President Barack Obama addressing Iran's leaders today:
"The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations. You have that right -- but it comes with real responsibilities, and that place cannot be reached through terror or arms, but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of the Iranian people and civilization. And the measure of that greatness is not the capacity to destroy, it is your demonstrated ability to build and create."
This from the leader of a country whose place in the world is above all achieved with the use of arms and not peaceful actions, and whose "capacity to destroy" has been on display for all to see in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Somalia, Haiti, Panama, Yugoslavia and on and on and on. And he dares to lecture the leaders of a country which hasn't attacked another country in hundreds of years. It would be funny if it weren't so sick.
I remind readers that just nine days ago Obama issued the following official proclamation:
The President declared a national emergency with respect to Iran pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 1706) to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States constituted by the actions and policies of the Government of Iran.
And now he dares to talk about "new beginnings." Please.
At a protest in San Jose today, I delivered the following speech:
Did you know that the United States is currently facing a "unusual and extraordinary threat to our national security, foreign policy, and economy"? You're probably thinking - it's Wall Street, right? AIG, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers? Well, that's actually true, but when President Obama issued an official proclamation a few days ago, the "extraordinary threat" to our "national security, foreign policy, and economy" that he named was...Iran. Not a "potential threat", mind you. Not just a "threat." An "unusual and extraordinary threat to our national security, foreign policy, and economy!" That's how they legally justify the U.S. economic war against Iran.
Should we be surprised? Unfortunately, no. All the way back in the early Democratic debates, it was Obama who proclaimed that Iran was developing nuclear weapons, and that that was not "disputed by any expert." That was just shortly after another so-called "antiwar" Democrat, Howard Dean, went on TV and proclaimed that the problem with Iraq was that we "picked the wrong enemy" and that "we" have to "stand up to Iran." The accusations, and the threats, against Iran, have continued to this day, notwithstanding repeated reports from both the U.S. intelligence community (the NIE) and the international monitors of nuclear matters, the IAEA, that say there is no evidence Iran is developing nuclear weapons or intends to do so.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the other day that Iran was trying to "intimidate as far as they think their voice can reach." Has there ever been a more "through-the-looking-glass" statement than that? The U.S. doesn't just routinely threaten Iran with its "all options are on the table" attitude, but is actively leading an international effort to destroy the Iranian economy. And if it's not the U.S. threatening Iran, it's U.S. ally Israel. Just two days ago, we learned that a prominent U.S. think tank was advising Israel to use ballistic missiles against Iran's nuclear sites; they've even calculated that 42 such missiles will be able to damage or destroy Iran's three main nuclear sites. And Israel's military Chief of Staff openly talked about how he was drawing up plans for such an attack.
And what about that "Iranian intimidation" and the so-called "threat" from the non-existent Iranian nukes? I'd like to read you a speech from the person who the U.S. would like you to believe is an utter madman, Iranian President Ahmadinejad:
"We have declared many times, and we declare again, that our nuclear technology is in the service of peaceful goals. We declare that mass destruction weapons are sought by those who still think in the mode of 50 years ago. Those who think that political equations and cultural and economic equations can be solved to their benefit by relying on arsenals of mass destruction weapons. Our nation is a civilized nation, a cultured nation, that relies on the faith and will of its young nationals. Our nation, in order to achieve its aspiration, relies on the thoughts and beliefs and enhanced values that lie in the Islamic culture and Iranian culture. Our nation does not elicit its power from nuclear weapons. The power of our nation is rooted in the justice of its beliefs."
Don't you wish our President could say the same? Does that sound like the words of a madman to you? And Ahmadinejad isn't the only one who feels that way. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, has declared that nuclear weapons violate the principles of Islam and has actually issued a fatwa against them. Politicians and pundits whipping up anti-Iran fervor always talk about Iran as a nation of religious fanatics, but, surprisingly, they never seem to mention that the religious leader of the country has condemned nuclear weapons.
The question we have to ask is, WHY do U.S. politicians want to keep the American public in a state where they would be ready to support a war against Iran at any moment? Are they really a threat to the U.S. or even Israel? The simple fact is that Iran hasn't attacked another country in hundreds of years, and even if they were so inclined, and even if they had one or two nuclear bombs, there's no way they would use them to attack either the nuclear-armed U.S. or the nuclear-armed Israel. It can't be Iran's religious fundamentalism which is a threat, or its alleged lack of democracy, since U.S. ally Saudi Arabia is even more fundamentalist, and is a monarchy with a complete lack of democracy.
But in a way, Iran IS a threat, just as Iraq under Saddam Hussein was a threat, just as Cuba is a threat, just as Venezuela is a threat. Those countries I just mentioned are very different from each other - some socialist, some heading towards socialism, others capitalist. Some democratic, others like Iraq under Saddam not so much. But all of them have one thing in common. They all insist on the right of countries to maintain an independent foreign and domestic policy, independent of imperialism. They all insist on the right of the Palestinian people and other oppressed people to resist their oppression, and they have the audacity to actually offer aid, both political and material, to those resisting oppression.
And so we, who also support the right of the Palestinian people and other oppressed people to resist oppression, and who support the right of peoples around the world to determine their own futures, independent of the heavy thumb of imperialism, join with Iran, and Cuba, and Venezuela, and others. President Obama has called on Iran to "unclench its fist." We say to President Obama: "Take your hands off Iran's throat! End the blockades of Iran, Gaza, and Cuba! U.S. troops of of Iraq, Afghanistan, and everywhere!"
Reprinted from Left I on the News