Mussin’ with the photo op

US troops have brought a whole new meaning to the phrase, ‘in your face, Saddam’ with their national flag. Old Glory, as the flag’s called, is nostalgia indelibly tattooed on the DNA of pale faced Americans. The sting of recent history (Rosa Parks of Montgomery, Alabama bus-ride fame in ’55, is still alive folks!) still prevents many darker pigmented people feeling quite as loyal.

‘The’ defining shot of this war (unless they find Saddam alive) is going to be the toppling of his statue in an upmarket quarter of Baghdad. Maybe toppling isn’t quite the right word. He kind of folded at the ankles and then when the so-called Bradley Fighting Machine inched backward a tad more, he literally lost his boots.

Just like we saw again and again, the surreal image of Osama Bin Laden’s alleged lackeys slamming aircraft into the WTC buildings, so this is going to be the icon for the Iraqi ‘democratization process.’ It’s no wonder our own President Mbeki chose, this last week, to suggest the notion of America forcing rice down the throats of Africans if we don’t mind our democratic P’s and Q’s. Although Mbeki hopefully had his tongue firmly in rice-filled cheek, the concept is not so bizarre. The Crusaders suffered from the same sort of zeal. As did the Moghuls. Why not a modern-day “George of Arc?” That would please the American Bible-belters almightily. It might even see Dubya getting voted in for a second term, pillaged economy notwithstanding.

Oh yes, the point about the flag. You will by now have been treated to numerous repeats of the US Marine holding an American flag over the statue face and having the wind serendipitously hold it firmly in place. Luckily for the statue he didn’t have a big enough sand bag – like ordinary Iraqis get. That soldier nearly ruined a damned good photo op. The Basra Saddam statue-toppling was a whole lot more impressive. There, the bronzed Hussein literally bit the dust. The statue was uprooted, foundation and all. The Baghdad version proved a little more resistant. For one delicious moment I wondered if the cable would snap and leave the quasi Nazi salute raised in supreme defiance. But, all it took was one more lurch from the Bradley and the sculpture was pulled ignominiously apart. Not as impressive as crashing to earth, but hey, this is not the movies, and for this photo op, there was no ‘take two.’

It isn’t rocket science to have thought of a behaviour protocol before the soldiers invaded Iraq. A simple five point checklist would have sufficed. Something like: 1) No unnecessary violence. 2) No abuse, sexual or otherwise, of the locals. 3) Don’t plaster Old Glory around like it’s an early Mayday parade. 4) Leave media interviews for the generals to put the appropriate spin on the situation. 5) Let the frustrated Iraqis ventilate and loot for at least two days before imposing some restraint.

But one US soldier screwed it up by hoisting the flag aloft on entering Iraq and another did the same in the eye of the media storm of Baghdad. I had visions of an apoplectic Bush cussin’ in the White House (not being a weekend, he wasn’t at Camp David) and satellite radiowaves crackling all the way via various layers of brass, into the ears of the Bradley crew commander. Something concise, like, “Get that friggin’ flag off the face.” There was, mercifully, a bit more thought put into removing the old Iraqi flag from the statue before it buckled. Maybe that was Uncle Donald Rumsfelt’s radio contribution. He, who when asked how American parents might feel, seeing their dead children on Iraqi or Al Jazeera TV, replied: “I don’t think there’s ever been a war where people haven’t died or been injured.” No empathic comment like, “It would be the worst possible way to receive news of such a loss.” Nah. Cowboys don’t cry – not in front of their horses, anyhow.

What can we learn from this? If you’re running an operation, however small – or a war – make sure the bit players are given a script. There’s nothing quite like drama students going extemporaneous on the audience. It’s called experimental theatre. At times it works. Because the audience has chosen to buy tickets, or maybe they have a penchant for revolutionary, cutting-edge theatre. Most other times, it doesn’t. And it will ‘stick in the craw’ as the Yanks say, for a long time to come.

