Seeing Iranians As Human Beings

In Oliver Stone’s and Peter Kuznick’s film The Untold History of the United States, an early episode discussing the differences between President Roosevelt’s attitude towards Russia, as opposed to that of President Harry Truman, who was amazingly cavalier about using an atomic bomb in a preemptive strike, noted that Roosevelt’s polio likely made him more compassionate towards the Russians, given the suffering they endured (over twenty-seven million lives lost) after Hitler’s invasion. I mention this because I observe throughout the series of episodes the governing characteristic of Washington’s elites, including its politicians, generals, industries, media—the entire Deep State apparatus—is a complete lack of compassion or empathy, resulting in an aggressive militaristic posture and endless war.

I mention this lack of empathy now because after the recent downing of an American drone by Iran (today as I write this on the afternoon of Thursday, June 20th) war—which for America is typically a bombing campaign—appears “highly likely, ”to borrow a well-turned phrase from the political class of the United Kingdom. Iran has been demonized for decades, so it’s difficult to imagine Iranians as human beings and not, as portrayed in films suchs as Argo, as demented Muslim fanatics.

The Untold History of ... Oliver Stone, Peter Ku... Best Price: $11.64 Buy New $10.99 (as of 10:35 UTC - Details) While in his press conference President Trump reiterated his desire not to start any new Mid-East war, and indicated the action might have been by a rogue element in Iran and unintentional, it is possible he will be, as Stone’s film depicted in past events, backed into a corner and the tensions will spiral out of control, devolving into a hot war between America and Iran, although as I pointed out in my latest piece for LewRockwell.com nuclear war between the superpowers should prove unlikely—but not impossible.

On a YouTube channel years ago that has now been eliminated in the purge, I recall an interview with an Israeli military officer, and he said, if memory serves, that the reason Iran is the enemy of Israel is because “they are like us,” meaning their industriousness, their education, their national pride. This officer stated a sad truth: Iranians are perhaps the mirror image of Israelis; they are human beings with qualities to admire and to deplore.

Recently, LewRockwell.com published a piece from Voltairenet.org, entitled Secret Tripartite Summit in Jerusalem, which contained the following statement: “The case of Iran is the main problem today. Indeed, the majority of its leaders do not approach this question from a political point of view, but from a religious standpoint. A Chiite prophecy assures that the Jews will reform a state in Palestine, but that it will quickly be destroyed. The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, holds this text to be canon law. He follows the count-down and affirms that Israël will have disappeared within 6 years (in 2025).”

However, I reached out to The Saker, who has Iranian correspondents blogging on his website and he recently conducted an indepth interview with one of them (that I shall refer to momentarily) to confirm the accuracy of that assertion. One replied through him via email:

“Salaam. [I] never heard of this Shiite prophecy. But the Surah 17 of the Quran can be read as such a prophecy. And Sayed Khamenei does consider, as Sayed Nasrallah, that Israel’s end is for our generation. And We gave (clear) warning to the Children of Israel in the Book that twice would they do mischief on the earth and be elated with mighty arrogance (and twice would they be punished)!”

He provided a link to this website and the post “There Will Be No Such Thing as Israel in 25 Years.” If this English translation is accurate, in my interpretation it is less a threat than an opinion to the point of a belief that the State of Israel’s destructive and militaristic policies will ultimately become self-destructive; certainly it’s an aggressive statement but it is not a religious prophecy. But then again, Trump’s Tweets are often very aggressive and hostile; recently, he apparently threatened Iran with nuclear anhiliation. There is no clear evidence that actions taken by Iran will be the cause of this destruction of Israel, in my opinion. The statement is dated July 1, 2016 and I reproduce it below in full:

We are willing to negotiate with the whole world, but we will not negotiate with America. We are men of negotiation and understanding on a governmental, public – people from other countries – and religious level. We are men of negotiation and we negotiate with everyone except for America. Of course, the Zionist regime should not be forgotten about because the very essence of the existence of the Zionist regime is illegitimate and fake.

I would like to say a few things about the Zionist regime. After the nuclear negotiations were concluded, we heard the Zionists say in occupied Palestine, “With these negotiations, we will not have any concerns about Iran for the next 25 years and after that, we will think about it.”

