In the remote chance that George W. Bush or his cronies actually may read this somewhere here are some words of advice: Do not proceed with your build up to war with Iran. Let me repeat: we've seen you do this before, we're on to you, so stop it, bad George, bad! Do not go to war with Iran.
All week long, well, actually, for months, Bush and his war mongers have been making Iranian rumblings, trying to find at least one valid reason to go in to this country on the war path. After all, we are right next door, and he hates the current administration there, so, he wants them gone. And what Georgie wants, Georgie gets, for some unknown reason.
Now, we must care about Iran because Iranian weapons are killing Americans. I'm not going to go in to the ridiculousness of the timing of the release of this information. Forget that we've known for some time and are just now making a big deal. I'm simply going to tell the world what my mom used to say to me in cases like this, "What's good for he goose is good for the gander." Now, I never really knew what that meant, I thought my mom was on some equal rights tirade left over from the 1960s for foul, but now I get it.
You see we should not invade Iran because of they give or gave weapons to Iraqi fighters for one solid, very real reason: our hands are not clean in that area. Russia did not attack us when we started this whole thing, when we created Osama Bin Laden, by arming him and his militia in Afghanistan so they could fight off the Russian advances being made in that country. We did not want Russia to succeed, so we supplied money, weapons, training and intelligence to Bin Laden and others. Russia subsequently lost on that front, and the fight nearly bankrupted them. Did they get outraged and the United States and start threatening nuclear retaliation or retaliation of any sort? Was an impending war with Russia a given? Nope. In fact, I could list conflict after conflict where the United States meddled by giving weapons and other support to "protect our interest" and the attacking party did not take it out on the U.S. No, our hands are far from clean in this area so we need to shut up about Iran.
Iran is a neighboring country to Iraq. It has a vested interest in what happens in that country. If it wants to supply weapons or anything else to the fighters in Iraq, who are we to say they can't? Oh, I know, those weapons are killing Americans. But those Americans wouldn't be dying if they weren't caught up in the middle of a civil war in a place they don't belong. It is not Iran's fault Americans are dying, it is George Bush's, but he won't fess up to it, so he plays the blame game. Blame Iran for our problems in Iraq, those dirty Iranians, they've always wanted to get us.
That is actually far from the truth. In fact, we should forget about the Iraq-Iranian connection for one very good reason: the people of Iran like us for the most part and many dislike their own government. The people of Iran, again, for the most part, do not want war or conflict with the United States, no matter their stance on the Iraq war. They do not agree with their leader with little man's complex, M ahmoud Ahmadinejad. And we have to stop doing things that make him appear to be sane. He has been quoted recently in the media as saying he is not concerned about U.S. threats because the United States is looking for a scapegoat to cover its "defeats and failures" in Iraq. Guess what, he's right.
In fact, I'm getting really tired of this administration and its real lack of any foreign policy or diplomacy giving these dictators fodder for speeches that actually have a ringing of truth to them.
Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the Munich Conference on Security Policy, an annual transatlantic gathering of policymakers and defense experts. At that conference he said that the United States was guilty of causing nuclear proliferation around the world because of our "Unilateral and frequently illegitimate actions that have not resolved any problems..." He went on to say how we have become the world's aggressor, walked away from nuclear treaties and taken to invading anyone in any place that we see fit, so it's no wonder many countries want the bomb, since we seem to leave them alone.
Don't you hate it when the mealy-mouthed dictators are right? I do. But the fact is, the Bush administration has so tarnished our reputation throughout the world that even lunatics can appear sane. If Hussein really had the bomb, the nuclear bomb, would we have attacked him? Probably not. And was that action not both illegitimate and aggressive, preemptive? Did it resolve any problem?
No, it seems Putin likes his world cold, with people vying for nuclear supremacy. I do not, but perhaps Bush does. Maybe his family owns stock in a company that produces missiles or something, who can say, it wouldn't surprise me.
Iran is not a threat to the United States. Let me say it again. Iran is not a threat to the United States. At least not a clear and present danger at this time. While I do not wish to see a nuclear Iran, I have never understood how we, the only nation to ever use such a horrible weapon, the only nation with nuclear blood on our hands, are the ones to tell the rest of the world who can and cannot have a bomb. If you were the leader of a small country, and you saw how George Bush and his cronies manipulate information and the American people right in to war, wouldn't you be afraid? Wouldn't you want a big defense mechanism like a bomb or something fearful in your arsenal in case America comes calling? Bush has given new meaning to the Bully Pulpit. He really has painted America as a bully, and now weaker countries want to level the playing field and the only way they feel they can do that is with nuclear technology, or by helping those that would oppose us.
Iran chose a side in Iraq and it wasn't ours, that's what we are truly mad at. Instead of being a member of the coalition of the willing they are advocates of the killing. And while that is sad, it is not a reason to invade their country. They live right next door. If Canada were attacked, would we not provide weapons to them? And if we did, would you want us invaded because of it? Think about it.
Do not let this administration fool you. Iran is not the next big problem on the horizon. Rebuilding our own country after this war is. We need to get our troops home and stop the financial hemorrhaging before it bleeds us dry. And we need to concentrate on making more peace, not war. Whatever happened to dollar diplomacy? Hell, whatever happened to diplomacy period?
Iran is not our enemy. Oh, they are led by a madman, but hey, no crime in that, right, I mean, how sane is our guy? They do have nuclear ambitions, but so did and do we and many other countries. It's why there are meetings and treaties, pacts and agreements, all things from which George Bush has walked away.
No, if there are more enemies in this world right now, and if the world is arming itself and being more defiant, it's because its big brother has become abusive, its leading force, the head of its household has become unpredictable.
And let's remember the Constitution. Our founding fathers thought so highly of us, that they gave us the right to raise a militia and to bear arms should any oppressive government or tyrant rise up again. Well, as we preach democracy, it appears the rest of the world wants those rights, too. Unfortunately, they want them because of us, but not because they are great principals by which to live but because we, in their eyes, are becoming tyrannical.
Yes, Iran is supplying people in Iraq that are killing Americans. The solution is not to invade Iran, but to leave Iraq, so no one there wants to kill Americans at all. And yes, much of the world is now wanting to go nuclear. Again, the solution there is to show that there is no need for them to fear us, not ramp up our own arsenal.
We are on a tightrope right now and the weight of all of Bush's mistakes are on our shoulders. One more and the rope snaps and we tumble. Mighty nations fall. Ask Rome. Ask any former Chinese Dynasty.
Tell Bush no, no more war. No, he's not going to Iran. And as a nation, let's take a long look at ourselves. When a Soviet dictator can clock us so easily, maybe we need to rethink our foreign policy and the way in which we deal with the rest of the world.
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