Nobody wins a war

We all awoke Saturday to the alarming news that the United States of America and Israel had launched attacks on the Islamic Republic of Iran. This news surprised many because reports in international media had been pointing toward a positive outcome of the ongoing negotiations between these nations.

With the so-called 12-day war between these same parties just ended back in June, there was much hope that the issues on the table would have been resolved amicably. Alas, the Middle East is now ablaze with rockets and drones being traded back and forth between the warring parties.

US President Donald Trump, in a statement, suggested that regime change was the intended outcome and urged Iranians to rise up against their government after the Iranian leadership had been decapitated. This strategy was given a major boost when first, the US, and later Iran announced Sunday that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed along with several leading figures.

The attack by the United States violated international law, the tenets of the United Nations Security Council and did not have the approval of the United States Congress. The Iranian military responded to the US/Israeli aggression by launching missile strikes at US military bases which are hosted by neighbouring Gulf States as well as at targets in Israel. It was a clear act of self-defense.

However, fresh from the recently concluded 50th CARICOM Summit, what have been the responses of CARICOM States? As we put this midweek edition to bed, we have not yet heard of any statement coming from our Prime Minister Dr Godwin Friday. The SVG Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, has expressed concern about the safety of Vincentians living in the affected areas in the Middle East.

And what from other CARICOM states? Guyana launched a scathing condemnation of Iran’s “unprovoked attack” on the Kingdom of Bahrain, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait. Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gastón Browne condemned attacks on several Gulf States by Iran. Notably, neither statement mentioned that it was the US and Israel which had initiated the conflict, or that the attacks referred to were on US military bases stationed in those nations which lie on Iran’s borders.

Grenada’s response, on the other hand, was much more measured. It lamented the escalation of hostilities in the Middle East and called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint.

The Republic of Barbados was similarly concerned about the escalation and joined calls by the UN Secretary General for Member States to respect their commitments under international law.

But it was Trinidad and Tobago which, perhaps true to recent form, boldly expressed its support for the United States and its allies amid the rapidly escalating military conflict in the Middle East in actions aimed at preventing what it termed “oppressive regimes” from acquiring nuclear weapons. It was, once again, as at the CARICOM Summit, a no-holds barred response from the twin island republic in blind support of the Trump regime’s actions.

We are in sad and difficult times. Nevertheless, it is our hope, even amidst the death and destruction unleashed since this illegal and unprovoked US/Israeli attack, that the warring parties can somehow de-escalate tensions and return to the negotiating table. Because, nobody ever really wins a war.