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busted infrastructure, busted emergency services, busted taxpayers, outsourced jobs, outsourced manufacturing capability, outsourced president and vice president...this guy has a point.
But even if the Bush Junta weren't the biggest wrecking crew on earth, at home and abroad, and even if our country were in tact, preemptive war is still illegal and immoral, especially against a country that has harmed no one, has evidenced no imperial intentions whatsoever, and only wants nukes because they are being threatened by war criminals.
Not to mention that the entire world opposes any strike on Iran--including 84% of the American people who oppose any US participation in a widened Mideast war. Forbidden by international law. Forbidden by the Constitution. Forbidden by ethics and decency.
Whatever Cheney says, you can figure the opposite is true. He is a great educator on international affairs, in this respect (and on domestic policy as well). He says Tehran is "defying U.N. demands to halt uranium enrichment," implying that Tehran is somehow breaking a law. But Iran is a sovereign nation. It is a member of the UN and a signer of treaties by choice. No one can dictate what they require for their defense. Iraq was an entirely different case--when sanctions and military action occurred, by international consensus. Iraq had invaded another country. Iran has done nothing of the sort.
And how about "aggressive" sponsoring of "terrorist group Hezbollah"? Hezbollah was a legitimate political member of the Lebanese government. They have a constituency. They provide public services. They are in a dispute with Israel about their lands being taken. Is that "terrorism" or patriotism? I don't know what evidence there is that Iran is "aggressively" sponsoring them, or sponsoring them in any way, but why shouldn't they, if they have cultural/religious kinship with Hezbollah and agree with their claims? It is a dispute. Why is it cause for dire threats by the most powerful nation on earth? And with Cheney making these charges, we have great reason to presume that they are 100% false, as a starting premise.
Cheney says the Democrats are aiding Al Qaeda, by criticizing and trying to stop the horrid war on Iraq--an illegal, immoral strike on a nearly helpless country, and a complete disaster of an illegal occupation, by which Cheney and his cabal are looting us and the Iraqis blind.
If this is the sort of liar and war criminal that Israel's supporters want to hang with, then they are quickly going to lose the once great support and kinship that the American people have had for Israel. We have little reason to continue siding with Israel, in its disputes with Hezbollah and the Palestinians, with Dick Cheney as the champion of 'christian' jihad against Israel's neighbors in disputes that Israel could very well settle peacefully. When Cheney attacks Democrats, questioning our patriotism and our good sense, because we will not bow to his oil war, and his lies, and his ill motives, and he drags Israel's territorial disputes into the bargain, we are all put in jeopardy, including Israel, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's prediction that Israel and the U.S. will go down together, becomes prescient, not crazy. He has a point. We are dragging each other down--into fascism, and militarism. This is no way to live. This is no way to support each other. This no way to proceed to a more peaceful and secure world. Dick Cheney is a liar and thief. What does that make his only allies in the U.S.--besides war profiteer CEO's--Israel's kneejerk rightwing supporters?
People who truly revere and want to protect Israel, and people who truly revere and want to protect the U.S., had better step forward, and soon, to severe this man's power over U.S. foreign policy. Sometimes your enemies are the only ones who tell you the truth. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is looking more and more like such an enemy. I don't like him or approve of him. But, with the US war machine on his border, I can certainly see where he and Iran are coming from. And I think he knows, perhaps better than any of us, what a complete and total disaster it will be for the US--and most especially for Israel--if Bush/Cheney attack Iran, and rouse the entire Muslim world against us, IN ADDITION to the non-Muslim world, which is already discussing how they will punish us and shut us down. China (which holds much of our debt paper), Russia and India recently met on this very issue--how to stop the US bully?
If we had a sane government, I would say they are playing a diplomatic game, pressuring Iran not to intervene in Iraq (which they have reason and right to do), as cover for a US withdrawal from Iraq. But our government is in the control an old sick man, who may want to see a bloody triumph before he dies. He doesn't have time left to enjoy his immense stolen booty or to lord it over others. I think Ahmadinejad is right. Israel and the US are at great risk. And our bankrupt government is the least of it.
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