It seems odd to me how things in Iran have looped around again and are catching us surprised. So here we are again.
In January 1981 I was a high school senior at a high school just outside of Washington DC. And on the 20th my parents took us downtown to watch the parade and inauguration of President elect, Ronald Reagan. It was not really anything that interested me that much at the time. But things changed rapidly when it was announced that the US hostages that had been held in Iran had been released. What seemed like the entire city, flooded out onto the streets and made their way to the National Christmas (“Holiday” if you are of an overly sensitive bent) tree, which had been left unlit to remind our nation of the hostages. The tree was lit and we were treated to one of the finest fireworks displays I have ever seen. At that point I was ignorant enough to think the whole mess was over.
When I entered the Army in 1983, my drill sergeants made sure I knew that wasn’t the case. Iran was used as the boogieman. Iran, we were told was where we would be sent to fight and die. Iran was a constant dark companion in our training and even made it’s way into the marching cadences we sung while we developed blisters and shin splints marching to and from firing ranges.
Graduates of my basic training never went to Iraq. Instead they fought in Panama and Grenada. They died in the La Belle disco in Berlin, and in Somalia. They also helped to end the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. They would eventually lead younger soldiers in the first Gulf War and later to Afghanistan and back to Iraq. Somewhere along the way we learned to overlook Iran.
Now Iran has announced their nuclear energy program is “irreversible”. A program most of the world fears is a cover to produce weapons grade nuclear materials. We are trying to work with NATO to get Iran to stop, but things just aren’t working out that way. So sanctions, it seems, will be the next step.
I only mention this because this is the stuff that will be forgotten if military action is ever deemed necessary. Yep, this is the stuff that will vaporize from people’s memories. Wiping their collective slates clean, so they can cluck their tongues at the heartless American government whose sanctions hurt civilian men, women and children…to point their un-bloodied, self-righteous fingers at whatever President is forced to deal with the issue with potential military force.
Their intentional ignorance will ensure that they can lay the blame squarely at the feet of America. All this will be forgotten somehow, despite having memories so sharp they will surely remember the US interfering in Iran decades ago. Oh they’ll remember that. Everything from the support of the Shaw of Iran to lending support to Iraq when it was thought to be in our interest to do so. We were wrong to fall into the “Enemy of my enemy is my friend” trap, I agree. However it disturbs me that anything we try to do the “right” way is soon forgotten.
So fault won’t lay with Iran’s defiant determination to go forward with their nuclear program, despite any repercussions. Nope, just wait and see…it will all be our fault.
For those of you who know or remember military cadences, I can clearly hear this one in my head…”Here we go again…”.
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