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OpEdNews Op Eds    H4'ed 12/12/18

Are 75% of Americans ignorant of what its government has done in its name in world affairs?

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From youtube.com: Trump pulls out of Iran nuclear deal full speech U.S. President Donald Trump announces the U.S. withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal which he is called 'defective at its core.' Read more
From youtube.com: Trump pulls out of Iran nuclear deal full speech U.S. President Donald Trump announces the U.S. withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal which he is called 'defective at its core.' Read more
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President Trump announcing US withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal

According to a late November Gallop poll, 75% of Americans believe the US "has a special responsibility to be a leading nation in world affairs," [1] -that's up 9% since 2010. Meanwhile 78% of Americans said the US "has a unique character that make it the greatest country in the world".

Now Gallop's wording might be somewhat misleading i.e. "a leading nation in world affairs". What does that mean? Leading how? Does that include a leading nation initiating coups, wars, overthrowing legitimately elected governments? Gallop doesn't include those questions because if it did Americans might respond differently. Maybe not.

If one takes a brief, honest look at America's role in world affairs since the end of WWII the US is hardly "leading" in a positive, peaceful direction. Are 75% Americans ignorant of what its government has done in world affairs in its name? Or has it been the effective use of propaganda and their indoctrination?

Take Iran. The CIA along with the British MI6 played a leading role in the 1953 coup that overthrew the legitimately elected government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh bringing back from exile the brutal Shah Reza Pahlavi as the country's oppressive ruler who aligned himself with the US while oppressing his own people.

That American led coup was a leading cause for the 1979 Iranian revolution that saw the US embassy overrun and some 52 embassy personnel taken hostage.

American's remember full well the hostage taking by the Iranian's and condemn them for it. Yet do they continue to ignore the 1953 US coup though the account of it has been declassified since August 2013?

The US corporate MSM has played a leading role in the demonization of Iran since 1979 revolution hardly mentioning the 53' coup and the subsequent oppression by the Shah which caused the rebellion.

How about the Vietnam war. Some 58,000 American military and millions of innocent Vietnamese died for nothing. It wasn't some valiant good fight as the recently portrayed Ken Burns supposed documentary put it. He completely ignored the Tonkin Gulf incidents. These were CIA perpetrated false flag attacks blaming the North Vietnamese even though initiated by American naval ships in the Gulf of Tonkin off the North Vietnamese coast.

However the Incident was portrayed as North Vietnamese aggression and Congress subsequently passed the "Tonkin Gulf Resolution" authorizing then President Lyndon Johnson to escalate the war. Back then Americans were fed the so called "Domino Theory", whereby if a country falls to Communism it would bring it to a neighboring country-Communism being portrayed as the supreme enemy evil we Americans were indoctrinated with.

Since 9/11 there's been the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in 2001 that continues to this day, Iraq in 2003, a US backed mercenary war in Syria since 2011, a US backed coup in Kiev, Ukraine in 2014, military provocations against Iran in the Persian Gulf, the South China Sea against China and a US led NATO to the doorstep of Russia. Now with Trump withdrawing from the Iran nuclear agreement, his wanting to withdraw from 1987 INF treaty, ongoing threats to overthrow the legitimately elected Madero government in Venezuela, Ortega in Nicaragua, the continuing embargo of Cuba, support for the murderous regime in Saudi Arabia plus the undying support for the apartheid regime in Israel one wonders how any of it constitutes the US being a leading nation in world affairs? Maybe more correctly the most sinister nation in world affairs.

Ignoring this aforementioned history-hardly complete-may make for uncomfortable reading by those 75% in Gallops poll still believing the US has a special responsibility to be a leading nation in world affairs.

They contribute why "official" Washington continues to sow chaos in the world and certainly not lead in world affairs.



[1] "Democrats Lead Surge in Belief U.S. Should Be World Leader" by Jim Norman, "GALLOP", November 29, 2018

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Dave Lefcourt Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Retired. The author of "DECEIT AND EXCESS IN AMERICA, HOW THE MONEYED INTERESTS HAVE STOLEN AMERICA AND HOW WE CAN GET IT BACK", Authorhouse, 2009
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