Heroism is a commitment to do what is right and decent, without regard to personal gain, (or even without regard to substantial personal risk). A few months ago, as an example of that, I
posted a story on DU about how Craig Murray, the British ambassador to Uzbekistan, exposed horrendous torture and other human rights abuses in Uzbekistan – while simultaneously exposing the support for those policies by the U.K. and the U.S. in pursuance of George Bush’s “War on Terror”.
In telling this story I quoted liberally from Amnesty International award winning investigative journalist Stephen Grey’s “
Ghost Plane – The True Story of the CIA Torture Program”. Grey, who was himself instrumental in exposing the CIA’s
extraordinary rendition program, summarized Murray’s mode of action and his legacy:
Murray showed no concern for the polite conventions of diplomacy: He was a passionate individual prepared to abandon form and euphemisms, and ready to speak forcefully and publicly about what he believed. From almost the day he touched down in the capital of Uzbekistan, Murray had been battling from the inside to expose what he saw as a scandal – the West’s support of a ruthless regime… Murray would throw a spotlight on a thorny dilemma like no one else: how, in fighting for the goal of spreading global freedom, the West had ended up extending support for some of the world’s least free regimes… The CIA’s traffic, he said, contained information obtained using torture…
Craig Murray had chosen to force not only his government but the hand of the United States… He opened a window on another frontier of the rendition system, and showed how a dictator would share evidence obtained under torture with Western intelligence agencies for his own political purposes to secure international support or acquiescence for his own ruthless clampdown on the dissidents who oppose him. He had exposed to the world a very uncomfortable alliance: between a superpower that proclaimed the importance of human rights and an unreformed Communist who boiled his prisoners alive. Steve Crawshaw, UK Director of Human Rights, remarked, “Craig Murray may not have been a good ambassador; that’s not for me to judge. But the abuses he pointed to were real, horrific.” If this was the war on terror, many would ask, was it really worth fighting.
My post was titled “Tribute to a Hero: Craig Murray”. I was gratified and very surprised to find that Craig Murray himself was the
first person to respond to that post. In his response Murray said that he didn’t feel like a hero. He explained that Bush’s support for Uzbekistan originated in a meeting between Bush, Ken Lay and the Uzbek ambassador (guess what subject?) and he referred me to his new book, “
Murder in Samarkind”.
I subsequently bought and read Murray’s book, which mainly emphasized his reactions to the Uzbekistan torture regime in his role as British Ambassador there.
Some memorable quotes from the conclusion of Murder in Samarkind The last few paragraphs of Murray’s book are among the most poignant, insightful, wise and important endings to a book that I’ve read – as well as eerily relevant to today’s world. While claiming that he is
not a hero, Murray describes in those paragraphs precisely what a hero does:
I will never forget those who still suffer needlessly in Uzbekistan, in Iraq and in so many other places on this spinning globe. I am not an especially good man, but I tried to stay true to basic values of human decency. If you cross the path of tyranny, or incipient tyranny, I believe there is a duty to fight it, be it in Tashkrent, Washington or London.
Some of the symptoms of tyranny are torture, imprisonment without proper trial, government figures being above the law and the censorship of books. The thing with tyranny is, that if you don’t try to fight it when it starts, it very quickly gets too strong for you.
If you achieve a voice that will be heard, you should use it to speak up for the voiceless and oppressed. If you possess any power or authority, you must try to use it to empower the powerless. Sadly, public life in the West has come to be dominated by those driven by arrogance and corporate greed and personal acquisitiveness. We must strive to return some integrity to public life.
As I hope this memoir has made clear, I am not a hero but a very fallible man. Yet when I heard of men, women and children being tortured, I had no doubt that the only and overriding duty of any representative of the British people must be to stop it. Government must have some principles of conduct, and not torturing people is a fundamental one. For me, that came before my personal career.
How have we come to this, that integrity in public life is now so rare that some consider me a hero just for exhibiting the most basic human decency?
Indeed, how have we come to this point? But Murray is wrong to say that he’s not a hero for exhibiting human decency. That is precisely what heroes do.
