Today's exercise:
- 2001 Iraq - al Qaeda is our enemy, they have always been our enemy.
- 2011 Libya- al Qaeda is our friend. They have always been our friend.
- 2012 Syria - al Qaeda is our enemy, they have always been our frie...enemy. (Oops...)
OK, got that square now? And while we're at it, China is our life-blood, I mean they want to destroy us, I mean our economic partner, I mean... You can insert Russia in there too, since we hate them again, but we can't get to our nice little space station without them.
Sorry, I don't buy any of it. I'm cursed with being able to remember more than two minutes ago.
Today, I keep seeing the headline that Iran wants to blow up the Statue of Liberty. That's so much hog-wash on so many levels. Let's look at a few.
First, the source is ex-CIA. Now, I don't know about you, but when I see the letters 'c', 'i' and 'a' followed by the word 'says,' I immediately close out everything that follows. That organization was founded by Nazi left-overs and has gone down hill ever since. Every singe word, bar none, that comes out of the CIA is complete rubbish, even if they tell you the time and it agrees with the atomic clock at the Naval Observatory.
Second, the Statue of Liberty was a gift from that shining become of liberty and democracy, France. I was meant to symbolize the freedom enjoyed by the citizens of the country over which the statue stands. However, everything it symbolizes has been trampled under foot, shredded, burned, and shat upon. It was a process that began in 1861, with the War of Yankee Aggression, and was completed with the passage of the USA Patriot Act in 2002. Frankly, everything the statue was meanth to symbolize is but a distant memory, even for us old farts.
Third, assuming the US strikes first on Iran, they have every moral and legal right to strike back in any way they can. Sorry, but that's the God's honest truth. I don't care how much hysterical non-sense the Israelis and US lapdogs spew, if the US strikes first, Iran has the right to defend itself, including striking the US mainland if it can. And of all the countries the US has shat on over the past century or so, Iran certainly has the ability to hit back.
That statement may shock some of the more gullible readers whose conditioning is a bit deeper than the rest. So we should probably examine it a bit, just to make sure no one walks away thinking I am promoting the idea. I'm simply pointing out the moral and legal right, under Natural Law and centuries of international law, for a country to attack an invader and defend itself. In fact, it's a fundamental right recognized in US law. Shooting a home invader in most States will not get the home owner charged with a crime.
Since the deeply conditioned readers will point to all of Iran's crimes, lets examine them for a moment to make sure we're not missing anything.
Iran is developing nukes. OK, so what? Both of the countries making endless noise about attcking Iran are up to their eye-teeth in nukes. The US has actually dropped nukes on Japan, and used DU ammunition in several countries, which is just as bad, radiation-wise. The Israelis have used DU ammo, as well as dropped burning phosphorous on innocent populations. If I were Iran, I'd be working my ass off to get a couple of nukes by sometime tomorrow.
Iran is developing nuclear reactors. Yo...bozo...every developed nation on Earth has them. Even Indonesia. In fact, Japan has poisoned the entire northern hemisphere with a couple of theirs. If Iran wants a couple to diversify their grid, and they're willing to put up with the risks that less intelligent nations have taken, that's their business.
Iran is a threat. Iran hasn't invaded another nation in over 300 years. It's last war was against Iraq, who invaded them, and were supported by the US who gave Saddam Hussein illegal chemical and biological weapons to use on the Iranians who were lawfully defending their nation. The only overt threats Iran has made are to retaliate against any aggressor. Fair enough.
Iran destroyed the US embassy and took prisoners back in 1980. A bit late to get 'em for that, don't you think? Besides, they were rather upset at having been manipulated by the US and UK for a century, and having rather unpleasant dictators installed over them and supported by same. Frankly, any flatulent red-neck arm-chair general in Podunk, USA would have done the same...or at least sent the neightbor's kid to do it.
