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The Iran War
By lindamuralidharan on 2013-03-22 05:30:57
caption id="attachment 4233" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Let's have a different outcome this time. Resist
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the lies!" [/caption] What?
What do you mean "The Iran War"? I don't remember an Iran War...oh, wait, you mean the war that never was because we
actually learned something as a people? We woke up from our amnesiac nation state of mind and remembered things of
significance? Because we remembered : How we were hyped into fighting the Spanish American War with false reporting.
How we were duped into the Vietnam War with a more or less made up incident and propaganda creep. How the seemingly
cool multi-lateral strike to protect Kuwait was spoiled by brutalizing surrendering soldiers, letting Hussein build his army
back up, brutal and ineffective sanctions, and destructive and pointless air strikes. How significant it is to study the view of
some experts that Hussein would have withdrawn from Kuwait anyway once he was under threat of attack...if he had been
given another few weeks. How certain leaders dragged the rest of the governing officials to war in Iraq after plying the latter
with shameless lies. How it has become apparent that whether Iraq or Afghanistan, and regardless of some fig leaf of
multilateralism, wars of aggression in the modern age are likely to lead to quagmires such as we experienced in Vietnam.
And was it because this time the public wouldn't let the press get away with propaganda creep. In stead of just accepting
the constant barrage from media right and left that the President and the country must stop Iran from getting the nuclear
weapons it was on track to get (supposedly), the public and members of Congress demanded to know exactly where and
who was putting out the latest reports back there in 2013, for example, that Iran was one year away from producing a
nuclear weapon? After all, that had more or less been the mantra for the previous 15 years or so...although sometimes it was
said Iran would have weapons in 2 years or 3 years....it wasn't always | year that was posited. Pointing to the false data that
had been used more than once, e.g. the mysterious lap top with various memos and data and such, did the public finally say,
"Put all the cards on the table before you put all the options on the table. Show us your proof and then ask a variety of
knowledgeable people to critique it.". What is the proof they will be ready for a bomb in one year and what is the proof of
the likelihood that they want to produce one as opposed to being ready to do it at a moment's notice as a deterrent given the
hostile nature of a lot of international chatter and posturing with regard to their country? As the saying goes, they did live in
a nasty neighborhood and had a rather threatening interloper breathing down their neck for many years,. Was it because
President Barack Obama was less of an aggressor than he posed as being? Did he pose as an aggressor to give himself cover
to work toward legitimate solutions behind the scenes and over a period of time, a period of time that it would take to
change public perceptions that had been biased by those who actively wanted war with Iran? It is noted that in 2013 he said
to the Israeli people during a visit to their country that, "Peace is necessary". Did the opportunity finally arise for public
opinion to be informed by the facts that Iranian leaders would hardly suicidally use a bomb if they ever did get one? Did the
public finally notice that too many countries already have but even violence prone Israel has not used a nuclear weapon, and
the US, the only country which has done so, has not repeated it use of 60 years ago? Did the public finally speak up and
say, "Look here, Congress, the horrible thing about the possibility that Iran would produce nuclear weapons is that it could
start a competition among more nations to get their own bombs." Did the public demand that the US get even busier at
nuclear disarmament in multi and bi lateral agreements with other nations and that pressure be exerted on many nations to
start talking about disarmament.? Or did the public simply demand that the US spearhead the weak existing movement to
set up a nuclear free Mideast with other nations playing whatever role suited their situation. Did India and Pakistan begin
to reduce their stockpile along with Israel. Did Egypt and Saudi Arabia and others in the general area get on the bandwagon
of pressuring others to disarm while establishing their own non-nuclear policies? Mnnnn. Peace is necessary. Maybe that
was the key. An awakening. Like the time masses of people suddenly began to understand the desirability of allowing gay
marriages. Maybe it was a president that actually deserved the Nobel Prize....however unlikely that seemed at the time he
received it. Well whatever worked I am glad. I remember how horrible it was on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War to be
reminded of the dishonesty of a generation of leaders, of the lives lost...for a cause that few volunteered to die for...of the
ongoing mental and physical damage to soldiers who fought and to civilians who were injured and/or displaced. The scale
of human misery caused by the war often seemed too much to actually imagine. And now that we don't have to have such
hideous memories and accept such awful guilt and responsibility for being an aggressor in the land of another country, it is
time to write some of those leaders that avoided the war and say how much we respect their hard work in sorting through the
facts and standing up for fact based policies. Thank them not only for not having the destruction of another country on our
consciences but also for the many American lives saved, Americans who now and in the future are part of the ongoing task
of improving and building our own society.
