Ayatollah Cheney
First we learn that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been putting pressure on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to cease the nuclear program in Iran. This confirms what people who are, you know, experts on Iran and the Middle East have been telling us for some time: Ahmadinejad does not wield the absolute power Iran's more bellicose critics would have you imagine. But then I read this:
London -- An Iranian offer to help the United States stabilize Iraq and end its military support for Hezbollah and Hamas was rejected by Vice-President Dick Cheney in 2003, a former top State Department official told the British Broadcasting Corp.The State Department was open to the offer, which came in an unsigned letter sent shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Lawrence Wilkerson, former secretary of state Colin Powell's chief of staff, told BBC's Newsnight in a program broadcast Wednesday night. But, Mr. Wilkerson said, Mr. Cheney vetoed the deal.
"We thought it was a very propitious moment" to strike a deal, Mr. Wilkerson said. "But as soon as it got to the White House, and as soon as it got to the Vice-President's office, the old mantra of 'We don't talk to evil' . . . reasserted itself." (via Juan Cole)
You know things are bad when the frickin' Ayatollah--official title: The Supreme Leader of Iran--wants to broker a peace deal and the Vice President of the United States refuses because he doesn't negotiate with evil. Like I said earlier this week, neocons don't believe in diplomacy. They don't believe in peaceful negotiation. There's good and evil states in world affairs and it is the moral duty of the good states to crush the bad ones. That is seriously how simpleminded their worldview has become. Remember, neocons used to be considered formidable intellectuals. The reality is that they are whiny babies who exert influence over the foreign policy of the most powerful nation on earth.
Well, that's fucking great. And if you're not totally depressed by this, then go read this. God help us all.
(By the way, the Ayatollah Khamenei has long condemned nuclear weapons and terrorism. But since we in the US have been told since 1979 that the Ayatollah is a bad guy (the first one, that is), I played it up for effect. I think it's clear that only "evil" we should be concerned with is that of Richard "Dick" Cheney. Wow, see what you can learn with a few minutes of internet research! Also, read this to learn about Dick's Brain. Seriously, read it.)