Already against the next war

During her six-day visit to the Middle East last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that a war with Iran would not be a good idea. She added, “I think it’s very important that we look at how disastrous such a war would be for everyone. And it still is a fact that there is no solution to the problems that beset the area through war. War will not resolve the long-standing concerns.”  

However, Clinton apparently failed to recognize that the United States’ harsh economic sanctions against Iran and the contentious positioning of Navy submarines, capable of using nuclear weapons, in the nearby Indian Ocean are already easily able to be seen as acts of aggression toward the Islamic Republic.

Of course, the unnecessary economic sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States will only serve to strengthen anti-American sentiments within the country. They will also allow the current regime to disassociate itself from the country’s financial problems by blaming American-enforced embargoes instead of government policies for the country’s failing economy.

Also, embargoes only directly affect the poorest and least fortunate of the country.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or any other political or religious leader, will not be the one to suffer.

But innocent people already struggling to live from day-to-day may find it difficult to continue to provide food and medical care for themselves and their families.
The sanctions on Iran should not be considered a miniscule act of American economic and foreign policy.

Instead, we should see them for what they are — a tool used for criminal behavior that is already responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths in Iraq and that should not be used as a false act of sympathy for the Iranian people but as an alternative to war.    
However, the positioning of Navy submarines capable of carrying nuclear warheads off the small island Diego Garcia, located in the Indian Ocean, is perhaps even more devastating to any hopes of bringing stability to the United States-Iran situation.
Just taking a look at a map, one can see why Iran has the right to be somewhat paranoid.

The United States has, in the last 10 years, invaded and continued to heavily occupy both Afghanistan and Iraq. These countries are located on the east and west borders of Iran.

The placement of these U.S. submarines capable of using nuclear weapons does not only signal to Iran that the United States is possibly preparing itself for war but also that the country is incapable of applying the same standards to itself that it applies to others.


E-mail: mardunba@indiana.edu