Islam is not the problem

Many people on religious paths are lousy advertisements for God. I’m sure that if there were some divine psychometric or behavioural screening mechanism in place, many wouldn’t be permitted to be card-carrying representatives of their particular faith. A cautionary adage urges: “Don’t judge the path by the people on it.” In the case of Islam, it’s particularly important to avoid doing so. The fact that there are, I understand, more than a billion Muslims around the world, means the chances of bad press for Islam, are pretty good. Example: The deeply ignorant evangelist, Franklin Graham, writing that Islam “is a very evil and wicked religion.”

Huge damage has been done and much suffering caused over the centuries in the name of both protestant and Roman Catholic Christianity. Just as it is presently being done, with biblical justification, in the name of ‘preserving Judaism,’ in the occupied territories of the former Palestine. Please don’t even waste your breath on an ‘anti-Semitic’ side-swipe. I have Jewish ancestry. Also, this is not an attack on any group or path, but rather some observations on the self-proclaimed practitioners of all paths. I believe that perpetuating injustice in the name of religious ideology is truly wicked.

Indigenous peoples around the world have suffered grave disrespect at the hands of social and religious missionaries, bringing ‘higher’ teachings or values to them. In the process, traditions and cultural activities which closely bonded people, or communities, have been destroyed. Conveniently tailored Christianity was used by the fathers of Apartheid as (yet again) biblical justification for the appalling treatment of black South Africans. Apartheid was, in retrospect, a huge success. The destruction of the extended family system by migratory work patterns, and the now rampant materialism of the new economically empowered black middle class, have put a final nail in the coffin of black South African cultural heritage.

But back to Islam. The tenets of the religion have as much merit as any of the other dualistic religions with a ‘book.’ Practiced with sincerity and purity of mind, there is no doubt that it can lead to the highest levels of what might be referred to, as God-realisation. The problem is that the crusader-like behaviour of the Western world has succeeded in dangerously politicising the name, if not the spirit, of Islam. Many of its adherents are now bonded together by the notion of, “The enemy of my enemy, is my friend.” As a simple example, a couple of hundred, or even thousands, of hand-waving Iraqis, do not a ‘conversion’ to Americanism make. They’ve survived for more than a third of a century by adapting to the volatile whims and fancies of Saddam Hussein. They’ll do likewise with any other occupying force, however temporary.

Religion is the mechanistic framework of an ideology. Spirituality is its practice. If one clings to the former and isn’t a practitioner of the latter, then any religion is little different from a political movement. It can quite legitimately become a survival mechanism for people under duress. To quote the oft-distorted Marxist idiom, “Religion is the opiate of the masses.” Not, as one Robben Island tour guide says, the “opium” of the masses. Although, in Afghanistan, that’s a distinct possibility.

I believe that the biggest threat today is the lack of mental purity and ethics on the part of many Islamic clerics and their peers in other religions. I was left aghast at some of the video footage from Friday night prayers in Baghdad, Basra and other centres in Iraq, following the American invasion. The hate-speak, from supposedly spiritual leaders, inside ‘houses of God’ was literally breath-taking. But Christian and Jewish religious leaders have done precisely the same thing over the centuries.

What we need to understand is this: The passive resistance campaigns of Gandhi were based on ‘ahimsa,’ the principle of non-injury. The work of Martin Luther King Jr. was based on similar principles of non-violence. It’s vital for both teachers and followers of Islam around the world, to remind themselves of the true meaning of their religion, which is “Peace.”

Nothing of consequence is going to be accomplished by being sucked into using religion as a cloak for politics, power mongering, or even the murder of ‘unpopular’ clerics, as happened recently in Iraq. Islam deserves better. 

It’s becoming a tragic stereotype in the West, that the most recognised words from the Islamic vocabulary are Sharia (Law) and Jihad (‘Holy’ War). As a student and lover of all religions, I’d like to see that change, before it’s too late. Only spirituality, as opposed to religiosity, can facilitate this. We all need to remember that anger and hatred are venoms that poison the lives of both dispenser and recipient.