They have that right as a sovereign nation. They have a right to develop nuclear weapons for their own defense. So does Iran have that right, and all other nations.
Those insurgents in Iraq that have been fighting our American soldiers and the other invaders — as well as their own countrymen who have accepted the protection and guidance of America and its allies — have the natural right to fight for their country and drive out the invaders if they can.
Fighting to protect one’s people and defend one’s homeland is an inalienable right that goes all the way back to the caveman and even back to the beginning when man first started walking upright.
Who’s making the rules here? America, with more weapons of mass destruction than all the other nations combined? America and the seven or eight other nations that have nuclear weapons?
Is it the United Nations that makes the rules? Is it the UN Security Council with its five permanent members and its 10 non-permanent members? Does it boil down to the top five, each with the power to veto any measure?
Unless the rules are just and followed by those making the rules, why should a sovereign nation feel any obligation to follow the rules? If it’s all right for some to break the rules but not all right for others, why should a sovereign people feel any obligation to accept the rules?
Is it all right for Israel to not pay any attention to a UN resolution, but not all right for an Arab nation?
Did America, along with the United Kingdom and other allies, have the right to break International Law and the UN Charter and attack Iraq for the illegal purpose of regime change?
Has America, the United Kingdom and their allies been sanctioned or punished for that crime which has cost from 30,000 to 100,000 lives? By whose authority, by what right and for what purpose does America continue to spearhead the Iraq war?
Which brings us back to why North Korea had the right to test fire those missiles last week and why she and Iran have the right to develop nuclear weapons for their own defense.
Didn’t President George W. Bush give them that right on Jan. 29, 2002, in his State of the Union address when he rattled his war saber and threatened them all by naming Iraq, Iran and North Korea the “axis of evil”?
If that threat itself wasn’t enough, didn’t our unprovoked attack on Iraq make it clear beyond any shadow of doubt that Iran and North Korea would be next in his sights?
Hasn’t our continuation of the war in Iraq and in Afghanistan and our War on Terror, which Bush believes gives him the right to strike any nation in the world, made it clear to Iran and North Korea that they had better prepare themselves to defend their countries?
Hasn’t Bush presented a Roadmap to War to the entire world making it clear that we will attack any nation, beginning with the weakest nations first, while claiming that it is part of our War on Terror so that we can fight them over there instead of on the sidewalks of New York?
Isn’t that the main reason that nations all around the globe have been building up their defenses and increasing their military budgets? Not because they are afraid of the terrorists but because they can read the writing on the wall and have seen our Roadmap to War in action.
Isn’t it reasonable to believe that that is the main reason that North Korea test fired those missiles, because she knows that if she is going to be able to defend herself against America and her allies, she had better come up with some nuclear weapons that will keep us at bay?
Isn’t that why Iran insists that she has the right to develop nuclear technology? Not just because she is a sovereign nation, but, like North Korea, has good reason to believe that it is in the best interest to her safety that she build a fire of protection against the hungry lion that is America?
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Naman Crowe, a Vietnam veteran, began his award-winning journalism career in 1971. He has written for numerous publications. He can be reached at namancrowe@yahoo.com.
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