Sen. Kirk undermines US - Iran detente

Illinois has the misfortune of being home to Mark Kirk, one of the Senate's most virulent war mongers. Kirk entered the US House in 2001 and proceeded to champion and pay for, without reservation, our trillion dollar criminal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The man loves militarism and warfare, legal or otherwise, and on his watch its been all otherwise. You will not get a smidgeon of criticism or guilt about this madness from Kirk. He trumpets American exceptionalism 24/7/365 even if what we're exceptional at is seeking empire against seemingly defenseless nations. What he and his neocon buddies in Congress like John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) never contemplated, is that the hapless souls we bomb can fight back with booby traps and suicide bombers, putting both Afghanistan and Iraq in the loss column. These insane wars have left hundreds of thousands of GI's dead, wounded or mentally damaged, with a suicide rate that now exceeds combat as their biggest cause of death.

Not content with his handiwork in Iraq and Afghanistan, Kirk's now working in concert with the aforementioned McCain and Graham to derail the President's effort at détente with Iran. New Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has established the first dialogue with America since the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. Both presidents are working to reduce tensions with mutual concessions from Iran on its alleged nuclear program, and America on its crippling economic sanctions. But Kirk is leading the call for even more sanctions which guarantees failure. Tragically, that is precisely what he wants to placate his handlers in the war party who need new militarism to sell their wares, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, directing his American puppets to bring about regime change in Iran since he can't do it alone. Kirk appears clueless to the terrible irony whereby he survived his near fatal stroke with million dollar plus medical care while his economic sanctions serve to degrade health care delivery to ordinary Iranians, causing many to suffer and die. Incredibly, Kirk had the audacity to tell CBS's Sixty Minutes that his gold plated stroke lifesaver hasn't garnered his support for universal health care. "We simply can't afford it", he opined, not mentioning its because we need that money for criminal wars.

Mark Kirk would be better served joining the peace wing of Congress which includes a smattering of Republicans as well as Democrats. He could start by telling McCain and Graham to get lost and burning his membership cards in the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex and the Israel Lobby. Then he should offer his full support for substantive US-Iran talks, the kind of diplomacy that kept me safe for the first 45 years of my life during the Cold War between the US and Russia.

Also published at www.glenellynpatch.com