No

by Robert C. Sage

Created on: October 14, 2007

I agree that Iran is in a war with America, only it is not of their own making. America is already funding terrorist activity against Iranians inside Iran and in third countries such as Iraq and elsewhere. We are fortunate that Iran has not succumbed tot he neo-con provocations and threats. A full out war with Iran would not benefit anyone, least of all America or Iran. It would be a fantastic waste of resources and lives. It could not be won, just as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cannot be won as they have been fought.

Invading and occupying foreign countries, due to distortions, fabrications and unproven allegations does not get us anywhere. Look at the heap of trouble that we are in next door in Iraq, then consider that Iran has three times the population and is a more cohesive society. They would not be pushovers like the Baathists of Iraq, who are now leading insurgencies that cause most of the killings of Americans in Iraq.

Bush and his underlings including General Petreas do us no service by continuing to make unproven allegations about Iranians killing U.S. soldiers. The fact is that Iraq's bazaars are awash in weapons from every conceivable source, including a goodly share of American weapons. Based on the type of evidence presented to date concerning Iranian weapons, it would be fair to concluded that the U.S. is behind many killings of U.S. soldiers, because U.S. weapons were used. Why aren't there good investigations behind the fact that 100,000 U.S. weapons have simply disappeared in Iraq? It seems reasonable to conclude that the powers that be fear the results, as they could uncover corruption, bribery, treason, murder, rape, profiteering, etc.

It is ironic that people like JD Russel ignore that Iran's President Ahmedinejad does not control the military services or the foreign policy in Iran. Those areas are the responsibility of Grand Ayatollah Khamanei, who is more circumspect with his comments and his actions. However, even if we consider the Mr. Ahmedinejad's actual comments, we would soon realize that they barwe often distorted by virulent neo-cons, the same ones who refuse to believe polls, because they refuse to accept the facts. Mr. Ahmedinejad is not the one who has directly threatened Israel or the US, quite the opposite, it it the neo-cons and Zionists who have threatened Mr. Ahmedinejad and Iran. Vice President Dick Cheney and Israeli leaders talk openly and in public about nuking Iran and causing regime change. We don't hear that from Iran!

In fact, Iran has not attacked another sovereign nation in recent memory. Yes, the rebellious students did take over our Tehran embassy, but not one American was killed and those who were ill were released first. Iran has never financed the overthrow of an American government, but America's CIA financed the removal of a popular, democratically elected prime minister in 1953 and replaced him with an unpopular tyrannical dictator, the Shaw. I doubt many Americans would choose the Iranian form of government or many of their policies, but why shouldn't Iran have the right to determine its form of government and who should be their leaders.

If there is a problem with credit card scams via the internet from Nigeria going through computers in Iran, then our government should engage the government of Iran directly as well as through indirect channels like the International Criminal Court, not by going to war! Criminals will exploit the weakest link in order to do their crimes and if they use Iranian computers does not automatically prove Iranian government involvement. That F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.,Daiwa Bank Ltd.,BASF, SGL Carbon, Exxon Corp., UCAR Int'l, Archer Daniels Midland all paid criminal fines over $100 in the 1990s does not prove that their home country governments were involved. If there are scams occurring through Iran, then they must be pursued, but not by nuclear weapons or soldiers!

America needs to dialog with Iran, not fight it! Why should war be the first resort?
What could possibly be gained by one more war of conquest, other than ideological rectitude and profiteering by companies political connected to the war mongers? Why would people want more war, when the war in Iraq alone has already killed over 1.2 million Iraqi men, women and children? What type of sick minds enjoy fomenting hate and violence by promoting unnecessary, unwinnable wars? Fanning the flames of misunderstanding and beating the drums of war is inappropriate, unfair, immoral, unethical and contrary to core message of every major religion. It is insane.

The war between Iraq and Iran lasted for 8 years and ended indecisively, although Saddam Hussein had been convinced that he would win it quickly. It caused hundreds of thousands of deaths on both sides. The Iranians are quite patriotic and although many may be unsatisfied by their leaders, that is not sufficient justification to attack. Nor is the allegation that Iran could have its designs on development nuclear weapons. Indeed, South Africa, Israel, India and Pakistan all have developed nuclear weapons without America attacking them. Ironically, Iran is a signatory of the non-proliferation treaty (Israel is not!) and is cooperating with IAEA inspectors (Israel does not). From the lack of any WMD in Iraq, we should have learned that UN inspectors know what they are doing. Both John Ritter and Hans Blitz tried to tell us that Saddam no longer had the WMD that America had supplied him with years earlier. The moral to that story is to use the inspection system.

What is incredible to me is that many of the neo-con war mongers who are trying to cause war with Iran consider themselves to be religious. I know that the same is true of many warmongers in Israel, al-Qaeda, Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka, however all that proves is that there are misguided psychopaths in every religious tradition who exploit positions of influence to deceive followers to fight wars. We would be well served by legislation outlawing the promotion of war against supposed enemies that have not attacked America. It is too easy for ideologues to use rumor, deception and fabrication to justify unjust wars for their selfish motives, whatever they might be. War is not to be glibly embarked upon. It is not healthy or righteous. Promoting war is sick.

Instead of looking for a pretense to attack Iran, America should extend diplomatic recognition and engage Iran on the entire range of subjects of concern. Just as with North Korea, we must talk, with both eyes open. Ironically, in the case of Iran, we have common religious roots in the Abrahamic Judeo tradition which exists in Islam, something that is non-existent with North Korea.

That is not the only areas of commonality with Iran. In fact, both the U.S. and Iran strongly support the new government of Iraq. Also, Iran has consistently rejected al_Qaeda and the Taliban and was a supporter of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan that ultimately removed the Taliban from power together with America.
In fact, Ronald Reagan secretly sold weapons to theocratic Iran not longer after the Embassy hostages were released. Dick Cheney's Halliburton's subsidiary had contracts with Iran, while he was C.E.O. That sure sounds like huge flipflop to me.

What this indicates to me is that the neo-con rush to war is based on temporal issues and convenience. Endless war keeps the American people on edge and allows neo-cons to wrap themselves in the flag. Beware of false flag claims that are not proved beyond a reasonable doubt. From the plethora of unanswered questions about 9-11 and the falsehoods used to get us to invade Iraq, America must carefully investigate and research any outrageous claims about Iran. So far, the neo-cons have been unable to make their claims stick, because they never provide the proof. Neo-cons don't provide conclusive proof because it doesn't exist. America has had too much of the "smoke and mirrors" games from the war zeolots.

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