As the sick game of Whack-A-Mole drones on in the Middle East, I attempted to create a dialogue about this chaos by offering some background into the conflicts there and the consequences for the peace we take for granted here at home.
Exposing myself to public scrutiny in this way, I have been both criticized and complimented.
Hey, if we can’t talk about it, we might as well quit right now so bring it on.
The U.S. interfered in Iran’s internal affairs way back when we propped up the Shah. Again, damned if we do and damned if we don’t?
My correction to the good professor’s history lesson was merely that the CIA and Israel’s Mossad did not create SAVAK to spy on the clerics, and I offered quotes to prove it.
Would anyone be so foolish as to argue that if we hadn’t been (reluctantly) involved in what was a developing nation after WWII, Iran would be a democracy today?
I hate to point to bad behavior to justify other bad behavior, but Russia was also meddling in the Middle East, and still does, along with China and others now doing the same.
Mohammed Mossadegh, prime minister of Iran in the ‘50s was pushing for more and more power and the clerics were becoming wary of him.
The British developed their oil industry and conflicts arose over labor conditions and all that glorious oil money.
Today, Iran is a brutal police state, theocracy, exporter of terrorism, and a major meddler in the affairs of other countries.
The rest of what I wrote was about the generosity and good our country is famous for.
I’m tired of the blaming, excuses, revisionist history, and attempts to silence debate.
If there is no objective truth and no respect for law and order, a lack of civility in our families and the “global family,” no agreement and adherence to a universal moral code, all hell breaks loose and anarchy soon takes over.
Some have argued that the U.S. was a foreign invader in its formative history, prompting me to ask what North America would look like if the Indians, Mexico, or Iran were in control.
That’s when I was accused of racism — that I would be offended if someone called me the product of “Prussian Nazi immigrants” because my grandparents were Austrian.
No, that would just make them ridiculous for saying it. Did you not see “The Sound of Music”?
Get the chip off your shoulder and your head out of the sand. If your community is a “No-Go Zone” like parts of Europe and the U.S. as well, that’s not good.
These places are so godless that law enforcement simply won’t go there!
When I need a policeman, I hope one will always come to my aid. Sometimes they’re wrong, but I have never resisted arrest, looted, or shot anyone.
God help us if another officer overreacts and kills someone, or if he himself is ambushed as has happened in NYC and elsewhere.
Freedom of speech and the right to peaceful assembly and religion permit us to say and do most anything, as long as we break no laws and do no harm to others.
No polygamy and no jihadi politics preached from the mosque!
Calling each other names might cause bad feelings, but rappers spew racist and bigoted crap all day long, Hollywood films are full of bad language, pornography, and violence, drugs and gambling are rampant and destructive, and some people even demand living by a different kind of justice entirely — called Shariah Law. Is that OK with you?
Scores of Christians are being murdered for their faith all over the world.
When will Pastor Saeed Abedini and US Marine Amir Hekmati be released from an Iranian prison? What happened to the 200+ young girls abducted a year ago in Nigeria by Boko Haram militants?
Are you safe from anarchy in your neighborhood? If we are a democratic nation founded on cherished freedoms, Judeo-Christian values, and the rule of law, how now shall we live?
The answer is through constant vigilance and courage and faith. I don’t have kids but I care how I leave the place for you and yours!
Peace and perseverance.
Celia Kiewit is an Encinitas resident.
