A world of permanent war
Posted by Simon Stewart,Sunday, January 26, 2003
Caesar’s spirit ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side, came hot from hell
Shall in these confines in a monarch’s roar
Cry, ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war.
While tempting it might be to think of Bush as being under the influence of the Greek goddess of delusion, though perhaps not of him as Caesar, our problem lies more in the illusions of power and wounded American amour-propre. Oil is not the whole of the explanation, it is only a partial explanation; Saddam being tied up with al-Qaida is blatant nonsense though that did not stop those hack lawyers Blair and Straw spinning with a variant recently; and weapons of mass destruction are merely the pretext by which a UN resolution can be cobbled together, votes bought and Russia let off the hook on Chechnya to give the US a bogus legitimacy for war. It is not for any rational reason or found legalism that we are going to war. It is to satisfy a Republican claque’s desire to finish with their former buddy in arms who has managed to cock a snook at them these last ten years.
So welcome to the world of permanent war, eroded civil liberties, the increased likelihood of terror attack (funny that one) and one does not even want to think of what another prowling, cruise spitting, US imbroglio in the region is going to do to the Middle East – but that’s OK, Sharon loves you baby. Yes, cry ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war; I’m sure it’s going to be the greatest fun.