My dad, 1949.
Yesterday, I was at my favorite café watching the stream of families treating their Dads. This Father’s Day, like Mother’s Day a month ago, was filled with laughter and expressions of love. I saw soon to be fathers cuddling with their wives, new fathers doting over their babies, fathers having conversations with their children, and senior fathers enjoying their adult children with their kids. These are the times that build bonds of love and family memories. These moments are too precious to be taken for granted.
Later at home, listening to the news shows, I felt a chill. Will
2020’s, Mother’s and Father’s Days be happy occasions? If things continue as
they are, there will be missing parents, daughters and sons, siblings, cousins,
and friends. Some will be serving in harms way, some will be living in hospitals
with terrible wounds, and some will not return.
Is this our future? It doesn’t have to be. I’m 72 years old and I’ve seen this before, such as in, Viet Nam and Iraq 2003. Everyday people can change the course of history, once they know what is going on.
Currently, the President of the United States is trying to goad
a small but tough country, Iran, into war. Trump, like George W. Bush, thinks
that we will overwhelm them with massive military power, and the war will be
short, relatively bloodless. History clearly says NO. Bush’s Iraq War was not
short nor bloodless. Bush and his Administration were told repeatedly that a
war would destabilize the entire mid-East and increase Iran’s influence. All of
which has happened, including deadly surprises like the birth of Al Qaeda and ISIS.
Today, we live with this poisoned legacy. And now, once
again, we are being steered towards another bloodbath with our Fathers and
Mothers being offered up as cannon fodder.
It’s always a good idea to see who are the losers and
winners.
Loser: the American people.
We will be the ones paying with our blood and grief. Our
nation will be far less secure from Iranian attacks here at home. There is also
the threat that Russia, North Korea, or China might launch cyberwar against us.
Our freedoms, already under attack, will be destroyed.
Loser: Europe and Japan.
War will create a world-wide oil/gas shortage putting our
long-time allies at the mercy of the Russians both economically as well as militarily.
Loser: Iran.
Its economy has been throttled by an American embargo lasted
41 years. War would destroy not just military targets but civilian
infrastructure. The Iranian people would be reduced to the starvation and misery
that we see in Yemen. This threat has driven Iran much closer to Russia. Modern
Russian military equipment has begun showing up in Iran. These weapons, along
with Russian trainers, are a serious threat to our aircraft and ships. The Iranians
are tough, as shown by the war between Iraq and Iran in the 1980’s, in which hundreds
of thousands died. The Iranian people can take horrible losses and severe deprivation
yet continue to fight on.
These are not people we want to fight. We’ll beat them, but
the price will be far greater than predicted, outweighing any possible gains. War
would further discredit the US in the eyes of the world.
Iran has plenty of legitimate reasons not to trust or like us.
The current crisis is because Trump broke promises the US made to Iran in a
binding international nuclear agreement. Trump re-imposed the embargo for no
legitimate reason. Iran has been and continues, for the moment, adhering to
their pledges to halt nuclear development.
In 1953, the US manufactured a coup after the Iranian people,
in a free election, chose Mohammad Mosaddeq for Prime Minister. He was a
reformer who wanted to end government corruption brought by US and European oil
companies. Mosaddeq was replaced by the Shah, a man who had spent most of his
life in Europe and little contact with average Iranians. He ruled as a dictator
for 20 years, becoming fabulously wealthy at the cost of the Iranian people. In
this heated atmosphere both the US and Iran made mistakes that resulted in the
Iranian Hostage Crisis and the imposition of the original embargo in 1979.
Winner: Russia.
War or not, Russia has already benefited. If war, the old
Russian Bear can turn Iran, Iraq and Syria into one massive meat grinder for
American troops, using proxy troops and supplying modern weapons. In the 1970s,
Russia fell into the same that trap in Afghanistan when they fought US backed
Islamic Jihadis who later became al Qaeda and ISIS.
Winner: Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia, home of 15 of the 19, 911 hijackers. The Saudi Royal Family and the jihadist Wahabi
sect will benefit. The destruction of Iran would make the Saudi’s unchallenged
leaders of the Sunni world and oppressor of the Shia minority. Control of the
Iranian oil fields increases Saudi Arabia’s leverage against Europe and Japan
who depend on them for energy.
Winner: Trump, the
Oil and Gas Industry, Republicans, and Russia.
War spreads fear and pushes us into an Us-Against-Them mindset
which can be manipulated resulting in turning us against ourselves, leading to the
loss of our freedoms, like Freedom of Speech. This is already happening. The
goal of Republicans, since Newt Gingrich, has been to capture the US government
and never let it go again. In essence making the US a single party system like other
dictatorships around the world.
Exxon Mobile, Koch and the rest of the fossil fuel industry
will get even more rich and powerful. A war in the Persian Gulf would stop the
flow of energy to the rest of the world. Even Saudi Arabia would be forced to reduce
output. This opens the world market to US and Russian oil and gas.
The rich and powerful become more rich and powerful. Rest of
us get grief and exploitation.
Now is the time for us to be extremely skeptical of any
claims by Trump and his Administration. In both the Viet Nam and 2nd
Irag wars, threats were concocted to justifying our fighting. History has shown
that the reasons given were lies.
Now, Iran is in our crosshairs and again extremely dubious
claims are being made against Iran. For
instance, recently claims have been made that small highspeed Iranian boats
have placed magnet mines on the hulls of several ships in the Persian Gulf. However,
there are reasons to disbelieve the reports.
The mines appear to have been placed above on the outer hulls
above the water line. Explosions above the water line of a double hulled tanker
can cause impressive fires but the ship will not sink. Luckily, one mine failed
to explode, and a boat came out to retrieve it. We have been told that the
mines and boat were Iranian. How do we know? Military materials can be stolen
or faked which is a favorite tactic of False Flag operations, where the
aggressor makes it look like the victim started it.
The same goes for the boat and crew. They could have been
Saudi’s for all we know.
And there is an eyewitness’s claim that it was a low flying
object that struck one of the ships and not a mine.
Where are we getting our information about this and other
incidents? From the President and his appointees in the CIA and State Department.
The last 3 years have shown that the President is a Liar and the members of his
administration are liars too. The last thing Americans should do is take the
current Trump government’s claims about anything, particularly in matters of
war.
Sending our fathers and mothers off to war
requires truthfulness and thoughtful deliberation. Our President doesn’t want
that. He and his allies want to stampede us into a catastrophic war where the
American people suffer while the rich and powerful go on as usual.
