The War In Iran

I am in transit this weekend and will write more about what's happening over the coming days. Regarding the title I've given this piece, the main war in Iran is not new or a product of the US and Israeli militaries. It is a decades long war imposed involuntarily upon the Iranian people by the Ayatollahs. The repeated citizen efforts to protest against and unseat their totalitarian rulers, efforts that resulted in tens of thousands of lost lives, were basic and universally recognizable cries for freedom and dignity.

If the military actions lead to the Iranian people reclaiming their freedom, it will be greatly for the good. If not, the attacks will recede into history as, at best, a statement of moral support for people who deserve it, and a perhaps only temporary degradation or Iran's military capability. Either way - and I hate to say this because I think the cause here is just - the political utility of these attacks for both Trump and Netanyahu is so blatant, so manifest, that it raises doubts even for me, someone who feels the Iranians are overwhelmingly prisoners of their own government and deserve our support.

Protestors of “the left" currently deriding US actions as an immoral attack against the Iranian people are willfully blind to what is not just history but the most recent of current events. To see those who think of themselves as embattled minorities here in the US, criticizing our answer to the open, heart-rending and mournful pleas of a rising majority of long silenced voices in Iran boggles my mind and makes my stomach turn. To these people I say, you are shitting on the very people you claim to care about and effectively defending the very people who stand for everything you hate - authoritarianism, total suppression of women's and minority rights, and on and on. The only thing you seem to agree with the Ayatollahs on is a hatred of American power in the world. Your blindness to the evils in this world far more blatant and severe than anything our country causes is astounding. You can hate Trump. You can hate those you consider DINOs. You can find great fault with our American government. But if that hate leads you to hate the freedom and dignity of your fellow human beings, you are lost.

Here is a straightforward outline of the reasons one might support or oppose our government's actions. It's from Van Jones who I consider an increasingly rare and important voice - someone who tries to understand both sides. I hope it's helpful.

https://substack.com/@vanjones68/note/c-221214231?r=fv21q