The Shoe-thrower is coming home

The house is being dressed, the party being arranged, euphoria is in the air; the shoe-thrower is coming home.

After serving a one-year-turned nine months sentence behind bars for hurling two shoes intermittently at the former US President, George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad earlier this year, Muntadhar al-Zeidi, is to be released to once again see his family and friends.

Al-Zeidi, an Iraq Journalist with a local news station, who called the former US President a ‘dog’, while he was throwing his shoes at him, became a celebrity for his effrontery and gallantry in actualizing what most middle easterners would have wanted to happen; for someone to register their displeasure, where it mattered, regarding US invasion of Iraq.

Although Al-Zeidi crossed the line and humiliated President Bush right in front of his Prime Minister and in front of the whole world, the US invasion of Iraq, which held the promise of restoring long-lasting peace to the country, led to more problems than was initially envisaged.

The alleged presence of weapons of mass destruction which was the basis for the American invasion ended up being untrue, and while many lives were lost in the process of looking for the nukes, most Iraqis and Middle Easterners were unhappy with the ‘encroachment’ and would want to pass this message across in a way that would be clear.

Al-Zeidi did pass the message across and was punished for it.

While there are many western commentators who feel that the punishment does not commensurate the gravity of his offense, the news once again is that, the shoe-thrower is coming home.

Deal, no deal

What happens if the ‘enemy’ has what you want? Do you beg, fight, pray or strike a deal to get it?

Interesting!

Libya has being perceived as an ‘enemy’ by many western nations for decades but Libya has Oil and the likes of Italy, Britain, Germany etc. must talk to Libya otherwise they risk talking to some other middle eastern ‘enemies.’

Britain has talked to Libya recently and it has led to the release of Megrahi, a bomber, a killer and call him more names; he is back in Libya and most interestingly, was given a royal welcome perhaps for having murdered two hundred and seventy people in 1988.

You didn’t need a soothsayer to tell you that Megrahi’s release was tied to BP’s oil interest in Libya.

Well, according to Gordon Brown, there was ".... no double dealing, no deal on oil" over his release but Jack Straw is saying there was a deal. Poor Scottish authorities, they would have given in on the need for their economy to be ‘powered’.

The U.S is angry but I believe this anger will be worked out in some diplomatic talks in a few days time and then business will continue as usual. After all, everybody does it. Lives could have being lost, families bereaved but if there is a deal on the line, the ‘necessary’ has to be done or there might be no deal.

What is interesting to me in all of these is how systems are the same everywhere – In Africa, Europe, America, everywhere. Call it first world, second world, developing, least developing or whatever academic jargon that suits you, once they are run by humans, expect similar outputs.

Humans are the same, their position, education or location notwithstanding and they display similar propensities. They are sometimes hypocrites who try to clean up others but they smell themselves. Kettles who call pots black.

They could trade joy, hope and purpose for pounds, euro and dollars and could strike deals with their enemy but have no deal with their creator.


***Originally written in my Facebook note on Sunday, 06 September 2009 at 08:29***

It's September 11!

It’s September 11 or 9/11 if you prefer that. It’s eight years since the World Trade Center was blown up by ‘terrorists.'

We were told they were extremists but we fear they were loyalists. Loyalists of some ‘internal elements' who needed a reason to invade Iraq.

With several unanswered questions ranging from whether the explosion did not look more like a controlled demolition, to why a big flight that drilled through Pentagon could leave such a small hole in the building, to a stern refusal to open up more public enquiries into the issue, there are very strong basis to believe that the event was arranged and some people need to be covered up.

Conspiracy at top level if you like.

Well, condolensce to the families who lost their loved ones and still grapple daily with missing them.

We are living at a time when truth could be classified and access to it denied ‘forever‘. Forever until God brings them to the open.

It's September 11!

Will peace be jeopardized in Darfur?

Following the appointment of Lt.-Gen. Patrick Nyamvumba, a Rwandan junior soldier to take over the commandeering role of the UN-AU Hybrid Force in Darfur (UNAMID) from Gen. Martin Agwai and head contingents that have senior officers as unit heads, concerns are raised if peace would not be jeopardized in Darfur.

Nyamvumba, who was said to have been a cadet while some of these senior officers were already graduates of the Nigerian Defence Academy, has now resumed office as the new Force Commander for UNAMID. It is however yet to be seen if his appointment would not generate internal wrangling that might crumble the peace-keeping operation in Darfur particularly from the angle of the internal organizational structure of the peace-keeping force.

The problems are many. First why would the AU influence the selection process even while Nyamvumba did not come tops during the interview? A Nigerian General was said to have performed most outstandingly and he was not given the job. The issue to me is not with the appointment of a Rwandan but with filling such a high profile vacancy with a junior soldier who now has to give commands to his superiors. Is AU having problems with Nigeria or are some leaders within the AU benefiting from the instability in the region?

Second, I would have thought that the UN Secretary General would have weighed the security and operational implication of appointing a junior soldier to lead an army of better qualified and trained soldiers for such an all-important mission in Darfur.

Lastly, there are growing worries with how certain infamous decisions and actions as well as some eleventh-hour grumblings and passivity are increasingly disrupting the progress and change the African continent is gearing towards.

Well, I cross my fingers and hope the legacies of Gen. Agwai would not be eroded and the ordinary people, mostly helpless children and women would not have to suffer for the ‘dirty politics and inglorious tactics’ that are being seen at work.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/news/article03//indexn2_html?pdate=100909&ptitle=Controversy trails appointment of UN-AU troops' commander