US Secretary of State — Mike Pompeo — is doing his best to start a war with Iran

© 2018 Peter Free

 

21 May 2018

 

 

Secretary of State Pompeo — informally presented Iran with a list of impossible demands

 

That is what the United States does, when it has elected to start a war.

 

Today, speaking to the Heritage Foundation, the Secretary of State happily went over achievability's top:

 

 

Among Iran's must-do's, Pompeo includes[:]

 

 

stopping missile launches and the development of nuclear-capable missiles,

 

allowing the IAEA with "unqualified access" to missile sites throughout the country,

 

releasing all U.S. citizens,

 

ending support for terrorist groups like Lebanese Hezbollah and the youths militia and Taliban in Afghanistan and the IRGC Quds Forces,

 

taking forces that they control out of Syria,

 

and respecting the sovereignty of the Iraqi government.

 

 

"The leaders in Tehran will have no doubt about our seriousness," Pompeo urged, adding that U.S. sanctions will be the "strongest sanctions in history by the time we are done."

 

© 2018 Kylie Atwood, Mike Pompeo lays out laundry list for Iran as U.S. moves away from nuclear deal, CBS News (21 May 2018) (reformatted excerpts)

 

 

Indicative of how extreme Secretary Pompeo's demands are . . .

 

. . .is this megalomaniacal statement:

 

 

“We will track down Iranian operatives and their Hezbollah proxies operating around the world and crush them."

 

“Iran will never again have carte blanche to dominate the Middle East.”

 

© 2018 Akbar Shahid Ahmed and Jessica Schulberg, Mike Pompeo Promises To ‘Crush’ Iran And Achieve A Better Deal, Huffington Post (21 May 2018)

 

 

The moral? — Apocalyptic lunacy has overwhelmed the United States

 

Neoconservatism (meaning militaristic imperialism) — and Christian fundamentalism's occasional infatuation with creating conditions for Armageddon — have shut down American leadership's ability to think sanely.

 

When the U.S. Department of State (supposedly home of diplomats) begins (in Mike Pompeo's characteristically foaming form) to speak like rabid Dogs of War, you know the planet is in trouble.

 

What is disappointing is that President Trump used to pretend that he wanted to avoid unnecessary foreign conflicts. Now, it seems that his Administration is about provoking as dangerously many of these as possible.

 

What we have conclusively demonstrated, since the Iraq War, is that the United States and its public are obtusely incapable of learning from mistakes.

 

Given our intrusively meddlesome global violence, do you think that American policy discourages or encourages the proliferation of nukes?