Regime change. Coming from President
Trump and his cabinet, it sounds nice and easy, kind of like changing my socks;
or on a bad day like changing my cell service provider. Our recent forays into
the muddy waters of regime change raise fundamental questions about our long-term
goals and reliability as a member of the global community. Politicians and
pundits toss around the phrase without explaining the specifics of what takes
place during a regime change. During a regime change people die, sometimes very
many innocent people. Often chaos comes in to rule after our “surgical strikes”
that remove the leadership we find abhorrent. We may kill the immediate
leadership which has crossed us one too many times; but, the societal forces
and practices that led to the evil regime remain in place and usually propel a
like individual or group into positions or power and authority. If we are
lucky, the new regime will be more amenable to our geopolitical whims. But we
rarely stay around long enough to effect any true cultural changes, and we may
not be particularly good at inculcating good change. Why this change and why
now?
No one can reasonably say that Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei was a good leader. Under his rule Iranians suffered and thousands
of innocents across the region died. He and his cohorts engaged in state
sponsored terrorism, using violence or the threat of violence to achieve power,
influence, and wealth. Where was our moral outrage then? Was it simply because
he and his fellow rulers refused to give up their goal of achieving a nuclear
weapon? That is a legitimate concern. Such a powerful weapon in the hands of
such a reckless ruler should concern all of us. But what comes next should
concern us as much.
Who will take their place? How will
Iran rebuild, or will they become the next cauldron of pain, frustration, and anger
simmering until it boils over once again? I see that our President and his
various mouthpieces are seeking to distance our nation from any responsibility
to restore Iran to some sort of normalcy. Having participated in nation
building, I understand the desire to avoid entanglement in such a difficult and
long-term task. But it seems to me that we have an interest in helping Iran
shed its past and take its place among the community of nations as a prosperous
country with responsible leadership charting its path. By abandoning Iran now,
we risk turning loose an angry bully in an already tense portion of the globe.
Here is the worst part for us. We are
at risk becoming a global bully ourselves. Many world leaders must be wondering
who is next on our President’s list? Is this a new form of “gunboat diplomacy?”
Are we returning to a world order in which we simply pummel weaker nations with
airpower until they submit to our desires? If we embrace this style of diplomacy,
we risk abandoning the higher principles to which we have historically aspired.
Obviously, we have often missed the mark; however, we have at least tried to listen
to our “better angels.” We castigated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his henchmen
for years, deriding their actions as state sponsored terrorism. When we so
easily resort to violence to achieve our national goals, we are dangerously
close to engaging in the same type of behavior ourselves. I understand that the
Iranian leadership has a long history of obfuscation to avoid compliance; yet, does
killing off the leadership of the country move us toward the goal of
responsible behavior? In any military operation innocents perish simply due to
proximity. Even in the most carefully targeted attack, innocent bystanders are
wounded, often succumbing to their wounds. Families and friends carry those scars
which frequently metastasize into the next generation of terrorists bent on revenge.
We cannot forget them, or the deep wound we are inflicting upon our own
national psyche or spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment