Let Them Eat Bombs by Terry Jones

Poststructural Pub
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… and now for something completely different

Let Them Eat Bombs

The doubling of child malnutrition in Iraq is baffling

by Terry Jones
The Guardian
Tuesday April 12, 2005

A report to the UN human rights commission in Geneva has concluded that Iraqi children were actually better off under Saddam Hussein than they are now.

This, of course, comes as a bitter blow for all those of us who, like George Bush and Tony Blair, honestly believe that children thrive best when we drop bombs on them from a great height, destroy their cities and blow up hospitals, schools and power stations.

It now appears that, far from improving the quality of life for Iraqi youngsters, the US-led military assault on Iraq has inexplicably doubled the number of children under five suffering from malnutrition. Under Saddam, about 4% of children under five were going hungry, whereas by the end of last year almost 8% were suffering.

These results are even more disheartening for those of us in the Department of Making Things Better for Children in the Middle East By Military Force, since the previous attempts by Britain and America to improve the lot of Iraqi children also proved disappointing. For example, the policy of applying the most draconian sanctions in living memory totally failed to improve conditions. After they were imposed in 1990, the number of children under five who died increased by a factor of six. By 1995 something like half a million Iraqi children were dead as a result of our efforts to help them.

A year later, Madeleine Albright, then the US ambassador to the United Nations, tried to put a brave face on it. When a TV interviewer remarked that more children had died in Iraq through sanctions than were killed in Hiroshima, Mrs Albright famously replied: “We think the price is worth it.”

But clearly George Bush didn’t. So he hit on the idea of bombing them instead. And not just bombing, but capturing and torturing their fathers, humiliating their mothers, shooting at them from road blocks - but none of it seems to do any good. Iraqi children simply refuse to be better nourished, healthier and less inclined to die. It is truly baffling.

And this is why we at the department are appealing to you - the general public - for ideas. If you can think of any other military techniques that we have so far failed to apply to the children of Iraq, please let us know as a matter of urgency. We assure you that, under our present leadership, there is no limit to the amount of money we are prepared to invest in a military solution to the problems of Iraqi children.

In the UK there may now be 3.6 million children living below the poverty line, and 12.9 million in the US, with no prospect of either government finding any cash to change that. But surely this is a price worth paying, if it means that George Bush and Tony Blair can make any amount of money available for bombs, shells and bullets to improve the lives of Iraqi kids. You know it makes sense.

·Terry Jones is a film director, actor and Python. He is the author of Terry Jones’s War on the War on Terror

www.terry-jones.net

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Summation:

“It’s Bush’s fault.”

Hunger in the world? “It’s Bush’s fault.”

Bad economy in your country? “It’s Bush’s fault.”

Broken shoelace in your favorite shoe? “It’s Bush’s fault.”

:sleep:

(obviously, there was no such thing as a hungry child until he showed up).

:roll:

Honestly, if I want a synopsis and/or critique of any country’s foreign policy, I surely wouldn’t consult:

a) The Guardian
b) Terry Jones

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a) IRTradRU?

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Hey!

We agree on something! Although that should be:

c) IRTradRU?

Then again, I’ve never been asked to write an article for ‘The Guardian’.

Still left wondering what Mr. Jones’ qualifications are on issues such as this. Was Britney Spears not available?
:roll:

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Don’t hold your breath.

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Weeeeeeellll. Bush and Phoney Tony ignore or override the UN when it suits them.

Their supporters ignore the UN too, and any inconvenient evidence that goes against their plans and assertions. Now there’s a shock.

Me, I don’t find the malevolent influence that Dubya and his cohorts have had, and continue to have on the world particularly boring. They’re too nasty for that.

Now, today, we hear that the British Attorney General warned Blair that going to war in Iraq ‘could be’ legally problematic - seemingly in contrast to Blair’s assertions regarding this advice.

It stinks. Tony Benn said that the first Gulf War wouldn’t have happened if that area produced carrots rather than oil. Same principles apply here. Yes, Saddam was an undemocratic tyrant, but so are many other leaders and regimes around the world including several set up and/or supported by the US now or in the past. We don’t see Bush or Blair leaping to attack every other undemocratic regime. Maybe even B&B can’t fabricate a case for Weapons of Mass Deception in these cases, or perhaps it doesn’t serve their propaganda machines or economies well enough for them to stir.

I don’t support Saddam but I do support justice and international law, and the United Nations. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Vigilantism isn’t big and it isn’t clever, especially when inspired by self-interest rather than some sort of twisted altruism.

So. The Guardian’s good. It’s even sorted out its reputation for tpyos, pretty much. Terry Jones has got as much right as any to assert his views, fair play to the boy, although I’m still not convinced that Chaucer was murdered…

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whew! Thanks! :laughing:

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Summation:

“It’s Bush’s fault.”

Hunger in the world? “It’s Bush’s fault.”

Read more closely. This article concerns hunger in Iraq, which assuredly does have something to do with Mr. Bush.

Remeber the secretary of state’s advice concerning Iraq, given before the war began? It was “you break it, you own it!”. Bush has most certainly broken Iraq, partly on purpose, partly through negligence, and partly through incompetence.

However, despite Powell’s prescient forecast, Bush–and you, as his apologist on this site–want to disown any responsibility for the situation there. That’s ironic, considering the Republican party’s rhetoric and self-image as the party of personal responsibility.

You and Bush want to smash a functioning state and walk away.

That’s not only irresponsible, it’s amazingly foolish–if we’ve learned nothing at all from the last few decades in the history of Lebannon and Afghanistan, it’s that this kind of irresponsibility is going to inevitably lead to American deaths, later.

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Yoshi (from Mario Brothers) eats bombs.

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Yeah, - Iraq and Afghanistan - they were both adventures in paradise.

Who cares about the female mutilations by the Taliban? What’s the big deal?

And Iraq - how many children were locked away in a prison - - you know, the ones that weren’t dead already?

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TradR, don’t you realize that the US sponsored and supported both Iraq and Afghanistan when some of the most horrific things were happening. If you criticize them you first have to explain why the US was so complicit in their crimes. That’s much harder of course, but necessary for the discussion. Not only that, but just yesterday Bush was kissing and holding hands with one of the Middle East’s most repressive regime leaders at his ranch in Crawford. Explain that – if you can.

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And Iraq - how many children were locked away in a prison - - you know, the ones that weren’t dead already?

Your nation has children in prison, as well. You’ve had a Canadian minor in Abu Guantanamo for three years now–where he has faced torture–and you refuse to rule out execution, despite a formal request from the Canadian government. So he’s been tortured, and he’s one of the ones who isn’t dead yet.

You just had the UN commissioner for human rights in Afghanistan fired becasue he kept asking embarrassing questions about torture in US-run detention facilities there.

The US is currently in no position to be lecturing ANYONE on torture or illegal detention.

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:roll:

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That’s right, and then there’s Maher Arar, the Canadian who was sent by the US to Syria for ten months where he very credibly alleges that he was brutally tortured in the dungeon of a Syrian prison. Syria’s is on the list of terrorist nations and the US is sending someone there to be tortured… explain that.