Posted 5:21 PM by Paul
Back from Birmingham - 1.00 a.m.

On the train home to London from Birmingham I got to thinking about American friends who I am due to meet in two and a half weeks time in Pamplona - yes I am one of those sad old soaks who goes every year the the fiesta popularised by Hemmingway. 28th time this year for me. Never missed since 1976.

Contrary to popular myth most Americans do give a f***k what Europeans think about them. Often they are seeking afirmation that they are not a bunch of loud mouthed rich ingrates who rule the world.

So what would I say to my many American friends post Iraq war? - most but not all of them being against Bush's stage managed war to get re-elected. It occured to me that the country club had taken over the asylum. All the thin lipped bitternes of US culture had prevailed (for now) against the spirit of genorosity and creativity that we had learned to love over the years. It was now the America of Nixon and McCarthy and not the America of Whitman and Dylan. The America of the nuclear bunker and not the America of the Chrysler building. Heaven preserve us.

But of course most Americans are neither rich nor powerful. Just a few of them are. It never ceases to amaze me how many US citizens are flabergasted by the prices in Paris and Madrid. "They just put the prices up when they know Amercians are in town" is the myth that is propogated from American tourist to tourist. Nothing could be further form the truth. When I first visited Spain I overheard one 19 year old veteran of travelling to foreign parts telling his female compatriots " In Spain you have to barter for everything. Even in supermarkets" The myth survives to this day that the impoverished Europeans still desperately need US dollars.

But most Americans are not that rich and manage on the kind of vacation entitlement that would get a company sued in France. A flat mate went around the Southern States. She was amazed at just how poor the people were and how badly stocked the shops were. "Just chewing tobacco, guns and beans." was her assesment. She is from Newcastle, one of the poorer parts of the UK. We used to be in awe of Americans and now we feel a bit sorry for them. Europe has grown up.

About 8 years ago I was in Pamplona for fiesta and a young man from Chicago was killed in the bull run. I read about in the newspapers - I had given up running bulls years earlier due to fear and approaching obesity. The striking thing about the news coverage was how reporters focussed upon the nature of growing up in America. Spanish writers explained to their readers that the young man had just graduated from college and was on 3 months vacation before taking up a post with an investment bank. Obviously, they explained, he wanted to cram in as many experiences as possible because Americans had to survive on 2 weeks vacation per year until they retired at 65 and came back to Europe to see the sights and experience our culture as senior citizens. There was no mockery in the reporting - just a sense of bemusement and sympathy. "How can they live like that?" was the subtext.

The boys parents (who were no more that 50) came to claim his body and were looked after by the town council of Pamplona. Reporters and photographers were kept away. It was all apparently very dignified. But the fiesta continued, the bulls were let loose in the streets and people got drunk as they have been doing for 500 years.

Across town revellers asked the question "Who are these masters of the universe who cannot afford to give their people more than 10 days holiday?"

There is a Great America out there still - but for now who would want to be carrying the Stars and Stripes? Far from giving them back their pride Bush and co. have made taken the shine off being an American.

Posted 3:01 AM by Paul
Gun Control Irony

The American Armed forces called a gun amnesty in Baghdad last week and invited local Ba'athists and assorted hoodlums to hand in their weapons. Unfortunately for Blair no one handed in an oil tanker full of Anthrax. The hunt for the fictional threat goes on.

Apparently very few people took the Americans up on their kind offer of destroying their weapons for them. Hardly surprising. Ordinary people are holding onto or buying weapons to protect their homes in the absence of a police force.

So - a Government helped into power by the National Rifle Association has finally admitted the need for gun control as the best way of cutting down on street crime. Maybe next they will suggest establishing a universal health care system in Iraq funded by general taxation.

Posted 12:03 PM by Paul
War Crimes?

Papers are full of the appalling story that "our boys" may after all have been involved in torturing Iraquis. In a story which mixed horror, naivity and English cosiness a young British serviceman took his holiday / wartime snaps into the local chemist in the Midlands for developing. Problem was they featured an Iraqi bound and gagged being driven around suspended in netting from a fork lift truck by a laughing British soldier. Also some unspecified sex acts were taking place in some of the shots. It is not clear whether or not these were hetrosexual, homosexual or sexual humiliation of the unfortunate Iraqi. All in all appalling stuff, and demonstrative of a particular type of stupidity. I suppose the soldier didn't think he was doing anything wrong. I mean "...we dint kill 'im or anything and we won the war..so what's the problem". Various soldiers are now under arrest and thre is a full scale inquiry. As they should be. But what of the politicians?

Meanwhile across in Westminster Blair and Straw are squirming and complaining that everybody has an obsession with finding Weapons of Mass Destruction. This is an odd reaction as they talked of little else for 6 months. It appears that Saddam was not a threat at all and we invaded not because he was about to attack us and his neighbours but because he was unable to resist an invasion. Why didn't they just tell us? It is the sanctimonious piety that galls - not the Realpolitik. It is also a bit of a giveaway for future military conflicts.

Tips for Dictators

1. Do not dissarm. The US and their sidekicks the UK will invade anyway and not even bother to switch the electricity on after they have blown up your capital city

2. If you want to invade a neighbour, don't worry. Claim they are a threat and you are acting in self defence. When the UN complains just tell them you are acting like George Bush

The Hard Right in the US has acted in a totally predictable way. The war is won, the poll ratings are looking good and there is no point keeping up the pretext. Rumsfelt is now musing that maybe Saddam destroyed his weapons just as the allies invaded. In order to make life easier for them I suppose. Such a nice guy Saddam. . If this is the case Iraq fully complied with Resolution 1441. Paul Wolfevitiz admitted that they settled on WOMD as a rationale for the war for "bureaucratic reasons". So it was all a big con. The oil is controlled by the US and will be mortgaged for 50 years to pay for the reconstruction which will be carried out by US companies close to Bush. You really have to admire their gall. Better still they can leave Saudi and base masses of US troops in Iraq which is much handier for operations in Central Asia. Pure genius.

Meanwhile Blair is stuck in London looking very very hurt. He looks a bit like the obliging and naive young woman who really believed the cad when he said " I really love you and we will be together forever" ansd susequently hopped inot bed. A few weeks later the cad has moved on and is tryijng to woo the girls who were not so obliging the first time around. The Government is desperately trying to cover its tracks blaming it all on the security services. "Maybe we were given the wrong advice" is the new Line to Take. Sorry we are not mugs and the spies will leak to the internet about how an old student thesis was the basis of the UK Government's justifcation for going to war.

So..the spies will be blamed, the soldiers will be court martialled but - as if my magic - no middle aged man in a grey suit will stand trial for ordering the dropping of cluster bombs on built up areas full of small children.

It's the start of the end for Blair. The whole thing is unravelling in front of his eyes. He will get his place in history, but as a pompous charlaton. Not as the man who saved the Labour Party and re-launched Social Democracy.