![]() ![]() Isolated and sanctioned, Iran was attacked in 1980 by Iraq and the subsequent eight-year war left a half-million dead, many by chemical weapons that we sold to the Iraqis. We replaced Mosaddegh with Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who was overthrow, a quarter century later, by a popular uprising that didn’t think his social reforms outweighed his economic mismanagement, profligate use of torture and ever-increasing authoritarian governance. Mosaddegh’s crime? Wanting to audit the books of the company that became British Petroleum and gaining control over his country’s own oil reserves. Our tempestuous relationship with that country spans my entire life, reaching back a decade before I was born, when CIA Director Allen Dulles directed the overthrow of the popular and democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953. A war with Iran would also be familiar ground. Where we find ourselves today would be familiar ground for Butler: nascent fascism, substandard veterans’ care and ill-conceived actions that only benefit corporations and the politicians they support. ![]() More: Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul praise Trump's response to Iran missile strike From Butler’s wars for American fruit and oil companies to the bizarre nexus of the Iran-Contra scandal during President Ronald Reagan’s second term, our ill-conceived meddling in affairs of sovereign states for profit has continuously come home to roost with unanticipated and disastrous result. That meddling continued throughout the 20th century as we repeatedly supported dictators and self-serving leaders without consideration of consequences. Today’s flood of asylum seekers and refugees from violence and chaos has its roots in our meddling in the affairs of Central American states on behalf of American corporations. military adventurism.Īnd though Butler’s warring took place over a century ago, we find ourselves still dealing with the fallout. He spent his later years speaking out against war profiteering, the maltreatment of returning veterans and U.S. We’d only corresponded before but, despite our rushed meeting, it was a thrill to speak with another Butler fan.ĭespite three decades of service in uniform, wars on four continents, two medals, Butler determined that war was a racket and that he’d spent a good part of his life killing people on behalf of American industrialists. Recently I met an Eastern Kentucky University professor in person with whom I share an admiration for Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler, who died in 1940. ![]() Watch Video: Trump: We took action to stop, not start a war ![]()
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