Dear Editor,
I was in Iran in 1970 and 1971. I had lived in Tehran. While there, I got to travel to several cities and towns in many parts of the country. What I saw was an eye opener. I got to visit Isfahan, where I got to see oriental rugs being hand-tied. I went to Zanjan and bought several handmade knives. I visited Shiraz and climbed all around Takht-e Jamshid, otherwise known as Persepolis. I saw Tehran, a city of about 2 1/2 million people, mostly in 3-story buildings. That would make Tehran a sprawling city located on the side of a group of mountains.
At that time, it was in the process of becoming a very modern city. There were many churches, several synagogues and, of course, lots of mosques. It was the gem of the country. It had large manufacturing plants, such as Mercedes, a booming diamond district, the world’s first malls, now known as bazaars. They were over 2,500 years old.
I saw towns with one water fountain in the town square and maybe two generators, which provided power for shared lighting around the square. In Tehran, it was 1970; in the outskirts, it was pre-1900. This was a country rapidly entering the twentieth century. This was also the development of the first middle class the country has had.
While there, I also witnessed cassette tapes of the mullahs being smuggled in, sold or given away on the streets, and played constantly as the mullahs began the process of overthrowing the Shah. I saw half of the women wearing the chador (the floor-length veil) and half abandoning them. The clash between the radicals and people in the process of westernizing was there if you noticed it.
Nine years later, the difference between those women meant that some of them died for not wearing that chador. Over those years, and through approximately 13 assassination attempts on the Shah, the military guarding the Shah became very paranoid and, in their overzealousness protecting the Shah and their power, a lot of people were killed or imprisoned. This was the atmosphere that led to the overthrow of the Shah.
No one believed that the theocracy that replaced the monarchy would be much worse. In the last three months, we have witnessed about 32,000 people murdered for protesting the ayatollahs. In the last year, this number may have reached 50,000 people killed.
If you are looking for ethical justification for the current actions, this gets you halfway there. The other half is easily covered by Iran’s sponsorship of its terrorist proxies (Hezbollah, the Houthis, Hamas, and the Syrians) and the damage they have done to the USA, Israel, and several other countries with their terrorist activities, their warlike attacks, and their piracy on the open oceans.
Let us not forget that they have been screaming for the death of America for their entire 47 years. Their goals have never changed, never lessened, and never let up. When someone tells you who they are and keeps hitting you while telling you, you should eventually believe them.
In taking the actions we have just done, there are great risks involved. We have toppled a regime that has been functioning for 47 years. Re-establishing a functioning government structure is no small accomplishment. It has only been done successfully once in Germany by George Patton and maybe a second time by Donald Trump in Venezuela. Too soon to tell how this will work out, but it is holding so far.
Trust and verify, constantly. Where the leadership comes from, it must be Iranian. Reza Pahlavi, the Shah’s son, was taught to be a leader and is actively trying to help his people seize this moment and this freedom. There are many in Iran who do not want him, but he may be a great transition leader, and he has stayed in this country because of our freedoms. There may be others who may rise to the moment who are not well known, and only time will tell.
This must be settled within the country, but it is difficult to imagine it turning out worse than the theocracy did.
The final point of discussion here will be something that will be beaten to death. Is what President Trump just did Constitutional? Our forefathers saw things like this coming and wrote it into the Constitution.
“The President SHALL be Commander in Chief of the Army and the Navy of the United States and of the Militia of the several States, when called into actual service…”
All other laws have been instituted by Congress. The important ones here are that the President must report to Congress within 48 hours and that Congress has 60 days to decide whether to declare war. Any other actions Congress wants to take must follow their standard procedure.
That means they must either pass a bill with more than 50 percent of both houses of Congress and the President must sign or veto it, or they must pass a bill with 66 percent of both houses to override a Presidential veto.
Also, the President must appoint ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate. As the chief executive, he is responsible for how they function in day-to-day dealings internationally. He may also negotiate treaties, which become effective after receiving the “Consent of the Senate.”
Our forefathers knew that daily operations can never be done by any deliberative body but eventually should be accepted or shot down by just such a body.
Some of this last paragraph is copied directly from the Constitution, and some of it is collected from “various sources,” so you are encouraged to look up anything you want clarified more.
Sincerely,
Joseph Shortino
Owego, New York
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