THERE is a time to die. Every day US, UK and Canadian citizens – some born here – die in Iraq for their country. We did not die to gain our emancipation or independence, yet freedom has a price! We paid 1,680 deaths to crime in 2009; can we sacrifice 44 or even 90 lives for a just cause?

The poor die daily, their daughters are abused by dons; the well-off are robbed, raped, sodomised, killed. Is this how we want to live? Prepare for weeks of intense police work – the liberation of Tivoli, and other areas as we rid our nation of the ventriloquist, his dummy and garrison debris. Make your resolve more than your tears – let not these deaths be in vain! This is not a time to weep. Be strong, we must destroy this monster in all the enclaves once and for all or live in fear forever!

I am quite upset at the fear and grief in the nation at large, at the intransigence of the makers of this crisis and the families’ pain. We are all human. I don’t wish to write this as I have ideas for my beloved nation – I grieve for the good people in Tivoli, but I must write. I declined UK media shows. I want to tell the world the facts, then say, “The parties have resigned, the nation is healing, welcome back!” This would not be true. It’s not over. Jamaica is more important than the individual!

Some said, “We will die for Dudus”, and they got their wish. This is the price, so brace yourselves, support our forces, keep scarce, use your phone camera, video, eyes, make notes, save things as evidence and stay alive. Last week my inbox was full and 97 per cent of you said Bruce should resign – in Caricom, the Commonwealth, UK, US – even online fora said they had the most hits ever. The BBC, CNN and networks as far as Al Jazeera know we were for rent to criminals.

Soon, they will present us a mutilated body and satellite phone; but it’s not Dudus! We now know Tivoli and all garrisons can be breached – at a price. The body bags (do we have any?) are piling up and (I hope) stored for the autopsies, inquests and multi-million dollar claims and suits against the JLP and the state. No burials yet, please!

Dudus is a sideshow. Thanks to Bruce and his pals we are in for years of turmoil, low FDI, high expense and pariah status abroad. The UK media waits for his lawsuit. They will love it as British justice will expose all secrets. It will keep our economy febrile for years. Robinson’s resignation is tactics; only Dudus’ death will pre-empt the NY grand jury supoena in 2011.

Will Bruce testify in the New York dock? Like Noriega? State prosecutors like high-profile cases and will squeeze it for every bit of TV news. New HC Tony Johnson was on TV, dignified, but evasive – maybe jet-lagged! Will the PSOJ tell the JLP to act now so by grand jury time a new PM can be in place? We will have enough hell with the IMF, civil unrest, lawsuits, the NY grand jury and rising poverty up to election 2012.

It will kill our tourism, industry, FDI and our verve. All 2030 goals are off! The JLP’s hubris will destroy us. Who are the party leaders? those more powerful than Cabinet, voters and citizens who told Bruce not to resign? Do they refer to this JLP executive?

(1) Audley Shaw (10) Neville Gallimore

(2) Aundre Franklin (11) Oswald Harding

(3) Christopher Bovell (12) Enid Bennett

(4) Clifton Stone (13) Ian Murray

(5) Daryl Vaz (14) James Robertson

(6) Derrick Smith (15) Joel Williams

(7) Horace Chang (16) Karl Samuda

(8) Kenneth Baugh (17) Ronald Robinson

(9) Mavis Gilmour Peterson (18) Rudyard Spencer

Are these the ones? Some are Bruce’s employees, out-of-touch pensioners and a few misguided older youth? He confessed, offered to resign and they did not accept the offer! Bangkok burns because their PM did not resign. We do not wish that for Jamaica but JLP leaders may have frustrated people to the point that they take matters in their own hands. Upper St Andrew is the brains behind our problem – they miscalculated. Tivoli is only a symptom!

We should make some citizens’ arrests. The longest day has an end and if it be today, so be it! We may need UN peacekeepers on the ground and maybe we should ask the Criminal Court in the Hague to examine the chain of events and determine culpability in the deception, death and destruction in our nation. No local inquiry, please! Our friends abroad look on with shock and dismay – we are so undone!

Here’s the thing! Bruce is slated to take over as head of Caricom in June, but the leaders know he’s damaged and can’t represent them in London, Washington and Ottawa. What’s to be done? Commonwealth heads meet at the games in Delhi in October and CHOGM in October 2011. They pray he is replaced as they and the Queen will be shamed – what’s to be done?

The new US-funded regional plan to combat drugs, organised crime, promote the rule of law and social justice is a major irony. We are in breach from day one – what’s to be done? Caricom will suffer. Jamaica will be a pariah for years; the JLP will lose the 2012 elections and return to power after 2050. Sad!

Bruce is not part of the solution, as for nine months he gestated this debacle. The economic expertise is in the civil service and the IMF, so he will not be missed. The PSOJ and the men who put up the US$50k fees must tell Horace to get the JLP internal contest going and find a new PM, with the prescient Mass Eddie as consultant, otherwise our path is dark.

The relativists will say, “But the PNP did bad too.” Maybe so, but we had no proof; now we have confession, proof, mass killing and chaos! “Every day bucket go a well, one day bottom mus’ drop out!” This is the day! This does not involve the PNP; it’s for the JLP to give Jamaica a new leader. We can only bear so much! Stay safe, my friend!

Note: All criminals in Tivoli are civilians, but all civilians in Tivoli are not criminals. In due time the courts will decide who is guilty or innocent.

Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston Consultants, currently on assignment in the UK.

franklinjohnston@hotmail.com