When I was growing up, we read the “Uncle Remus” stories by Joel Chandler Harris, based on African-American folk tales. You can't find those stories any more today, as they're viewed as being racially insensitive at best or downright racist at worst. But however we view them, there's one story that resonates deeply today: the tale of Br'er Rabbit and the Tar Baby.
In this story, Br'er Fox makes a doll out of a lump of tar and dresses it in baby clothes in an attempt to catch wily Br'er Rabbit. When Br'er Rabbit finds the tar baby, he greets it pleasantly, but is offended when it refuses to answer him. Br'er Rabbit slaps the tar baby and, of course, becomes stuck. The more he punches and kicks at the tar baby, the more thoroughly he gets stuck. Br'er Rabbit eventually convinces Br'er Fox to toss him into a nearby briar patch, from which he is able to free himself from the tar baby and escape.
We keep punching the tar baby in the Middle East, but no briar patch is in sight to provide an escape, however painful.
When I was getting my Masters degree in International Relations many years ago, my focus was on the politics of the Middle East, and Iran in particular. In those studies, I learned a great deal about the history of Iran and our tortured relationship with it.
Make no mistake: a nuclear weapon in the hands of a single-minded, theocratic regime is a terrible threat to the peace of the entire world. But did you know that that single-minded, theocratic regime is the end result of actions that we - the United States - took in 1953?
In that year, our Central Intelligence Agency and Britain's MI-6 worked together to overthrow the elected Iranian government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. This was done because Mr Mossadegh was threatening to nationalize foreign oil companies in Iran in a dispute with the British over the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company's payment of royalties to the Iranian government. The coup ousted Mr Mossadegh and installed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who was much more friendly toward Western business interests.
Over the following years, the Shah's government grew increasingly corrupt and oppressive, leading to a growing Islamic opposition whose figurehead was Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, exiled in Paris but still a potent political and religious force in Iran.
By early 1979, the corruption and brutality of the Shah's government led to a popular uprising which dethroned the Shah and returned Khomeini from exile to head a new, initially popular Islamic government. Most US and British citizens were evacuated from the country* during the chaotic early months of the new regime, and in November of that year a mob of Iranian "students" stormed and occupied the United States Embassy in Teheran, taking 66 American diplomats and civilian personnel hostage, of whom 52 were held for 444 days - being released on January 20, 1981, in a calculated insult to outgoing President Jimmy Carter.
The theocratic Islamic Regime soon became as repressive and brutal as the government it had replaced, implementing strict religious guidelines on dress and behavior, especially for women, and remained in power largely through the force of its Morality Police and the military Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC, in turn, became a major force in the Middle East, supporting terrorist attacks and Islamic fundamentalist movements throughout the region.
Then, at some point, the Iranian regime looked around, considered the fates of weak nations at the hands of strong ones, and decided that it needed a nuclear weapon to ensure its survival in a dangerous neighborhood.
And here we are.
Allowing an extremist religious government to possess weapons of mass destruction is unthinkable … but is directly attacking Iran - punching the ultimate tar baby - the best way to prevent it from happening?
I don't pretend to be any sort of expert on Iran, religious extremism, nuclear weapons, the Middle East in general, or international politics, but I do like to think I'm a bit better informed on all those topics than most Americans ... and certainly than most in Der Furor's administration. Here's my take, for what it's worth:
It was stupid for Der Furor to scrap the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, or "Iran Nuclear Deal") negotiated by the Obama administration. While not perfect (and what international agreement is?), it was by all accounts working to keep Iranian nuclear ambitions in check. Der Furor's hatred of President Obama and overblown belief in his own skill as a deal-maker undermined a functioning agreement without anything to replace it and with no incentives to the Iranians to negotiate further.
It was equally stupid to allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to maneuver a notoriously ill-informed and insecure president into directly supporting his war against Iran. A professional, well-functioning US government staffed with experts in international relations and supported by an independent, nonpartisan intelligence community would have offered wiser counsel than one staffed with sycophants whose primary skill is telling the president what he wants to hear.
So, where do we go from here?
I have no idea.
We have lost the last shreds of our ability to act as a neutral arbiter with Iran, and have allowed Israel to maneuver us into being its reluctant ally, to our clear detriment. We have a president besotted with the trappings of military power but ignorant of the realities and complexities of military planning and international diplomacy, a man increasingly mistrusted and sidelined by other world leaders. We have a deeply partisan government that refuses to hold that president to account and insist on the checks and balances the Founders wisely wrote into the Constitution. We have ... well, you get the idea.
Congress and the courts must once again exert their roles in government and bring rational government back to the nation and its international responsibilities, but I'm not holding my breath, and neither should you. Too many of us wanted a king, and now we have one, for better or worse.
The nation did reasonably well for almost 250 years, and we've managed to largely undo it in a mere five months. At this rate, it'll be a long, long time to the midterms and to the 2028 elections. I hope we make it.
Have a good day. More thoughts - happier ones, if possible - coming.
Bilbo
* As a young Air Force Captain, I actually played a part in that evacuation, but that's a story for another time.
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