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USS Maine Foreign Policy for Iran
By Dean Powers (about the author) Page 2 of 2 page(s)
The new pattern of combative language has emerged amidst a series of US actions that are escalating tensions with Iran.
Less than two months ago a second Navy aircraft carrier group sailed to the Persian Gulf theater, near Iran.
This week, five Iranians were arrested in Iraq near the Iranian border, prompting outrage from Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, who said the men are consuls.
The arrests prompted Condoleeza Rice to disclose that Bush has ordered a broad military offensive against Iranian targets inside, and perhaps beyond, Iraq.
We would choose to believe her if it weren't for the pattern of lies and deception from this administration.
The five were accused of being "connected" with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, a known extremist militant group.
What's the connection? A mutual friend's baby shower? Dinner in the same restaurant one night five years ago?
We'll never know, but it was a punch in the face to Iran.
The real question is: How many punches will Iran take on the cheek before one of its military battalions, or one of its squads or even one single soldier punches back? Because when Iran does strike back it will be cited as a justification for war.
Provoking an attack to justify a war is a well storied means of foreign policy here in America. The Boston Massacre was our first and best use of this policy--back when we were actually oppressed. A mob of unruly commoners descended on a handful of British troops, and surprise, surprise, they fired back.
We used it again in 1898 when President William McKinley sent the USS Maine to Spanish-controlled Havana Harbor at a time when America sided with the revolutionary Cubans. When the USS Maine mysteriously blew up, Congress acted quickly to declare war against Spain.
The policy was used on a smaller scale by police during the Civil Rights Movement, whose legacy of non-violent resistance we celebrate today. Police operatives dressed as rioters would begin melees in which pacifist blacks were beaten nearly to death.
The larger and more imperial America becomes, the more tasteless and unforgivable this policy seems in contrast. This time we are shaking our stick in the face of Iran, and our focus over the next few weeks is to draw strong public rebuke for war plans in Iran.
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