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发表于 2011-12-19 19:00:17
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VOX POPULI: Will the war in Iraq soon belong to history?
"History" is a convenient word for politicians to use sometimes. I felt this when U.S. President Barack Obama declared, "The war in Iraq will soon belong to history."
History is sometimes defined as an "accumulation of events that might have been averted." This might apply to the Iraq War. Yet for America, which was the sole superpower when it launched the military conflict, it was a foregone conclusion. The country's arrogance was at its peak when I was reporting on the United Nations during the months before and after the war began.
The U.S. administration of the time forced the international community to choose between being America's "friend or enemy," and scorned France and Germany, which were against the war, as "old Europe." I heard many diplomats lament that they were being jerked around by America's conceited determination to control the world.
There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and the U.S.-led war came to be denounced as an unjust one. Obama, who wants this to become history quickly, told thousands of cheering troops, "Welcome home, welcome home, welcome home." But bloodshed continues in Iraq, where violence has yet to end.
Thinking of history reminded me of poet Hiroshi Takeyama (1920-2010), whose work I quoted in this column some days ago. A survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Takeyama was critical of the United States. On the 62th anniversary of the end of World War II, he wrote: "History must accurately record/Everything America has done over the last 62 years." The poet must have been thinking of the Iraq War, too.
History must also accurately record the fact that the administration of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi rushed into supporting the Iraq War. It is as if all this has been long forgotten by politicians who bury their heads in the sand and refuse to examine history. Such insincerity is a disgrace to the whole world.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 17 |
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