self-preservation

I was going to write a blog post about the Obama administration's desire to bomb Iran and murder its civilian inhabitants, which it is now pursuing with as much passion and dedication to mindless violence as the Cheney/Bush administration before it did.

What I'm finding, though, is that increasingly I'm unable to even think about such stuff, much less write about. It makes me too angry and upset, and exacerbates a medical condition I suffer from.

The U.S. government's desire to commit criminal mischief in Iran is an old story going back 30 years now. It dates from the time the Ayatollah Khomeinei returned from exile in Paris to re-take possession of his own country from the American imperialists and turn it into an Islamic theocracy. At that time he declared America "the Great Satan" and added, "We will cut off their hands!" -- the Islamic punishment for theft.

I don't hold with theocracy, but I don't blame him. And I have no arguments with his characterization of us either.

However, that's as much as I can write on this topic, because I'd be doing myself harm by going into any more detail than this. So I'll leave the heavy lifting to Glenn Greenwald, here and here, who probably does a better job of exposing American lies and hypocrisy pertaining to this subject than anyone. That's why Salon.com pays him the big bucks.

The Oakland rapper Mike Franti sang it years ago: "Hypocrisy is the greatest luxury; Raise the double standard." And this is just the latest chapter in the ongoing American saga called Perpetual War, or how to make enemies and convince the rest of the world they can't live with you. I've been done with it for some time, and now I'm done with even thinking about it. The Iranians will do what they need to do to protect themselves, and so will I.

Illustration: stencil by Chris Stain: War in the Streets