Insight 12 February 2005 - with Rob Greene

[CHIMO]

I don't do a lot of Bible reading, but lately these particular words from the book of Judges have been going round in my head. Not because I'm preoccupied with Samson, although I must say that using a lion's carcass and some honey as an allegorical representation of his killing of the Philistine rulers -which was 'sweet' to the Israelites- might be said to have some contemporary relevance. No, what has been baffling me these past few weeks is the apparent widespread feeling that the world is about to enter a new, better, phase. Everywhere you look there are smiling faces, backs being slapped and hands being shaken. In Iraq, people go to the polls in a deeply flawed election and there's talk of a new democracy being born, talk which even continued daily violence hasn't been able to silence.

At the same time Condoleezza Rice - now routinely referred to as Dr Rice - has turned from a warmongering harridan who would not shirk from bombing Iraq into the Stone Age (and who notably wanted to 'reward the Russians, ignore the Germans and punish the French'), into a winged messenger of peace and reconciliation. There she is, laughing with Gerhard Schroeder. Watch her hobnobbing with a high-ranking Palestinian. Look, what's she doing on the steps of the Hector Berlioz Conservatory in Paris with a bunch of kids and a woman called Sophie Jouve-Ganvert? Since she became secretary of state, the only thing reminding us of her militant past have been some dark allusions that, if they don't fall in line, Syria and Iran might get it in the neck. Not yet, of course, there are no current plans to attack. Oh, and there's her helmet; the hair she presumably keeps in the freezer overnight.

Well, thanks but no thanks. While I hope that, in Iraq, tyranny may in time give way to some less oppressive form of government I can't see it happening while Bush is in the White House. A peaceful and fair settlement between the Israelis and Palestinians? Don't hold your breath. Saving the planet from environmental annihilation? No sir. A frontal attack on world poverty and disease? No. None of these things will come to pass until we've got the old America back. The caring, responsible, generous, outward-looking America that was truly the world's friend. The America of which I have personal experience and that I long to see again.

It may happen one day, who knows? But not with Bush - and Blair - still in office. The new spring can wait.

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