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Exports to Iran raise questions |
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Monday, 14 July 2008 |
Honesty has never been the best policy in Washington.
This isn’t a new revelation, but the news of its increasing exports to Iran over the past eight years is.
Products shipped to Iran include cigarettes, vitamins, bras, fur clothing, perfume, musical instruments, and even military apparel.
Yet what is perhaps the most frightening is the approximately $148,000 worth of military gear and weapons that have been shipped to Iran over the past eight years.
Some
of you might remember what happened in 2004—a large number of military
rifles and parts were accidentally shipped to Iraq instead of Iran, the
intended destination. It was concluded that the government mistakenly
entered Iraq on the shipping record—which brought two questions to
mind: what happened to accountability, and why was the United States
shipping weapons to Iran in the first place after all that has been
said by the Bush administration in regards to the country?
It’s perfectly fine for common American brands such as Tyson Foods, PepsiCo and Canon to be found on Iran’s shelves, right?
In our government’s eyes, since America does dominate the world, it
only makes sense for our products to be available everywhere—even if it
is a place President Bush has accused of sponsoring and harboring
terrorists.
This information about our government seems contradictory—both strange, yet not so surprising at the same time.
It speaks volumes, if we can make money off of it, go for it -- even if
it is in direct contradiction of what we are telling the American
people at the moment.
In an article found on cnn.com Wednesday, it was stated that the
Associated Press had requested data from the Treasury Department in
2005 under the Freedom of Information Act which would identify those
companies who export products to Iran, as well as what those products
were. As of press time, the AP was still waiting for that data to be
provided to them.
This makes me wonder if the government is keeping an eye out for
companies which might be exporting goods to Iran without a valid export
license—and this seems like it should be a priority when dealing with a
place Bush called part of an “axis of evil.”
In fact, on Wednesday, Iran test-fired a long-range missile because the
country believes it has been threatened by both Israel and the United
States.
Iranian general Hossein Salami was quoted on state TV saying, “We want
to tell the world…our finger is always on the trigger and we have
hundreds and even thousands of missiles ready to be fired against
predetermined targets.”
United States State Department official William Burns responded by calling Iran a serious problem.
With this new event in mind, it would seem likely for our government to
begin keeping a closer watch on what the United States is exporting to
Iran.
It might be a far stretch, but what if the next missile Iran
test-fires—or simply fires—is able to be done so in part by military
goods exported to the country from the United States?
Although the U.S. government says the exports have increased to an area
of the population that officials would like to reach out to and work
with, it should also be remembered that it is a very likely possibility
for exported goods—especially weapons—to fall into the hands of people
who do not need to have them.
This is why accountability is necessary, and answers are needed.
Anne Baker, a junior journalism major from Asheville, is the news editor.
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