Since the start of the United States assault on Fallujah, two incidents have underscored the grotesque reality that underpins the American “crusade” in Iraq. The first is the absurd hoo-ha in the US media surrounding Marine Lance Corporal James Black Miller and his request for more and cheaper Marlboro cigarettes. The second is the cold-blooded slaying of wounded Iraqi fighters in a Fallujah mosque.
More than 100 US newspapers printed pictures of Miller’s tough guy mug, a Marlboro drooping from his unshaven lower lip. Here, for gung-ho patriots, was the archetypal American war hero, and corporate America right there in the trenches with him … where the Marines go in, can Marlboro and Coke be far behind?
For civilised nations, war is a tragic and horrible business to be undertaken only in self-defence, as a last resort. There is a recoiling from its material and spiritual ravages, much heightened by modern weaponry, and a rejection of the mindless patriotism that says “my country, right or wrong” and “it is sweet and right to die for one’s country”. Far from a mark of national prowess, war is increasingly seen as unworthy of the best in humankind. And more and more, there is a sense that it must express the collective disapproval of the world community, not the whims and narrow self-interests of the powerful. The idealisation of Miller — indeed, the whole Iraqi enterprise — speaks to the US’s love and glorification of war, cult of the warrior, and comic-strip conception of armed conflict as a (preferably televised) dust-up between villains and superheroes.
What is the reality of Fallujah? A major Iraqi town has been pulverised by a force claiming to act for the Iraqi people; 100 000 civilians are thought to have fled to the outskirts, where they are living in squalor; 150 000 men below the age of 50, barred from fleeing, were trapped in the cauldron. Iraq’s interim government claimed 1 400 “terrorists, foreigners and Saddamists” were killed — there are no figures for civilian dead and injured. And there are reports that the execution-style killing of wounded Iraqis — a war crime under the Geneva Convention — has been far more widespread than the one televised incident.
According to the British medical periodical Lancet, 100 000 Iraqi citizens, including 40 000 children, have been killed since the US invaded in March last year. Can one honestly say that life under Saddam Hussein was worse?
As the US digests the fact that it is facing classic nationalist guerrilla insurgency in Iraq — as it did in Vietnam, as Britain did in Northern Ireland over three decades — the atrocities can only multiply. War crimes are the logic of such a conflict. The Abu Ghraib disclosures turned a spotlight on torture of Iraqi captives, and similar reports continue to surface. As argued in this edition of the Mail & Guardian, the US military is now resorting to the Israeli tactic of collective punishment — Mosul and Najaf are next in line. Amnesty International has demanded the investigation of “the deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, and the killing of injured persons”.
The US can subdue as many towns as it likes, but the increasingly inescapable fact is that it cannot permanently win this war. Indeed, the insurgency appears to be spreading. Sooner or later the American military will be forced out of Iraq by a domestic backlash, as it was forced out of Vietnam. It should get out now, and cut the losses on all sides.
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Get a life, SAB
If SABMiller’s epic wars with brand parody company Laugh It Off did not carry such serious implications for the young enterprise, they would be laughable. It is the classic tale of David and Goliath — except that the little guy is getting beaten up.
SABMiller operates in 40 countries across four continents, and owns 150 brands of beer. Laugh It Off operates in one country and last year turned over R400 000. One would think the multinational had so much on its plate that it would brush off some harmless fun-poking. Yet SABMiller has pursued its diminutive adversary all the way to the Supreme Court of Appeals, where it won its case against a T-shirt parody of Carling Black Label. Now the brewer’s threats to interdict the Laugh It Off annual and calendar have forced expensive excisions and reprints. The changes must be made in terms of a settlement this week.
Effectively, SABMiller has killed the young company’s cash-cow — the annual was a great success last year, selling more than 7 000 copies, a figure almost unprecedented in local publishing. This year, it made the Exclusive Books’s Publishers’ Choice list.
For a business that projects itself as youthful, enlightened and progressive, SABMiller’s actions suggest churlish bullying. When First National Bank was parodied, it saw the fun and bought 500 T-shirts for its staff. That’s the mark of a self-confident company with a sense of humour. It also probably undercut any harm to its brand.
The Mail & Guardian is a strong brand that respects brand value as an important part of a business. But the chances of a T-shirt, calendar or image in a niche publication hurting SAB’s image are remote indeed.
In addition, freedom of expression is not a right for the media alone — it covers all forms of expression, including popular culture. We sincerely hope that the Constitutional Court reinforces this key freedom when the case comes before it next year.