International Insanity

Recently, the newly elected leader of Iran joined in the annual anti-Israel/pro-Palestinian protest, which coincides with the beginning of Ramadan. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s remark on Wednesday that Israel should be “wiped off the map” sparked international condemnation. Was anyone really shocked by this remark? Ahmadinejad was simply saying aloud what has already been said aloud throughout the Moslem world for decades. In Iran, anti-Israeli diatribes are painted as murals along most highways and are heard regularly in Mosques. If I were to move to Iran and start up an effigy business, specializing only in American and Israel leaders, I could make a lot of money.

So why is anyone surprised by his comments? Why all the furor? Why all the conjecture over what his motives are or are not? The man is a fervent anti-Israel Jew hater! He always has been and always will be. There are no secrets in the Middle East when it comes to hating Israel. Israel need do little else than exist to be hated. If you are the least bit shocked by this President’s statement, you have been in a coma since 1948.

It is distressing that the reform movements, ironically enough led by clerics, in Iran have failed. The Iranian people chose, through their democratic process, an anti-Western anti-Israel hardliner to lead their nation. This is an important fact. He needs no fancy robes, title, or headdress to whip up the masses. He speaks from them and to them in his straightforward and unassuming manner. Ahmadinejad is a man of the people. He is one of them. That makes him all the more appealing the electorate. The Iranian voter no longer trusted the clerics and others they viewed as ‘out of touch elitists’, or internationalists, or apologists.

Why did Iranian voters divest themselves of possible reform? Why did they stop making efforts to widen cultural freedoms? Why did they embrace the hard-line so loudly and openly? The answer lies with the war in Iraq, and the insane American foreign policy that indiscriminately hurls threats and bombs at anything it labels as ‘terrorist.’ It brought out by the arrogance of an American leadership that thinks it alone should be the sole bearer of power and dictate policy around the globe. You cannot attack a Moslem nation and not have other Moslems get upset about it. If they war with each other, so be it. They consider that a family squabble to be settled amongst family members. Outsiders, however, are not liked. It becomes a matter of ‘entre nous’ and, in their minds, the West should mind its own damn business.

This is not an anti-Moslem tirade. Islam as a whole displays very much the same patterns and behaviors as have done (or still do) other large and diverse religious groups throughout history. That’s the whole point here. The Bush administration failed to consider the consequences of their meddling in Moslem affairs and invading Iraq. Places where Bin Laden supporters were many yet still somewhat closeted, have now become entire nations rallying behind those who wish to see America, Israel, and their allies destroyed. If they didn’t like us before, maybe because of our crooked business dealings in their countries, or maybe because of a clash of cultural and religious values, they sure as hell won’t start loving us when we drop bombs and/or make threats against them.

The Islamic world might not have been happy about us going after Bin Laden, but we had enough support universally to make the case for doing so. There were more than a few Islamic countries that didn’t really like him either. However, once we began to lose that focus, creating a subterfuge to topple a Moslem-led regime (secular as it was) that did not attack the United States, the Islamic world reacted with a backlash that, at least in the mind of this casual observer, was prophetically predictable.

I don’t imagine the Moslem to be different from me. If I hear of a Jew anywhere in the world being killed because he is a Jew, even if I have differences of opinion or religious background with that particular Jew, the hair on the back of my neck stands up. Why? Because he was, like it or not, my brother. Why would I expect the Moslem to feel any different about his co-religionists being subject to bombings, shootings, or anything else? The Bush administration should have seen it coming.

As Americans, we have two ways of taking stock of the Bush debacle, and neither is very encouraging. They are either insane, ignoring the obvious consequences of their policies, or totally incompetent and unable to fathom, plan, or strategize around cause and probable effect. I am not hopeful of a peaceful outcome. The combative ‘ends-justify-the-means’ mentality of the Bush administration has caused the same combative ‘ends-justify- the-means’ reaction in an Islamic world already pervaded with anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiment. Should Iran be any less indignant over the unjustified invasion of their neighbor, than we would be over the WTC attack?

Insanity is defined as doing the same thing and expecting different results. George Bush has decided to ‘stay the course’, which means that he is unwilling to accept that his policy thus far, disastrous from the beginning in my opinion, failing to bring about the desired results and yet, continuing in the same manner to ignore the obvious consequences. George Bush is not merely one who is conventionally insane. He is internationally insane.

I would like to thank the President of the United States and the President of Iran for being complete, total, fucking assholes. You are both fine examples of what world leaders should not be. Go back to your cages! George gets a banana and some Prozac, and Mahmoud a rawhide chew dipped in thorazine.

The loonies are running the asylum. Och und vay!