Upon listening to former US Vice President Dick Cheney’s countless lectures to the President Obama’s administration on matters of national security, and much else, lectures, in connection with American domestic and foreign policies, I am clearly tired of Mr. Cheney sanctimonious sermons, and my reaction to his Dick Cheney’s latest, in these series of lectures, is what can be described as an industrial strength irritation. And I have now concluded that someone ought to tell Mr. Cheney that he “Should Shut Up Already, And Just Go Away”! Mr. Cheney ought to stop rattling and rankling Mr. Obama’s administration, ever so frequently.
Mr. Cheney has been stoking the embers of American national anger fires, sans Tea Party, since leaving office on January 20, 2009. Mr. Cheney has been unrelenting, he has been strident and loudly critical Mr. Obama. Mr. Cheney has been vigorous and vociferous, in his steady and regular criticisms of the Obama’s administration.
In view of Mr. Cheney’s frequency of attacks on the current government led by the Democrats, anyone will be forgiven for wondering why Mr. Cheney chose not to run for president, as successor to former President George W. Bush to the White House! It is public knowledge that Mr. Cheney did more than drive Mr. Bush’s policies and administration. This idea was so pervasive, until Mr. Bush felt compelled to announce that he was the “decider” of his administration and nobody else. But the more one listens to Mr. Cheney, the more inclined one is, to believe that he regrets not contesting and that he misses his opportunity of operating from his famous undisclosed location near the White House.
Clearly, Mr. Cheney does not see any value in anything President Obama does. Mr. Cheney is on a weekly basis, on American television networks, badmouthing the current leaders of American government regarding domestic and foreign policies, even when it is clear to most of us, that Mr. Obama is in fact continuing , unaltered, a majority of the Bush-Cheney policies, foreign and domestic.
This is evident in the economic bailout and stimulus packages. This is also evident in the continuance of the two foreign was which were begun by the Bush-Cheney administration. Mr. Obama is unable to close Guantanamo Bay detention center, just as he is unable to put suspected terrorists on trial in civilian courts in the United States, even though, these were exactly close to the Bush-Cheney policy position, before the election in November 2008
Even on nuclear energy Mr. Obama is now far to the right of Republican position, as Mr. Obama has become a facilitator and an advocate of nuclear energy, as he has given the nuclear energy industry in America a ringing endorsement through an executive act guaranteeing $8 billion dollars loan for the construction of nuclear facilities or plants in Burke, Georgia. There are about 30 other applications pending in the United States for the construction of more nuclear energy plants. I can imagine that there is an overwhelming delight and jumping for joy and dancing in the street by sundry American environmentalists, including the Sierra Club. Whatever happened to nuclear wastes disposals concerns by Democrats and majority of left or progressives policy advocates and supporters?
Appropriately, some now wonder whether a great part of Mr. Obama’s policies are driven by the fear of what Mr. Cheney would think of any of his policy pursuits? Mr. Obama’s administration has over the preceding twelve months, appeared to have adopted and co-opted so many of the Bush-Cheney policy positions for which the Republicans were repudiated at the polls by the American electorate in the first place.
The Democrats, perhaps, not to be outdone by the Republicans, who seem to always manage to claim monopoly, trademark, and copyright, on matters of wars, terrorism and the so-called national security issues, the Democrats as a consequence, are beginning to sound, more and more hawkish. In particular, there are recent pronouncements by members of the Obama’s administration, which are so identical to the war mongering reminiscent of Republican administration, particularly, the Bush-Cheney version.
Mr. Cheney is regularly re-litigating and rearguing, all the failed policies for which he and Mr. Bush stood. Policies which left America in military and economic dire straits! The Democrats should call his bluff and remind the electorate and the entire world, how Cheney-Bush foisted the current debacles and quagmires upon the unsuspecting American citizens.
A majority of the Cheney-Bush policies were wrongheaded. But Mr. Obama has not really dismantled the Cheney-Bush policies, and yet, Mr. Cheney continues to furiously charge like a mad bull, at Mr. Obama. Mr. Cheney’s antics is beyond fair comment, they are inappropriate and quite unlike what your would expect of an elder statesman.
The drums of war are beating again, and getting louder. Former vice president of the United States, Mr. Dick Cheney, is upping the antes with his demand that President Obama should issue credible military threat to Iran, and make it clear, that the military option is on the table. One therefore wonders if Mr. Obama is not being goaded into military actions, in order to appear tough on national security, just as the Republicans are busily portraying him as weak in matters of national security and wars. New development suggest a sort of stampede towards looking tough and gung-ho. It is now as if the Republicans who were repudiated at the polls in November 2008, are now dictating scripts of domestic and foreign policies to the Democrats who earned a mandated from the electorate in rejection of the Republicans. Vote D, get R?
American Chairman of Joint Chiefs, General Michael Mullen while in Israel, and in Jordan, emphatically reiterated American and Israel position to the effect that Iran would not be “permitted” to procure nuclear capability and nuclear weapons
While Mr. Dick Cheney and General Mullen were issuing these public statements in Israel and in the US respectively, the American Secretary of State Mrs. Hilary Clinton, was making similar pronouncements, in Qatar, in which she said that Iran is tilting towards becoming a military dictatorship. There seem to be a coalesce of events and activities pointing to a crescendo.
President Obama recently approved the deployment of additional 30, 000 American troops in addition to the nearly 100,000 American troops already in Afghanistan. Bearing in mind that Iran is a neighbor to Iraq where there already is, about 150,000 American troops since the invitation and occupation of Iraq since March 2003. Iran Shares borders with Iraq and Afghanistan., it is therefore arguable that with such assemblage of American military armada around and near Iran already, invading Iran might be very tempting for the Americans. The Americans could quite easily envisage a one-stop-shopping in attacking Iran, with the military and strategic resources already massed near Iran, in neighboring nations of Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar etc.
Such an attack will knock off Iranian nuclear efforts for about 3 years, and quite likely or probably, unleash a reign of vendetta, vengeful and vindictive actions against the US and her allies, including nations in the Arab and Persian regions who are “cooperating” with the US position and policy.
A wounded Iran could lobe missiles into southern Saudi Arabian oil fields and a barrel of crude oil will become $300 and Iran will cause chaos in for the US in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and even Afghanistan which is not too far from Iran in the first place. A military attack on Iran by Israel and or the US would only exacerbate the feeling in Arabia and Persia of being under attack by Christian nations prosecuting a so-called crusade. It is not a stretch at all, to imagine that more and more Muslims, or nations with sizeable Muslim populations would experience instability, violent unrests as more and more Musli
ms would reasons to feel under attack and under siege. This could be the recruitment tool which extremists would be happy to harvest, as it is dropped unto their laps. It can clearly be foreseen, that spate of terrorism will most probably increased. Can the world afford such chaos or Third World War? This is what I worry about regarding the invasion and occupation of Iran or a so-called regime change or such other war and interference and foreign forays into Iran, as is being loudly canvassed by Mr. Dick Cheney and others.
The necessity and efficacy of such an attack is outweighed by the Armageddon which it would unleash unto the Middle East and by extension, the entire world.
A military attack on Iran by the US and Israel, will seal the fate of political opposition in Iran and everyone in Iran will rally round the current leadership apparatuses in Iran, including, the American-Israeli despised President Ahmadinenajad
Iran is closer to China and Russia than to the United States, but neither China nor Russia is excitably irritated by Iran’s flirtations with nuclear power and or nuclear energy. So why is the United States shrill-shouting Iran on this nuclear matter? And why is the United States not similarly excitable about Israel’s so-called “strategic ambiguity” regarding it’s nuclear weaponry? Whatever happened to the “balance of terror”? or détente, through the knowledge that your opponent is equally endowed or equipped with arsenals to destroy you, as you similarly do possess weapons with which to annihilate your opponents?
