International Political Will

Across the Pacific Ocean, and largely isolated from the media blitz of propaganda and fear that is besieging Americans to convince them that Iran is an immediate threat to their existence, the view is much different.

How can US citizens - so angry over the war in Iraq - be so ready to buy into the premise that Iran is trying to obtain nuclear weapons to initiate an apocalyptic war? How is the choreographed build-up to war fooling the public once again? There are dissenting voices, to be sure, but far too few and far too quiet.

There can be only one reason for the successes in the war of misinformation: The tragic militarization and Islamophobia in the US is ever-present, and its deadly poison has seeped into the very fabric of American life.

I have tried to be positive. I have tried to assure myself that there are enough intelligent people in America that will stop the current road to endless war. I have refrained from making generalizations about a public that is so caught up in their own bloodlust and desire for revenge after 9/11 that any life that isn’t American, Christian or white isn’t worth living.

But I will refrain no more.

The clones that can’t think for themselves will label me un-American. They will call me a traitor and unpatriotic. They will say I hate America (yet never really explaining why other than to say I am insufficiently patriotic).

Let them say what they will. I will have no part in the newest campaign to exterminate, exploit or convert the rest of the world to America’s perverted brand of capitalism-cum-fascism. Away from the daily influx of media images, rhetoric, fear and glorification of the military, the ongoing “debate” over Iran is comedic. Embarrassing, really.

The US public can regain power if they rise above the lies and corporate-sponsored messages that convince Americans that shopping can cure their ills. Accepting the status quo is only dooming the United States to the decline that, God willing, won’t mean the end of America as a country.

The newest evidence released by the US to prove Iranian involvement in Iraq may be legitimate, assuming you are a military weapons expert and accept the premise that no black market arms deals have taken place in a country next-door to a war zone. But if such evidence is proof of Iran’s evil - why was it released by three anonymous US officials?

Do the high-profile members of the current administration fear being attached to more false, misleading and manipulated intelligence?

All this at the same time that Iran has installed security cameras at their nuclear power facilities at the behest of the IAEA, so that the program the world alleges is for nuclear “weapons” can be monitored by international agencies.  Why doesn’t such a pivotal move make the same headlines the alleged “evidence” of Iranian involvement in Iraq does?

Am I angry? Yes. Anyone who isn’t angry isn’t paying enough attention or has been blinded by the atmosphere of war that both Republicans and Democrats seeking to maintain power have created in America.

So step back. Turn off the television. Read more than the 30-second sound byte that has been pre-fabricated for an impatient and uneducated audience.

Understand the world beyond the so-called experts that tout their hawkish views of the world on network television in between advertisements for frivolous and pointless material goods.

Tune out the messages of fear, exclusion, othering and a new military order that have hijacked everyday life.

A good friend told me last weekend, as we sat on the top of a hill in the countryside of southern Japan on a balmy winter day, that everyone should live in another country for one year. She felt that the experience people gain from seeing the world through a different lens could do wonders for promoting global understanding and, eventually, peace.

I couldn’t agree more.

But Americans don’t need to leave their homes.

They need to take them back.

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