America—the United States of—was founded on an awe-inspiring
belief: “We the people.” We—with no
qualifiers. All of us. At our country’s inception, this was not
true, but words have power, and that power compels many of us to continue to
believe in our possibilities. I cling to Langston Hughes' poetic hopes--"Let America be America again, the land that never has been yet and yet must be."
There are those who proclaim American Exceptionalism, and
they condemn anyone who discusses some of our historic failures as being less than
patriotic. Supposedly, we do not love
America as much as they do. Does our
love of country need to be blind? How then is any country to become all that it can be if its citizens are oblivious to its
faults? How can our country rectify
historic wrongs if we pretend not to see them?
Let us then engage in some serious introspection about the consequences of
Western actions in the Middle East. (The term Middle East was not widely used until after World War I to
describe the area of Northern Africa and the Arab states, but at that time, it was to separate that area from the Far East
and the rest of Africa.) When we study
the unintended consequences of Western actions in this area, we cannot be
surprised that many in the Middle East regard Westerners—sometimes particularly the U. S.—as
nations meddling where we don’t belong and/or as oppressors. We do say that we want peace in the Middle East, but
our words and actions often seem to contradict this. There are exceptions, but in general, Western
powers have done more harm than good whenever we/they took on a superior or
paternalistic role in--or attitude about--this area. After all, colonial powers did
draw lines on a map after World War I to create new nations, but the
cultures in these areas are ancient, not new.
Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon are among those nations created on paper, but
Iran—formerly Persia—remains in essentially the same place as it has been
for centuries.
We need to remember that history, especially since the neo-Cons who
started a war with Iraq by choice and on bogus intelligence are now telling us
not to consider talking to Iran about their nuclear capabilities. The Powers that Be took the neo-Con advice
about Iraq. That was disastrous. Why are those people even talking now? More importantly, why is anyone listening? After we could not
find the non-existent WMDs, the not-war, rather an "operation," became all about a democratically
elected government in Iraq. Rumsfeld was
totally shocked that a Shiite majority won, even though he could have found out
that Shiites--who had been oppressed by Hussein and the Sunni minority--have outnumbered Sunni in Iraq forever, had he checked. Then Bremer disbanded Hussein’s Sunni
army, and they became the insurgents.
There wasn't an al Qaeda in Iraq when we started the war, but there was an al
Qaeda in Iraq during and after.
Petraeus, the general to end all generals, used the Sunni for a bit, and
then that was over. So now, they've
morphed into ISIS/L. This disaster is a
direct result of our ill-informed, ill-considered actions when we marched into
Iraq. Yes, Saddam Hussein was a tyrant
who “gassed his own people.” (When the G. W. Bush administration said that, they hoped we’d forget that the gassing of his own people occurred
while we were allied with Iraq against Iran.)
And now Iran is a worry of ours, a worry that Iraq—with
Hussein in charge—had kept in check. Get a grip people. We
cannot magically wipe out the reality that Iranian scientists already know how
to make nuclear weapons and, that in time, they can produce a nuke. Given that, why is it a bad idea to negotiate
to delay this as soon as possible?
McCane and his “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” gang seem determined not to
talk to Iran. Forty-seven GOP
Senators even went so far as to write a letter to the Ayatollah of Iran, telling him
not to trust any deal with us. Why are
they--and some Democrats--so intent on our not working with other
nations alongside the Obama administration in attempts to avoid
war? We finally have many of the globes’
powerful nations—Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany—working
together to lessen the threat of increased nuclear proliferation. And this is a non-starter? Why?
Going to war with Iran is a very bad idea. Lest you have any doubt about this, check out
some of these facts.
Compare the areas--Iran: 636,400 sq. miles to Iraq: 168,754
sq. miles. Compare the populations--Iran: 81 million people to Iraq: 36 million people. Look at the difference in percentages of Sunni and Shiite Muslims in each country. Iran is 90 percent Shiite and about 9 percent Sunni. Iraq is 60-65 percent Shiite with 15-20 percent Sunni. There are Christians and Jews in both areas, but other religions are a very small part in either country.
Add to these facts that Iran is one of the globes’ oldest
civilizations (Persia—224 AD). Iraq was carved from Mesopotamia and drawn on a map by the League of Nations in 1920
after the demise of the Ottoman Empire. It only became independent in 1932. The geographic identity of Iranians is centuries old; Iraq is a much newer nation. Think about these facts, and you can see that fighting with a much larger country with more people might deserve some critical thinking before rash acting.
Just touting American Exceptionalism and saying USA! USA! does not excuse us from being rational
when we make decisions that have far reaching, life or death consequences. Before we barge headlong into a war we might
just be able to avoid, think détente, all you Reagan lovers. And do study your history and the facts as
well as recall the events of the Second Gulf War—as we now call Operation
Whatever. (Congress will not and has not
declared war since World War II. Our
police actions or conflicts or operations are only called war after we finish
them.) War with Iraq was far from a promised cake walk, and that mission is far from accomplished. The tragic deaths and life-long repercussions for the men and women who fought for us there deserve our best. They deserve to believe that we do not ask so much of them without considering the cost to them and their families. Now Iran?
Dear Congress: Please think before you shoot off either your mouths or the guns.