WEAK LINK

WEAK LINK

By Wilhelmina S. Orozco

In war, everything is possible. The aim of each party is annihilation, obliteration of each other. And so, fisticuffs, bows and arrows, spears, swords, knives, and even dynamites and bombs become common weapons. Most recently,  some countries like North Korea and Iran have admitted to developing the nuclear arms, tacitly hinting to use them against countries with which they are not compatible, politically. However, nuclear arms know no boundaries. Once they are launched on air, they could engulf the whole planet and so, it could spell disaster for all of us. Thus we have that campaign for nuclear disarmament all over the world. I got involved in this as early as 1981 when I joined European women in encircling the British camp to campaign the use of nuclear arms in any field of combat. 

Along the same vein, I cringe whenever I recall my discussion with one inventor of bullets. He was so proud of his invention as he said: “It is a very powerful invention because once it hits its target, which is the human body, then it would recoil inside and destroy it totally.”

Shocked beyond belief, I could not speak up and appreciate his invention although we had belonged to the same association of inventors. I just stood there wondering how on earth he could describe his invention as if it were just any device. Why did I react that way is because I am a humanist and do not believe in war of any kind, least of all, of manufacturing bullets, no matter if they were developed creatively and have a great usage for the military and police departments and for generating export earnings as well,.  

Anyway, we are now trying by all means to be democratic as can be gleaned from the process -- that  impeachment case at the Senate  – to convict or not to convict the chief justice for – among so many charges – using his position to amass wealth. So many arguments, rebuttals, and rebuffs are flying about. But deep within, I can see that there are interpersonal conflicts going on which could be disastrous to the prosecution.

As in any war, there could be spies who could infiltrate the camps, if not the ranks of the enemy. These spies are knowledgeable about being spies and so could appear as if they were really for the members of that camp that he/she is penetrating. But in the case of the impeachment court, the prosecution could have within it, not a spy but of a weak link, that person who could be the worm who could weaken, lessen the power of the group to argue its case consciously or unconsciously. 

For example, that weak link could be playing to the crowd, acting as if he were an actor wanting to get an award for a performance. With a TV camera which could record his actuations, the more he would act as if he were the major actor of a drama which is being broadcast nationwide, or even worldwide through the web. And so he just yaks and yaks away, no matter who gets harmed, ridiculously forgetting that he ought to be working for the prosecution.

Or that weak link could be making himself hellish to the jury so that they would vote against the prosecution, or they would see less reason for voting in favor of the argument of the prosecution no matter how meritorious their arguments are. In other words, he could appear so obnoxious that the prosecution would get the axe and their arguments no longer viewed objectively. 

Hence, in this case, I think that the prosecution should already alert its ranks, examine who that weak link is, and find out, on a 24-hour basis, why he is acting that way.

Find out also his personal life – are there some unresolved issues in his personal life so that he is acting this way and trying to look as if he were a clean and chaste individual who could see the “rotten ways of the prosecution?” Didn't he criticize the position of the prosecution in his first appearance?

Here we can see that legalism has limits and that the socio-political and cultural make-up of the parties have to be examined also, in order to come up with fool-proof stands, with tight cases that would insure that the people’s will becomes paramount.

Indeed, politics is a very difficult field to tackle.  But with practice, one gets to know and not only that, should know that, the process is not everything. 

Woe to us if the prosecution loses its case because of that weak link.