And so we move on to Indiana and North Carolina. The pronoun 'we’ could refer to a host of persons involved in the U.S. Democratic race for the presidential nomination. Primarily, the ‘we’, is the two combatants, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Often times, you will hear their respective political advisors mentioning this catch phrase, implying that the hundreds of staffers, thousands of volunteers and millions of primary and caucus voters will now await the results of the next state to determine who will be their choice for the highest office in the world. This leads to the final 'we’, the world. The world now awaits two states’ primaries that they would have little chance of locating on the contiguous U.S. This is hardly to say that the average American could pinpoint these two states on a map, which according to polls conducted of recent high school graduates’ geography skill, rings true.
As emphasized in previous columns, the decision that could very well finally be decided within the next two weeks, is crucial to the next 4-12 years of U.S. foreign policy. So, we, the world, have a large stake in the election.
Arguably, those keeping watch with the most scrutiny on the night’s affairs on May 6 (or in Tehran, Qom and Isfahan, at approximately nine a.m. the next day) will be Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Results coming in during the day’s second call to prayer will determine whether Iran will be bombed or put on the agenda for the highest level of talks. It seems like a glaring difference, but in interviews with Time Magazine, CNN’s Larry King Live and most of the other news programs and morning talk shows, these seem to be the prevailing opinions of the said Democrats.
Mrs. Clinton has stated as recently as last week that she would pave the way to taking on another ‘Axis of Evil’, allowing the already stretched National Guard, Reserves and Armed Forces as well as private contractors, to be present on a third front in the war on terror. The plan is incredibly foolish, but furthermore simply dismissing the progress Iran has taken, or the corollary, the stunting of its advancement, in obtaining nuclear weapons, is borderline psychotic. Clinton’s plan to attack regardless of the situation does not make for a sound plan of deterrence. A slight majority (54-46) of respondents of the highly respected London-based daily, Financial Times, state that a nuclear Iran would not pose a threat to the West (U.S.) is incorrect. The U.S.’s 50th state, Hawaii, is well within range of a weapon attack. The site, as memory will serve, happened to be the trigger that launched the country into the world’s deadliest war to date. What the Financial Times’ readers fail to understand, is that a great deal of the interests of the U.S. lie in the Middle East, and a nuclear-equipped Iran will cancel out any possibility of the region being somewhat stable for several generations. Bombing Iran is categorically a political suicide initiative for both Clinton and the U.S. Bombing Iran will multiply the already scores of resistance present within the region, a trend that could perhaps never be reversed.
The one man that seems to recognize this is Clinton’s challenger, Obama. He has taken a lot of criticism for challenging the status quo and putting forward a plan to begin talks with the pariah state. And why not? The 10-15 per cent favourable opinion of the U.S. in the region has little way of plummeting further should these future talks ever mitigate circumstances. Iran could prove to be a valuable ally, yes, ally, in fighting Sunni insurgents, sworn enemies of those in Tehran. The Ayatollah in Iran also OKs initiatives by the Sadrists and Mahdi Army, one of the most crucial factors in recent lull in violence in Iraq. The U.S. needs peace doves at a time when war hawks are ravaging the area. In ‘Mess-opotamia’ where the Tigris River is now inaccessible to Iraqis, a failed state is beyond recognition and repair. Finally a philosophy that is causing terrorism to spiral out of control, lives to be quantified simply in tallied numbers and the seeds of hate to spread like a virus is fast becoming a reality.
Obama realizes that these problems can stop or at least be eased. It begins in Iran, it does not end in Iran. Talk will not be cheap in this instance, negotiations will be of the utmost importance, diplomacy will need to lead to deterrence. Wrongs must be righted. Mistakes must be admitted. Iran must be cajoled and catered to in order for erase the fact that many officials have erred. Iran must take precedence, devotion must be given, action must be taken.
We, the people, the Constitution of the U.S., once declared, will be watching on May 6-7, over May and June and in January 2009 when the new U.S. president takes the oath of office. ‘We’, the people of Iran, will put that timeframe under intense scrutiny, it may very well determine the tide of warfare for years to come.