Life's Little Ironies

Irony is a useful quality in a journalist, particularly in America. Irony has often been a noticeable characteristic of America's relations with its inferiors, and even sometimes with Britain. For example, during the Vietnam War, which America fought in order to liberate the peasants of the democratic South from invasion by the communist North, many of the most devastating air raids were actually carried out on the peasants of the democratic South. This was somewhat ironic. Even more ironic was the fact that America started bombing the South before the North invaded. Obviously, no one planned it that way. In the face of such ironies as these, it is little wonder that the American government of the time expressed a certain displeasure at the lack of British participation in the Vietnam War.

Ironically, despite the non-lackingness of British participation in the Iraq war, America's bumbling efforts to democratise those who prefer to wear veils and chop off hands have resulted in numerous further ironies. Having geared up to invade so as to pre-empt Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, it was then discovered, ironically enough, that no such weapons existed. Then, after several months of justifying the invasion on the grounds that Iraq was better off without Saddam Hussein (a former ally, by a strange irony), it began to appear that, ironically, conditions under the occupation were worse in some respects than conditions under Saddam Hussein. Even more ironically, the resources which had been liberated for the Iraqi people to utilise in peace and freedom were quickly appropriated by American companies. Obviously, no one planned it that way.

It now transpires that the Americans are building a new embassy in Baghdad. Originally conceived as "a statement of President Bush's intent to expand democracy through the Middle East", according to Guardian journalist Ed Pilkington, the embassy will be approximately the size of the Vatican. Irony is a useful quality in a journalist, particularly in America. Ironically, since the building is, after all, an embassy and not a barracks, the building will be bomb-proof and the accommodation "simple, if not quite monastic". Embassy staff thus far have had to make do with one of Saddam Hussein's palaces, which has been criticised as giving the regrettable if ironic impression "that the Americans merely replaced Saddam's authoritarian rule with their own".

A further irony, according to Ed Pilkington, is that "the embassy is one of the few major projects the administration has undertaken in Iraq that is on schedule and within budget". Obviously, no one planned it that way. Irony has often been a noticeable characteristic of America's relations with its inferiors, and even sometimes with Britain.