Some other examples of heroismWith apologies to the many whom I leave out here, I would like to note 20 other of my favorite well known examples of heroism (mostly political) that are especially relevant to today’s world (Please feel free to add your own examples):
Abraham Lincoln* was a hero when he
ended slavery in the United States by executive order.
FDR was a hero when he
took on powerful financial interests in our country in his fight to end the Great Depression and provide opportunity for millions of Americans.
Harry Truman was a hero when he
integrated the U.S. military by executive order.
Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg* was a hero when he attempted to
put a stop to the most massive human carnage the world had ever known.
John F. Kennedy* was a hero for his attempt to
terminate American involvement in Vietnam and to
end the Cold War (both which likely would have been highly successful if not for his premature death).
George McGovern and
Mike Gravel were heroes for their persistent leadership, as U.S. Senators, in attempting to end the Vietnam War.
John Kerry was a hero for his
leadership role in resistance against the Vietnam War.
Martin Luther King* was a hero for his
leadership in the Civil Rights movement.
Raymond Lemme* was a hero for
attempting to expose election fraud targeted at the 2004 presidential election, originating at the highest levels of the U.S. government, associated with electronic vote machines.
Paul Wellstone* was a hero for
his intense opposition to George Bush’s Iraq War.
Cynthia McKinney was a hero for insisting upon a full investigation of the 9-11 attacks on our country,
including the role of the Bush administration in those attacks.
Barbara Boxer was a hero for being the only U.S. Senator to
challenge the results of the 2004 Presidential election, thereby forcing Senate debate on the subject.
Keith Olbermann is a hero for his numerous
fearless commentaries on the crimes of the Bush administration.
Russ Feingold was a hero for being the only U.S. Senator to
vote against the U.S. PATRIOT Act, which did so much to limit our civil liberties.
Sybil Edmunds is a hero for
blowing the whistle on the prior knowledge held by the U.S. government regarding the 9-11 attacks on our country.
Al Gore is a hero for his leadership role in
combating global warming.
Dennis Kucinich is a hero for being so forthright in his explanations to the American people about
the real reasons for the Iraq War.
John Edwards is a hero for making the
eradication of poverty in our country his primary campaign issue.
Ron Paul is a hero for being the primary Republican
opponent of the Iraq War and the Constitutional abuses of the Bush administration – defying his own Party in the process.
* -- Of the 20 examples of heroes that I provide here, 6 died prematurely, either assassinated or in circumstances highly suspicious of assassination. I believe that all 6 were assassinated because of their heroic acts (though that assertion is controversial for most of these cases).One example of abject cowardiceI’ll give just one example of cowardice here. One thing that is very common to cowardice is tough talking, which is often used to hide one’s cowardice. It is not a certain sign, since heroes also sometimes find the need to talk tough. But when a person uses tough talk to give the appearance of bravery, while serving only to jeopardize the lives of
other people, that is cowardice.
The perfect example is when a man, surrounded by body guards, and speaking of people on the other side of the world, boasts “
Bring ‘em on”, thereby jeopardizing the lives of soldiers whose safety he is responsible for, while posing no risk to himself whatsoever.
I talk more about the cowardice of that man and his cohorts in
this post.
Some final thoughts on the importance of courage in today’s worldDoing what is right and decent is what courage is all about. When the German people of the 1930’s, in a climate of fear generated by their Fuhrer, acquiesced to and were even accomplices to his demands, they failed to do what is right and decent. And when today’s “journalists” report as “news” what they are told by the most dishonest and corrupt presidential administration in the history of our country, without even questioning it, they are failing to do what is right and decent. These are the kinds of actions that led to Nazi tyranny in Germany and they are the kinds of things that will lead to fascist tyranny in the United States if they continue.
It is not right and decent that thousands of men are incarcerated indefinitely, without charge or trial, many of them to be tortured day after day – under the auspices of the United States government. Our country has gone a long way towards tyranny in the past 7 years. It will take courage on the part of the American people in order to end that process or reverse it.