It has been a while since I have written on this thing, so I'm just writing to see what comes to mind. Oh well here is a good one, I was sitting in the mall food court on my unpaid half hour lunch watching CNN. I saw that our fearless leader George W. Bush ok'd some covert operations which were to be aimed at undermining the Iranian government. I really am an opponent of this sort of sabotage and warfare. It goes to the heart of my argument against war. Well, I suppose I am not completely against war, but I feel it should be an absolute last resort. This means take into account all diplomatic means to secure an agreement or solution before war. Yet even now I am doubting my support for war. I feel like human beings try to draw cut and dry lines too much; they want win or lose, black or white, right or wrong...unfortunately this is rarely the case. Thus human beings always draw themselves into the realm of competition (ie, war) where winners and losers can more easily be distinguished.

Is it possible that we can really give diplomacy a chance instead of undermining governments? I certainly hope so. I think Iran has some honest complaints. For example, they have a legitimate beef with our militarism and bolstering of our own nuke programs while at the same time condemning that of other nations. Would it be so hard to demilitarize in exchange for the same from Iran? Wouldn't this show a much more conciliatory attitude toward the rest of the world and perhaps improve our tarnished international image? It may be idealistic to hope for world peace, but it is not so to hope for a less arrogant and condescending United States of America.

So back to covert operations. What happens when we undermine the Iranian government? I should not that I believe the method of choice was attacking their financial institutions which doesn't just impact the elite in Iran but the poorest of the poor, some who already struggle to get by. So what we'll create in Iran is an increasingly unstable country, while fueling the already masses of religious and anti-west zealots. Iran need only to point out that the reason the easily convinced masses are struggling is because of the evil United States...and is there not an element of truth to this? I love my country, I love our ideals and what they stand for, but the people need to continue to force their leaders to live up to those ideals. Ideals, although we may not live up to them always, challenge us to a higher state of existence, which is why idealism is important. An apathetic America has allowed our leaders, in particular the right, to become increasingly bold, unyielding, and myopic on the world stage. The answer to Iran is not covert operations or military chest thumping in the gulf. It involves listening and diplomacy...talking. These are things Americans struggle with.