|
Juan Cole – Neocon In Liberal Cloth
The original source is not online so I'll take this from Wikipedia:
While lecturing in early 2003 in a University of Michigan course focused on the impending conflict, Cole expressly stated that he thought the US should act to overthrow the Saddam Hussein regime, even though it might lead to unforeseen consequences.
Six years after that disastrous standpoint Cole today publishes a "Guest OpEd" from one of his colleges at University of Michigan at his widely read blog. That "Guest OpEd", from which Cole in no way distances himself, states:
It would be a mistake to think that people like Ahmadinejad are reasonable. It is counter productive to base policy on the untenable premise that he would be amenable to a cost-benefit analysis on the nuclear issue. Time and again he has announced that the nuclear issue is off the table. To believe or hope otherwise would be a profound and resonant error.
The option that is left for the United States is either to effectively support Mousavi’s camp today or risk a military confrontation with Ahmadinejad tomorrow.
Huh?
How could the U.S. "more effectively" help an opposition candidate who lost an election? The U.S. already spends hundreds of millions to achieve "regime change" in Iran. What is more effective? Creating thousands of Nedas? And unless the U.S. does that it needs to bomb Iran and created ten thousands more?
The whole "Guest OpEd" Cole published is a collection of lies and assertions and its conclusion could well have been written by Ariel Sharon, Bibi Netanjahu and other right-wing other slaughterers.
For publishing that and for his stand on the Iraq war Cole deserves to go to hell.
Parviz, I presume the reason you made MoA your regular hangout is similar to everybody else’s cause for coming here, the fact that what’s for certain is that you’ll find commentary of people who, when it comes to Main Stream Media, belief half of what they see and almost none of what they hear. It’s been like that since its inception. Why did you expect that to be different on Iran’s election issue?
The last 1000 or so comments made interesting albeit in parts disturbing reading, no doubt by people who invested a lot of thought and heart into the subject matter. Billmon’s visit as the ghost from x-mas past, Antifa’s emotional and in my eyes unfortunate departure, a memorable week.
The Iranian Political Wrestling Federation proudly presented the 2009 Grand Final. And what a great setting for this year’s showdown. Flanked on either side by foreign troops from nations who openly declared their intentions to attack the country and its people for developing nuclear technology, the people of Iran had as usual the choice between depressing and bleak. In the left corner we had camp Ahmadi Nejad, a gang of religious nutcases backed by oil money & the revolutionary guards, with no scruples when it comes to oppressing dissenting people. And over in the right corner, team Mousavi, a former prime sinister with plenty of blood on his hands, backed by Mr Corrupt himself and his gang of religious warheads, keen on privatizing what’s left of Iran and the declared favorite of those nations who are keen on attacking the country.
Political spring time in Iran and the boots come out. Thank you B for your timely reminder that in Angela’s Berlin the boots worn by riot police are just as black and heavy as they are in nearly every other country, run by governments ranging from pseudo-democratic plutocracies to openly totalitarian kleptocracies. It doesn’t matter if you are in Seattle, Beijing or Greece, come out in numbers and you’ll get to smell the boot. Indiscriminate arrests, police violence, legal proceedings against peaceful protesters, blacklists for surveillance, state authorities and their fleet of barely human terminators are cut of a similar cloth all over the world. Check out the pictures of any decent rally and you’ll see your Darth Vaders
I do agree with you on one issue though, the ultra violent beatings of helpless protesters we saw in Tehran over the past days, the atrocious murder of civilians daring to speak their mind, brutality of crassest proportions to hold back a flood of citizens disputing the election result, show however that the Iranian leadership and its goons are rotten bastards of the more extreme kind. I’ve never been to Iran, as a matter of fact I’ve never been to the ME apart from a short stop over in Dubai once, but from what I’ve read and seen, in its current state it’s most definitely not a place I’d be all too happy to live. I sympathize with any person who feels oppressed by a corrupt and self-serving government enforcing draconian rules and/or aeons old customs on its people. I don’t really care if they were validly elected or not, nor if the protesters are young or old, rich or poor, nor if the thugs giving the order to escalate the troops violence wear needle stripes, turbans or military uniforms. It is irrelevant where and for what reason people march the streets, governments have no business in intervening apart from ensuring the gatherings remain peaceful.
In my years I have spent numerous hours at protests only to find out that all efforts were for nothing. I have also spent many hours sitting at home on my arse wondering why on earth I am not out making more of a stink about the unfairness, discrimination and most of all hypocrisy our systems generate. It’s all nice and well to write sensible comments on blogs and have the rare discussion with a colleague or friend, but to get the change happen the world so desperately needs, we need to mobilise, organise, and put our money where our mouths are, even to the point of having to put our body on the line. So my heart goes out to all those folk who were able to muster the will and courage to go and march the streets in order to demand the right to be heard. I hope their efforts will not have been for nothing.
However, based on my admittedly pretty limited insights I get the sense that what we are witnessing is an internal power struggles amongst the rich and famous, fought out on the backs of unsuspecting Iranians courageous enough to stand up and be counted. From where I am standing it looks like the activist movement has been taken for a ride, designed to change one group of sadists for another.
I am all for a popular uprising Parviz, love the smell of protests in the morning, but supporting Rafsanjani’s crew, with ex-butcher Mousavi who as prime minister oversaw the cultural revolution which turfed out many academics and left-wing activists in the 1980’s and to this day is a member of the cultural council, the group tasked with ensuring Iran’s culture stays fully Islamic, makes very little sense. To me it appears the protest movement is selling out its ideals, or buying into a political scam, depends how you wanna look at it. Whilst I can sympathize with their cause, their choice of Heroes makes me shake my head. But hey, who am I to judge your sentiments towards Mousavi, although I can’t see people in Burma risking their lives only to have a different general running the dictatorship.
Be that as it may, I hope that whatever it is Iran’s winning clique will take away from this, it does include an appreciation of the huge numbers of protesters who were prepared to make a showing. Even though Mousavi and his band of gangsters have messed things up, their failings do not negate the sincere and entrenched desire by a large but more importantly growing minority in the country for less restrictive and overbearing laws and regulations.
Although the election debacle might be drawing to an end, I doubt very much that the protest movement we got to see over the past two weeks will vanish into thin air. The humpty dumpty has fallen of the wall and all the mullahs in the world can’t put him back together again. If Ahmadi Nejad has the brains he is supposed to have, he’ll recognise the ground swell of disenfranchised Iranians demanding their human rights and realise it would be far more advantageous for the community as a whole to engage with each other in a constructive and conciliatory manner, compromising wherever possible. If the grievances of the millions of disillusioned Iranians are not addressed in any meaningful way, the issue will only fester and ultimately destabilize the nation.
Ideally lessons will be learned on all sides. For the government, the masses and their wish for greater emancipation and freedom of religious oppression must be taken into account by those who decide on where to go from here. For the protesters, don’t be disheartened, try again, but do not repeat the mistake of counting your chickens before they hatch.
Greetings & fare well,
J.
Posted by: Juan Moment | Jun 29 2009 13:11 utc | 17
|
