Entitled?

New husband deserts wife
in airport for taking too
long In the bathroom.

Joe Biden reportedly said that it is up to Israel to decide if Iran is an existential threat and that Israel is somehow “entitled” to attack Iran. If this is true I suspect Biden’s sanity. This is a remark every bit as stupid and mindless as Albright’s claim that the massive deaths of Iraqi children was “worth it.” Israel has claimed for years that Iran is working on a nuclear bomb even though there is no evidence for such a claim. The Israeli claim is nothing but paranoia writ large on the international scene. Even if Iran did acquire a nuclear bomb, and the missiles necessary to launch it, on what basis would anyone with half a brain conclude they were going to drop it on Israel (or anyone else). Iranians are not crazy, although our media are doing everything they can to make them appear so. And personally, I have never seen any evidence that Iran is backing terrorism around the world. It is true they support Hamas and Hezbollah, but those are not merely terrorist organizations, they are bona fide political parties that just don’t happen to agree with the U.S. and Israel (indeed, Hamas is the legitimately elected government of the Palestinians). As near as I can tell, Israeli terrorism is far more serious than either Hezbollah or Hamas. I suppose one might argue over the definition of terrorist, but what Israel is doing to Gaza is far worse than mere terrorism, and much more like genocide. If Israel is entitled to attack Iran, on the basis of no evidence whatsoever, then it must have been true that the U.S. was entitled to attack Iraq. In fact, any country would be entitled to attack any other country just on their own opinion, if they chose to do so. This is crazy talk, and Biden should know better. The Arab countries are also opposed to Iran. No one seems to ask why. Could it possibly be because the Arab countries are Sunni and Iran is Shiitie? Does religion play into this at all? Why else would the Arab countries be so concerned about Iran, a nation that has attacked no one for over two hundred years and cannot be proven to be planning any attacks at the moment. Obviously they do not want Iraq to become a Shiite controlled nation (preferring to have it controlled by the Sunni minority as it was for so long). But with the Arabs on the side of the Israelis in wanting Iran to be controlled, and with the U.S. apparently sympathetic, what are the Iranians supposed to do? Thus, If they aren’t trying to build a bomb, this kind of pressure will certainly motivate them to do so. Obama must open up a dialogue with Iran no matter who the leaders turn out to be, anything else is going to lead to disaster.

At the golf tournament today, sponsored by and won by Tiger Woods, military personnel and children under 12 were admitted free. At one point there was a soldier in a wheelchair on the sidelines watching. He apparently has lost all four of his limbs and, I believe, also one eye. There was a shot of his being wheeled down the fairway and being cheered by the crowd. One announcer said this terribly wounded soldier still has a sense of humor. I guess one may argue that is a good thing, as he has nothing else left to look forward to. I confess to not having a sense of humor about it. The truth is often a terrible thing, and the truth is, this young man should not have been in Iraq or Afghanistan in the first place. It must be virtually impossible for these returning wounded not to believe they suffered, not in vain, but for their country, but the truth of the matter is, they suffered and killed and maimed for Bush/Cheney and the Oil companies. I wonder how many of the suicides might be related to this sudden realization once they return home. Of course in a sense it is true they died and fought for their country, and in that sense they deserve their nobility, but in this case it should not have been asked of them. As Bush/Cheney and others are apparently going completely unpunished for this war crime, apparently others think it was a worthwhile “war.” It did, it appears, open up the Iraq oilfields for exploitation, the original, if never admitted goal, so perhaps it has been a success, especially if you approve of “blood for oil.”

In no
part of the earth
can I
find my home
to joyously savor one single
instant of initial life.
I seek an innocent
country.
Giuseppe Ungaretti

TILT:
Kokura was the primary target for the second atomic bomb. Nagasaki was the second choice.