The Open Village

It was actually shocking to read that Senator John McCain made an off-hand “joke” about the U.S. sending cigarettes to Iran to “kill” the Iranians. The logic of such a level of thinking is frightening, to say the least. It is not stretching it if we argue that for some reason yet unexplained to the American people, the senator is overly fixated on Iran. Such fixations lead to rash judgement and decision making and dilutes the otherwise serious discussions about how to deal with an intransigent regime/government/individual in the international community. We remember too well the results of the fixation a president had on a country and its leader in the not too distant past. Just ask the families of over 4,000 young men and women who went to Iraq and never made it back to the United States alive. Not too long ago, Senator McCain sang about bombing Iran and told those who thought that episode was obnoxious to “get a life”.

The reason this is very important is that he is campaigning to be the next president of the United States of America. As a result, whether he likes it or not, every person who matters in policy making in countries around the world would like to have an insight into the mind set of our next president. The rhetoric from Senator McCain about Iran has a long history and this history is being unraveled as we get closer to the election. We all know too well his concerted efforts to make a connection between Iran and the Sunni insurgents in Iraq. It may be a joke to Senator McCain that for all its tough talk and arm-twisting about sanctions against Iran, the U.S. had trade relations with the Iranian government worth $158 million. It may be a joke to Senator McCain that the cigarettes sold to Iran could kill them, but he should certainly understand why Iranian citizens are not laughing.

The Iranians are not synonymous with their government - a distinction people around the world have made a long time ago about American - that the actions of our government do not define us as a people. Such crass behavior from someone who is aspiring to be the president of the most powerful nation in the world is totally despicable. If such a comment had come from an Iranian, especially the Iranian president, joking that Iranian exports to the U.S were sent to kill Americans, I am sure Senator McCain would consider that a terror threat and perhaps, will be urging president Bush to go drop a few bombs on them. After all, when the Iranian president called Israel “a stinking corpse”, Senator McCain frothed at the mouth for weeks, and the world condemned Ahmedenejad for advocating that Israel be “wiped off the map”.

It is one thing to dislike a person, or the leader of another country for whatever reason. But to extend such dislike and apathy to an entire nation has no bearing in our national politics and civil society. We all know the terror that comes out of conflict. Senator McCain would do well to remember that these same Iranians he wants to kill with cigarrettes are themselves victims of an unstable leader who views the world through the same kind of lenses the senator seems to have on, at least in the case of Iran - the lens of hate.