TULSI Gabbard, who heads the United States National Intelligence, had testified to Congress earlier this year that there was no evidence that Iran was seeking to develop a nuclear bomb. It was, indeed, a bold statement. One does wonder, then, what the US attack on Iran was all about. Understandably, Gabbard is now out of favour with President Donald Trump, who recently remarked: “I don’t care what she [Gabbard] said. I think they [Iranians] were very close to having it.”

The attack on Iran, initiated by Zionist Israel, was based on a lie that has been propagated by mass murderer Benjamin Netanyahu for years. Trump, who now faces opposition on foreign policy from some of his own trusted lieutenants, should ask himself a critical question. How many American soldiers have to die for the occupation that has no right to be in Palestine?

Let us just put aside the fact that without American and European backing, the genocide in Gaza would not have taken place. Let us just focus on how peace-loving Americans and Europeans are treated for simply calling for an end to the atrocities.

When people who love democracy voice their opposition to war, as can be seen in the accompanying image showing a recent anti-war rally in New York, and call on their governments to immediately end their support of the apartheid regime, they are gagged and punished by their own governments.

Let us focus on American soldiers who deserve more and better. They deserve to be with their families rather than be in wars around the world. The money that America continues to pump into the occupation belongs to the Americans. Let them enjoy the fruits of their hard labour. It saddens me to know that many Americans do two to three jobs just to make ends meet. This is not what the American Dream was about.

Interestingly, as the occupiers launched the attack on Iran, their Western backers chanted against Iran, accusing it of developing nuclear weapons. But when Iran launched its own response causing great harm to the genocidal regime, these very nations talked of diplomacy and called for ‘restraint’ simply because the Zionist regime was in trouble and needed to be protected. Is this not appalling? Not in the modern world, it seems.

The occupation, regardless of who is at the helm, has to end. Germany recently announced that it would evacuate its citizens via Jordan from occupied Palestine. This is exactly what is needed to be done by France, the United Kingdom, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Spain and Italy. The occupation has to come to an end. Palestine is for the Palestinians. Period.

It is time American people exerted pressure and told their president that wars, be they overt, covert or proxy, would harm the American people who need to see their tax money being spent on education, health and welfare; not warfare.

Americans have already squandered trillions of dollars by invading Afghanistan, Iraq and attacking several other Muslim countries. They cannot afford more wars.

Angabeen Ahmad
Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2025