I would like to say to them in response that first, you will not see 25 years from today! By Allah’s favor and grace, nothing called the “Zionist regime” will exist by 25 years from now.

Second, during this period of time too, revolutionary, epic, jihadi and Islamic spirit will not let you feel comfort even for one single moment! They should know this. Nations have awakened. They know who the enemy is. Of course, some governments and the enemy’s propaganda want to change the place of friends and enemies, but they will not reach anywhere. Nations – Muslim, particularly regional nations – are vigilant and aware. Well, this is the condition of the Zionist regime and America.

To me, the statement is the typical bluster we have been hearing for decades from Iran, more of wishful thinking than a competent analysis of America’s or Israels viability; he’s a religious leader spouting rhetoric, not a diplomat, rallying his supporters, just as Trump does in his rallies. In fact if Alistaire Crooke is right, as his article on LewRockwell.com recently stated:

Greater Israel is not just about shifting Palestinians around and exchanging real estate, plus a few minor frontier adjustments. It is not some delimited institutional project that needs to ‘breath out’, as it were, and to occupy a bigger space. It is much more than this: Greater Israel was always a biblical project to actualise progress towards Israel’s redemptive destiny, and was also always a Judeo-Christian ideological project. If it were neither, Trump’s Evangelical base would not be making such a fuss for Trump to achieve the biblical Greater Israel. There is a close synergy between Israeli Zionists and American Christian Zionists on this point.

Therefore, the religious fanaticism that Voltairenet.org referenced in fact seems to be on the part of individuals in Israel and America who hold on to the belief of this “redemptive destiny” of Israel, a concept to readers of LewRockwell.com of making a “state” an idol that cannot be rationally countenanced and America’s cult of militarism and exceptionalism has been criticized here on these pages frequently as well. Nevertheless, the ideal relationship between states and resolution of conflicts should be in the diplomatic and not the military sphere; but that’s not how human beings operate, as Oliver Stone makes very clear in his film, with all the ruinous consequences that entails.

Recently, The Saker interviewed Iranian blogger Aram Mirzaei; I have an interest in what Iranians themselves say about their nation, their people and their culture and I think it’s wise to try to obtain facts from sources other than the Legacy media, which are salivating over the prospect of war with Iran. Mirzaei answered this question of The Saker:

The Saker: is there a big generational gap in Iran, especially in terms of politics?  How would you compare the views/goals/beliefs of young Iranians vs the older generation?

Aram Mirzaei: There is a debate today on whether or not there is a big generational gap in Iran. I would definitely argue that there is, as the difference between the older, revolutionary generation and the modern youth in Iran is pretty prevalent. Let us not forget that the Revolutionary generation grew up in much harsher conditions, in a very backward Iran that lacked infrastructure, education and many of the freedoms that the younger generation enjoy today. Furthermore, they never experienced the eight year long war with Iraq, thus they don’t remember the sacrifices that the Revolutionary generation had to make in order to save this country. Another point that should be made is the introduction of modern technologies in Iran. This has given the younger generation access to Western culture and influences, something that is much more of a threat to the Islamic Republic’s survival than any U.S threat of military action in my opinion. Ayatollah Khamenei often speaks about what he calls cultural warfare, or rather poisoning of the mind. I tend to agree with his analysis as many young people in Iran today have taken much of the decadent Western influences at heart and yearn for the Western lifestyle, something that I have witnessed myself whenever I’ve returned back to Iran. Comparing the Revolutionary generation, where politics played a major role in everyone’s lives, with the post-revolutionary generation who remains rather apolitical and care much less about the political lives of their parents, I can clearly see a pattern where passive Western values have gained a foothold in the minds of the younger generation. Whenever I’m in Iran, I often notice that the older generation often partake in political discussions whereas the younger generations prefer to occupy themselves with trivial matters.

