Forum Post: More Sabre-Rattling with IRAN - Will OWS let them take us into WW3 based on lies?
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 12, 2011, 1:20 p.m. EST by mgiddin1
(1057)
from Linthicum, MD
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
NEWS Article:
http://www.activistpost.com/2011/10/iran-to-be-held-accountable-for-murder.html#more
The United States warned on Wednesday it would hold Tehran accountable after foiling an alleged high-level Iranian plot to kill Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington.
"It is an outrageous act, where the Iranians will have to be held accountable," US Vice President Joe Biden told ABC television's "Good Morning America" program.
Occupy is not focused on foreign policy.
And it had better avoid direct meddling with Middle East politics in its current state. Not just for the sake of the movement, but for the sake of real people who are at real risk. This is not something you can fuck around with without real in-depth knowledge of the region, its local politics, and its history. It's not something you can learn from reading a couple books and watching some news.
Another thing is that the members of OWS who think of themselves as libertarians and as progressives can both agree that they want all of the wars stopped.
This is a huge area of common ground.
They should be. Where do they think all the money is going? Military contractors and banks. They always make money off of these wars.
No, they shouldn't. Some - most, even - might want the money out of the military machine, but I guarantee you that 99% of the people are not qualified to make foreign policy demands. Ask yourself, at what cost do you want to strip the military-industrial megalith? Are you willing to put up with a complete political breakdown in the Middle East? Are you willing to put up with power vacuums across all of the Arab nations, religious totalitarianism and extremism riding into power by force of arms, widespread repression of democratic demands, long-term distrust and instability? Are you willing to put up with human rights violations, crackdowns on political dissidents, and religious persecution in the Middle East?
By no means am I claiming that any withdrawal from the Middle East will cause this. I am not saying that the US is some kind of white knight stabilizing element. But I am saying that the vast majority of the 99% has NO IDEA - politically or philosophically - how to extract the US from the Middle East without accidentally leaving behind long-term chaos.
okay, without getting in to a long drawn-out discussion - I say we are committing human rights violations, sticking our nose in where it doesn't belong (if other countries are cracking down on political dissidents, how is it any of our business?). Over there, we call it building democracy. Here, we call it a bunch of dirty hippies pooping on cars who should be arrested. Who is cracking down on political dissidents?
Also, I would argue that by meddling in M.E. affairs, we have contributed to longterm instability, which has profited contractors, among others.
We are creating instability, bombing civilians, and also creating the very resentment against the U.S. that is supposedly responsible for the fomenting of terrorists.
Please. We may be arrogant enough to believe that we're the ones causing their unrest, we may be arrogant enough to believe that we're the ones keeping the region stable. But both claims are absurd. You wouldn't claim that Iran is the root cause behind Occupy and the Tea Party, would you? We have our own domestic issues, they have their own domestic issues.
The only difference is we've sent troops and money in there to fuck around. That may have been a mistake, there is an argument for it being a human rights violation, and etc... I won't comment on that. All I will say is that that part has already happened. What is important now is that we don't make matters worse with a ham-fisted withdrawal.
And neither you nor I are qualified to say how we can pull out of there without leaving the region in tatters.