Continue to Baghdad
Dear Editor,
Opposition to the government’s anti-gang drive is now emanating from many sectors of society under the guise of “defence of human rights”. Many who previously lambasted the administration for its ineffective approaches to taming the crime monster and made much of “three security ministers and three police commissioners” in two years are now abandoning the government on its march to Baghdad.
Say what you will about the last Bush administration and its dubious reasons for going to war in Iraq – that administration knew the importance of completing the job. The last Bush administration paid the price for the mistake of the first Bush administration in not continuing to Baghdad. This allowed Saddam Hussein to regroup and become a much more dangerous threat. History will repeat itself in Jamaica, if the present administration makes the same mistake. We must continue to Baghdad. The serious threat posed by organised crime must be neutralised and it’s the sad but undeniable fact that lives will be lost in the process. The loss of innocent lives must be minimised, but the job must be completed.
All Jamaica knows that Kingston and St Andrew, St Catherine, Clarendon and St James constitute the Jamaican “axis of evil”. There should be no compromise, criminal enterprise in these areas must be neutralised or we run the risk of being overrun by crime and criminality. The excuse of a corrupt police force being unable to fight crime will suffice no more, we seem to have found the political will, let’s make the way through national consensus. Let’s first use this corrupt force to tame the crime monster from which we then turn inwards to rid the force of corrupt elements. We do not have the luxury of the alternative approach – that window has long closed. Jamaica is at a crossroads and I call on all well-thinking Jamaicans to join hands and hearts in this the fight of our lives. Let’s be the watchdog of the government and police force to ensure that our human rights are respected, but we must continue to Baghdad.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding must decide now what will be his legacy, he now stands at the threshold of greatness, but any retreat from this point will surely confine him to the footnotes of history. Discretion is indeed the better part of valour but fortune favours the brave.
Phillip A Chambers
phipplipdcchambers@yahoo.com