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The Dark Side of America

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In Saudi Arabia there is more bad news for the American military planners. It seems that a Shia  protester  and two teenagers were killed. The killings have sparked an uprising of the oppressed minority.

The killing of Mr. Labad and the two teenagers marks an escalation in Saudi Arabia's worst civil unrest in years. The sectarian uprising in the kingdom's oil heartland has been an often overlooked front in the wave of revolts remaking the Middle East. But it has become increasingly violent, and the implications for the region are vast at a time when Saudi Arabia and Iran are jockeying hard for supremacy. Independent 02 Feb 2013

The Saudi Government is blaming the protests on instigation coming from Iran. The  protesters  vehemently deny any connection to that nation. One must wonder what the result would be if Saudi Arabia exploded with sectarian protests? With each passing month it seems that the partnership between the Saudi's and the U.S. is getting closer. The situation that is occurring in Syria today is being played out with many of the same players that were involved in the Libyan fiasco. What kind of  blow-back  can we expect to see if we were to wake one morning to find Saudi Arabia awash in rebellion?

I could go on. The situation in Afghanistan is a dismal quagmire. One thing is certain however, it will be many years after we leave before we will ever be welcome there. Venezuela is another diplomatic fiasco. It seems that America has done everything possible to alienate that nation.

Why is it that the United States believes that the only way to gain allies is by military power? With all of the technological knowledge we possess and the huge economy we still have, why must diplomacy emanate from the barrel of a gun? The State Department has to be one of the most dysfunctional elements of our government. Don't they realize that even with all of the information gathering services at their employ, their track record is horrendous? Maybe the time is right to resort to one of the most effective diplomatic tools ever conceived"goodwill.

Instead of demonizing Iran, what if we befriended them? After all, it was the United States that used Iraq to fight a proxy war with them leading to hundreds of thousands of dead on both sides. Do Americans even realize that Tehran has 11 functioning synagogues, many of them with Hebrew schools? It has two kosher restaurants, and a Jewish hospital, an old-age home and a cemetery. There is a Jewish representative in the Iranian parliament. There is a Jewish library with 20,000 titles, its reading room decorated with a photograph of the Ayatollah Khomeini. Why demonize a nation that  hasn't  fought an offensive war in long time? The Iranian people according to many visitors, still have a high regard for the American people, our government however" not so much. With so much to gain by having an ally in the area where Iran is located, we have so much to gain and not much to lose. Why don't we pursue better relations?

We seem to be hell-bent on alienating the rest of the planet. When Obama went to Europe before he was elected for his first term, thousands came out in Germany to hear him speak. They thought that the United States would turn its back on the warlike policies of the Bush Administration and become an honest broker for peace. They must be sorely disappointed by now. Obama may speak in a kinder, gentler way, but he carries the American military as his basic bargaining chip. If anything, he has delved even deeper in to the darker side of the human psyche. What's the pay off?

Why are we just accepting the blunders our foreign policies bring? Is there a reason behind the seeming madness that has crept into our government? The American people have not  benefited  from a hostile America. We have almost become inured to endless war. Our government lies to us and the media swears to it, even though most of us can see for ourselves that what they are telling us just  doesn't  add up. We have lost many of our civil liberties in the name of this "war on terror". We're going broke paying for our military. We have alienated Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, Egypt, and Syria along with half of the world. We have so-called "allies" that would stab us in the back if it  benefited  them. Why?

I could go on but I won't. The things I mentioned, the questions I have asked should make people wonder where we are heading. It's time that the media threw off the self-imposed shackles it wears and to start asking the hard questions that need answers. It's time for Americans to demand some kind of accountability from the government. Many Americans believe that the government knows best" it  doesn't . Their plans are flawed and that puts us all at risk. 

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Tim Gatto is Ret. US Army and has been writing against the Duopoly for the last decade. He has two books on Amazon, Kimchee Days or Stoned Colds Warriors and Complicity to Contempt.

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