Exposing the American Warhawk Propaganda
This article first appeared on The Hayride blog.
Yesterday, I read a rather ignorant article here on The Hayride that I couldn’t help but comment on. It’s 2025, but the American War Machine is already shoveling propaganda to the American public in order to justify support for another pointless “forever war”/regime change that further destabilizes the world.
The article in question begins with warhawk, neo-conservative rhetoric reminiscent of the early 2000s:
“For over four decades, Iran’s ruling clerical regime has clung to power through fear, violence, and repression. Its rule has brought suffering to its own people and instability to the entire Middle East. While the Iranian people long for freedom, their voices have been silenced by a government that answers dissent with brutality … “
Here is a reality check about America’s longtime meddling in Iran. In 1953, the CIA led a coup against the elected, nationalist Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh (in Operation Ajax). The United States then installed a pro-Western monarch named Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (a.k.a. “the Shah”). During the Shah’s reign, the CIA trained the Shah’s secret police (SAVAK)–which tortured political opponents. Twenty-six years later, the people of Iran rose up against this Western puppet in the 1979 Iranian revolution and then established an Islamist government free of Western influence.
Clearly, there is historical context as to why the current regime in Iran dislikes the United States government. However, the American war machine instead uses buzzwords and jingoistic rhetoric to make people hate a foreign country that most people can’t even find on a map.
What’s more, the proponents of America’s continued involvement in the Middle East and other places often call upon higher ideals like freedom and democracy to justify armed conflicts abroad. But despite what think-tanks and pundits may claim, the goal of American foreign policy has never been to “spread democracy.” Over the past 75 years, United States’ intelligence agencies have staged coups and rigged elections all across the world. Yet, our education system and media continue to push the false narrative that America’s foreign policy ambitions is based on spreading Western liberal values to the rest of the world.
In fact, here are just several notable coups and elections that the American intelligence community interfered with after WWII:
-1953 coup in Iran
-1954 coup in Guatemala
-1973 coup in Chile
-2011 overthrow of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi
-2014 overthrow of Ukraine’s elected president Viktor Yanukovych.
The list goes on and on. The United States government has a long, storied history of overthrowing popular political leaders in foreign countries and creating further political instability in those countries. “Freedom and democracy” need not apply when the American Regime needs to further its power and prestige abroad.
Even at the current date, the United States currently is allied with many countries possessing autocratic regimes. For instance, US allies Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar all possess hereditary monarchies without political opposition. Similarly, other US allies like Vietnam, Egypt, and Turkey possess regimes that regularly punish political opposition.
To top it all off, the United States government under FDR allied with a brutal communist regime in the Soviet Union during World War II. Can we stop pretending that America fights for “freedom and democracy” when historical precedent shows the exact opposite?
The world of foreign policy is complicated place. To characterize global politics as a fight between “democracy & freedom versus authoritarianism & suppression” is either childish thinking at best or dangerous judgment at worst.
The results of the American Regime’s foreign policies over the past 35 years have led to catastrophic results for our nation. Both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations have continued America’s failed, globalist interventionists that have wasted trillions.
The American regime under George W Bush lied about “weapons of mass destruction,” wasted trillions of dollars on multiple forever wars in the Middle East, and unnecessarily led thousands of American servicemen to their death.
The American regime under Barack Obama destabilized Libya through military action, supported ISIS and Al-Qaeda against the Assad Regime in Syria, and fueled further anti-American sentiment in the Middle East by killing thousands of civilians via drone strikes.
The American regime under Joe Biden started a proxy war against Russia (2022) and kept thousands of American military personnel stationed in the chaotic Middle East.
After decades of failed interventionists presidents, you would think our country would finally elect an American president who promised peace abroad, a restrained foreign policy, and an end to the “Forever Wars”. In 2016, the American people elected Donald J. Trump as the first true “America First” president in decades. During his first presidential campaign, Trump promised to finally end the “Forever Wars” of the Bush and Obama administrations.
But just six months into the 2nd Trump administration, we are finally seeing President Trump succumbing to the various warmongers in his 2nd presidential administration. The United States is on the verge of another disastrous “Forever War” in the Middle East, and we are now seeing President Trump act more like a member of the Bush dynasty than the old “America First” Trump of 2016 when it comes to foreign policy.
Starting a war with Iran will likely spell disaster for a nation weary of decades of prolonged conflict. But, it looks like the Trump administration has already made its choice by escalating this perilous situation with Iran even further.
After decades of failed “Forever Wars,” we cannot stand by and allow warhawk propaganda to force our country into another military conflict that imperils American lives.
President Trump promised the American people to be a “Peace President” during his presidential campaign last year. Less than a year later, it looks like he may become another “War President.” Only time will tell if peace prevails in this precarious situation.
