Obama, CIA, JCS, Panetta, Clinton aghast at fact they cannot "turn off" Netanyahu plan to attack Iran
World News
By Dallas Darling
02/15/2012
"If we would change the face of the earth, we must first change our own hearts." -Robert
Hutchins,
January 23,
1941.
Before discussing the approaching rumblings of war clouds in the air between the
United States and
Iran, mainly the two executive orders signed by
President Barack Obama: one that strengthened sanctions against Iran and froze Iranian assets, the other that invoked the
National Defense Authorization Act which gives the
President power to launch military action against any nation without the approval of
Congress; and President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's announcement to inaugurate its right to develop important nuclear projects, it would be wise to go back in time to January 6, 1941.
It was on this day that
President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched his famous "
Four Freedoms Speech."
Across America and much of the world, grandiose and liberal ideals resounded. According to
President Roosevelt, in future days the
U.S. would seek to make secure a world founded on freedom of speech and expression-everywhere in the world.
The U.S. would also ensure freedom of every person to worship God in his own way, freedom from want-economic security and understanding, and freedom from fear-meaning a world-wide reduction in armaments and aggression.
President Roosevelt, of course, was preparing the U.S. for
World War II. But immediately after his speech, another important speech was delivered by
University of Chicago President
Robert Hutchins. In a national radio address, President Hutchins agreed with President Roosevelt's four freedoms. However, there was one
point of contention. President Hutchins believed that the U.S. was not prepared for war not in a military sense, but in an intellectually and moral sense. In other words, the U.S. was unprepared to execute the ethical mission that President Roosevelt had called for.
 |
| Iranian War Games December, 2011 |
"Have we freedom of speech and freedom of worship in this country?", asked President Hutchins, "We do have freedom to say what everybody else is saying and freedom of worship if we do not take our religion too seriously. But teachers who do not conform to the established cannons of social thought lose their jobs.
People who are called 'radicals' have mysterious difficulties in renting halls." President Hutchins was also aware of millions of men and women unemployed, homeless, and disenfranchised because of their race, color, or condition of economic servitude.
Like President Hutchins, it is time
Americans start asking hard, realistic and moral questions. While signing executive orders to freeze Iranian assets and that sanction certain foods and medicines and technologies, sanctions that will make life more difficult for the people of Iran, there are millions of Americans homeless, unemployed and without foods. One must wonder, then, if grandiose and glorious liberal ideals have turned into doublespeak, or merely disguised in military and belligerent terminology. How immoral is it to have tens of millions of Americans and
Iranians suffer from the tyranny of want?
And when
President Obama signed an executive order to supersede the authority of Congress and the
U.S. Constitution, so as to launch a military campaign against Iran's
Islamic Republic and its right to peaceful and civilian nuclear enrichment, it was an act that a "dictator would seek to create with the crash of a bomb."
Freedom might mean the supremacy of human rights everywhere, but it must always be tempered and fashioned with respect and understanding. It should always be experienced at
home, or in one's own nation of origin. Otherwise, such ideals as freedom and economic security ring hollow.
For a nation, like the U.S., to have thousands of prisoners of conscience and "radicals" living in fear, for a nation to have its own nuclear energies programs and nuclear weapons arsenals stockpiled with thousands of warheads, and then to declare war on another nation that wants the same rights, is moral hypocrisy. It is irrational liberalism, even terrorist reasoning. It is the very antithesis of democratic institutions and popular sovereignty. It also shows how President Roosevelt's democratic vision for a world without physical aggression against any neighbor-anywhere, has sadly been militarized.
President Hutchins warned that if the aims of a democratic community are not moral and authentic, if they are not united by devotion of law, equality, and justice, and if the democratic community does not work together for the happiness of all its citizens, then it is morally bankrupt, along with its foreign policies. "
Instead of doing everything we can to get into the war," declared President Hutchins, "we should do everything we can to stay at peace. Our policy should be peace." He also believed that most important of all was the long struggle for moral, intellectual and spiritual preparedness.
Regarding "rights,"
President Ahmadinejad has raised an important ethical issue. He believes "respect" is just as important. Iran is not
Nazi Germany. Neither is it
Japan prior to World War II. This time, the U.S. appears to be a rogue nation and the aggressor.
Perhaps America's entry into World War II, along with its continuous mobilization for wars and military engagements, filled a moral and spiritual vacuum. At this point in America's moral and spiritual journey, and after observing the military debacles in
Iraq and
Afghanistan, to enter or not to enter a war with Iran should not even be a question.
Again, "If we would change the face of the earth, we must first change our own hearts."
Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)
Dallas Darling is the author of
Politics 501: An
A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and
Action, Some
Nations Above God: 52 Weekly
Reflections On Modern-Day
Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of
John's Apocalyptic
Vision, and
The Other Side Of
Christianity: Reflections on
Faith, Politics,
Spirituality,
History, and
Peace. He is a correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can read more of Dallas' writings at www.beverlydarling.com and wn.com//dallasdarling.
Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The 5th Estate.
Images: Google royalty free unless otherwise attributed.
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
Posts
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
