"Requesting More Context on Iran," January 6, 2020, to The Daily, podcast of The New York Times
Dear Michael and staff,
My name is Terry Fitzgibbons, and I am a subscriber to the NYT and a fan of The Daily. I appreciate the insight, investigative journalism, and production of the show.
However, after this morning, I am reminded that when it comes to foreign affairs--and here Iran--we need more context. I have thought this after each of your episodes on Iran in the past several months (e.g. after the oil tanker). This morning, we had fine reporting. For each of the reports dealing with Iran, I've thought, "Fine reporting for the 'day of' but we need more background."
In many instances, people's only background on Iran comes from you. And so, even though most listeners will come away thinking that the strike on Sulemaini was bad, I am afraid that they will still leave your show falsely thinking that (1) Iran is the aggressor in the Middle East and (2) the United State mostly intervenes for "peace and stability" and (3) the United States should, on the whole, still police and intervene in the Middle East. This does not square with history. (I write to you as a student of the Middle East, as a veteran of the US Navy, and as a public high school history teacher, in New Jersey). I think Robert Wright's critique of your coverage is still valid: https://theintercept.com/2018/
We need more context and cannot keep pretending that history began a couple weeks ago, or in 2016, in 2003, or even 1979. We need to start with the post-war era when the United States decided that the Middle East (and the rest of the world for that matter) was its for the carving.
I keep returning to this 2004 NYT editorial mea culpa on neighboring Iraq: https://www.nytimes.com/
Once again, I write as a fan, but I write as a student and a teacher as well, and as an activist for peace. Thanks for listening,
Sincerely,
Terry Fitzgibbons
"Time to Impeach Is Now," August 5, 2019, to The Bergen Record/Northjersey.com
(Part of Common Defense's LTE campaign)
Dear Editor,
As a veteran and as a constituent of New Jersey’s fifth congressional district, I call on Representative Josh Gottheimer to join the growing ranks of his colleagues demanding impeachment. The time to impeach President Donald Trump is now.
Trump uses veterans and the military as props for his jingoistic agenda. He employs a false patriotism that provides cover for his high crimes and misdemeanors. We military members took oaths to support and defend the U.S. Constitution. Trump, likewise, took an oath to the Constitution. Yet, he has continually violated that oath to enrich his family and himself and to amass more power. He is unfit to be Commander in Chief.
While it may be unlikely—at the present moment, at least—that the Senate would convict to remove him from office, the House of Representatives must nevertheless lead. Impeachment is the moral thing to do. If impeachment is not used now, then for whom would it be used? Congress—and veterans and non-veterans alike pushing Congress—must hold this president accountable. History will judge him and us.
Sincerely,
Terry Fitzgibbons
_________"Eternal Vigilance," May 8, 2019, Letter to The Bergen Record/Northjersey.com
War seems imminent. Yet, several questions remain: Who will go first: Venezuela or Iran? Who is calling the shots: Trump? Pompeo? Bolton? Will the Democrats cheerlead the effort like they have in so many other wars and coups, militarism being the rare bipartisan bridge? Who will fight in these wars: our proxies or actual Americans? If Americans, will it be the children of these policy-makers or the poor and working class once again?
No matter what you think of the leaders of Venezuela or of Iran--there is certainly much criticism to levy--war is not the answer. They do not pose threats to the United States. The opposite is true. We have a sordid history of threatening and interfering in both. If only we studied it.
Have we learned nothing from the catastrophic coups in Latin America in the past seventy years? Have we learned nothing from our previous “interventions” in Iran, starting with the 1953 coup? Have we already forgotten the devastation we wreaked in Iraq? Or the war we can’t seem to get out of in Afghanistan?
These hawks are counting on us to be too forgetful, distracted, and indifferent to raise protest against their short-sighted and evil designs. They are counting on us to take their claims and platitudes at face value. Let us wake up and prove them wrong. No war!
-Terry Fitzgibbons
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