[Screenshot from TheDC Shorts, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=17&v=dgKa0MT3IVs&feature=emb_logo]
There’s a lot of talk at the moment of Iran’s cultural sites, and what a Trump-led U.S. military attack might do to them.
Heeere’s Donny:
“Iran is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets as revenge for our ridding the world of their terrorist leader who had just killed an American, & badly wounded many others, not to mention all of the people he had killed over his lifetime, including recently hundreds of Iranian protesters. He was already attacking our Embassy, and preparing for additional hits in other locations. Iran has been nothing but problems for many years. Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!”
Iran is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets as revenge for our ridding the world of their terrorist leader who had just killed an American, & badly wounded many others, not to mention all of the people he had killed over his lifetime, including recently….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2020
….targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2020
Anti-Trump doctor Eugene Gu had a thing or two to say about that:
The President of the United States should never threaten on Twitter or anywhere else to target another country’s non-millitary cultural sites. That is an act of evil terrorism with no strategic value whatsoever other than destroying people’s heritage and history.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) January 4, 2020
Some fans of Middle Eastern sites of culture posted their faves, amid #IranianCulturalSites:
#IranianCulturalSites Let’s tweet storm our favourite Iranian cultural sites:
Here’s my paternal hometown Kashan.. I loved the impromptu mini-concert taking advantage of the great acoustical elements courtesy of our incomparable architecture: pic.twitter.com/OOiAhwmw3J— AtiehS (@AtiehS) January 5, 2020
a site that is important to the Iranian culture – Tomb of Hafez, Shiraz pic.twitter.com/1hnB175Qed
— Arash Karami (@thekarami) January 5, 2020
#IranianCulturalSites one of my favorites is Bagh e Fin in Kashan https://t.co/W8Xq7tv6r8 pic.twitter.com/uhTI3rPGsJ
— Mahsa Rouhi (@MahsaRouhi) January 5, 2020
Yet, as NBC’s headline on Monday read: “Trump Doubles Down on Threat to Iranian Cultural Sites, Demands Iraq Pay for U.S. Base.”
From the article:
Speaking aboard Air Force One on his return to Washington on Sunday from a holiday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump said: “They’re allowed to kill our people. They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people. And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural sites. It doesn’t work that way.”
The Iranian foreign minister’s definitely opposed:
Those masquerading as diplomats and those who shamelessly sat to identify Iranian cultural & civilian targets should not even bother to open a law dictionary.
Jus cogens refers to peremptory norms of international law, i.e. international red lines. That is, a big(ly) "no no".
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) January 5, 2020
As it turns out, Fox News host Pete Hegseth has thoughts on the issue, too, and he expressed them on-air Monday.
His attitude is:
“So?”
This is Pete:
“I don’t care about Iranian cultural sites, and I’ll tell you why. If they could, if Iran could, if you understand the Islamic Republic of Iran, of Islamist…if they could, if they had the power, they would, they would destroy every single one of our cultural sites and build a mosque on top of it.”
In the host’s view, anyone who thinks he’s wrong has no understanding of those against whom we’re up:
“If you don’t understand the nature of our enemy, you’re foolish about who you’re pointing out and whether or not you’re happy that Soleimani is dead.”
This, he explained, is who:
“This guy exported terrorism for that regime for 40 years. And the fact Democrats in this country can’t take a pause to say, ‘This is a good thing, now let’s figure out how to prevent an Iranian bomb’ — they just go straight to politics, and it’s shameful.”
For those of you offended by Pete’s perspective, I’ve got great news: AOC’s got ya covered.
Targeting cultural sites is a war crime.
It should also go without saying that sites like Persepolis (& its PEOPLE) are not only treasures to Iranians, they are gifts to humanity.
They tell humanity’s story – that is why authoritarians target them. They want to erase history. https://t.co/C3tx6Wf8mZ
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 6, 2020
She doesn’t mess around:
As for her “war crimes” claim, Pete responded to “Comrade Cortez”:
“With friends like these Democrats, who needs the Iranians?”
-ALEX
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