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GUEST OPINION
I had breakfast with Ryan Crocker the same day The Miner reprinted an article from the Spokesman Review “Baumgartner Talks Iran” which included comments from Crocker. Crocker was a diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon in 1983 when it was attacked by a suicide bomber. Crocker repeated the statement at the breakfast that he was pleased that Iran was getting what they deserve. Also at the breakfast was a retired foreign service finance manager who was recently stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Bagdad. Those distinguished people are very deliberate and guarded in discussing the Middle East.
Our congressman isn’t as guarded in justifying the current war America and Israel started with Iran. U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner stated that Iranbacked militants were responsible for the deaths of at least 603 Americans in Iraq between 2003 and 2011. “No other terrorist regime has claimed more American lives,” Baumgartner said. I wonder where he was on 9-11 when 15 Saudi citizens flew airliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon killing over 3,000 people? That’s why Baumgartner got sent to Iraq in the first place. Neither Iraq nor Iran were involved in 9-11, but it didn’t matter to our revengeful politicians. We Americans wanted payback, and it didn’t matter if more Americans and innocent civilians died in the process.
I would like our congressman to answer this question, “What is the goal of the U.S/Israel war with Iran?” Currently, all the war is doing is strangling world oil supplies and increasing prices while setting America up for another Middle East failure. America has yet to learn that bombing other countries doesn’t make us safer. It just creates more terrorists and risks for our citizens.
At the breakfast Crocker also repeated this statement, “But the other part of me, the rational part of me, says, ‘Ok, what does this set as a precedent? Where do we go from here? What are the consequences?’ And we’re not having that discussion.”
Yes, how does killing bad guys and innocent civilians in the Middle East make America safer? This reminds me of the guy who climbed a ladder with a torch to burn a hornet’s nest hanging from the eve of his pole building. He fell off the ladder and broke his leg while the torch set his building on fire. Next season, the hornet nest was back, and the guy is once again grabbing for a ladder.
No, congressman, I don’t want to send my grandkids to the Middle East to fight and die getting revenge for what happened in the past. Iran has been weeks away from a nuclear weapon for over 20 years. This time you need to show us the proof.
PETE SCOBBY WAS A COLD WAR GOVERNMENT CONTRACTOR SUPPORTING NUCLEAR WEAPONS DEPLOYMENT, SPY SATELLITE LAUNCHES AND NUCLEAR WASTE CLEANUP.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Pete Scobby met Ryan Crocker through a men’s breakfast group started by Alan Shriver years ago. Shriver is a former pastor at United Church of Christ in Newport. The group has retired doctors, lawyers, military, ministers and a few people like Scobby. Alan invited Crocker as a guest on Wednesday. Scobby sat next to him, and the group had an interesting exchange about the Middle East. Also in attendance was the wife of a retired minister who recently retired from the US Foreign Service. She was stationed at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
