SEVEN7 Part 4: Where have all the flowers gone?

Have you ever looked at the face of a terrorist?

Yes, I have. BUT before I elaborate, let me look at the definition of the word and some associated uses: terror, according to the Chambers English Dictionary, terror n. extreme fear: a time of, or government by, terrorism: an object of dread.
-- King of Terrors death;
Reign of Terror the period of fever in the first French revolution when thousands went to the guillotine.

So when I answered that I had looked at the face of a terrorist, I meant it to refer to a person who "had put extreme" fear in me.

It came in the form of a road bully who had earlier knocked his car into my car from the left side, alighted, and raising his voice shouting obscenities, banged onto my car's bonnet. He did not even engage in civilised conversation before firing off his profanities, and accusations, demonstrating without a shadow of a doubt the MIGHT is RINGHT attitude that others are always "wrong", he is always right.

Another I deem fulfils the definition of being "terrorist" had been a 'comrade' who stabbed me in the back several times in the past, later approached me, tapping me on the shoulder, insisting he wanted to "speak with me, and offered to be my friend". I had politely declined his "friendship", AND he immediately transformed into a FIEND -- remember, dropping the "r" from F(r)IEND? He started screaming like a mad man and threatened me bodily harm for refusing his hand of friendship. To me, his distorted face and blowing his top at that moment instilled extreme fear in me; yes, I feared for my life.

And I can imagine many fellow Malaysians, young and old, who have/had been terrorised.

* The litle girl of ten years being forced by her step-father, or worse, father, to have sex with him, against her will, and most likely even to her ignorance of what it's all about. Isn't that an act of terror on a child? Sadly, all too commonly reported within Malaysian homes.

** OR an old man or vagabond being set upon by a gang of hooligans for no reason at all, then beaten senselessly to death, just "for the fun of it". Isn't this an act of terror? Hence, don't you think it appropriate that these hooligans are classified as "terrorists"?

We don't need missiles in the battle-fields, we don't need the bombs going off at the underground train stations, or on buses, or any public thoroughfare, to see acts of terrorism enacted everyday, somewhere, somehow, on some innocent victim/s.

On the premise of a rogue enemy in the form of Saddam Hussein, the now-debunked assertion that Iraq had in its possesion weapons of mass destruction -- the US and Allied forces marched into Iraq. The miliatry casualties continue several years into the (mis)adventure, and both sides ring up mounting losses of lives every passing day. The news of suicide bombers in in Baghdad, almost a daily event, has gone off the front pages of newspapers as "immunity" to be shoicked sets in and the news value declines.

Is Iraq any more "democratic" after it deposed of Saddam Hussein the tyrant? Are the citizens of Iraq better placed to advance the cause of democratic government? In whose eyes, and by whose definitions indeed, are the basis of good democratic government versus despotic rule? By whose definitions are the combatants involved being classified under "terrorist" or "martyr"?

Yesterday I posed the question: Was any lesson learnt from the Vietnam War?

"To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction," syas one of Newton's laws on force and motion I mused about, and wondered if there was a parallel lesson here, innocent lives taken by spiralling acts of violence. Does anyone have time to ponder, and care?

When the London authorities reported the identification of four "terrorists" as prime suspects in yesterday's media, the question arises -- are these four really "terorists" or are they "martyrs" in th eyes of the people. I believe it is a divided public out there -- whether in London, Canberra, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Baghdad or Bangkok.

When I pose these questions, I don't have an answer, because I don't know.
I can only weigh the issues from different vantage points, trying my best to write an objective and responsible piece as best I can, having been trained and for a long period, having earned my bread-and-butter as a journalist.

What I know is that all soldiers and civilains killed as collateral damage victims possessed some thing in common -- that the blood they shed was/is COMMONLY COLOURED. Yes, Asian, British, American, French, Indian, Eskimo, Malaysian, when wounded,we all shed blood that still is coloured RED.Peole all across the globe fear Death from terrorist acts, in whatever form or guise. The victims suffer the same intensity of pain. The victims' families feel the same anguish of loss, they weep the same wet tears.

I end with this popular song from the Sixties for some reflection:

WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE


Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls 've picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young girls gone?
Gone to young men every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young men gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young men gone?
Gone for soldiers every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Gone to flowers every one
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?