Last week, Elham Pourtaher, an Iranian graduate student at the State University of New York in Albany, dere about how U.S. policies cause suffering and trauma far beyond U.S. borders. Her diabetic father, for example, is in danger of losing access to medicines because sanctions against Iranian banks make it nearly impossible to pay for imported goods, including nkà mmụta ọgwụ and food. Shortages could lead to thousands of deaths. Pourtaher kọwara “the collective sense of fear caused by the increased sanctions.”
Ụda Isi kwupụtara nchegbu that 150 people could be killed if U.S. airstrikes against Iran had been carried out last week. We must ask how many people could die because of economic warfare against Iran.
Agha akụ na ụba na-emebi akụ na ụba Iran ma na-akpagbu ndị Iran kacha emerụ ahụ - ndị ọrịa, ndị ogbenye, ndị agadi na ụmụaka.
In more than seventy visits to Iraq from 1991 to 2003, Voices in the Wilderness, a otu of peace activists I was part of, reported on deteriorating conditions as people struggled to find desperately needed goods, including medicines and medical relief supplies. By 1996, U.N. officials kọrọ that the economic sanctions directly contributed to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children.
N'ịbụ ndị na-apụ n'anya site na ọrịa ndị a pụrụ ịgwọta, ọtụtụ puku ụmụaka ndị banyere n'ụlọ ọgwụ ụmụaka ahapụbeghị. Na Baghdad, Mosul, Babylon, Amara, Nasiriyah, na Basra, anyị gara na ngalaba ndị ghọrọ ahịrị ọnwụ maka ụmụ ọhụrụ. Ụmụaka ndị ahụ abụghị ndị omekome ma ọlị. Ha enweghị ike ịza ajụjụ maka omume Saddam Hussein na ọchịchị aka ike na-achị Iraq. Ọnọdụ ha anaghị adịkarị na akụkọ akụkọ US banyere Iraq. Mana a tara ha ahụhụ n'ụzọ obi ọjọọ na nke na-egbu egbu, nke pụtara na Iraq nwere ike ịnwe ngwa ọgụ nke mbibi.
Ka ọ na-erule njedebe nke 2002, ọtụtụ ndị Iraqis m maara na-atụ egwu ọgụ ọhụrụ nke mbuso agha na mbuso agha. Ndị m ga-ewere dị ka akwara igwe kwuru, "Kwere m, Kathy, egwu na-atụ m," ma ọ bụ jụọ, "Olee otu m ga-esi chebe ụmụ m?"
On February 5, 2003, colleagues and I huddled over a shortwave radio on the balcony of Baghdad’s Al-Fanar hotel, straining to hear Colin Powell as he gosipụtara evidence that he said proved beyond a doubt that Iraq harbored weapons of mass destruction. After the 2003 bombing and invasion, evidence of Colin Powell’s allegations simply couldn’t be found. Now, Iraq is a broken, battered, and traumatized country.
Why should the United States now be punishing Iran?
In its last quarterly report, issued May 31, the International Atomic Energy Agency again kwadoro Iran’s compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the so-called nuke deal, even though the United States has reneged on it. Noted analyst Professor Juan Cole na-emesi ike that Iran’s theocratic government adheres to Islamic teachings, which forbid stockpiling or use of weapons that afflict mass casualties on civilian populations. This surely includes nuclear weapons.
The greatest outlier in terms of possessing nuclear weapons is the United States, which in an alarming new development has nyere seven permits for the transfer of sensitive nuclear information by U.S. businesses to the Saudi government. So far, the Saudi government has not shown readiness to abide by ihe nchebe which would prevent it from diverting or misusing nuclear materials to assemble nuclear weapons. Saudi Arabia already has sophisticated ballistic missile delivery systems. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman kwuru on national TV that if Iran acquires a nuclear weapon, so will Saudi Arabia.
Na 2016, United States banye a Memorandum of Understanding to provide Israel with $38 billion in military assistance over a ten-year period. Even though the official Israeli position is neither to confirm nor deny the existence of its nuclear weapons program, it is now estimated that Israel has a ngwa agha nuklia of at least eighty warheads. However, Israel still is not a state party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Ụkpụrụ abụọ dị na amụma mba ọzọ nke United States na-edebe-otu ụkpụrụ maka ndị mmekọ US na Israel na Saudi Arabia na ụkpụrụ dị iche iche maka Iran-na-emebi ọganihu ọ bụla na njedebe agha na ikike nke agha ọhụrụ na Middle East.
Kama ịta Iran ahụhụ, United States kwesịrị ịlaghachi ozugbo na nkwekọrịta nuklia Iran na nkwado nkwado na-aga n'ihu na-aga n'ihu mgbe niile na nkwekọrịta nkwekọrịta na-abụghị mgbasa nke nuklia maka mpaghara nnwere onwe ngwa agha nuklia na Middle East.
The U.S. government claims it is threatened by Iran. Yet, according to David Stockman ide in Antiwar.com, the United States surrounds Iran with forty-five U.S. bases, and Iran’s defense budget of less than $ 15 ijeri amounts to just ụbọchị asaa of money spent by the Pentagon.
The United States, which claims Iran is supporting terrorism, continues to enable Saudi Arabia’s aerial terrorism as it regularly bombs civilians in Yemen. On June 24th, a ship bound for Saudi Arabia departed from Wilmington, North Carolina carrying bombs, grenades, cartridges and defense-related aircraft. The United States also onunu weapons to Bahrain, the UAE, Sudan and other countries which actively participate in the Saudi-led Coalition making war against Yemen. The Saudi government directly na-akwado the military government in Sudan, which recently killed at least 100 peaceful protesters who were part of Sudan’s Democratic Uprising.
Rather than planning cyberattacks and new means of aggression, the United States should heed calls for dialogue and negotiation, relying on Albert Camus’s conclusion to his profound anti-war edemede following World War II: “The only honorable course will be to stake everything on the formidable gamble, that words are more powerful than munitions.”
A version of this article first appeared in The Progressive at www.progressive.org
Kathy Kelly ([email protected]) ngalaba na-ahazi Voice maka Creative Nonviolence (www.vcnv.org)
A na-akwado ZNetwork naanị site na mmesapụ aka nke ndị na-agụ ya.
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