[lbo-talk] Iran petition

Michael Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
Sat Jul 26 07:46:56 PDT 2008


On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:31:14 -0400 Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:


> I signed because it said "don't attack Iran!" It took about 30
> seconds. It's an essentially meaningless gesture, but I couldn't say
> no. As you know, I don't think much of Comrade Obama.

I appreciate the quandary: any gesture is arguably better than no gesture, right?

But so much is given away -- gladly, joyfully given away -- in how the argument is constructed that I wonder whether this thing doesn't pass the tipping point from futility to downright harm.

It doesn't actually say "don't attack Iran" -- it says "tell Bush that *he's* not allowed to attack Iran." And the "public" has a "democratic... right to decide" to attack Iran? Attacking Iran would be "counterproductive" -- for whom? Suppose it *were* productive for the people who want to do it?

Who actually wrote the thing -- do you know?



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