“I genuinely believe now they [the US and Israel] didn’t have a plan. I was still hoping I was wrong, but the Shahran attack changed the way I look at this war right now,” he said. “If the regime is what you want to hit, even if you think these depots were used by the regime, where do you draw the line? What about us, the ordinary Iranians? We rely on this civil infrastructure. Why take away our ability to govern in the future? Who can rebuild utter ruins?”
Amir said he now had constant anxiety about Iran “turning into another Iraq”, a country the US invaded in 2003, promising freedom but delivering a civil war. Israeli leaders have also previously called on Palestinians in Gaza and the Lebanese people to rise up against oppression, only to later kill them in large numbers.
“My heart is so heavy,” said Amir. “I don’t even have tears left. Only anger and more anger. At this regime, and them,” he added, referring to the US and Israel.
I’ve never been to war, but I did join (got discharged before I could finish my last week of boot, but that’s another story) I study war at least. Not just the logistics of it or the battles written by poets. But the actual tellings by the men and women (a lot of men) about the horrors of it.
The monsters it brings out in humans. The bloodlust that can overtake some of us. Like hell on a bike, wasn’t it Osama that like half life and counter strike? There’s a chance we played with that dude at one point… besides becoming a leader of a radical group and doing bad shit, he probably was a normal dude. But the constant war, the constant bloodshed, the constant invading forces raping your people…who the fuck wouldn’t change.
And see, I get that. I see why they hate us. I don’t hate them, I hate what they’ve become, but it’s our fault, and I don’t blame em one bit. The hardest thing is that I see how few people around here get that or understand it or even try to see it from their side. Some folks do, but for the most part, it’s like being trapped in a room with idiots who repeat what they hear each other saying.
(By around here, I mean in the states, not on lemmy, y’all are pretty okay for the most part.)