The state does recognize this and for this reason it has done its utmost to counter this terrible influence, hence why social media outlets such as Youtube and Facebook are from time to time banned in Iran. This lack of interests in politics has also dumbed down the youth in Iran who often fail to see that the suffering economy and hardships in the country are mostly to be blamed on U.S sanctions and economic terrorism by the Zionist Empire. Rather many tend to believe in the MEK’s Twitter lies that all of Iran’s money is going to fighting “freedom loving rebels” in Syria and “terrorizing the peaceful nation of Israel”, hence why the rioters and protesters earlier this year directed a lot of their chants against Syria and Palestine in an effort to vent their frustration towards rising prices on commodity and fuel instead of actually seeing the correlation between Washington’s reintroduction of sanctions and the failing economy of the Islamic Republic.

It’s interesting he finds “cultural warfare” as dangerous as weapons. Of course, readers of LewRockwell.com would not want the American state to shut down YouTube as Iran has done, but it appears the American Oligarchy that controls the government is shutting down numerous voices on the YouTube platform, and alternative sites such as Bitchute.com just don’t have the traffic—yet—of  YouTube, but that may change in time.

Blogger Moon of Alabama believes war will be avoided in an update to his post today on the incident:

The drone was the RQ-4N BAMS-D. It was the U.S. navy owned prototype for the new MQ-4C Trition type of the Global Hawk that is currently build. The RQ-4N was unique. It used an old Global Hawk frame packed with new electronic equipment. It was used as the test bed for the gigantic data hoover that the Triton will be. But it was also a piece of equipment that was hard to maintain and that had served its purpose. The first of the new drones will be delivered this summer. The RQ-4N was arguably expandable.

The Iranian IRGC says that the drone had switched off its transponder shortly after take off. A look at the usual live air traffic sites confirms that the drone was not tracked by the civil aviation systems which monitor transponder signals.

The U.S. airforce, which each day flies reconnaissance mission near potential hostile countries, always keeps its transponders on. The transponder signal demonstrates that it has no hostile intent. It prevents accidental air defense engagements. It also allows it to prove that it stays outside of foreign national airspace.

The U.S. has threatened Iran with war and regime change for some 40 years. There is currently a crisis caused by Trumps violation of the nuclear deal with Iran. If the CentCom claim is correct the Navy drone flew extremely near to Iran’s border, seconds away from entering it, in a way the Iran had reason to interpret as ould well interpret as hostile. Iran released a video that supposedly shows the shoot down.

Iran says that the drone entered Iranian airspace. I find that to be likely correct. CentCom is not known for telling the truth and the list of proven hostile drone entries into Iranian air space is quite long.

Trump just held a press conference in the Oval Office. He seemed to play down (vid) the event. He empathized that the drone was unmanned. He said he had “a big, big feeling” that “someone made a mistake”, that “some Iranian general probably made a mistake.” That means that he does not accuse the government of Iran fo the shoot down, but some lowly grunt who “might have made a mistake.”

That statement gives him room to avoid a large retaliation.

Someone made a mistake? So what.

I would like to believe that Trump has just avoided military conflict with Iran; perhaps he doesn’t want to test American fighter jets against the systems that can shoot down this difficult target drone target, but the purpose in my writing is a plea for both ordinary Americans and its political leaders to recognize that Iranians are from an ancient culture and heritage; they are not dark skinned demons but human beings; now they are responding to the constant bullying and threats of Washington, and the new aggressive posture of Washington, which pulled out of the JCPOA and imposed crippling sanctions on Iran. To quote Russia expert Professor Stephen F. Cohen, “sanctions are road rage.” But there are too few voices for peace and deescalation; the drums of war beat loudly, the talking heads on Fox News especially are salivating for “war,” giving airtime to Senator Lindsey Graham who threatens to bomb Iran’s oil fields so that they can “feel pain.”

Perhaps if a war takes place, America will find itself humbled. My point as an American patriot is not to support Iran’s government but to insist that war between our nations is not in the interest of America’s national security, if national security is defined by protecting our nations blood and treasure. My point also is that war with Iran is avoidable, if only more Americans were to realize Iranians are human beings and their nation is not about to invade either America or Israel but now might have been provoked to the breaking point. How would American react if Iranian drones were flying in international waters in the Gulf of Mexico?

Yet the oligarchy that controls the Deep State appear to be the true religious fanatics, but their religion is a death cult.

Infographic shows the flight path of the US spy drone before #IRGC shoots down the unmanned aircraft.