AMERICA MUST REMAIN NEUTRAL
By Helen L. Burleson, Doctor of Public Administration

For the United States to weigh in on the situation in Iran would seem a little like the pot calling the kettle black.

Let us go back to Chicago, August 23, 1968 during the Democratic National Convention. Thousands of people, many of whom were young students, protested the unpopular war in Vietnam; and thought the ideal place was the DNC Convention where the selection of the country's leaders were to be decided.

Having a hidden agenda, the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, the father of the current mayor of Chicago, gave the Chicago Police Department the order to "shoot to kill" the demonstrators.
I watched in horror on television as the Chicago police launched the most brutal and vicious attack that I have ever seen. Though I was alone, I kept crying out loud, those are our children, those are our children, why are they brutalizing our own children like that. It was as though the police were so psychologically revved up that they were maniacal in their fervor and fury.

This action resulted in 8 young people being arrested for a variety of charges like curfew violation and unlawful assembly without "permits." The eight were Rennie Davis, David Delinger, Bobby Seale, Tom Hayden, Julius Froines, Lee Weiner, Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman. Bobby Seale, being denied the opportunity to select an attorney of his choosing, vocally protested this right being denied him, was ordered bound and gagged while in court by Judge Julius Hoffman (not related to Abbie). Later Bobby Seale's case was separated from the others, thus the infamous title "The Chicago Seven."

Though I have no proof of this, it was widely rumored that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was in Milwaukee on his way to Chicago leading a poor people's march to demonstrate at the DNC Convention. Dr. King was alerted to the mayor's order, and thus remained in Milwaukee.
It is my personal opinion that once passions had been aroused in the Chicago policemen, all of their hatred, their biases, their contempt, and their deep seated emotions unleashed, could not draw back or reel in their emotions despite the fact that they were confronted by a group of largely white college students. The Mayor had assembled 12,000 Chicago policemen, 6,000 Illinois National Guardsmen and 6,000 U. S. army troops for the "purpose of maintaining order."

The vicious cycle had started, the next altercation and example of our own inhumanity was at Kent State University at Kent, OH where students were fired upon randomly.

The next in this season of man's inhumanity to man was Jackson State University in Jackson, MS. Bullet holes could still be seen in dormitory buildings. This is something, I personally witnessed when I traveled a few years later to Jackson, MS.

Now, I ask you, where do these atrocities give us the right to voice any negative feelings about what's going on in Iran? The last person in the world to criticize President Obama is Senator John McCain, the war hawk. McCain has not lived up to his patriotic duty to deliver Osama bin Laden to us. He promised during the campaign that he knew how to get bin Laden and he would get bin Laden. To my knowledge, we don’t have bin Laden yet. McCain should spend his time and energy “getting” bin Laden who is a greater threat to us than what is going on in Iran.

President Obama, again, demonstrates his even temperament and his sound judgement to say as little as possible. The last thing we need at this time is for the world to remind us of how we dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, where we, Americans, were the only country in history to use atomic energy for destructive purposes. We certainly do not need them to remind us of our own history of violence perpetrated upon our own people.

For those who are critical of President Obama's "inaction" please review American history.
My conclusion for the United States to remain neutral is based on FACT, how you arrive at your decision for the United States to interfere is up to you.