This post i have cut from the www.firedoglake.com site. I think that it pretty much sums up what i was trying to say.
http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/04/17/oh-wow/
Monday, April 17th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Oh Wow
By Ian Welsh
Guest Post by Ian Welsh
I’m in the odd position of being a Canadian who does most of his blogging on American politics for US blogs. It’s a kafkaesque exercise at times, and the recent Iran mess has reminded me yet again, that to a foreigner, the US really is “through the looking glass”.
Because to me the conversation on Iran isn’t sane. In fact, the idea of bombing Iran, either large scale conventionally, or, even worse, with nukes, is one I’m astounded is even being considered.
Let’s deal with the specifics from one Canadian’s point of view.
First: bombing a country is a declaration of war and Iran will react to it as such. To meaningfully damage the Iranian nuclear effort will require massive bombing. This isn’t one pinpoint attack. Oil will soar to $150 a barrel or so, your economy will crater, so will everyone else’s, your allies will abandon you and you will be all by yourselves. And people won’t blame the Iranians, they will blame you.
Second: Proponents of bombing Iran spend a lot of time talking about how Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism. Iran doesn’t sponsor terror against the US, at least not recently. You do this, that’ll change. You do this, you will come to see 9/11 as the good ol’ days when you only lost a couple thousand people, because not only is Iran a State sponsor of terrorism – they are very very good at it and there is every reason to believe they have cells in the US. And we haven’t even talked about the fact that even if most Americans don’t know it, most foreigners are well aware that the US is, itself, a huge state sponsor of terrorism.
Third: A lot of this is being driven by the fact that Iran does sponsor terrorism against Israel and that Iranian nukes will threaten Israel (note that they will not threaten the US directly.) Israel is the nation which spies most on the US. They are not your friend, whatever you may think. Of course, given the power of the Israeli lobby, and the specter of being called an anti-semite, no one is willing to say this. Let the Israelis deal with their own damn problems, it’s their bed, let them lie in it.
Fourth: Bush brought this on America by invading Iraq. The lesson of Iraq is this: if you have nukes you won’t get invaded. If you don’t, the US will (compare and contrast: North Korea/Iraq). Iran is acting entirley rationally.
Fifth: I think Canada should have nukes, because I know you invaded Iraq based on lies. I don’t want Iran to have nukes, but if I were the mullahs I’d be doing the exact same thing. The Mullahs aren’t nuts – they’re acting in self preservation. I know why they’re doing what they’re doing and it is perfectly 100% rational.
Sixth: I have to tell you, that from a foreigner’s point of view, and this is true even in your closest allies (the majority of Britains, for example) you are a rogue nation. You invade people based on lies. You have no credibility on Iran. You are the boy who cried Wolf. You don’t obey the Geneva conventions. You have secret prisons. You torture people, including the citizens of your allies. You have abolished habeas corpus for classes of people. You kidnap foreigners and secretly ship them off to be tortured. You have endorsed Bush’s war crimes – crimes for which Americans hung Nazis who had been in no way involved the with the Holocaust. You could produce pictures of nukes and missiles and half the world wouldn’t believe you. Even if we did believe you, we don’t care enough to endorse going to war with Iran.. There are only two nations in the world who constantly talk about how they’re willing to nuke people without even being attacked first: The North Koreans - and the UNITED STATES.
You gave up the ability to stop countries like Iran from getting nukes when you invaded a country like Iraq which had no nukes and no real possibility of getting them. That was your wad, and you blew it. You chose to be weak. At this point, for you to stop Iran would involve you in a war you cannot win – or at least no victory worth having. You can’t occupy Iran, so are you going to really glass Tehran or the entire country? Do you know what the world reaction would be? Do you know what would happen to the dollar? Are you out of your minds?
Why is this even being discussed? And why is it that I can’t simply dismiss it as diplomatic posturing? When did the US step through the looking glass? When did insanity become reasonable?
Update: To help us take action on Iran, please scroll down to read this entry about our Roots Project. Thanks! — Pachacutec
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5 comments:
It's damn scary these days to see the direction the US is taking. We need more than petitions, but here is a place to start http://www.unitedforpeace.org/. Of course you can't help yourself--I think we all need to share info and talk about possible courses of action.
Thanks Kathy for that link. I have signed the petition at http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/iran. I encourage all of our readers to do so as well. EVa
Eva,
I enjoy reading your blog and am glad you have been writing so much lately. My family and I visited Troncones week after Easter and, alas were not able to stay at Eden, but stayed at IAMB and visited your property several times. I have to say that one of the things I enjoyed most about our visit is getting away from the horrible US political mess and hateful things that go along with it. It was nice and refreshing to not have to hear about it simply because it worries me and upsets me to no end. I feel helpless...We were told to go out and vote if we wanted a change, and it got us nowhere. It was such a let down..it is so painful to see my entire country hijacked, and when you are here and caught up in the (mis)information overload, you tend to start to shut down. It is going to take outside pressure to stop those that run our country from destroying the rest of the world, because nobody running our country give a darn what the citizens think.
~Kristin
I know that one of the great things about Troncones is that you are really away from all of the news etc overload in the states. that is why i was reluctant to post the political comments on our blog. But i also belive in behaving in a good a way as possible in life, to all people. One thing that i see here in Troncones is how little things REALLY make a difference. Imagine if a BIG thing was happening here well like invasion or some kind of military action. These lovely and humble people would be destroyed. And that is what i am sure is happening in the middle east.
I think that it is a wonderful thing to travel and see that all human beings are basically the same the world over.
Eva
Eva,
Well I definitely think it's great that you are so passionate about the political situation here, because it would be so easy to bury your head in the sand being in that tranquil place. I would be real tempted to remove myself from the rest of the world and I admire you for still caring enough to take a stand.
I think if more people like you, from outside the US, were to start making their opinions known, it might help. From the inside, though, it is overwhelming.
Your comparison of the people you live among to the families in the Middle East took my breath away. It seems like some people here just can't put themselves in other people's shoes and it's a big problem. Sometimes I lie in bed, with my children sleeping in the other room, and wonder how it would feel to have to grab them and run out of the house with only the clothes on our back and watch our home destroyed by bombs. I also imagine what it must be like to be sitting among the rubble of my home with my children buried somewhere underneath.
Not once during my stay in Troncones did I have these anxieties. We all slept in our little bungalow like babies. I envy you in that way but admire the fact that indeed you are having trouble sleeping because of US activities as well.
~Kristin
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