Columnists
The Iran Nuclear Deal:
Will America Opt For Peace?
Or Will Republicans Follow Netanyahu’s Lead And Take Us To War?
FATEHPAL SINGH TARNEY
I’ve been a soldier and having seen the horrors of war up close and personal, I’m always for giving peace a chance.
It seems to me, however, that Republicans -- egged on by a foreign war-monger, Netanyahu -- may prove to be the spoilers.
The Republicans, it appears, have very short memories. In other words, they suffer from a selective and self-convenient amnesia. They directly and indirectly accuse President Obama for enabling Iran to become the major power in the Middle East, whilst forgetting that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein by G.W. Bush, Cheney, and his neo-con advisers is what made Iran so powerful.
Saddam was indeed an evil person, but his Iraq was a counterbalance to Iranian power and influence in the region. But, sadly, George W and his Republicans were not looking at what was good for America.
A Republican representative from Arizona was being interviewed on TV about the heinous attack on a college in Kenya this week. Before she began to speak, I turned to my wife and predicted that she would, in one way or another, blame Obama for this attack.
Sure enough, that's exactly what she did.
She was in the American military, she said, and accused Obama of not doing enough to “take out” Al-Shabaab years ago -- as if American bombs would have ensured that no small-scale terrorist attacks by them would ever occur again in Kenya after those bombs were dropped.
This provisional agreement between the United States and Iran over its nuclear program could even have contained a statement that Iran will convert from Islam to Christianity and the Republicans would still oppose it merely because it was an Obama-inspired agreement!
In my view, this agreement is dead-in-the water for this reason alone. The Congress is dominated by Obama-haters – not by people willing to give priority to what is in our national interest.
Most Republicans will not even bother reading the details of this accord and will simply go by whatever Netanyahu says about it.
Netanyahu, it must remain uppermost in our minds, heads a foreign power and is openly at loggerheads with the current US administration! He intends to lead America into a third war in the Middle East. Such wars, we should already have realized, are easy to begin, but very difficult to end.
Since when are diplomacy and negotiations considered solely as signs of weakness? Have the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan taught us nothing? They certainly have accomplished nothing.
Just ask the ancient Greeks under Alexander; just ask the British; just ask the Russians about their experiences in Afghanistan.
As a student, I recall a professor in a Roman history class explaining how Mesopotamia [ancient Iraq] was Rome's Vietnam. Moreover, how the adjacent Persian Empire simply added to Rome's difficulties in the Middle East.
People all over the world are always urged to learn from the past.
But we rarely do.
April 3, 2015
Conversation about this article
1: Brig. Nawab Singh Heer (Ret.) (United States), April 03, 2015, 12:58 PM.
An old adage - if you do not learn from the history, it repeats itself. The next step will be decided by the Ieanians, Israelis, Republicans and the American public. However, the public can always be fooled, like Bush did it. In case the Republicans push America towards another confrontation, Hutington's prediction will prove correct: a war of civilizations. As such, Islam and Christianity are standing face to face towards self-destruction. History will unfold if Republicans set the ignition ... or show restraint. We all wait with fingers crossed.
2: Sarvjit Singh (Massachusetts, USA), April 03, 2015, 1:03 PM.
I don't think we'll go to war easily. In defense of Netanyahu, he is doing what he thinks is the best for Israel. Iran is the last remaining major Muslim power left intact and is showing signs of crumbling due to the strict sanctions imposed. Netayahu believes he can squeeze more until Iran falls apart and is willing to take chances. Anyways, in my opinion there is another reason that is never discussed on the media. By getting a treaty with Iran, USA is also creating a division among Muslims to balance the rising Sunnis/Wahibism threatening posture. Obama is justified in that respect and also he has to try diplomacy first. If this treaty fails he will then have reason to use force against them. He did make a very convincing speech yesterday on TV. On a different topic reminding of duplicity by world leaders: After 9/11, President Bush ("W") forced Musharraf to sign a treaty. Musharraf delivered a speech in English (for Western audiences) and Urdu for Pakistanis to justify the treaty. In Urdu his explanation was comparing his treaty to what Prophet Mohammad had signed with the Jews to buy time and gain strength, eventually leading to their removal. Now we know that he was also hiding Osama Bin Laden while he was pretending to be fighting terrorism.
3: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), April 03, 2015, 8:56 PM.
I think Mother Nature will flatten them all. They have all helped to ruin our planet with greed and mindless and senseless, rigid dogma. It all boiled down to oil in the Middle East and nothing else. Israel would never even feature had it not been for America's insatiable appetite for oil. And this oil is ruining our planet's climate and health!