Carlton E. Spitzer
It would help restore our nation’s credibility and strengthen peaceful negotiations if our leaders acknowledged past error and shared responsibility for current disharmony throughout the world. No groveling, and no apology. Just an objective review of the facts.
Vietnam Iraq and Afghanistan should have taught indelible lessons. Yet there are those in power today who approach Iran with military threat rather than a grasp of history and a determination to resolve issues peacefully.
In 1953, the Eisenhower administration, for strategic reasons it thought justified, engineered a coup that overthrew Iran’s popular prime minister, Mohammed Massadegh, and replaced him with a man more attuned to U.S. interests, the Shaw of Iran. While the Shaw strengthened Iran’s economy during the next 25 years, the coup that put him in power was a major set back to Iran’s political development, and the Shaw was widely hated for repressing dissent. As one might expect, millions of Iranians have not forgotten. And distrust runs deep.
No one can excuse the brutal take over of the U.S. Embassy in Iran that ended President Jimmy Carter’s administration and imprisoned American diplomatic personnel for many agonizing months, but one can comprehend the deep resentment toward the U.S. that had developed over time.
Yet, despite this bitterly troubled history, Iran stood with the U.S. in the days following 9/11, and leaders were in constructive dialogue. That dialogue ended quickly when President George Bush included Iran in his “Axis of Evil.”
The U.S. has stumbled many times. Evidence suggests President John Kennedy was determined to pull back from engagement in Vietnam before his assassination. President Lyndon Johnson propelled us deeper into that quagmire.
President George Bush refused to let arms inspectors complete their work in Iraq in 2002, convinced Saddam Hussein housed weapons of mass destruction he might use against neighboring countries, and even the U.S. The U.S. invaded. There were no such weapons. We are finally withdrawing troops, after losing 4,500 of our fighting men and women, a high percentage to improvised roadside bombs. Another 38,000 are recovering from physical wounds, many having lost limbs, and thousands are suffering post traumatic stress. Two million Iraqis were driven from their homes, and 100,000 or more were killed and maimed.
U.S. leaders were impatient and shortsighted, convinced our military “shock and awe” would settle things quickly, with little thought to life in Iraq in its wake.
Let us deal more intelligently with Iran. It is not too much to expect a great nation to bear responsibility for its errors, just as it rightfully expects praise for its achievements and humanitarian contributions..
The whole world has a stake in peaceful exchange and reconciliation. More than a million Iranian-American citizens contribute to life in the U.S. every day, and many other Iranians are educated here and return to their homeland prepared to harmonize relationships between our nations. It is time to make a fresh start toward peace.
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