Letter to the Editor: Will Ireland allow itself be party to a US war with Iran?
After US President Donald Trump walked away from the Iranian nuclear deal, which closed the door on diplomacy, his administration’s pretext of freeing Iranians from authoritarianism is similar in tone to previous US war propaganda in this region.
The CIA now publicly admits that it was behind the notorious 1953 coup against Iran’s democratically elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, and when the US backed Shah was finally overthrown, it led to our present-day Islamic Republic of Iran.
In his 2010 memoirs, A Journey: My Political Life, former UK prime minister Tony Blair suggests that former US vice-president Dick Cheney wanted forcible “regime change” in all Middle Eastern countries that he considered hostile to US interests. The neocons in 2003 believed that Iraq would be a “cake walk”, but that “real men go to Tehran”.
But Iran is not impoverished; not like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, which have been destroyed.
If the United States launches a major assault on Iran, this powerful nation will target their missiles on the many surrounding US military bases here. Retaliation will lead to escalation and potentially a nuclear war. Since 2002, Ireland has continued to facilitate this US regime-change strategy, by allowing US warplanes to refuel at Shannon Airport, and by facilitating the transportation of three million US troops and military equipment to these never-ending wars in the Middle East and north Africa.
So, in the event of a US war on Iran, will the Irish Government, which supports the Iranian nuclear deal, encourage diplomacy by terminating our support for yet another war, or do we remain a de facto US airforce base?
Chair, Peace & Neutrality Alliance
Dalkey Business Centre
Castle Street
Dalkey
Co. Dublin
