Peace with Iran Archives | The Land West of Long Mountain Project

An Open Letter to My Fellow Americans

In this open letter and peace essay composed in January 2020, author Joseph Modugno makes an appeal against partisanship in America and against war with Iran in Asia. At the dawn of the new decade, Joseph calls on his country and on humanity to give up fear and forever war and to put our great faith and deep belief as human beings not in the force of war but in the power of peace.

Ultimately and finally, though: this long, lyric essay and open letter aspires to inspire humanity, all human beings on earth, to shrug off the shackles of ignorance and fear and the manacles of war and violence, to let go of hate and fear and pursue enlightenment, wisdom, open-heartedness and our higher moral genius and cosmic consciousness by practicing the way of the white clouds, by daring to embark on the eternal hero’s journey, and by celebrating and singing out of our collective ecstatic love the poetic praise of everything under the sun.

In A Murderous Time

In Part V of “An Open Letter to My Fellow Americans at the Dawn of a New Decade,” we conclude our appeal against partisanship in America and against war with Iran in Asia and make a final appeal for peace between the peoples and nations of the earth. Peace through empathy with and recognition of the humanity of the other. Peace through courage, compassion, and communication. Peace through reckoning, through the forever breaking and opening of the human heart and through the elevation of our individual and collective consciousness.

The Forever War on Iran

In Part IV of “An Open Letter to My Fellow Americans at the Dawn of a New Decade: An Appeal Against Partisanship in America and Against War with Iran in Asia,” we dive into Washington’s decades-long war on Iran and explore the equally-long fight for freedom and independence in Iran.

Over the course of the essay, we also take a brief journey through the history of Iran, celebrating Persian civilization and poetry along the way, before examining the CIA’s 1953 coup d’état in Tehran and learning about the roots of Iranian-American conflict in the 20th century and about the moral obscenities and military failures of the US’s wars in West Asia in the 21st century. We wrestle with the truth of the Washington War Machine and grapple with the Beast of Endless Wars.

Finally, the letter concludes with an appeal for civility and sanity, so as to save ourselves and the planet from the insatiable machine of Forever War. Throughout it all, the essay makes a pealing appeal for peace between America and Iran in Asia and peace between partisans at home.