Remember when Obama actually broadcast a message of respect to the Iranian people and communicated a desire to re-open diplomatic relations with their country and its government despite a mutual history of conflict and ill will that had built up between our two nations ever since the CIA helped overthrow Iran’s legitimate government in the 1950’s and install the Shah as a dictator? Predictably, the neoconservatives proclaimed that Obama’s speech was a sign of weakness, appeasement and capitulation to the greatest Islamofascist threat in the world. That our President was as naive as Neville Chamberlain and his efforts at rapprochement were doomed to failure, and a hard line against Iran must be re-imposed. That he was Jimmy Carter redux, but this time in blackface. Why they even claimed Obama’s speech showed he wasn’t “manly” enough to deal with the hardliners in Iran, and that he would sell out American security if he went through with his diplomatic initiatives, even if that meant turning the US of A into the Muslim States of America.
Well, hold on to your hats, because if one simple speech elicited that sort of reaction, imagine the whirlwind of blithering vitriol and craptacular rhetoric from the neocon deadenders which this news story is likely to set off:
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran said on Thursday it would attend a U.N. conference on the future of Afghanistan which was proposed by Tehran’s old foe the United States. […]
News of Iran’s attendance is likely to be welcomed by the new U.S. administration of President Barack Obama, who has offered a “new beginning” of diplomatic engagement on a range of issues with the Islamic Republic.
In an overture toward Tehran, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said earlier this month Tehran would be invited to the conference to discuss Afghanistan, with which Iran shares a long border.[…]
“We believe that a regional solution should be found for the Afghanistan crisis,” the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted [Iran’s Foreign Minister] Mottaki as saying during a visit to Brazil.
“Iran’s goal in the region is to help peace, stability and calm which is necessary for the region’s progress,” he said. […]
Iran and the United States have not had diplomatic ties for three decades and are now embroiled in a dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at making bombs. Iran says it is for peaceful power purposes.
But the two foes share an interest in ensuring a stable Afghanistan, analysts say.
Poor neocons. The end truly is nigh. The end of unilateralism by the US in dealing with the world. The end of the Bushco foreign policy of “shoot first and worry about the collateral damage later.” The end of thinking American military might can solve all our problems if we just have a strong enough will to “stay the course” in the greater war against the evil doers in Iraqafganipakisaudijihadistan.
Pity the fools, I say. It has to be difficult seeing all your dreams of endless wars and crusades going up in the thin smoke of reality. For the reality is that we cannot win a “War on Terror” and we never could. And we certainly couldn’t do it alone, though God knows Bush tried (and yes, a million people died). Now the sane people we elected last Fall have to clean up the mess that resulted from eight years of allowing sociopaths complete domination and control of our government.
It’s a good sign that Iran is responding to Obama’s overtures and agreeing to participate in this conference regarding the security of its neighbor, Afghanistan. After all, the Iranians want a stable and de-radicalized Afghanistan as much, if not more, than we do. I don’t want to make too much of it, but it is a good first step. We should ignore the rhetoric coming out of the mouths of Iran’s leaders. It is their actions that matter most. This action tells me that they are open to engaging the United States diplomatically. It won’t be easy. There will doubtless be missteps, disagreements, and mistrust along the way. But it beats the alternative.
To quote that famous conservative icon, defiant war leader, and “defender of western civilization” of whom the right is so fond, Winston Churchill:
To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.
He said that (or something similar) on June 26, 1954 at the White House, during the height of the cold war, when fear of Communist states like the Soviet Union which actually had nuclear weapons (those infamous weapons of mass destruction you’ve heard about) and large military forces that threatened our national security and the national security of our allies, ran rampant in our country and folks like Joseph McCarthy and General Curtis LeMay were the leaders of the “Let’s get them before they get us first” war party. If those words made sense back then, how much more do they make sense now?
It’s just as true now as it was then. The Bill Kristol crowd is the modern version of LeMay.
With the difference being they get their radical views aired whenever they wish on Fox News and even in the recent past in the NYT.
But at least they don’t command the air force of sit on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That’s something.
No, but they planned military strategy (e.g., Rumsfeld, Kagan) during the past 8 years. Thank god that’s over.
Problem is:
major U.S. foreign policy, i.e. Israel, is not changing.
last summer, unknown to most of us, the U.S. signed another ten year “aid” package for Israel, worth billions of dollars. this deal always stipulates that Israel will use the “aid” to purchase weapons from U.S. manufacturers.
why do most of us not know about this? because it’s done, back alley style, as a Memorandum of Understanding.
WTF?? so it’s not even discussed/debated/voted on by Congress– it’s just a freaking billion dollar handout to Israel.
I can assure you the Iranians and Palestinians know of this little arrangement and they are not impressed.
really? you might want to goto Juan Cole’s website; you’ll see a transcript of al Khaimeni’s recent speech regarding Obama’s overture to Iran– he’s asking “where’s the change?”
as far as the nuclear apartheid the U.S./Israel wants to continue to impose on Iran, good luck.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/894255.html
I was afraid this was going to be another post on how that Netanyahu (or Gulliver’s travels style-Yahoo if you prefer) was going to attack Iran unilaterally.
Hopefully Obama would end all non-humanitarian aid to Israel at that point but I doubt it. No one in our political system has the guts to do that.
And you have touched that rail which tells us that the Neoconservatives are not dead. They were just revived by the Netanyahu-Likud election to form Israel’s next government. How? A New Break is back, the concoction of the Neocons Pearle and Feith and others (Wolfowicz watching in the background), who will no doubt fuck up the US even more than they have with a move on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The next price of gas will make five dollars a gallon, inflation, more unemployment, and a new high for the misery index.
If there is anything we have learned about the alleged dependence of Israel on American support is that it was an illusion all this time, because the right wing Likuds and even the centrists don’t give a shit; they only care about themselves. Did you ask Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, Mr. Obama? How long ago did that happen? Hillary, you said, stop the house demolitions in East Jerusalem. What happened? The mayor of Jerusalem told you to fuck off.
It’s a new age for the Israeli-American relationship. And we will soon learn just who is in charge. And I don’t think it is us.We’ve allowed this thing to go too far.
And you have touched that rail which tells us that the Neoconservatives are not dead. They were just revived by the Netanyahu-Likud election to form Israel’s next government. How? A New Break is back, the concoction of the Neocons Pearle and Feith and others (Wolfowicz watching in the background), who will no doubt fuck up the US even more than they have with a move on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The next price of gas will make five dollars a gallon, inflation, more unemployment, and a new high for the misery index.
If there is anything we have learned about the alleged dependence of Israel on American support is that it was an illusion all this time, because the right wing Likuds and even the centrists don’t give a shit; they only care about themselves. Did you ask Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, Mr. Obama? How long ago did that happen? Hillary, you said, stop the house demolitions in East Jerusalem. What happened? The mayor of Jerusalem told you to fuck off.
It’s a new age for the Israeli-American relationship. And we will soon learn just who is in charge. And I don’t think it is us. We’ve allowed this thing to go too far.