Thursday 22 December 2011

The Iraq War

Hello dear readers, I know this is primarily a blog of books but I would like to use my role as a blogger to highlight something truly shocking. The Iraq war is drawing to a disgraceful and bloody end with no obvious benefit to any country involved, including Iraq. The argument that America invaded Iraq for oil is rendered redundant by the fact they have year on year imported less oil from Iraq from 2003 onwards. The real cost of war can't ever be truly quantified but this is the best guess we have. Here are the figures.

US Troops killed in action: 3,492
US Troops injured in action: 32,000
UK Troops killed in action: 136
Iraqi Civilian deaths: 654,965

Financial cost of war by the US: $801.9bn
Real cost to the US economy: $3tn
British cost of war: £9.24bn

A costly war in terms of lives and finance. With the country on the brink of civil war it is apparent that America and her servants have yet again made a balls up of this. George Bush and Tony Blair are war criminals, no morally sound human being can argue the death of nearly 700,000 innocent civilians can amount to anything other than genocide. Never forget, it is our taxes which funded this illegal campaign.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11107739

Ian McEwan; Enduring Love

How far can we believe those we love when what they are telling us seems so very improbable? When the version of the world they portray contains sexually obsessive monsters. Where God represents all that is evil. Where your life is controlled by the actions of strangers.

Enduring Love is concerned with the life of Joe Rose, a member of the affluent middle classes. His life is changed forever when alongside a set of strangers he attempts to moor a hot air balloon which has torn free of its moorings. The men all grab the balloon but upon realising they may die if the balloon goes to high they let go, bar John Logan who falls to his death. From here on in a member of the group, Jed Perry, becomes sexually obsessed with Joe and believes he is the only means in which he can find God. Jed's obsession is born out of de Crembault's syndrome which is an illness that rationalising dangerous sexual obsession. This obsession quickly begins to threaten Joe's life and family; soon enough Joe is driven near to murdering Jed.

The book explores the tension between chance events such as the hot air balloon accident and those who bring stability to our lives such as Joe's family. Jed can be seen to embody this instability. He is a man of God which suggests the unpredictable nature of forces we cannot see or control play a huge role in our lives. He is also suffering from an illness which makes him hugely irrational and dangerous further indicating his representation of instability. On the other side of the coin we have the stability of Joe's previous life, he is middle class, he is happily married, and he has a good job. The introduction of this instability in Jed threatens to unravel Joe's once perfect life.

The book itself is exceptional well written. We are all aware that McEwan is unable to write a poorly crafted sentence. Time and time again the biggest frustration that can be found with his work is that it is so uncomfortably middle class. His protagonist is a struggling journalist with a wife who is a university lecturer. Everything about Joe is middle class, unfortunately this means that when he encounters a character such as Jed who is clearly unwell we find it hard to empathise with his constant complaints of a man he is often cruel to.

Make no mistake this is an excellent book. An accurate commentary on the real workings of people's lives and relationships? It certainly is not.