I was thinking during this past week as I was listening to the various opinions of people in and out of government about how we should handle the current Iranian crisis. It is difficult to be old enough and rational enough to have an objective view of the mess we have made of the middle east relationships with the western world. It is different than just being old since people like John McCain and Bill Bennent are certainly old enough to remember how bad we screwed up during and after World War II in regard to Israel, Palestine, and Iran. Others are young enough to remember Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussiem as we made a deal with him to attack Iran with our backing to try to defeat the Ayatollah who threw out our hand pick Shah. And certainly many more remember giving arms and aid to Osama Bin Laden to chase the Russians out of Afghanistan. Yes, it difficult to listen to the idiots to rant and scream about what we should be doing about Iran now during their internal turmoil, and to know that they would have us f**k the whole thing up again and start a whole new cycle. I really believe that some of these people got their brains out of boxes stamped "Made in Japan" or "Made in China".
It isn't bad enough that Bush led us into a useless war in Iraq simply because he and the rest of the "gang of four" felt that for his presidency to be successful he had to have his war. The above mentioned idiots and their cronies would have us start something with Iran it seems. If not that I am not sure what else they want Obama to do other than to tell them he is going to "hold his breath until they act right." Or, perhaps, stomp his feet and say, "Now cut that out." If anyone has to doubt whether or not they voted right when they voted correctly for Obama instead of McCain ... friends this is it.
McCain and his neo-cons would be like 3 year olds in a sand box tearing up sand castles; except that ours would also be crumbling at the same time. Perhaps with my age I won't be here long enough to see the biggest of the big screw ups ... at least I hope not.
Bill Formby
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Bill,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this thoughtful post. It abounds with truisms. We have made a total mess of foreign policy since WW II, and the neocons are indeed pursuing a dangerous irrationality and blindness in their always-militaristic approach. I hope clear thinkers like you will be around for a long time to come, Bill!
It is a thoughtful post... It's good to read an opinion that seeks to stretch back in time and bring it forward to bear on what is unfolding now! It's called wisdom....right? And now most importantly, we need to listen to our elders. ta ghb
ReplyDeleteI think we should mind our own business in regards to Iran. The propagandists would make you believe that if Iran developed a nuke (which they probably already have), they would use it on the very first day to go after Isreal.
ReplyDelete1. the Iranians as a people aren't so stupid to believe that nuking Isreal wouldn't garner a response of mutual destruction.
2. I doubt the Iranians love the Palestinians that much.
3. Nuking Palestine might be a way to give all the land back to the Palestinians...who would have to wait 25,000 years before the land is habitable to repopulate.
All batches of bomb grade (enriched) plutonium are cataloged by a lot number and each gives off a radioactive "signature" (like a fingerprint) linked to the batch and reactor it was bred in. Iran would undoubtedly also be required to record each batch also...which would provide a direct link to them should they hand over a bomb to a third party which would also be disasterous for them.
My axe to grind with Obama's Iran policy is that when protestors were being shot dead in the streets, he condemned it days later and only under public pressure to do so. His silence and weak response was seen as passive support for the regime.
I'm hip on staying the heck out of it. If they fire a nuke at us, well, then my opinion might change. Unless we deserved it.
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