For the past week nothing seems more important than mainstream media’s coverage of the historical events that are occurring in Iran today and neglecting the similarities that recently occurred here at home with or without intent where past is indeed prologue.
In essence House Resolution 560 which passed 405 to 1, Ron Paul being the only representative of sound mind and detached from the blood lust of the rest of his colleagues basically said that Congress supports anyone who “embraces the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties, and rule of law”, they also affirmed their belief of “individual rights” and “democratic and fair elections” and sanctimoniously condemned the violence against demonstrators of suppression of the press.
The problem with this self absorbed war mongering nation is that we dangerously believe that we are number one in areas of “world leadership” in the face of a recorded history that we choose to ignore at our own peril. A nation can only achieve the lofty position of “world leadership” by example and our recent actions put us in no position to pass judgment on the affairs of any other nation that merely differs from us by varying degrees.
Why aren’t we more ashamed of our politicians for supporting citizens in another country who embrace the values of “…civil liberties and rule of law” but don’t have the courage to support American citizens when they are arrested like the 1800 plus in August of 04 for exercising their civil liberties when they peaceably assembled on the streets of New York City to exercise the freedom of speech when war criminals were in town for their convention that our pathetic politicians now condemn Iran’s government for suppressing speech.
Ironically President Obama was a Senator then and I don’t remember him standing with those 1800 plus who sought to exercise their rights to assembly and free speech that he now claims are “universal rights” which must be respected. Not much respect for those “universal rights” here at home just a few years ago.
As for the “rule of law” to date no one has been held accountable for or even charged with committing the war crime of torture other than “a few bad apples”. Reeking with good old fashion American hypocrisy and a near absolute denial of reality is our affirmation of the importance of “democratic and fair elections” which didn’t occur here in the belly of the world leader in 2000 or 2004.
The “leader of the free world” does not hold fraudulent elections where the will of the people is over ruled by 5 white people in black robes then point an accusatory finger at one Iranian in a black turban conducting his own fraudulent election today in Teheran.
In 2000 the Republican Party wasn’t demanding that every vote should count neither did the Democratic Party but the former did succeed at stopping the vote while the latter failed to challenge our own fraudulent election by praising the greatness of a system where the transition of power is peaceful much like that which occurred when Richard Nixon resigned but once again lacking the courage of our convictions to challenge the fraud.
The most notable difference between the fraudulent elections here in 2000 and 2004 and the one today in Iran is that here people demonstrated on the streets, some were taken off the streets by police and held for 2 or more days. Their efforts were typically downplayed or ignored by mainstream media while in Iran the people demonstrating in the streets are being beaten, jailed and/or killed for their beliefs and the press is silenced by the government rather than being given the script to secure the consent of the governed.
Yet with the unabashed arrogance of power we sit in judgment of how not just any other nation governs itself but an Iran that is experiencing a challenge to the ruling power structure of a theocratic state somewhat like the challenge here in 2008 to an oligarchy corrupted by power and greed.
How Iran resolves this crisis has serious implications for the future of the world community. How we respond should be influenced by a historical understanding of the facts and not the chest beating bravado of bloviators like Senator Lindsey Graham who claimed “the president of the United States is supposed to lead the free world, not follow it” and charged that President Obama’s response was too timid.
He is as out of touch as Sen. John McCain who claimed that France and Germany were more forceful in the condemnation of the Iranian government response to dissent and thought America should lead. Neither one gets it – France and Germany opposed our preemptive invasion of Iraq that was nothing more and nothing less than a crime against peace which resulted in war crimes being committed by the occupation forces – we have no reason or right to demand the world should follow us because a real world leader leads by example and not by the empty rhetoric of a nation whose actions reek of hypocrisy.
When Sens Graham and McCain et al had the opportunity to challenge a fraudulent election here in 2000 they failed to support a challenge to the legality of the election brought by the Black Caucus in the House of Representative – John McCain and Lindsey Graham were silent by putting party ideology before the common good of the country yet now they speak out against a fraudulent election on the other side of the Atlantic.
Unfortunately our media feels compelled to present and give equal time to the views of those who are responsible for our decent from the throne of “world leader” and fails to challenge the ignorance of their ideology.
When Saxby Chambliss was reminded about U.S. involvement in overthrowing a democratically elected leader of Iran Chambliss dismissed it by claiming it was 60 years ago and most Iranians have forgotten about that. Chris Matthews “Hardball” was more like slow pitch softball he didn’t challenge the obvious stupidity of Sen. Chambliss. In retrospect it may have been Sen. Sessions from Alabama but then again southern political ideology is the result of inbreeding and as such it really isn’t necessary to identify which idiot said what mindless bile.
What Chambliss ignores is that the U.S. backed Shah used the Revolutionary Guard of his day which were called the Savak to jail, torture and murder anyone in the opposition that threatened the Shah’s power. Iranians did not forget that the U.S. backed that death and destruction as evidenced by the resulting theocratic state claiming today that the opposition is supported by the U.S. among others.
At the end of the day if some grand poobah like the Ayatollah Khamenei who claims to have a direct connection to an imaginary friend named Allah and uses that spiritual connection to preach death to the U.S. or anyone else for that matter then it is up to the Iranians and the Iranians only to decide if that is the religion they believe will best serve their interests as a people in a 21st Century that can no longer afford the madness of men influenced by a dessert religion that preaches death and destruction.
President Obama’s powerful yet well thought out admonition to Iran that the whole world is watching is worth remembering that the whole world is also watching us as well. When Iranians are willing to die rather than live in fear and hate if we really want to be the leader of the free world we should lead by example based on reason and not the empty rhetoric or our own lunatic fringe whose saber rattling is only giving that turbaned lunatic Khamenei an excuse to substantiate his claim that the opposition was manufactured by the Great Satan to be crushed by the power of a theocratic state created by U.S. involvement in the last democratic election in Iran over 50 years ago.
