March 13, 2003 - “We, the most distant dwellers upon
the earth, the last of the free, have been shielded until now by our
remoteness and by the obscurity which has shrouded our name. Now,
the farthest bounds of Britain lie open to our enemies. There are
no more nations beyond us – only waves, and rocks, and the Romans.
Pillagers of the world, they have exhausted the land by their indiscriminate
plunder. East and west alike have failed to satisfy them. To robbery,
butchery and rapine, they give the lying name "government".
They create a desert and call it peace. Which will you choose –
to follow me into battle, or to submit to taxation, labour in the
mines and all the other tribulations of slavery? Whether you are to
endure these forever or take a quick revenge, this battle must decide.”
So, according to Tacitus, spoke Calgacus, the Caledones king as he
faced the overwhelming might of greatest army to have stridden the
world on the eve of the battle of Mons Graupius. Roman might prevailed
in the fight but it could not bring the Highland tribes to heel. The
Empire withdrew beyond the Tweed and built them a there a wall to
keep the Northern tribes out. The fight Agricola won was the beginning
of three centuries of strife that ended only when the most powerful
military engine on the face of the earth withdrew. They called it
Pax Romana but it was never peace.
Two thousand years later another strongest in the world army is poised
for another battle in another clime. This one will be fought in the
deserts of Iraq instead of the British Highlands. Like Rome America’s
might will surely prevail and with its MOABs, cruse missiles, and
smart bombs create a peace in the desert for its legions to patrol.
Like Rome America will seek to “civilize” a scattered
tribal people with divided loyalties and shifting alliances.
Even as the Legions raise the Eagles and prepare to march out on their
campaign the emissaries of the new empire reach out to client nations
and are rebuffed. The “coalition of the willing” shrinks
day by day and we are left with support only of Britain and Spain
- or rather only with the support of these two government with misty
memories of empires of their own.
The tribes of the desert are watching and waiting and gathering. Unlike
the Romans we can’t build a wall to keep the Islamic tribes
out. Rome needed not the resources of the Highlands. We must have
the desert's oil. Like Afghanistan, Iraq will be but another campaign
in a war the President called a Crusade and our enemies call Jihad.
Like the Romans we must be ready to pay the price for imperial hubris.
