan and Iraq then the terror would not have struck London. Under the circumstances Prince Charles’ call to Muslims sounds hollow and is akin to Hitler appealing to Churchill to help wipe out the ‘terror’ of the French Resistance Movement.
There are many lessons in history that we can learn from but the tragedy is that we will never do that and as history, tells us it will repeat itself and continue do so until the end of time.
Would Prince Charles learn from the fact that his ancestor King George III considered the ‘Founding Fathers of America’ including George Washington, Thomas Paine, the distinguished Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson as ‘terrorists’ when they broke away from Great Britain in 1776? Wouldn’t he consider it rather ironic that Tony Blair, his prime minister, should today side with the former renegade state to help in the, plunder and pillage of Afghanistan and Iraq just for the crumbs off the master’s table? ‘Crumbs’ that help finance the extravagance of the Royal family that runs into millions of pounds? I say ‘crumbs’ because the American ruling elite grabs the lion’s share of the loot and if Blair was to ask for more a-la Oliver Twist he would get a good whack on his - knuckles with the big stick that Uncle Sam wields.
The crux of the matter is that London was bombed, though not as savagely as the British bombed an underground bunker in 1992 in which over 250 unarmed Iraqi men, women and children were blown to bits. That was not an act of terror we are told. It was war. So what? Is War not terror?
Not surprisingly the British electronic media like the BBC and SKY and America’s CNN did not give this act of barbarism the same kind of coverage they are giving the London bombing for reasons that are painfully obvious.
It’s not politically correct to say that London was bombed in retaliation of the terror that the Untied Kingdom has unleashed on the impoverished people of Iraq and Afghanistan. But it is true and the truth is a bitter pill to swallow.
The hottest news coming from the ‘mother country of the Commonwealth of Nations’ is that in future, if Tony Blair has his way, statements like the one I have made could land one in the slammer, that too in a country that used to pride itself as the citadel for free speech with Hyde Park as the showpiece of free speech and democracy, where anyone can say anything and not be taken to task. Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe brought in such laws and Tony Blair of the Mother Country was the first to condemn it as ‘censorship’. And now? |
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