War Ina Babylon

The Hersh piece on a possible US invasion of Iran, and the use of Tactical Nukes, is suddenly everywhere. Naturally, there are those who think this is a brilliant idea, and others who think it is stupid. Joshua Frank points out that it maybe moot point, kind of like Iraq, at this point.

I was afraid of this. Covington posted on this chatter awhile ago as well. I'm not setting us up as geniuses, but I'm afraid the warning's been on the wall since before Operation Iraqi Goatfuck.

Consider this: With the boondoggle in Iraq, and pro Iranian agitators in Baghdad, invading Iran would, in effect, erase the partition of these historically connected folks, and the creation of a Persian Fundermentalist Hegemon in the region, controlling a bunch of real estate and resources, in effect, it would be the creation of a blackhole double the size that we already have in the region, not the mention the alienation and antipathy that this would bring our way in the rest of the world. We are unable to secure the peace in Iraq, and it is a considerably smaller country. Imagine trying to control twice that area.

You see, a conventional invasion of Iran would be idiotic: We have neither the money, nor the troops to do this, and, moreover, because of the NeoCon movement, we are unable to rally the necessary support for this sort of thing. To attempt an invasion would be suicide, leaving us totally vulnerable. No one will help us. We, in effect, become the rogue nation. If Iran is developing weapons, then we must, for the sake of sanity, find a diplomatic solution. However, it would seem that BushCo and their sycophants want this Highlander-style Showdown with the rest of the world...There can be only one, right?

Since Bush took office, everytime I hear the great Max Romeo sing his "War Ina Babylon", I can't help but be struck by its power and prescience. The Babylon in this case, is not only the biblical Babylon, an unholy, unjust place, but in the Rastafari faith, it is the corrupt and the oppressive Anglo-Euro-American culture which keeps the original man from the truth. Romeo talks about sitting on a mountain, watching Babylon burn. Embedded, I feel, in the lyric, is the idea that Babylon burns itself to the ground, because:

"When come pride then cometh shame/A man pride shall bring him low, yeah, oh yeah/Honour shall uphold the humble in spirit [...]"

The lesson Romeo is trying to teach us is an essentially Christian one: Hubris brings its own destruction, and the hubris of waging an aggressive war under false pretensions, the hubris of using a national trauma to con people into going along with it, and the hubris of thinking it is our position in the world to create it in its own image, or seemingly to destroy it to bring about the Kingdom, is pride that sticks in the Throat of God, the perversion of his message through his Sons...

Talk about being on the wrong side of history.