Guest MINDSETTER™ Jeff Scott: Stop Beating the War Drums for Iran
Thursday, November 17, 2011
The threat of Iran has been amped up lately, seemingly even before the latest IAEA report. During the CBS republican debate over the weekend, Iran was a hot topic and all of the candidates, except for Texas Congressman Ron Paul, were ready and willing to do anything in order to prevent a nuclear Iran, including bombing campaigns. The premise of an Iranian threat is that the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a lunatic and cares not about his own well-being or that of Iran, that the concept of mutually assured destruction which played out with the Soviets during the Cold War does not apply to a radical Islamist. This is a premise that needs to be questioned.
I have not heard of a powerful leader killing themselves for jihad. I've not heard stories of Middle Eastern tyrants sending their children to join the cause, strap on a suicide vest, and martyr themselves. Quite the contrary, we usually hear about these people living lavish lifestyles in palaces and private jets, at the expense of their subjects. The paradigm is a common one and not unlike the United States of today - the laws or lifestyle forced or prescribed by those in government are for you and I, and not for those in government. To accept the premise of an Iranian nuclear threat, you need to assume that those who really control Iran - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, the rich high clerics, and even somewhat Ahmadinejad himself - would not care at all about the American and Israeli response to a nuclear strike. You need to assume that these people, who are nothing more than the tyrants and bureaucrats of a theocracy, living large off the people do not care about their own lives and are willing to give their own lives for their cause, rather than holding onto their power and riches for as long as possible.
Iran is the result of American foreign policy over the past 60 years and, ironically, a common thread promoted by most people is that we've been too hands off, too easy, on Iran, too weak. Would you say that a coup d’état orchestrated by our CIA is a weak and hands off action? I have not taken a left down Conspiracy Lane. Operation Ajax was a success in 1953 and the objective was the overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and to install a dictator friendly to America and Britain. The newly democratically elected Prime Minister agreed with and supported the Iranian Senate vote to nationalize Anglo-Iranian Oil, known as BP today. Yes, Iran was a functioning democracy at one time, before the overthrow of their government and installation of the Shah who turned out to be a brutal dictator, and the creation and training (again, courtesy of our CIA) of the SAVAK - the secret police and intelligence service which carried out execution and torture on behalf of the Shah.
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We're supposed to ignore things like Operation Ajax and only believe that Iranians hate us for our freedom, religion, and way of life. We're supposed to ignore that the 1979 hostage crisis had the 1953 CIA orchestrated coup at its roots, a result from the anger against the brutal government of the Shah. We're supposed to ignore that a hostage taker was quoted by Bruce Laingen, chief diplomat of the United States in Iran during the hostage crisis, as saying, "You have no right to complain, because you took our whole country hostage in 1953." We're supposed to believe that our interventions in Iran since the 1950's and sanctions and threats ever since, and the fall from a democratic government to a theocratic dictatorship, a direct result of the coup in 1953, haven't caused any resentment and have caused no anger toward America; our freedom, religion, and way of life are the only reasons for any Iranian anger toward America.
The fact is Iran hasn't attacked anyone in over 200 years. During their war with Iraq, it was Iraq which attacked Iran, and Iran defended their own border. It was Saddam Hussein, another brutal dictator who may have been put in place by our CIA, used chemical weapons which he bought from the United States on the Iranian-Iraqi border and against his own people, not Iran. It is the United States which has military bases in every country neighboring Iran, and who knows how many secret CIA bases. Iran wouldn't be able to produce enough gas from their own oil to fight a war with Israel and anyone else following an attack on Israel. Their economy is in shambles.
A Huge Disconnect
Our foreign policy must be questioned and must be changed. As our defense budget grows to extraordinary levels, our government has us fighting and meddling all over the world without concern for constitutional restraint. And what good has come of trillions of dollars spent, decades of intervention, and tens of thousands of American lives lost? Egypt is now ruled by radicals. Al Qaeda flags wave above Libya. The Afghan president Hamid Karzai says he would support Pakistan in a conflict with the United States. Pakistan is more of an enemy to the United States today than ever before. Israel now has more enemies in the Middle East than they did prior to our involvement in the region. Depending on what data you use, defense spending is growing close to 40% of the federal budget, edging close to $1 trillion per year, and the costs of our military actions overseas are in the trillions of dollars.
There seems to be a disconnect in regards to our foreign policy and defense spending. Many conservatives believe that the progressive movement, democrats in Congress, and Barack Obama are deliberately trying to destroy our economy in order to replace it with a system they deem fit. Many conservatives will talk about their belief that President Obama hates America and its past. Conservatives frequently talk about the unintended consequences of government intervention and the connection between dependency and government, that many in government and politicians actually want more people dependent on government. There are so many evil and immoral aspects and ideas about government and politicians which conservatives believe and grasp, but can't seem to make the leap that government may not have the best intentions when it comes to our foreign policy. Many conservatives reading this article may be thinking in their head that I'm just a "blame America firster", that I'm unpatriotic, or maybe a closet lefty. I only ask that you have an open mind and apply your own philosophies to the most powerful tool of any government throughout history; the military. We have an out of control government, a government leaning more towards totalitarianism each and every day, but we're to assume that only when it comes to our foreign policy our government is good. How is it so out of the realm of possibility that our government and media is lying to us to further their own agenda?
The United States cannot afford expanding our military into another country and the consequences of attacking Iran would be devastating. In fact, we need to start scaling back as well as changing our foreign policy as a whole. We've had decades of evidence showing that being the policemen of the world doesn't work and hasn't made anyone any safer, and it has contributed greatly to our deficits and debt. Do not complain about your political enemies ignoring the constitution for their own ends when you support and advocate unconstitutional wars and military actions throughout the world.
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