The choices Guinea makes will determine whether the country lives in peace or perish on the alter of slaughter on which Liberia died, and where Sierra Leone now lies surviving on life support, feeding solely on the humanity of Britain as the organ donor. In matters like these, confronting the menace is the only rewarding course of action. Under the circumstances, neither reticence nor stupidity can be an excuse for surrender. Commonsense will dictate that the people of Guinea take cue from hindsight. This will be a costly mistake with far reaching consequences.
Wisdom lies in avoiding the pitfalls of history.
Fools die because they simply ignore the lessons of yesterday and go on repeating the errors of the past, pretending, as it were, that history has never existed. One only needs to look across the border in Liberia and Sierra Leone to discover what lies ahead for the people of Guinea. For them, the survival of a fellow dictator takes premium over the lives and well being of the country's people, and the long term security interest of the sub-region. The danger, however, is that these parole officers feel strongly that the judges were wrong in the first place, and that the criminal was unfairly treated. The reason for this twisted logic lies in the fear that arise when some parole officers begin to feel that they share much in common with the criminal, and that further sentencing of the criminal will lay the basis for the prosecution of other offenders who currently sit on the parole board.