What I
found most disturbing about Allen Bernard West speech against Obama and the deal with Iran is not the speech itself but the
fact that his warmongering is hailed as patriotic and common
sense. Allen says that Iran is the number one sponsor of terrorism. The validity
of the assertion depends on how he defines terrorism, but he makes references to
fundamentalistic militant Islam. Allen, a paratrooper officer and a congressman, knows that Islamic terrorist groups
like ISIS and Al Qaeda are sponsored by Saudi Arabia and that they are not only
not supported by Iran, but are actual mortal enemies of Iran itself. The deal,
if anything, is an intent by Iran to appease the US. Iran agrees to have foreign
bodies supervise his nuclear program and set limits in exchange for the promise
to have sanctions lifted in the future.
Moreover, in terms of mortal risks to people in the West, terrorism is less of a treat than diet. Climate change, antibiotic resistance, soil loss and nuclear proliferation by states (including Israel) are orders of magnitude more dangerous.
