To the editor:
It seems the war drums are slowly being beat for an air attack on Iran. As citizens of a free country it is our right and our duty to ask: whose interests are being served here? And is the course of action morally acceptable? As far as interests go, attacking or even just threatening Iran seems to push the price of oil up, thus sending more income into the hands of multinational oil companies. There is one interest that may be served, but it isn’t the public interest.
The current political leaders in Israel seem interested in attacking Iran, but their interests are not the same as ours (and they may be counter-productive for themselves). Unqualified support may exacerbate problems rather than lead to solutions. The method of dealing with adversaries by pre-emptive strikes and violence has not led to peace. It has lead to more war – just look at current events in Iraq and Lebanon. A policy of pre-emptive strikes against supposed enemies is not consistent with the just-war doctrine of only acting in self-defense – preemptive strikes are indistinguishable from aggression and will only create more war.
Although it seems obvious that attacking Iran is both unjustified and impractical, that doesn’t mean our government won’t attempt it. President Bush grew up in a rich family and it seems that he is used to having his way and letting other people pick up the tab for his errors. For example: look at tax cuts and the federal deficit – now over $9 trillion; the continuing trade deficit with China; and the war in Iraq. All these reflect decisions that made sense to him and his friends, but left the public to bear the burden and live with the consequences.
We cannot expect President Bush to make a rational decision in the public interest. If he follows the previous pattern, he will decide according to his own immediate interests and leave us to pay the bill.
Before it is too late we should advocate for peace and non-intervention. It should be obvious by now that we cannot fix the problems in the Middle East by military action – we only hurt ourselves by trying and make matters worse. The Moslems of Iran aren’t our enemy – our own greed, and corruption within our own country, are what we need to focus our energy and thought on dealing with.
Rather than battling other people’s political problems and wasting money and lives on useless wars, we should spend time on the problems we face right here at home. Attacking Iran will only intensify the costs of the current war, and increase problems with terrorism in the future as resentment and bad feeling towards our country will increase.
Let’s choose peace before we stick our neck out farther than we can draw it back.
Presque Isle
