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War
changes everything
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the view
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by Tarek Atia |
With Baghdad on its knees,
the “scenarios” are already blooming.
April 10, 2003 | A friend called to discuss the war. Was it really all over? And
where was Saddam?
“Here’s what I heard,” he said. “Saddam is gone. He took off
when he realized it was all coming apart, but get this.” He paused
for effect.
“It’s a trick. He’s waiting for them to fully
occupy Baghdad, and then, boom – go nuclear on them.”
 “But does he even have nuclear?”
“Remember, it’s just a scenario. But, whatever he’s got,
he’s going to use it against them in Baghdad. He knows he’s
defeated, but he’s going to go out scratching, like a cat.”
“And remember,” he
warned. “If Saddam goes nuclear, the Americans will too.”
I said that was not a pleasant scenario to imagine, and reminded
myself that my friend was always exaggerating things, making them
seem worse than they really are.
Then again, thanks to the things we see on our television screens
day in and out -- buildings burning, smoke filling the sky, killer
lightning cutting paths through the night – even his exaggerations
somehow seemed more plausible right now. I could already see the
mushroom clouds on the horizon.
The trouble is, I later realized, the deeper these Armageddon or
doomsday scenarios dig into our psyche, the more likely they are to
explode.
Defeat is always hard to
stomach, even though the outcome was known from the start.
By defeat, I mean the clear
and acute devastation felt by anyone who was -- and is -- against
this war.
It may be about time to get
out of the limbo of the war itself, and start thinking more
seriously – and more specifically -- about the future.
Perhaps we aught to start asking ourselves questions like, “What
can I do -- in my life, and at work -- to make the world a better
place?”
After
all, it didn’t get this bad on its own. And global problems are
better solved locally.
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