I can never understand why those who wish to mislead us (and they are many) always say of something which is embarrassing to them -that it is "complicated". It would show some courage if they were to admit that they are merely frightened of it.

So far as I am concerned, I have no such hang-ups; and, as I always tell my family and friends, I consider myself a simple soul, by which I mean that I never knowingly say that a matter is complicated, even though it may be embarrassing or troubling to the spirit, when it is in fact, straightforward.

A good example is what I think of the infamous Crusades which, in my view, brought shame on the Church. They were never justified, and, as a Syrian (Latin Rite Catholic Christian) friend of mine once said to me when I was in Damascus, local Christians and Jews thought of the Crusaders as bunches of thieves, and certainly not as liberators. This explains why I was absolutely horrified when George W. Bush, in September 2001, announced his "Crusade" against those who had attacked the United States. His use of this highly emotive word was very quickly played down, but the damage was done. People such as Oussama bin Laden (and those inspired by him) have since used it, often to justify attacks on Christians in mostly Muslim countries as being allies of the Bushite Coalition which, without excuse, attacked and invaded Iraq in March 2003.

Since I had actually been to Iraq during the reign of Saddam Hussein Takriti, I was not blind to the failings of his régime; but I was at least able to see that it was not all bad. As I have written before, I could then (in the 1980's) spend part of my evenings in Baghdad strolling peacefully along the bank of the Tigris, without fear of being attacked or robbed. Also, this was a dictator who had the good sense to keep all religious extremists under control, and protect minorities in his strictly secular state. We can now see what Mr Bush's "Crusade" has done to these minorities. My simple (and thus reasonably logical) mind made me think immediately of them when I first heard his stupid announcement. I also immediately thought of the consequences when he announced his "War on Terror", which was bound to act as a powerful incentive to the recruitment of unbalanced persons to bodies inspired by al-Qaeda-type principles.

My simple (even perhaps simplistic) reaction to the evil imperialistic aims of the Zionist-Neocons is to see straight through their crude (but unhappily highly effective) propaganda, urging us all to sympathise with greedy men and women and support aggressors against their innocent victims. One of the crudest means used to make us think that the victims are different (and, by inference, inferior) from us has been to point out that they dress differently, by using expressions such as "towelheads" to refer to Arab peasants.

I have also, in my simplicity, felt insulted when I hear politicians from the USA tell their fellow-citizens that 'America' (by which word they mean exclusively the United States) must lead the world. It makes me think of lemmings or the Gadarene swine going over a cliff or the well-known expression, "the blind leading the blind". Why should the world follow the USA into still further disasters? My age and my poor health mean that I am necessarily close to the end of my life here on this earth, but I care about mankind, especially my family and dear friends, who will have to live with the consequences of any move by our rulers to follow those of the USA, and I fear for them.

Mr Obama has started badly by following in this bombastic line of encouragement to his subjects, who are being thereby persuaded that the way of life proposed to them by their former and present rulers is better than those which other peoples prefer. Most of the people in this world would like to be left to live their own happy fulfilled lives far from what has been called the "American Dream" (a nightmare). As I have said and written many times, such hubris can only increase the hostility of most of the world, and I for one do not understand why such politicians seem to work so hard to offend the rest of us. Similarly, spokespersons for the USA always stress what their country has achieved, without even the slightest mention of any toxic side-effects, while constantly belittling the efforts of other countries. This looks like a classic case of a severe inferiority complex.

As has so often been pointed out, this is not the way to make friends and influence people, but it would seem that a devil gets into almost every politician in the USA, which makes him or her brag about their country, even when they should be making the most humble and profound apologies. It is clear that my simplicity of soul finds no echo among such folk, and they no doubt find it difficult to follow my ways of thought (and of life).

This brings us full circle to why extremely straightforward but embarrassing things are described as "complicated", seemingly to cover up someone's embarrassment and/or ignorance. None of us is omniscient, and each of us must surely be willing to admit to ignorance of many things - I know that I do. 

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