If it is deemed proper for Israel to have nuclear weapons and other sophisticated weapons of war, why is it so outrageous for another nation, such as Iran, to possess similar or identical weapons, just so that, there is a mutually assured chance or risk of nuclear annihilation, so that, that knowledge equality in possessions of weapons of Armageddon, might just be the deterrence on the part of Israel and Iran, in the pursuit and possession and unreasonable deployment and use of nuclear weapons? Why the excoriation of Iran and North Korea regarding nuclear weapons, why there is this winks and nods to Israel on matters of nuclear weapons and Israel so-call strategic ambiguity?
Why is it that every American policy is lopsided to the advantage of Israel? Israel invaded and bombed out Iraq nuclear facilities in the 1980s, American presidents have not made Israel to engage in productive negotiations with Palestine, despite the nearly $10 billion dollars in financial and military aid from the United States annually.
The United States looks the other way, when Israel conducts military invasion and occupations into Lebanon. The world seem helpless in the face of the killing of 1400 Palestinians in January 2009 by Israel military in an offensive conduct just before Mr. Obama took office in 2009. And now, there is this overbearing debate regarding Iran, all, again, lopsided in favor of Israel, while there is this aggressive pursuit of Iran. The world should be asking what indeed inspires, motivate and engender the endless pursuit of Iran by the US, which seem coordinated by Israel for their own benefits?
What is in this pursuit of Iran? What does the United States, Israel, and the entire world stand to gain or lose? And why now?
The American economy is dire straits. American armed forces are mired in two foreign wars in Iraq and Afghanistan respectively. And it is public knowledge that American troops are stretched thin and tours of duty are already overextended, so much so, that army-soldiers are compelled to doing 15 months continuous straight tour of duty. American soldiers and their families have had to bear immeasurable burdens as a consequence of these wars. These two foreign war have come huge fiscal and human costs. In blood and treasure and post traumatic stress syndrome which has become pervasive. The two current foreign wars have expense, costs and other ramifications.
And then there is this thing about the a new world order being forced through these unnecessary war mongering, war mongering which targets certain populations, or certain nations, as opposed to some others, hence, the populations of these nations which are targets of war mongers, are justified in wondering why they are perpetually under siege from the war mongering powers and their supporters and enablers and facilitators.
Will a military attack on Iran mean an invasion and occupation of Iran? Would it be a “surgical” military strike which does not require an invasion and occupation for an extended amount of time? Or would a military attack be by the US or Israel be bogged down as have been the cases in Afghanistan and Iraq? Would it follow the traditional invasion and occupation similar to the Iraq invasion and occupation model? It will be recalled that some in Pentagon, expected American troops to be welcomed in Iraq as liberators, liberators who were expected to be feted petals of flowers and all.
Can the US afford a third foreign war simultaneously at this time in Iran? The US economy is currently in a parlous state, with attended high rate of unemployment and sundry dislocation ranging from family disintegrations in divorce, to millions losing their homes in foreclosure, due to inability to pay their home mortgage. In view of all these, should the US be spoiling for yet another foreign war? Can the US government afford, in, human, material and fiscal sense?
Is this how great empires become self-destruct? Overextending itself fiscally, physically, militarily and strategically? China is on an unstoppable economic industrial upsurge in double digit growth, while the United States is busily squandering billions morphing into trillions of dollars in multiple pronged foreign wars? Why is it, that the Americans driving these policies seem oblivious of the unwitting self-unraveling and self-immolation in these self-aggrandizing overstretched military commitments in multiplicity of wars?
Is the United States engaging in a needless hegemonic and imperialistic war mongering, and thereby unwittingly dissipating and decimating the United States itself? Consider the fact that the US has spent approximately a trillion dollars on foreign wars, since invading Iraq in March 2003, coupled with the war against Al Queda in Afghanistan soon after September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Why would any president, congress, political leadership appear to be rather animated and in gyrations for yet, another foreign war in Iran? And why in Arab and Persian territories again? Why would and how can anyone be seemingly oblivious to the Armageddon inducing consequences of this contemplated misadventure?
