"On his watch" simply means "during his tenure" (presumably one of WSC's two intervals as PM).
While unfair to hold WSC personally accountable for every local action that took place anywhere in the imperial Commonwealth, the writer's attribution of an Obama grudge against him is a great leap-- as is his speculation on the reason for the return of the bust, for which there are myriad theories, many of which are benevolent and all of which are equally uninformed. We will never know. James M. Smith -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Antoine Capet Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2010 5:25 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [ChurchillChat] "Hussein Onyango Obama... tortured on Churchill's watch" A friend has just sent me a page clipped from the International Herald Tribune, Saturday-Sunday , August 14-15, 2010 (page 18). It contains a review by Johann Hari, entitled "Reconciling Churchill's brutal side", of _Churchill's Empire_ by Richard Toye. The second paragraph reads : George W. Bush left a big growling bust of Churchill near his desk in the White House, in an attempt to associate himself with Churchill's heroic stand against fascism. Barack Obama had it returned to Britain. It's not hard to guess why. His Kenyan grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, was imprisoned without trial for two years and tortured on Churchill's watch, for resisting the British empire. I do not understand "on Churchill's watch" (surely, Churchill was not personally present?) and dictionaries seem to be of no help. What would an English-speaking reader of the International Herald Tribune be expected to understand ? Thanks in advance for any enlightenment (and possibly details of the episode, which I cannot find anywhere). A. Capet Rouen (France) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en.
