1. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and never did. Saddam, though a tyrant in his own country, was not creating WMD's, was not shipping them to Syria, and was not brokering a deal with Al-Qaeda to give WMD's to them for us against the United States.
2. Iraq and their "aluminum tubes" were not making nuclear weapons, according to all of our intelligence agencies, as well as British and German intelligence agencies, and also the IAEA.
3. We went to war with Iraq on complete lies; and the most outrageous thing about it all is that we are using almost the exact same lies in order to go to war with Iran.
4. Tyranny is inherent to Imperial regimes. There is no freedom at home when there is aggressive expansion abroad. Wars abroad is usually cover or excuse for increasing both welfare and the police state at home, which we are watching unfold before our eyes today with Obamacare and the increased militarization of our police forces.
Iran does have a nuclear program, but that program is not even close to being able to make weapons, nor is it meant to. Weaponized uranium has to be highly enriched, 95% or more. Current configurations of their reactors at Natanz are not capable of enriching more than around 6%, which is perfectly fine for domestic nuclear power. For making nuclear medicine, which Iran seeks to do for their research programs, they must enrich to 20%. Just to get it to this level, they are having massive setbacks and complications that they cannot achieve it yet.
The United States is going through a massive recession and is facing a deadly and prolonged depression. Our manufacturing sector is hemorrhaging jobs, while household debt has climbed and personal savings plummeted. We as individuals or households, and as a nation, have no savings, huge debts, and don't have jobs to create real wealth. We are in a war with two countries, while preparing to go to war for no real reason with Iran. The Bushites told us the war would basically be free because of all the oil we would be getting, which are now going to China and others, mainly. We have increased security at home of our own citizens and are now talking about assassination of US citizens who are suspected of cooperation with terrorists! All the while increasing Medicare, Medicaid, and trying to pass Obamacare. So we cannot afford any of this, so our elected officials go ahead and approve all of it.
War frenzy is dangerous.
Those who refuse to participate in the 24 hour news cycle version of the Orwellian Two Minutes Hate against Arabs/Muslims are marginalized and isolated. Those who really want to put America first are ridiculed as isolationists on both the Left and the Right. One left-wing writer mocked Ron Paul's view of an America-first approach to foreign policy by saying he wants to reduce our military to the Coast Guard. He just wants to bring our troops home from places like Japan, Korea, Germany, Italy, etc. World War II and the Cold War are over. Bring them home and shut these bases down.
A big danger with war frenzy is the confusion between patriotism and state-worship. The government is composed of fallible, corruptible human persons and our US system is meant to be limited by each branch opposing each other, with the States opposing the federal government. With our two party system, however, it is not branches that oppose, or States that oppose, but just the theater of opposition between Democrats and Republicans. You are declared a terrorist sympathizer, as Liz Cheney and Kristol are calling the lawyers for suspected Al-Qaeda members locked up indefinitely in Gitmo. You are "on their side" or else you "want us to lose" if you oppose the outrageous and aggressive measures (not to mention illegal) the government has taken in pursuing war with supposed terror states.
Ad Hominem Human Persons
Persons are reduced propaganda, as being "for the enemy" and are opposed outright, not allowing rational debate to take place. Most anti-war people are asking for a debate, knowing the pro-war side (whether for war in Iran or pro-Iraq/Afghanistan) is the weakest. But such debates do not take place between pro- and anti-war groups; only between pro-war and really pro-war is discussion allowed to happen, so the results are always the same: more war.
The hippies of the 60's are the humanitarian warhawks of today. The warhawks of the 60's are Senators and Representatives today who approve of war budgets, defend torture and extraordinary rendition, and are owned by the billion dollar military-industrial complex. These are the people who, together, send our young men and women into battle 6,000 miles away for no real national security need.
When patriotism is replaced with state-worship, then those who oppose the state's actions are not just wrong, but are heretics, deviants, or sympathizers. This needs to stop.
Discourse, honest and open, needs to be returned to the American political system. Debate and argument needs to be the center of policy making again. Lack of criticism will destroy this country. Lack of argument will bleed her dry. All empires overextend themselves. The same will be true for America. There is no exceptionalism for that.
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