Project Logic Ga

We must remember everyday that we have troops in harm’s way in two volatile theaters of operation.  A debt of gratitude can’t begin to express what we owe them and they are serving in places and conditions that we can only imagine.  Think about it: in the last century, our troopers fought bloody battles in Europe, the South Pacific and parts of southeast Asia.  While war is never easy, at least there was French wine, Irish lasses, sunny beaches, exotic rainforests, local bars and shipped in American brew. 

With Iraq and Afghanistan being faith-based governments, the chilling and partying of past U.S. soldiers isn’t happening and forget about a local sweetheart.  Afghanistan is one of the worst regions for war in the world and Iraq is an unfriendly dessert—-did I mention most soldiers can’t usually have a cold one at the end of the day.

The average American wants to focus on fixing America but we know that the War on Terror continues.  To some people, the only matters important in the Middle East are Israel’s right to safely exist, keeping nuclear weapons from certain nations and buying oil.  The “helping the people” or nation-building point might be a façade.

American foreign policy for decades centered on the cowboy mentality that we will do what we want and you will like it.  President Obama’s personal history uniquely qualifies him to lead our nation now because he was raised with an appreciation of different cultures, faiths and people.  If you watch the History Channel or remember what was taught in junior high, Iran and Iraq have rich and impressive histories; we are talking about the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Babylon.  But, we know that there are people to this day who still don’t believe the Egyptians build the pyramids when they did without European assistance or that the Moors controlled southern Spain for all those years. 

Respect is the key.  If we cut back on being global bullies and acknowledge that not everything great in history happened in Europe, these developing nations might stop viewing us Goliath to their David.  We could also consider that C, D and E of history follows the actions of A and B.  For example, Native Americans current conditions and attitudes (D and E) are based on losing the homeland and culture (A, B, C).  In other words, some people have a real reason to be upset with past American actions—actions by the government or by American corporate interest.  When PBS or the History Channel does a comprehensive program on Iran, it is clear that our oil companies got our government to help put the greedy Shan of Iran in power for oil reasons (and to put military bases in the region.) 

The Shan stayed paid Royce Rolls-style while his people starved.  When the religious fundamentalists took over and stormed the U.S. embassy, I was upset and chanting “Bomb Iran” with my classmates.  Diplomatic stations should always be respected but overall the hungry people had a right to dislike America.  They could have disliked the corporations and governmental leaders that assisted in the economic exploitation of their oil-rich region but the average American had no “beef” with them.  Wait a minute; we drove around in big gas-guzzling cars. 

The United States is a superpower and we don’t little nations who don’t listen to what we are telling them for their own good.  It is my understanding that the average person in Iran does not hate America like Iranian President Ahmadinejad.  President Obama, Secretary Clinton and the new foreign affairs team are smooth as smooth can be.  Iran needs to calm down and understand that we know we played them like punks in the past but the current administration respects their history and their developing role in the world community.  But, understand this: you won’t get nuclear weapons while pretending to develop energy resources and if you foster terrorist groups hell-bent on harming us, you will meet you ancestors real soon.