I have been disgusted with all the innocent lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some specific examples stand out, like blowing up a wedding party from the sky, but the numbers are out and out outrageous. Bush killed more than 100,000 Iraqis. That is not okay.
The Al Qaeda is not a state. But America the superpower was only prepared to go after a state. The US military might had not prepared to go after an organization like the Al Qaeda. So the medicine looked for a disease and found Saddam instead (I don't miss the guy).
I don't have firsthand memory of the 1979 Iran revolution, I don't remember following it in the news. But when the people of Iran came out into the streets last year, I fell in love with the country. Iran has firmly established itself as the Arab solution to the War On Terror. America invading one Arab country after another is a recipe for bankruptcy for America, not a recipe for spreading democracy in the Arab world.
We did this in Nepal in 2006. In 2006 for democracy - the king of Nepal had issued a shoot at sight order at one point in April 2006, so just because we succeeded does not mean it was easy - and again in 2007 and 2008 for social justice for the Madhesi in Nepal. It can be done in Iran.
The First Major Revolution Of The 21st Century Happened In Nepal
One of my regrets of 2009 is to not have given enough time to Iran. The resiliency of the Iranian protesters inspires me.
Iran: Yes, We Can
How We Have Failed Iran
Dumb White People (DWPs) And Iran
The Fraud In Iran
Iran: This Is What I Am Talking About
Just like America as a country at some point is going to have to apologize for slavery, America as a country at some point is going to have to apologize for what it did in Iran in the 1950s.
I am a firm believer is democracy and social justice. That does not make an American stooge. I want Iran to become a full-fledged democracy (even as a half baked one it is ahead of Saudi Arabia and Egypt) and ask America a question: Why does America have nuclear weapons? Good thing Barack Obama asked that question early in his presidency. I am glad I was one of his earliest supporters in New York City.
As long as the Iranian reformers keep asking the regime to redo the election, the movement will be a waste. As long as Iran's global grassroots supporters keep extending only moral support, the movement will have a tough time. The Iranians have to come out into the streets to shut the country down completely for as long as it takes to ask for an interim caretaker government that will conduct elections to a constituent assembly that will give Iran a new constitution. And the global grassroots will have to become more sophisticated. We need to offer detailed logistical support. We have to out organize the mullahs.
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