I have distinct rembrances of being 12 years old and watching the 1980 winter Olympics and marvelling at what I believed, at the insistence of the American commentators at the time, to be the “miracle” of the U.S. hockey team beating all odds to win the gold medal. The U.S. victory at these winter games was recently memoralized in a film entitled, simply, “Miracle.”

Of course, I now realize that there were miracles at play here; just not the one I was led to believe. What was truly miraculous was the ability of the opinion shapers to convince us that any team of the United States — by far the richest and most privileged country in the world — could ever be the underdog in an athletic contest. It truly is a miracle of propaganda for a people to be convinced that the Cinderalla in this story was the country which monopolizes 25% of the world’s resources, while only having 6% of the world’s population — a true life loaves and fishes parable in reverse, and the other miracle in this tale. And yet, we still believe.

Our delusions of our underdog status would be laughable if they did not have such dire consequences for ourselves and the rest of the world. This David (read, the U.S.) versus Goliath (read, our ostensible enemies) story is told and retold to us to justify the worst crimes against humanity. A case in point is the U.S.’s current standoff with Iran. The Bush Administration, with the almost-complete complicity of the U.S. press, is now spinning a tale of how Iran — a country with no nuclear weapons and a very limited conventional force – represents a dire threat to the U.S. and Israel — two countries with substantial nucelar arsenals and superior conventional military might. And, the Bush Administration, as so many administrations before it (e.g., vis a vis Vietnam, Nicaragua, Iraq), is using this story to justify the use of overwhelming force and violence, possibly in the form of tactical nuclear weapons, to stem this alleged threat.

One of the more farcical examples of this fairy tale is the January 28 story in The New York Times, entitled “Iranian Reveans Plan to Expand Role in Iraq.” In this article, the Times relates, without irony, how U.S. officials are alarmed at the fact that Iran (a neighbor sharing a border with Iraq) is planning to open a national bank branch in Baghdad, to assist with Iraqi reconstruction (in the vast void left by the U.S.) and to even assist the Iraqi government with security. The message of the Times article was that Iran, by daring to assist its neighbor in such a way, was running dangerously afoul of “the Bush administration [which] has been warning the Iranians to stop meddling in Iraqi affairs.” In short, while the facts of the story support the conclusion that Iran is actually attempting to play the constructive role in Iraq which the U.S. claims it wishes Iran to play, the spin of the story is that Iran is engaging in intentionally provocative acts by such conduct. While such a spin is incredible to the rational reader, it appears that there is very little rationality left in this country.

The only salvation for this country, and for this world, is for the U.S. people to see ourselves and our country as we truly are, and to see how we pose a greater threat to the rest of the world than the rest of the world poses to us. It is only through such a realization that we will be able to step back from the violent course of action upon which our country is presently set. It is this miracle that I pray for.

I leave the reader with a slide show of Iran, an Iran most of us never see, which was sent to me by a dear friend:


 http://lucasgray.com/video/peacetrain.html



I also urge you to visit the following link and take two minutes to urge Congress to stop a U.S. war with Iran: Act to Stop the War.


 http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/justforeignpolicy.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6507