Iran's navy just docked in Syria and they are building up their military. Well, duh. Siryah's president invited them and the Russians. They didn't invite the US, which is hovering offshore like a swarm of killer bees, but which docks itself in other nations' ports all the time. Of course, the US calls it goodwill missions, but I hardly think having nuclear-capable ships loaded with all kinds of weapons as a hearty show of good faith. On the other hand, this is the first time I can remember ever hearing about Iran's navy going anywhere outside of their territorial waters.
Iran cut off oil to the UK and France. And...your point is? Those two have done far worse to Iran, and for far longer. Besides, how smart would it be to sell fuel to a bunch of jerks who are going to turn around and shoot it back at you? The US has been kicking its collective ass for doing that with Japan for 60 years. I call that rather intelligent on the part of the Iranians.
Iran wants to take gold and other currency, instead of dollars, for their oil. Yup, it's THEIR oil, and given the general state of the US dollar right now, I don't blame them. I don't accept dollars, either. I always lose money on the exchange rates. I prefer rupiah or yuan, myself. Can't fault the Iranians there. And since it's THEIR oil, they can accept dirt clods and cow pies for it, if they wanted.
Any other points? As far as I can see, Iran has been more than patient in the face of a global campaign to smear them. They have shown remarkable poise and restraint in the face of highly aggressive sanctions and military build-ups off their coast, not to mention the dozens of US military bases that surround them.
They have held their hand even though the US has amitted that Israel has been conducting covert acts of war on Iranian soil, going as far as outright murder of Iranians worldwide.
The point of all this is, if the US attacks Iran unprovoked and based solely on the shabby excuses enumerated here, then Iran has every right to fight back. That includes bombing US cities and cultural (albeit useless) icons. Anyone who gets upset by that is a hardcore idiot, or evil, or both.
For too long, the US has attacked other nations with impunity, partly because they have selected poor, unarmed countries, and partly because those countries haven't had the ability to project force at a distance. However, as the US becomes more and more aggressive, and attacks more nations unprovoked, eventually it will run afoul of a nation who can strike back, and who might have bigger friends willing to help.
Bullies can go on for a long time, but they never go on forever. Eventually, someone gets tired enough and has nothing to lose by hitting back. The bully is rarely ready for it, and he usually run away in terror when it finally happens.
The US is already showing signs of fear. The development of unmanned drones and robotic soldiers is a sure sign that someone in the Pentagram is getting cold feet. They are sending machines to do a man's job, because they know they are wrong and aren't willing to show their faces.
The good people of the US had better stand up to their rogue government and shut down its Death Squads before one of the kids on the block gets tired and starts punching back. Americans aren't ready for that. No living American has seen war on their own streets. They've never walked past bombed out houses next door or stepped over shredded bodies on the way to the grocery store.
American will scream bloody murder (literally and metaphorically) when it happens. They will hop up and down wanting revenge, not remembering the death and destruction on their own hands. It has all been sanitized and packaged for them on the evening propaganda. It's all very theoretical and far away from them. But what happens when it's your neighborhood and your neighbors? What happens when Joe Sixpack is kneeling in the rubble of his house holding the torn body of his oldest child?
It's all scenes that the US has caused in other countries countless numbers of times over the past 60 years. Are Americans ready to live what they have doled out?
I seriously doubt it.
Americans need to seriously consider these facts when they are pulling the voting levers over the next couple of months. They need to ponder these scenes when writing their checks to the IRS not long after that. They are playing with fire and not questioning the consequences.
Go read up on the sacking of Rome. Without a severe change of course, it can and will come to your home soon enough. As the US economy falters and it weakens from the inside, the wolves at the door are growing in number. They are pacing, watching and waiting. Eventually, the US will make a mistake or show a weakness, and the wolves will pounce.
All those Bible-thumping presidential candidates seem to have forgotten one of the best-known lines in the whole book, "He who lives by the sword shall die by it."
It's all fine and good when the Home Team is winning, but the streak will end and it will be nasty. Might want to prepare youself. Kids who play with matches get burned.
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