Letter: Don't blame Iran
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gestures as he deliver his speech at a rally to mark the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that toppled the country's pro-Western monarchy and brought Islamic clerics to power. (Feb. 11, 2012) Credit: AP
Since the freeing of the American hostages in 1981, the Islamic Republic of Iran has built no nuclear weapons, stationed none of its armed forces in foreign countries and overtly attacked none of its neighbors ["Time to worry about Israel hitting Iran," Opinion, Feb. 8].
By contrast, in the same time, the United States has amassed a vast nuclear arsenal and stationed its military in a score of nations around the globe. It has attacked Granada, Panama, Serbia, Iraq and Libya -- countries that never attacked the United States and never had the means to attack us. Far more civilians died as result of America's interventions in the Middle East, in the internal affairs of Middle Eastern countries, and in regional disputes, than died here on Sept. 11, 2001.
The United States encouraged Iraq to make war on Iran in the 1980s and armed both sides. All this time, too, the United States has used its money, political influence and military hardware to help Jews whose great-grandparents were born in Poland and Russia to drive out of their homes Muslims who have lived in the Holy Land for generations. Is it any wonder Iran seeks to obtain nuclear weapons?
We should have relations with other nations, trade with them, exchange diplomats with them, share cultural and scientific knowledge, render emergency assistance in times of natural disasters, and even provide a neutral ground to facilitate peace talks between warring parties. But we shouldn't get involved in their disputes.
I'm not advocating anything that George Washington didn't advocate and that Switzerland and Sweden haven't practiced for generations.
Paul Manton, Levittown
