World Peace: Statue of Liberty or Vengeance is Mine?

This morning I felt despair when I recalled the photograph of Barrack Obama, Hillary Clinton and various military people and Advisors watching the assassination of Osama Bin Laden and others live. The activity must have seemed like a violent video game, yet this is real life or indeed death.

I can’t understand why the US Administration would want to release the photograph to the public of a Head of State watching a murder he ordered and the message it sends to the public about dealing with conflict through revenge outside of International law. I am particularly interested in the impact on children and the message they interpret from a legitimate World Leader endorsing murder as a solution to terrorism. Indeed Obama’s own children, how his girls felt. It is worth pondering the example adults send to children of how we deal with people who we perceive are violent or wrong. The fact that Osama bin Laden has never been tried doesn’t seem to rate a mention, how can people be sure if he was the perpetrator ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ of September 11. Even if it was proved he was responsible does that justify murdering a person when in our own society we are told that murder is illegal as people must report crime to the police and allow justice to be undertaken impartially. No court of law would accept the US Government argument in favour of murder as justifiable. In Australia the death penalty is illegal as there is a belief that mistakes can be made and people are reformable.

There was significant international criticism and legal argument about the set up of Guantanamo Bay as a torture centre in Cuba outside of US Law. The issue was human rights violations by a country that states it values the Law as the appropriate forum for dealing with crime. This has to make US Law makers very uneasy about how law is side stepped by Government and the precedents the US Government is setting and what implications it has internationally. It also sends messages locally, that the Government doesn’t adhere to Law. It connects to Government sanctioned violence as ‘appropriate’ and outside the law and any other as ‘illegal’ or ‘terrorism’. Both cause terror and I see no solution or de-escalation occurring from violent actions. Both lose by actions that use violence as a solution. It sets up division of ‘us and them’ – those in the US and those in muslim countries. It demonstrates that violence is how you deal with problems and escalates the conflict and anger. It is likely to increase ‘terror’.

Scott Ritter the former Senior Weapons Inspector in Iraq made it very clear that the invasion of Iraq was an illegitimate act of aggression and he stated as an insider that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that this was known. Yet the public were still receiving media spin that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to justify the US presence in Iraq which according to Scott Ritter the war was about name change rather than regime change. He made it clear the US didn’t care about the brutality of the regime, they just wanted another leader and it didn’t matter if he was the same type of brutal dictator as Saddam Hussein. What was clear by his testimony at the University of Melbourne, was that ethics, morality, international peace, upholding democratic principles and freedoms did not play any part in decisions. All political parties pledge to uphold the US Constitution – state with their hand on their hearts, they stand for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Look at that foundational statement of US values with depth. Life – that is ‘thou shall not kill’ right? Liberty (freedom) to live life free to pursue your happiness, how does an eye for an eye fit into that? The Statue of Liberty holds the flame. Did you know it was originally named “Liberty Enlightening the World,” it was a gift from France. Is murder and breaching of international law enlightening the world? I always note as a woman, that the Statue of Liberty is a woman holding this torch of enlightenment. I sense it will be women who will bring this new enlightenment as it is their children that are killed in the name of freedom, honour and rights. Murder brings neither, it only fuels confusion and pain, it serves to distract us from the real issues underlying the conflict, power and control served up as democracy and freedom. Real democracy is the will of the people and freedom is natural when you love. Only love brings freedom in truth.

Scott Ritter stated the US citizens (and world) were not told the truth and for political reasons Saddam Hussein had to be killed. He was touted as a Hitler like character and the issue was political rather than a threat to international security.

So how do we know what the truth is in this situation? Is it because the media reports it as removing an evil terrorist therefore it must be true, unquestioningly? Where does international law become legitimate when the world’s Superpower who espouses democracy and values of a civilized society seeks revenge rather than the Rule of Law? Why couldn’t the US have apprehended Osama bin Laden by the Special Forces and taken him to the International Criminal Court in The Hague? You may recall the trials of perpetrators of ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. Slobodan Milosevic the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was tried in The Hague for Crimes Against Humanity. In the case of Saddam Hussein the public saw images of him at the International Criminal Court. Yet how did he end up in Iraq and hanged?

Diane Marie Amann a Professor of Law & Martin Luther King Jr, School of Law, University of California stated in relation to Saddam Hussein…

“In the determination of any criminal charge against him, … everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law. Within this analysis, one might examine several tribunals to see whether they meet a single fairness criterion, such as the duty of judges to act without bias; alternatively, one might assess a single tribunal in light of several criteria.”

This is the foundation to western democracy, fairness. Yet increasingly, this is seen as too slow, not politically expedient or not pragmatic by those who are ambitious. These values are central not only to the US but to a stable world society that values International law. Without fundamental values we end up with the world described by the Political Philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), the law of Tooth and Claw. John Locke another 17th century Political Philosopher was known as the father of liberalism and one of the most influential enlightenment thinkers, he argued for liberty and the social contract. Thomas Jefferson considered Bacon, Locke and Newton as the greatest men that have ever lived. Locke’s influence was reflected in the US Declaration of Independence.

So that brings us back to the assassination of Osama bin Laden where Special Forces are sent to kill him and the end result of Saddam Hussein killed by a Iraqi Court set up the Provisional Authority, in both cases the objective of murdering the person rather than justice was clear. This is a critical point and it moves the world away from world peace.

No matter how personally hideous ‘we the people’ find the actions of a person, they still are entitled to a fair trial, as would you or I. It is not appropriate to blindly follow trial by media like Gladiators in the Roman Coliseum blindly shouting for blood as retribution or like a ‘group think’ Reality Show where we exploit people for entertainment and cruelly judge and laugh at their problems, making a mockery of people rather than a mature society that seeks to solve problems finding justice of the peace in a wise solution. I have learned that behaviours of control have no concept or understanding of problem solving as they are accustomed to hierarchy and blindly following orders. If force is requested then subordinates obey, without question or reason.

There has to be a point as citizens that we have a sense of what is a civilized society or do we just throw our hands up and go ‘whatever they know what they are doing’ or ‘I am too afraid to say anything’. Democracy is a lived experience not words bandied around by politicians. The real power resides with the citizens. It is we that fail our society when we don’t participate as citizens and voice our concerns (nonviolently and with unity) and visualize the future we want for our children. Do you want a world based on Justice as the Rule of Law or Vengeance is Mine?

I see this as a line in the sand, what type of world do you want? It is a defining moment for US citizens and world citizens to decide the type of world we enter.

Believe me it is your decision no matter who you are around the world, it affects all countries. The children are looking to you to show them the way.

I’d like to end this blog to say as a World Peace Sustainability Clown, I feel to paint a tear drop on my face. I feel sorrow for children. My life is dedicated to life, liberty and happiness in truth, I see no humour or joy as a result of violence.

So my response is to keep going into the public and live the example of peace, to love all people, to allow for differences, to solve my problems nonviolently and to deal with my own negativity as a person dedicated to peace. That is my choice – justice as enlightenment – that is just (fair) and inspirational in every moment.

I send you love.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world” Gandhi