Many
mistakes are repeated in world history.
Humanity never seems to learn from the
mistakes of its ancestors -- only to
repeat them over and over again. Afterwards,
those who committed the error are apologetic.
Such
is the case of Baroness Eliza Manninham-Buller,
former head of the MI5 British Intelligence
Service. This woman, who headed the
British spy services until 2007 and
the last stage of the government of
Prime Minister Tony Blair, stated before
a Parliamentary commission that Britain’s
participation in the Iraqi invasion
was a mistake and only served to increase
the risk of terrorist attempts against
British objectives.
“We
gave Bin Laden his jihad. The war stressed
the extremist idea that the West was
attempting to end Islam.” said
Lady Manningham-Buller before the Chilcot
Commission that is investigating London’s
role in the Iraqi invasion.
Her
story is similar to that of Robert McNamara,
former U.S. Defense Secretary during
the governments of John F. Kennedy and
Lyndon B. Johnson. He was the mastermind
of the “prefabricated” incident
in the Gulf of Tonkin, which served
as a pretext for the U.S. war of aggression
against Vietnam.
McNamara
was also a presidential advisor in the
intensification of the war and the criminal
bombardments against North Vietnam.
And McNamara was one of those behind
President John F. Kennedy in 1962 during
the October Missile Crisis that put
the world on the verge of a nuclear
war and Cuba under the threat of annihilation.
Many years later, McNamara characterized
the U.S. war against Vietnam as a mistake
and said he had regretted the decisions
he made in the past. In October 2002,
during a meeting between Cuban and U.S.
authorities held in Havana on the experiences
of the October Missile Crisis, McNamara
said that the incident took place due
to errors of the Kennedy administration.
“If
I had been part of the Cuban government
in 1962, I would have thought that the
U.S. would attack us and would have
prepared for the island’s defenses
just as they did,” said McNamara
before the participants of the meeting
-- among them President Fidel Castro.
A
look back at the events that sparked
the incidents were analyzed by its much
older and more experienced government
officials, allowing them to recognize
their mistakes.
It
is unfortunate that the governments
that carried out important and high
risk decisions were not able to reflect
before making such moves at the time.
And it is deplorable that recognizing
the mistakes, in the case of wars, only
comes after the damage is already done
and blood has been shed.
Today,
U.S. and Israeli leaders are taking
steps for the preparation of a possible
nuclear attack against the Islamic Republic
of Iran. The leader of the Cuban Revolution
Fidel Castro has been the first to warn
the Cuban people and the world about
the dangers of such a colossal mistake.
As
in other times and with his unique ability,
Fidel has travelled into the future
and then returned to warn us of the
terrible consequences of the plans by
Washington and Tel Aviv.
Will
history repeat itself again? And when
U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu grow
older, will they recognize their mistake?
Barack
Obama still has time to reflect and
pull back from a possible confrontation.
He must do so before the missiles are
launched and hit their targets. If a
nuclear attack is carried out against
Iran, Obama and Netanyahu will surely
regret the incident years later -- but
then it will be too late. The blood
and tears of hundreds of thousands of
Iranian, U.S. and Israeli families can
still be avoided… but time is
running out.
