Commentary found in this blog does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the national setting of the United Church of Christ, its Conferences and Associations, its local churches or its member organizations.
Posted by:
Rev. Chuck Currie on
February 3, 2010 at
12:16PM EST
As the international community worries - quite legitimately - about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, their human rights record, and their hard-line anti-Semitic government which has promised to whip Israel off the face of the earth, some voices have suggested a preemptive military strike that would take out Iran’s nuclear facilities.
General David Petraeus , however, has concerns about the counter effects such actions might have. Reuters reports:
TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - A military strike on Iran could have the unintended consequence of stirring nationalist sentiment to the benefit of Tehran's hard-line government, U.S. General David Petraeus told Reuters.
Iran's June election gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term but sparked the worst internal crisis in the Islamic Republic's history, putting internal pressure on a government already facing the threat of more sanctions over its nuclear program.
"It's possible (a strike) could be used to play to nationalist tendencies," Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command region, which includes Iran, said in an interview this week.
Across the globe, religious leaders have argued for diplomatic solutions to the problem of Iran and such a course still appears to be the smartest and most morally sound path.
But General Petraeus went on to say something else that got my attention.
"There is certainly a history, in other countries, of fairly autocratic regimes almost creating incidents that inflame nationalist sentiment."
He’s right, of course.
But sadly that is also the history of the United States.
Posted by: Richard on February 5, 2010 10:31PM EST
"Across the globe, religious leaders have argued for diplomatic solutions to the problem of Iran and such a course still appears to be the smartest and most morally sound path. "
Unfortunately, the religious leaders of the Iranian Government aren't quite so keen on those diplomatic solutions.
But they would agree--- they too would find it most important that we forget about the oppression of the Iranian government, forget about their desire to build nuclear weapons, forget about their threats to destroy Israel--let's remember the Maine. Let's think about the Gulf of Tonkin, and that awful and unbelievable lie that Saddam Hussein had WMD.
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Thank goodness we have someone like Chuck to tell us what to do in these situations! Although, personally, I liked it better when the UCC church stood for helping people in the neighborhoos... like helping gay kids have a safe place to meet, or meeting with single mothers to offer help, or helping the elderly. Well, now, we no longer have these resources. Thanks, in part, to people like Chuck, who chased the bad people away. BUt we DO know what to think, and how to vote! THank goodness for that!
