Don't Ignore the Two-Headed Evil - Lessons from the Conjoined Twins & Two-Headed Man
Recent events remind me of the following story told in Jewish folklore: It was in the days of the wise and clever King Solomon that a woman gave birth to a son who incredibly had two heads and one body. The previous births of six brothers were normal. As the years went by the family adjusted and treated the two-headed son as an equal but that soon came to an end. When the father died and the shares of inheritance were to be given the two-headed son claimed that he had two shares as he had two heads. The brothers claimed that the two-headed son had only one body and was therefore entitled to only one share. This case went from court to court and no settlement could be reached until the case was brought before King Solomon. He told the two-headed man to stand in front of him and proceeded to pour a cup of boiling water onto one head. Together both heads shouted, “Stop, we are burning.” “If that be the case” said King Solomon “You are truly one person and will receive only one share of the inheritance.”
The recent reports accusing world leaders of not doing their homework make this parable apropos. The legitimacy of the U.S. led invasion of Iraq is being questioned here and abroad. Now senators and political leadership have expressed their dismay of the invasion. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 that required Hussein to fully declare his weapons, something that Sadaam ignored, is being forgotten. The long waiting period from the time of creating the coalition to the invasion gave Iraq more than ample time to hide weapons of mass destruction.
Somehow, the inquiry over the invasion has traveled abroad and is being treated in a brutal fashion. British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is accused of misleading his people. Unhappily some news media have had the gall to go as far as name-calling equating the brave Prime Minister as a poodle for President George Bush. With each day going by more soldiers of the coalition are being killed or hurt. The world wonders aloud if indeed the invasion was successful or justified.
Why we have forgotten the 9-11 tragedy with the tens of thousands of physical and emotional casualties is beyond my imagination. Don’t we know that Sadaam Hussein’s supporters are the al-Qaida, and, if given the chance, he will continue the terror on the Saudis and other countries in the free world? His call for destruction and violence is unstoppable.
Like the two-headed man, the free world feels the pain for each other. Bush and Blair are the two heads while the body is the world of freedom. On the negative side one cannot separate Hussein from Bin Laden as they are both still in hiding and espousing mass terror. They, too, are like a two-headed man and their body is a time bomb of mass destruction.
It is interesting to note that in Iran over 20,000 people attended the burial ceremony of Ladan and Laleh Bijani, conjoined twins who sadly died from bleeding after undergoing a separation surgery from being a two-headed person. It is incredulous that the country, which causes so much havoc, terror, and fear, would gather together and attach flowers to a coffin with the words “Separated. Rest in Peace”. This country, which is so blind to the millions of casualties and destruction, is all of a sudden be galvanized in mourning for two conjoined twins who insisted on the surgery despite the risks and underwent the 54-hour operation. This is beyond my understanding.
I find it quite incongruent that the two-headed man, Bush and Blair, are being scorned while the two-headed devil, Hussein and Bin Laden, are being ignored. One needs two heads to bear the irony of the situation.