Educating the Uninformed

For the past several days, I've been having a conversation with an acquaintance. She brought an enormously long "well-researched report" about the dangers of Barack Obama to a list populated by editors. The "well-researched" report turned out to be a letter written by a member of her family, a person who claims to be a journalist. Yet it consisted of third-hand reports of rumors, innuendos, half-truths, and outright lies. Fortunately, she's open to learning and really wants to know the truth. In the most recent exchange, she mentioned Iran and said that she's not sure that John McCain's criticism of Obama for being willing to talk to the Iranians is appropriate.

My response: I'm glad you believe in talking. After all, if you don't talk to those who some think are your enemies, what happens? War. Keep in mind that the "leader" of Iran, has no real power. He is a figurehead. The real power is with religious leaders and they have not said the kinds of things certified nutcase Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said.

Should we talk without conditions? The United States was talking with Nikita Khruschev before and after his shoe-pounding speech at the United Nations in which he threatened to "bury" the United States. NOT talking is deadly. Talking may not resolve the problems between people, but it's better than not talking.

Also bear in mind that after 9/11, Iran actively helped the United States track down some of the bad guys. This information is available in books written by people who were in intelligence agencies at the time.

It may also be worth noting that it was the United States that forced Iran to start a nuclear program, largely at the behest of US manufacturers.

My correspondent sayd that she would feel better if she had proof that Obama had made strong declarations that he will not compromise with Israel's enemies and that he will stand with Israel.

As a matter of fact, Obama did this when he visited Israel in July of this year: One report, with photos is here.

And Harretz.com, in February, wrote "He added that has always been 'a stalwart friend of Israel's' and said he considers Israel to be one of the U.S.' 'most important allies in the region [Mideast]. I think that their security is sacrosanct,' he added." Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/958748.html

It really isn't very hard to find the truth, or at least a reasonable approximation. Use Google or Yahoo and then visit the websites of legitimate news organizations, newspapers in the region, and the like. Avoid the loony left and rabid right websites. Read a lot of sources. The Internet makes this easy. You might even consider reading Al Jazeera, which is nowhere near as anti-American as the right-wing nuts claim. There's probably more journalistic integrity at Al Jazeera there than at Fox. Reading it, if nothing else, provides perspective. http://english.aljazeera.net/