The War Criminal

It is your custom to let the accused have the final word in these trials and I will not let pass this last chance to speak before you execute me.

You mention my name in the same way you speak of Hitler, Stalin, Hussein and, perhaps you should.  For I have murdered, it is true and there is little thought but that it was for my own gain – not with my own hand, mind you, but with my proclamations, choices and decrees.  I deny none of it.

As the elected leader of a free country, I worked the will of my people – even when they would publicly say they would do the opposite.  I was never impeached or even officially reprimanded for the killings and torture I caused.  In fact, I believe, I was elected to do what I have done.  To remain strong in the face of external aggressors and internal dissent and to, once and for all, lay to rest generations of costly struggle.  This I have done.

Where I'm from, there is an old saying: "The people who eat it do not really want to know how the sausage is made."  It is also true of progress toward the peaceful, plentiful future we all want.  Anti-Semites and white supremacists suppose that it is one race – in conflict with all others – which keeps utopia beyond our grasp.  They are wrong.  It is that we must all become one race to get to utopia.  Look at the progress the Japanese made after World War II.  Disheartened, depleted and with few natural resources to call its own, this island nation, in a mere four decades, moved itself from the bottom of the living-standard ladder to the very top.  With technologies that bested anything Americans or Europeans (their supposed educational superiors) could dream up.  Cars that rivaled anything in Detroit – quickly out-pacing them worldwide.  Home Electronics that were reliable and affordable flooded the world.  And all, I contend, because a homogenous people had no other distractions of purpose and could concentrate on their individual and national goals – which were meshed perfectly.  A sense of pride and loyalty came along with every paycheck.  Hard work and modest living made them a much more robust and formidable nation after the war than it ever could have been beforehand.

The same results can be shown time and time again.  Elimination of cultural crosscurrents speeds the flow of progress, production and peace.  Many are too weak to speak this truth aloud.  I am not.

In catering to the least of one's countrymen, the best must be weighted down or held back.  In allowing the free expression of any opinion or religion time must be wasted combating those ideas that are most contrary to the common good – all while exercising caution not to trample individual rights or feelings – which puts a drain on energy and purpose that no nation can sustain for long.  I did not try.

I found consensus by following my nose.  I was elected because of my narrow worldview and my ability to look past possible distractions of small groups claiming infringements.  To burn away irrelevancies in the human spirit and increase the strength of our national will is always painful.  The civil war put a single argument before the nation and even families divided up and took arms on each side.  The stronger prevailed.  It is exactly the same with what I have done – both the things you accuse me of, and the many things you will never know.

In Iraq, most of the people had to be dispersed before the real issues came out.  Then a basic structure had to be established with which the country to be could be understood, exploited, enriched and used by the rest of the world.  So will it always be.  Fifteen sects in each of three religions would never be able to find consensus.  We must consolidate rather than further fractionalize, uniting more under one authority than the patchwork of loosely related tribes.  For most of that conflict another homespun homily comes to mind: "Too many cooks spoil the broth" or "there were too many chiefs and not enough Indians".

A majority must lead with one voice that will not take into account the desires of every small group – no matter how well intentioned the group's desires may be.

So I have done.  To my shame, I have not succeeded in producing that homogenous flow that speedy progress requires but I have reduced the number of crosscurrents.  This is why you choose to call me a war criminal and seek my life.  But, in decades to follow, you will benefit from my choices, the obstacles I have cleared for you and the contaminations I have eradicated.

I only wish I could have done more and, in your silent, unspeakable dreams, one day, if you dare to be honest with yourself, you will wish the same.

Signed,

The President of The United States of America.

 

Author's Note

Not wishing to stir the pot... just an observation.

Reviews

[Michael X]

again, your ending always gets me, indeed you have captured the thoughts of presidental character,
and the reader could feel the entire scenerio of seriousness, i believe there are many truth in this writing
as well, many great, developed thoughts, whether one choses to agree or disagree with the observation,
can't deny its well written, clever, and well defined,

[Creepy Swine Guy]

Yes, I agree. You did an excellent job presenting the either misguided or sinister point of view of a duely elected sociopath.

Such a good job in fact, that it's a tad frightening.

[Nick Erickson]

A very contentious observation too. I like this piece as you've touched upon so many truths in how things are done, and this will obviously make some people's blood boil and other's shy away in fear of speaking politics. All I will say is you did an excellent job in writing as President and that I enjoyed the read. I'm the person who skips the trial but goes to the execution...
Well done.