Both of Us .org

This morning we wake up to the news that Saddam Hussein (the Beast of Baghdad) has been executed by hanging. So it seems that the death of famous or infamous people does often come in threes (James Brown, Gerald Ford and now Hussein). The possible execution of Hussein has been in the news for a week now since his last appeals have been rejected. It turned to a matter of timing, not if but when. In my mind, thoughts have been swirling about the ramifications of the execution of Hussein. My reading of daily news this morning came across an article in the Independent (British news) that reflects much of what I have been thinking.

Robert Fisk's article today touches on many of the thoughts that I have in my mind. Our President is beaming with joy about the event, telling us how we succeeded in bringing a bad man to justice. Or wait, how we enabled the Iraqis to bring a bad man to justice. No, no, how America gently guided the fledgling nation of Iraq to the Western ways of democracy. It certainly is confusing, and this barely touches the complexity of the issue. Robert Fisk goes a bit further, albeit still only scrapping the surface. The title of his article 'A dictator created and destroyed by America'.

'A bad dictator who killed so many received swift and fair justice has been executed'- is what most of the news headlines will read. There will be gloating from the right and reserved praise on the left. Overwhelmingly, opinions across the ideological spectrum will be reported in the Main Stream Media (MSM) as supporting the execution as a step towards democracy in the Middle East. Yet behind all the patriotic trumpeting of how successful America has been at getting rid of this bad dictator is the astonishing lack of the historical story. Fisk makes a point of telling us that America and it's allies created this beast. We enabled his regime with financial support, we encouraged him to invade Iran, we sold him the poison gases he used to kill his enemies, we sent prestigious men (i.e. Donald Rumsfeld) to court him, we turned a blind eye when all signs indicated he was to invade Kuwait etc. etc.

For awhile it seemed, America had a decent partner in the Middle East with Saddam Hussein. Sure he was a nasty guy, but we had just experienced the Islamic revolution in Iran. 66 Americans were held hostage for over a year and we lost another nasty but decent partner in the form of the Shah of Iran. Naturally with Iran poised as our mortal enemy we looked for balance and turned our focus on supporting Iraq and Hussein. This worked in our advantage for awhile, Iran and Iraq fought a bloody eight year war and effectively weakened the threat either may pose. The years passed and our attention may have drifted, thus allowing Saddam to become emboldened. He got some fancy weapons, rebuilt his army and focused on his ego with thoughts or regional domination. Persian Gulf war number one quickly reminded Hussein who was the boss as we spanked him back to the Baghdad city limits.

The UN sanctions put in place in the aftermath of the Gulf war were highly effective in limiting the threat posed by Saddam. The no fly zone prevented him from attacking the Kurds and the embargos limited nearly everything. Yet in America, people of power namely the Neocons, there was a drive to finish what was left undone in the first Gulf war. We needed to purge Iraq completely so democracy could thrive.

So we launch a war on fault pretense and successfully depose Hussein via military force. Over three years later we remain in Iraq, a country with barely functional utilities and services, a shamble of a military, rampant corruption and a civil war. Yet today we preside over the execution of Saddam Hussein and feel happy about a good deed done. I personally do not feel satisfied over the execution of this bad man. I feel ashamed at the stunning lack of insight and perspective, especially from our Administration and the so called 'Wise men of Washington'.

Please read Robert Fisk's article again and remind yourselves what has transpired. America gathers up these thugs and polishes them nice so they do our bidding. America get all pissy when they disobey our orders. Then America has to clean house and start all over again. Yet time and time over we tend to ignore what the people on the ground experience as a result of our global hegemony. The natives have to struggle through daily lives under the thumb of these thugs. Today, there are many nations we happily endorse but are awfully bad (Saudi Arabia, Kurdistan, China, Egypt, Russia, Pakistan, to name a few). In the future will we continue to fail to understand how our support of these bad regimes might...just might cause the natives to become terribly resentful and hateful towards America. So hateful and angry they might rise up and strike back. Oh no no no...those natives are simply extremist terrorists who hate democracy, I'll shut up now.

The clouds showered down a slushy inch or two of snow during the last 24 hours. It has been our first measurable snow of the season. Now that we are new home owners, we are getting a taste of the duties that we are responsible for...namely shoveling. It was not too bad, even though it was a heavy snow. JayBee and I split up the front and back portions of sidewalk, and we were done quickly. Amusingly, soon after we were finished, JayBee's father called him up to see if we enjoyed the snow and shoveling it.

I am planning to depart for Oshkosh WI to visit with my father and mother tomorrow. There is still a chance of snow today and I want to avoid slippery roads. The trip will be short, since I do not have December 26th free from work. Christmas with my family seems somewhat less significant than in years past. I will visit with my mother's side of the family on Christmas eve. My father's side of the family is more fractured now that his mother is no longer alive and focal point of gathering on Christmas day.

I hope I will see some of my relatives on my father's side before I leave to return to Minneapolis. Such a short trip does not enable me to get out and see so many folks. I also would enjoy seeing some old friends that I still have from High School if the time and scheduling allows.

Thankfully Winter is officially here. The lack of light is depressing as the shortest day of the year approaches. Now there is nothing but increasing day time and also fewer days until Spring arrives. Starting the garden and seeing new flowers bloom are things I look forward to. Until then I do wish everyone a happy holidays and best wishes for the new year too.

Today the temperature reached 48 degrees in Minneapolis. The sun and warmer weather was welcome because during the past week it was below freezing during the day and a few night were below zero. I did get out this afternoon and biked to the local shopping area to purchase some Christmas cards. If it were not for the need to reciprocate sending holiday cards, I would not have gone shopping today. Of course it was a mad house, only 3 weeks of shopping left before Christmas. In my opinion, Christmas shopping is reaching absurd levels in our society. The drive to buy more and bigger gifts for our friends, family, co-workers, neighbors etc. is boarder-line insane.

One may question my use of insane to describe holiday shopping mania, but consider the following. People will spend many hours staring before Halloween until well after the big day to buy and then possibly return gifts. Some of these people will line up outside of stores hours before they open to try to get the limited number of the years hottest items. Countless hours include driving through increased traffic levels, waiting in longer lines, dealing with rude people, wrapping gifts and then paying the bills. At the end of the season, what is the final reward for all the struggle, perhaps a few hours on Christmas eve and Christmas day spent fussing over gifts and stuffing in some food.

I would offer a more attractive alternative: eliminate this pointless exchange of gifts. So, instead of spending those countless hours searching for the perfect presents, save the time and spend it with the people you cherish. Instead of fighting traffic and crowds and getting stressed out each weekend before Christmas, call someone you care about. Arrange to spend the time saved with them over a nice meal perhaps or drinking warming cocoa (mine with a dash of Bailey's please) or just sitting together and catching up.

I did a quick search on Google and found that Consumer Reports Magazine predicts the average shopper will spend 13 hours this season making holiday gift purchases, and then spend an additional 3 hours wrapping. Give up the shopping mania and gain 16 hours, sounds like a bargain to me!