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The Road to Hell

By David Glenn Cox  Posted by David Cox (about the submitter)       (Page 1 of 1 pages)   1 comment
Message David Cox
Those who seek war head carelessly down a path that leads to God only knows where. But the heat of politics and their dreams of glory and of righteous bloodletting makes their hearts pound. Glory, glory, glory, the problems of a lifetime solved by simply eliminating the intractable along with tens of thousands of their innocent adherents. With the impetuousness of an amateur chess player they boldly make their moves and possibly, probably soon find themselves on the horns of dilemma.

The calls for war on Iran come from all quarters of Israeli politicians and from the right wing American politicians. But poor George Bush, the boy who cried wolf, can no longer muster support. His false claims against Iraq now haunt him in Iran. Oh, he would if he could, but he, like the boy who chose vanilla ice cream over chocolate, he must finish one before he can have the other, and he has neither the time nor stomach for both.

The American political left wing hints with veiled threats against Iran, a nation that has done nothing to anyone. Even the left has blindly accepted the translation that Israel will disappear from the pages of time to mean Iran intends on wiping Israel off the map. But there is something that no one will say; not one will speak the truth, not one. The neocon dream of dominance is almost within reach, they believe. They believe! They reach for the stars and the darker the night gets the closer they appear. Just look at the map.

Egypt, pacified and paid for; Lebanon, fractured and broken; Syria, bullied, threatened and intimidated; Iraq, occupied. Kuwait, wealthy, self absorbed, self obsessed, as long as they can keep their medieval kingdom and fill their faces from fine gold china and sh*t in their golden toilets will nod and say, “Sure, whatever!” The tiny emirates? Powerless. Yemen? The Saudis? The House of Saud is one key, schizophrenic, enlightened leadership trapped in the Holy Land of the Prophet Muhammad. While the leadership leans to the west, knowing that this is where their bread is buttered, the population leans east. The poor and dispossessed blame the western intellectuals and the evils of capitalism and consumerism for the world's woes.

The Saudi ruling family finds themselves caught in a vise; they must give the faithful a wide berth or be seen as apostates and lose their divine right to billions in oil revenue. The American government willingly helps them by calling American military facilities “Saudi Facilities,” a game where the Saudis pay ransom to their captors to keep from being released to their countrymen. So that leaves only one regional power, independent and autonomous.

Consider the thirty-year cold war fought against Iran by the United States, the aiding and arming of her enemies, the economic blockade, the menacing of her coastal shipping by the US Navy. Imagine for a second an Iranian gunboat off the coast of Miami threatening to open fire on local traffic. Not that they are both the same but the stated purpose of the US Navy in the gulf is to protect international shipping. The question is, from who? Iran has threatened in the past to close the Strait of Hormuz, but only if attacked.

The US Navy’s presence is a hostile act with the excuse of preventing a hostile act. Sound familiar? The Israelis and the American right wing bend and twist every report from the IAEA to find something menacing in them. No proof, only accusations but the message is clear, we must stop Iran from obtaining the bomb, even if they’re not trying to get it. The US Navy must patrol the gulf to protect shipping from someone who's not trying to molest it.

During WWI Britain blockaded Germany into famine, in WWII Roosevelt extended US protection of ships out to Greenland all the while claiming neutrality. During the Falklands War the British Navy declared an exclusion zone around the Islands meaning enter at your own peril. So the US Navy’s prowling in Iranian waters is an act of war in advance, an attempt to prevent Iran from enforcing her sovereignty if attacked, to take the sword from her hand before the fight starts.

It's not about nuclear weapons or wiping Israel off the map, it's the big neocon bulge in their pants, the masturbatory fantasy of controlling Middle East oil, same as it ever was. They live in the bunker and believe their own press; they see only progress and negate the negatives until it becomes some lunatic fantasy land. They ignore the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt, they ignore that by destroying the Lebanese coalitions they empower Hezbollah. By attacking Syria they weaken moderates and strengthen radicals. George Bush's best pal in the Middle East, General Musharraf, might be out of office on his ear before George flees the scene in January.

Who will replace Musharraf? It won’t be a moderate, that’s for sure. But they see it all slipping away and attacking Iran would turn it all around! All their dreams would come true! A dictated peace for the Palestinians, control of the world's oil spigots and guaranteed political dominance of the world. And we can’t let it slip away can we? All we have to do is knock over Iran and that will be easy! A little shock and awe will bring them to their senses, maybe even some nuclear shock and awe.

In Iraq the shock and awe was ours, destroying buildings and airfields did nothing in the long run. Iran is not Iraq; they have an air force and a navy. They have a coastline along the most sensitive and vital shipping route in the world. If attacked, by the US or Israel, they would have precedent to close it to shipping or regulate the shipping. For Israel to have any hope of attacking Iran they must use Iraqi air space and US refueling capabilities. That would make both nations active participants in acts of aggression against a sovereign nation.

The Kurds fighting the Turks in Northern Iraq would welcome Iranian assistance. Although they are not getting along now, the Iranians would prefer a greater Kurdistan to a greater Americastan. This widens the conflict, the Iranians wouldn’t have to do anything in Iraq, it would do itself. An Israeli attack on an Islamic nation, how would that play in Pakistan? Or in Riyadh? How would that play in Damascus or the West Bank? How would that play in Peoria? Were the Iranians to mine the Strait or scuttle a tanker in the shipping lanes or even, god forbid, torpedo a ship from one of their submarines, the price of oil would skyrocket.

The world’s economy hangs by a thread from soaring energy prices; the closing of the Strait even for ten days would push it over the edge. But the same people who predicted the Iraqis would welcome us and that the invasion would bring about twenty-dollar a barrel oil are still running the show. And we hear no mention of the thousands dead or the billions spent but we still hear about Monica’s damn dress! The lies, the damn lies and the outright lies that overwhelm us as a nation and undermine us as a people.

We have become the most warlike and aggressive people on the planet all in the name of setting up democracy. Or some other pointless lie du jour to cover up the truth that in the name of running things, it's really just about making fortunes and protecting hegemony. We have gone from being the leader of the free world that once was admired to being a thug and a bully that now must be tolerated. Still the leaders see themselves as so close, like the over-stretched gambler willing to risk it all on just one more bet. Or the masturbatory fantasizer who believes himself to be a great lover.

In their fever and frenzy and their urgency to kill, they are lost in their own fantasy.The mad men, the bad men, and those who push from behind and say go ahead. A mad gambler pursuing a mad strategy, spending our money recklessly and pouring out the blood of our children needlessly, senselessly, maniacally. In a mindless attempt to create a Zanadu among the sand dunes they have created the pathway to hell and proudly hold up the torches to lead the way. The road to hell might be paved with good intentions but the contractors are the mindless and the murderous and are egged on by those who push from behind.
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I was born and raised in Chicago in a liberal Democratic home my Grandfather was a labor union organizer my Father a Democratic district committeeman my Mother was an election judge. My earliest memories were of passing out Kennedy yard signs from (more...)
 
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