Crimes are crimes whatever the day of the week, writes Ramzy Baroud* The media's habit of revisiting issues at set intervals can be illogical at times. Many news outlets, for example, commented on President Barack Obama's first 100 days in office as well as on the anniversary of his election win, and then again a year after his inauguration. With each new occasion more commentators joined in and discussions heated up between proponents and detractors of his government's performance. I am not exactly sure why we like round numbers. Is it because they make valuations easy, even when the particular number is irrelevant? Some philosophers, Plato included, believed that order and symmetry are innate to the human psyche. Perhaps. And in the case of the media, could it be that numbers give us the sense, deceptively, that we have grasped certain truths? We determine the way in which legacies such as Obama's should be dissected. After a fixed date the subject can be ignored until the next round number arrives, bringing with it more useless chatter. Of course, this is a delusion. It has no connection to reality. It's all a mind game. A lie, even. For victims of US policies in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and elsewhere, the attention given to round numbers is wholly illogical. The drones flying over Afghanistan and Pakistan, loaded with the technology of death, care nothing for numbers, especially the number of lives they daily destroy. Did Gazans starve less when we reviewed Obama's pro-Israel legacy 100 days into his presidency? Were they better off a year from his election victory? A year from his inauguration? How about 273 days after he entered the White House? Was that a particularly chaotic day on Baghdad's streets? Do soldiers take a break from killing on even days, only to resume the slaughter on odd ones? But why should this discussion matter at all? It matters because we often buy into this folly, allowing the media to determine what is important and when a discussion is pertinent. Those involved in this charade express their views, agreeing politely or else disagreeing loudly. The next day the media returns to a state of complacency, as if the detrimental policies of Obama's government ceased to exist, as if war had been eradicated and there was nothing left to talk about. But truly, do Palestinians in Gaza care much for round numbers? I doubt it. Nor do Iraqis, Afghanis, and, now, Yemenis. Misery is misery, any day, every day; war is an inferno. The smell of death, the scenes of blood in Kabul and Baghdad and Gaza will remain the same on a Friday, or a Tuesday, 100 days into Obama's presidency or 515 days later. Every minute in a victim's, or potential victim's, life counts. Those who have lived in war zones will comprehend this truth. That's why Gaza wants to see the end of its misery now, instead of waiting for CNN's next roundtable discussion assessing the next round number in Obama's presidency. Iraqis and Afghanis listen to words and judge deeds, caring little for numbers. Remember when Obama spoke to the "Muslim world" from Cairo on 4 June? That's the date that Muslims -- many still victimised, directly or otherwise, by his administration's policies -- remember and recount. On that day Obama made promises, speaking with "audacity" and much hubris. Muslims listened. Some clapped and cheered, others hesitated or expressed cynicism but still hoped for change. Alas, none of those hopes have been fulfilled. Rather than change the policies of his predecessor have been continued. "I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect," said Obama in Cairo. His deeds since then have reaped the opposite -- mistrust and disrespect. "Make no mistake: we do not want to keep our troops in Afghanistan," he said. Since then he has ordered 30,000 additional soldiers to that already distraught country. The US, its allies and their drones have killed and maimed hundreds of innocent civilians since that statement was made. "Today, America has a dual responsibility: to help Iraq forge a better future -- and to leave Iraq to Iraqis." Can anyone see evidence of a better future based on his administration's conduct in Iraq in the last year or so? Little progress has been made in leaving Iraq to the Iraqis. In Cairo he had the audacity to lecture Palestinians, the victims of a brutal occupation armed and funded with US money. "Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed. Now is the time for Palestinians to focus on what they can build." The US government continues to make these demands of Palestinians, ignoring the fact that Israel's reign of terror, including violence against Palestinian non-violent resistance in the West Bank, has never ceased. Obama did state that, "the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. Israel must also live up to its obligations to ensure that Palestinians can live, and work, and develop their society." Alas, the Obama administration faltered in demanding a complete Israeli freeze and is now harassing the ineffective leadership of Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank to return to the negotiating table without conditions. Ensuring that "Palestinians can live, and work and develop their society" is nothing but a pipedream. Palestinians in Gaza teeter between chronic malnutrition and starvation. The siege on Gaza is possible because of US support. Before we gather to discuss Obama's legacy the next time another round number flashes up on our television screens let us remember that for an Iraqi father, frantically searching for his son's remains in a Baghdad street, numbers matter little, whether even, odd, round or not. A massacre is a massacre, and a war of choice is a crime, any day, any time. * The writer is editor of Palestine Chronicle.com.
