Iran and Us
It’s not a matter of when the civil war in Iraq escalates into a larger, regional battle, but the more pertinent question is how soon that will happen. Iran has been assisting Iraq’s Shiite militias with weaponry and resources in somewhat of a covert fashion. These weapons are used against Sunnis and US troops alike, but only recently did Bush feel the need to remind the world that Iranians who fire upon us will be responded to with lethal force. It’s just more rhetorical nonsense from the King of Rhetoric himself, but the message indicates some more coded information. We, the US, are afraid of Iran’s involvement in the skirmish. Our military is stretched too far, our people are war fatigued, and the entire known universe thinks we suck right now. Unlike the country we’ve invaded and are having a tough time getting in order, Iran has a military, and is eager to secure a totally Shiite governed Iraq. That would spell out more trouble for US policy makers and certain death to any Iraqi Sunni. To me, it seems inevitable.
If the US pulls out now, or soon, Iran will move in immediately and increase its power in the region. If the US stays and polices an entire country of death and chaos, Iran and Shiite militias, which are one in the same, will wear the Giant down little by little until our military feels they can’t continue anymore. That could take decades and many more American deaths. There is no easy answer.
Regardless of how it plays out, America will once again go down in the history books for another boneheaded decision to remove Saddam from power. Sure, Iraqis didn’t have the best situation under his regime, and yes, he was a vicious tyrant. But what we’ve done is accelerated the deterioration of stability in what amounts to an entire continent of people and governments. And for what?
Our government lied to us in justifying their financial and commercial ambitions in Iraq. Then followed by refusing to admit they’d made a mistake. They even have gone as far as to scapegoat select cronies within the administration when evidence turns up that they lied. Their actions have caused thousands of people to be tortured to death, millions more displaced from their homes, and have exemplified to the world how our leaders and ‘powers that be’ are nearly sub human when it comes to securing their expensive means to their greedy ends. I get the feeling that they don’t care about the welfare of anyone at all, American or foreign. How can anyone believe anything they say? They’re worse than children who have been caught in a lie and refuse to confess. And these people lead our country. They make the decisions that affect our lives. I don’t get the feeling people fully understand that. Think about any and every decision they’ve made and tell me how you’re life has been improved from these decisions. The American people are more uninformed and unaware than ever before even with such technological marvels as the Internet. Our global outlook may be damaged beyond repair and our middle class is shriveling under the Bush magnifying glass. We’ve accumulated an insurmountable debt, most of which China has bought and our economy went from pretty strong to laughably fragile.
Whoever takes the reigns of this shit storm will not succeed. We have broken a large, important part of the world and we will feel a nasty backlash because of it. It is not a proud time to be an American and in our efforts of ‘securing world peace’, we’ve managed to make worldwide relations more tenuous than ever. Let’s just hope we’re praying to the right God.
No comments:
Post a Comment