I saw a story today that made my head explode– “Group urges
credible U.S. military threat to Iran" Reuters News
”The United States
should deploy ships, step up covert activities and sharpen its rhetoric to make
more credible the threat of a U.S. military strike to stop Iran's nuclear
program, a bipartisan group said on Wednesday.
Recall if you will the anti-government protests of the Iranian people in 2009
and again in 2011. They took great risks in publicly protesting against their government. Protesters were raped, tortured and executed. The United States was criticized for not strongly supporting the 2009 opposition protests that was sparked
by Iran’s disputed elections. The U.S.
had another opportunity to support the Iranian people during the 2011 opposition protests. Unlike the U.S. supported “Arab Spring” Egyptian and Tunisian protests the U.S did not provide the same leadership. President Obama’s response to the Iranian
protests was to say that the United States would not directly or indirectly
participate in the protests in Iran.
President Obama said of the Iranian protests
that "Ultimately, these are sovereign countries that have to make their
own decisions. What we can do is offer moral support". Compare that to the U.S./UN military action in Libya and you clearly see the divergence in U.S. policy when it comes to supporting the Iranian people.
But Iran is not so sovereign that we won’t bomb the bejesus
out of them. Somewhere in Karoke Heaven
Ronald Reagan is singing Bomb Iran to the tune of the Beach Boys' Barbara Ann. It
appears that the U.S. is more than willing to bomb Iran back to the stonemage but won’t support the Iranian people's attempt to free themselves of tyrannical rule.
I am deeply troubled by the disconnect in our policy.
Back to the Reuters story
The report by a
Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) task force of Democrats, Republicans and
independents is to be formally issued on Wednesday and comes amid speculation
about the possibility of an Israeli military strike against Iran.”
I am glad to see that our politicians can work together to
approve attacking another country but still can’t agree to reduce the deficit
by raising taxes and reducing entitlements.
Maybe if we can convince the government that the rich and the elderly
have banded together and intend to get their hands on some low yield nuclear
devices…….
That would be Jimmy Carter singing, not necessarily Ronald Reagan!!
ReplyDeleteOK, so maybe it is a duo.
The US has consistently fumbled the ball when it comes to the Middle East. We continue to exhibit arrogance, apathy, and disdain towards this region of the World. It is time to have an intelligent conversation and put a real plan into effect that will increase our influence with them, without having to always be the Big Bully on the Block.
Sure, we have divergent objectives. But the same can be said of Russia and China.
ALL of the politicians need to realize that the US is loosing global influence because we continue to solely look at our National Interest and not how to mutually suppoort our neighbors.
We are no longer the World Leader... We are just the baddest mofo on the block. People no longer respect us... they fear our military...
Grow Up Washington. Past policies will not work in the future. It is time for new policies.
Really - we can't get politicians to agree on anything than a bipartisan policy task force does this!!! Really!
ReplyDeleteIt is stuff like this that makes Ron Paul sound sane at times. What I think is so damaging to our interests in various countries is that we do not take into account our history with those countries. Our history with Iran is particularly telling. We joined with the British to put the Shah’s father in after WW 1 in order to have access to Iranian oil. Churchill had made the conversion of the British Navy from coal to oil a key part of his strategy when he was the equivalent of the Sec of Navy for Britain – Iran was key to that effort and the Shah’s father was a good puppet. After WW 2, the Iranians overthrew the father and installed a democratic government that was not friendly to Western oil interests – I mean, they wanted some of the money too. The CIA helped to overthrow that government and installed the Shah as the head dude, and he was our puppet until the 70’s. Then there was the Iraq/Iran war – we were playing both sides while a multi-year bloodbath went on. Is it any wonder that they are pissed and don’t trust us? Is it any wonder that, no matter how much they hate the current regime, they stand as one against the West when threatened?
ReplyDeleteI think the troubles we see in the Middle East are the direct result of policies that the winners of WW 1 enacted during and after the war. Until we face up to the fact that those people have legitimate grievances against the West for the BS that occurred after WW 1 my guess is we will continue to be at logger heads with them. I also think what is happening in Syria today with (it appears) little input from the West is very interesting and instructive. Who knows what will come out of it, but my feeling is that we will optimize our position with the future Syria if we just stay out and let nature take its course. A great book that describes many of the ways the CIA has fucked things up all around the world is “Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA” by Tim Weiner. It is based on over 50000 CIA documents that it was forced to release. What you see is blunder after blunder, hidden and concealed behind security firewalls, that explain many of the messes we see today. One of the lessons I took from it was that, no matter how good the intentions of the policy initiators, it is very likely that the planned mission will fail in more than one way due to ignorance of the true situation, internal CIA politics, stupidity, or testosterone.
Some great points here from all – Clearly we are losing our position as the most respected nation in the world, that held the promise that “all immigrants can be transformed into Americans, a new alloy forged in a crucible of democracy, freedom and civic responsibility”. Without that promise for a better place, a just place and lacking principles in our actions we are looked as a great evil providing inspiration to our enemies. Whether it is our use of torture, or interfering in the Middle East under the guise of our strategic interests while allowing atrocities in Darfur and Rwanda we have lost our moral edge. Perhaps we never had it; the history of colonialism suggests as much.
ReplyDeleteSomeone pointed out to me that “a bigger issue that needs to be discussed is our (lack of) an energy policy. We are dictated by our need for oil. No Pres has had the will to do anything and with the latest Solyndra debacle is just going to make it worse.”
And while I completely agree regarding the lack of an energy policy thanks to every President since 1973 (which is absolutely criminal and has cost American lives). I think what is even more harmful to the alternative energy effort is the dropping cost of national gas (via fracking) - it is removing the incentive to spend the higher amounts of money now needed for r&d which should result in lower costs in the future and a cleaner environment. We are fracked!!!!