Let Ahmadinejad speak

By Libby The Columbia Coalition Against the War issued a statement on the upcoming speech by Ahmadinejad at the University that addresses the bomb first, talk later crowd. They make a good point. We fear the demonization of Ahmadinejad, because we think this demonization contributes to the likelihood of war. In the current climate, with many on the political right in the U.S. and Israel pushing for air strikes, a campaign against Ahmadinejad is dangerous, regardless of the intentions of most involved. A call to action, unless it prominently rules out war, implies military action. Indeed, the absolute worst scenario for our national security and the stability of the Middle East would be a pre-emptive strike on Iran over a fledging nuclear program that is years away from ever getting off the ground. Besides, the Ahmadilooney's lunatic ravings aside, it's foolish to belive Iran would be so suicidal as to launch one or two nukes against us, knowing our capacity to respond. It astounds me that those that demand action against this "threat" don't see they are being played as useful fools by the war profiteers who make their money on conflict, not peaceful co-existence. But the must read on this issue is Kevin Hayden, who in what may be his most eloquent post ever, nails the hysterical hordes and demonstrates the power of words over weaponry. Politicians and pundits often state that war is a last resort for them, but it soon becomes apparent which ones have never carried a suitcase into any other resort. Fox News and the Daily News well understand how to harness the power of hate because it is an animal built for the yoke. But the yoked plow fields that can never feed a single soul, save for the gunsmith and the mortician, who measure their well being in blood. It is easy to be for hate, easy to lose the distinction between the hateful and the hated, easy to avoid any chance for dialogue and with it, the chance for peaceful compromise. It is too hard for them, too great a task, too much to ask one ounce of real effort to forge the steel of peace. That burden can only be borne by the hardy, the strong and the wise, not those conditioned to always take the easy way out, the path to war, the journey they will demand others to march from their safe and easy chairs. As the saying goes, read the whole thing. Kevin makes a brilliant case for nuanced negotiation over the self-defeating, asinine calls for annihilation. All I can add is this current silly outrage looks like nothing so much as cowardice when the mere suggestion of allowing a world leader to speak publicly on our soil can create such a panicked frenzy. Are they afraid his crazy ravings are going to make us look bad? I mean if the goal of this misbegotten anger is to somehow humiliate Iran's president, don't the chest thumpers realize that having to answer what are sure to be difficult questions from the audience is likely to cause Ahmadinejad to lose more face than our bombing his innocent citizens into oblivion over a nuclear program that isn't even a real threat yet? Let the man speak. It will only hurt him more than it will us.