War crimes and John Lennon.
Monday, 12/08/03 - 12:35 pm.

So, my last week in this territory (for a month, anyway) has begun. I'm off to Houston in 7 days. My nephew is coming with me, it's official. It'll be ok, I suppose. Just last night I realized I'll sleep on the floor for a month. It's funny, being austere.

I was reading in the newspaper that 9 children in Iraq were killed "by accident". It's officially called Collateral Damage, and the term is cleverly designed to justify such actions, I know that, but I never heard that the WTC victims were collateral damage. But they are, they're a collateral damage of the nosy USA government. Yes, it is, learn some history outside your own frontiers. It's the "eye for an eye" thing and now there's a country called Terrorism.

I hate soldiers being sent to Iraq. There's a national batallion, sent by the ass-kisser president of this nation, but I see no one from upper middle-class and above in the trentch warfare (well, they said they'd go to help reconstruct, but they're arresting people, just like here, arresting people with tattoos -NO KIDDING!-). All of them are from the lower classes. People become soldiers because it doesn't require a lot to become one, and because they have a family to feed.

I don't wish for the soldiers, whichever their nationality, to be attacked. But seriously, they shouldn't send them. I don't understand that thing of "fighting for freedom". You're free in your own country, aren't you? Are you looking for your freedom overseas? No, that's where they're wrong. If you go overseas to "fight for your freedom" (that's NOT overseas), you're raping the other country's freedom, and obviously they're going to fight back, because they want their own freedom, too.

It doesn't matter if it's because you're good at heart and you feel sorry for the other country, because it's oppressed and you want to free the people (then don't call it "fighting for our freedom", ok? it's puzzling and you don't get your point across). One nation MUST not interfere in the other nation's politics. Don't you have your own territory to take care of, have you got no respect for personal space? Well, good for you if you have democracy, other countries don't. If you stop being so nosy, then you'll stop being so hated. Maybe you'd care to know where the terrorists are coming from, and I'm talking about their frames of mind.

I'm not justifying terrorism, either. But if you're going to take action, expect a reaction. Simple as that. It's a consequence. Then the consequence is turned into a cause, and so on, and it never ends.

Yes, dear, people get tortured and killed in that oh, so miserable country (insert the name you prefer, Iraq is so wasted by now) that's nothing like the beautiful united states, but if you want to do something about it, then be a bit smarter and more human than bombing the suburbs. People procreate, you know? And some people, MOST of the people outside your frontiers, have a life other than hating a 1st world country to the point of preparing a terrorist attack. One wants to get even for something like that, it is natural, but obviously they're not doing it the right way (then suggest something, smart-ass!, war-supporters say...oh, we have, but they're obviously not paying attention).

Well, but that's a tangent. I saw the picture of the children that got killed. And two pages ahead there was the news of a new monument, honoring the ones who were disappeared in the civil war (oh, yeah...the USA gave a million dollars a day to make it continue. Soft, isn't it?).

All of the stories are somewhat the same, but they never fail to break your heart. "The soldiers broke into hour house at midnight. They arrested my husband. They beat him up in the streets and then took him away, to be tortured. I never saw him again". Well, sometimes the families see the disappeared again. Just lately they've been finding massive graves, full of broken bones.

I could go on, but, lucky you, I won't. This just goes to show how something like 9 children in Iraq being killed means a lot to me, and unleashes my own hystorical experience (maybe this is what I get for reading Martin-Baro, "psychology of liberation", again, who by the way got killed with USA's economic support). It's funny, that when I started this diary I'd always say how I hated people. Now it appears I care a lot about them, no matter where they are. But you see, I've discovered that EVERYBODY hates and loves people, so there's no point in trying to explain this like it's a personal charachteristic in me. It's not.

I talk too much. Now you see what war crimes bring out in me.

Kind of related to this, today's the 23rd anniversary of John Lennon's murder. I wonder what he'd say about all the things going on in this horrible world.

You don't think you've saved a life!?, said a journalist to him, when they were talking about the bed-in. She's got a point, maybe being in bed for a week didn't precisely saved a life. But he had tangible plans, he was doing this "fighting back" that I talked about before. He was reacting to war, and he wanted to make people react with him.

But then, at 23:07 on monday, december 8th, he got killed. I'm kind of glad I didn't have to live through that, but I myself am amused at how he's become a big part of me, through his music, his writing, his drawings, his points of view. I guess George Harrison says it all better. Here's to John and to the things he said to the world ("though not many have ears").

ALL THOSE YEARS AGO
(Harrison)

I�m shouting all about love
While they treated you like a dog
When you were the one who had made it so clear
All those years ago.

I�m talking all about how to give
They don�t act with much honesty
But you point the way to the truth when you say
"All you need is love".

Living with good and bad
I always look up to you
Now we�re left cold and sad
By someone the devil�s best friend
Someone who offended all.

We�re living in a bad dream
They�ve forgotten all about mankind
And you were the one they backed up to the wall
All those years ago.

You were the one who imagined it all
All those years ago.

Deep in the darkest night
I send out a prayer to you
Now in the world of light
Where the spirit free of the lies
And all else that we despised.

They�ve forgotten all about God
He�s the only reason we exist
Yet you were the one that they said was so weird
All those years ago.

You said it all, though not many had ears
All those years ago.

You had control of our smiles and our tears
All those years ago.

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