21st November 2005
I wish people would stop predicting how many of us will die from avian 'flu! It varies from thousands to tens of thousands depending on the pessimism of the writer. I've had my 'flu jab and I've no intention of stocking up on anti-virals seeing that I still have my Iodine tablets given to me years ago when were waiting for Sellafield to be blown up by terrorists.
Anyway, having read Professor Des O'Neill and his colleagues in Trinity on the forty percent increase in the death rate of elderly persons struck by Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) rather than by a normal car, I think I should worry far more about that possibility than the avian 'flu there being many, many more SUVs in Dublin 4 than sick parrots.
I was in Washington D.C. recently and noticed that there were far fewer SUVs in the traffic there than in Dublin 4. It is unfortunate that we so often manage to copy the worst features of our American cousins' lives and fail to copy things like their delicious streaky bacon - so much nicer that the un-chewable slabs we have here now.
The trip to Washington was for three days to speak at a conference on Capitol Hill. The title was irresistible - "The Risk of Politics as Usual in a Changing World." Don't worry, no Irish taxpayer's money was involved in getting me or keeping me there.
Because American money was transporting me I was booked on an American airline, Delta. It had just avoided bankruptcy but I do not think this in any way caused me to have to visit Shannon in both directions. That was just good luck.
At Shannon the lounge area and the duty free shops were full of hundreds of U.S. soldiers on both occasions. They were very young and very polite. Any I spoke to called me "Ma'am" and said they had been home for a fifteen-day break. Here predictions of death were more applicable. Over 2,000 American troops had by then been killed in combat - those who committed suicide or died from causes other than combat are not given.
This figure of 2,000 is dwarfed by the number of Iraqis killed but no one in the American administration is counting them. It is also still much less than the numbers killed in other wars, such as Vietnam or Korea, but it is mounting. Sadly, the names of those killed are not mentioned or honoured in any American papers I saw but I believe Donald Rumsfeld is now signing with a pen his name to the letters of condolences he is sending to the fallen's nearest and dearest rather than someone thumping down a rubber stamp bearing his signature. So some things about the Iraq war are improving.
Another situation which was improving while I was in Washington was that of the fast-food industry. A Bill had just gone through Congress called "The Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Bill" (nicknamed "The Cheeseburger Bill"). This Bill, when it has passed through in the Senate, will mean that morbidly obese customers cannot sue the ubiquitous junk food manufacturers for their plight. The same was happening with guns - one can no longer sue gun manufacturers for selling "domestic" assault rifles to gun lunatics, children etc. Now if one is killed by one of these lunatic's "domestic" assault rifles, one's nearest and dearest cannot sue. This bill was attracting much less attention than the "cheeseburger" which was apparently of far greater national significance, although, last year a domestic sniper had killed at least seven people in the Washington area.
But I would take off my hat (if I had one) to the American I met who enlisted my support in efforts to promote tourism in post-war Iraq whenever that may be. I'm a helpful, optimistic sort of person so naturally I said "yes" and this is the plan.
Followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all Children of Abraham and we should all share an interest in our religious heritage, particularly the heritage we have in common. Democracy is strengthened by the free exchange of information and an exchange of information will lead "to actions based on respect of commonality of values". So recognising what we have in common is better than concentrating on differences and calling each other unkind names.
With this in mind we will progress to Iraq - not very soon I fear but my friend is an optimist like me. He will point out that the Tigris and Euphrates meet at the Garden of Eden - forget the present day maps which show they meet at war torn Baghdad. They are on the same site but the former vision even with the snake in the grass is much more pleasing. Nineveh was a town where Jonah preached - ignore the fact that the Sunnis are saying the referendum on the Constitution was rigged there and if they had had a few more percentage points in that province three areas would have voted against the Constitution and it would have been rejected. Ur - the birthplace of Abraham, easily accessible from Basra - amazingly already described in my ninth edition of the Times Atlas of the World as a "tourist site". Nahor, home of Isaac's wife Rebecca I presume is close by, travel having been more restricted in Old Testament times.
Other places to go to will be Kerballah, where the sons of Ali Kalif, Hussan and Hussein are buried and Najaf where Imam Mussah Al Kadhim is buried are both better known nowadays as the sites of the murder of many Shia worshippers by car bombers. They are also buried there too.
I have only given you a flavour of the possibilities for tourism in Iraq. I have not mentioned all the sites where St Stephen or St Thomas helped to launch the Chaldean Church (many of the Chaldean Christians who lived in safety under the dictator Saddam have had to flee to Syria following attacks by the Shia in the south and Sunni in the middle of Iraq). Or, the marvellous minaret of Samarra which, despite the devastation wreaked on the city by occupying troops is still standing. Remembering the worthy aspiration of my American friend how could I refuse to help him even if the project does seem long term?
Senator Mary Henry, MD
