damkira said:
No, the US wasn't right to threaten Iran. I don't understand why these things are ok for the US, yet unacceptable for other countries, We are not the police of the world and Iran did not threaten us. By "a good portion of the middle east" did you mean Israel? Has the US not done enough for Israel? It has been a country for sixty years now and should be able to handle its own affairs. Yes, Ahmenijad's various remarks about Israel and Jewish people have been despicable.. however, we have too many domestic problems in this country to send them yet more weapons and foreign aid -- and it would be very wrong to ask our military to fight a war around the world against ANOTHER country which did not threaten the US. As far as my grasping on intelligence failures that support my opinions, Yes -- I would give more credence to the intelligence suggesting Iran has dismantled is program because of the simple fact that Bush, a man who has been unwilling -- to the point of absurdity -- to admit mistakes in the past said his -- very public -- positions on Iran were wrong.. making himself look more like a bloodthirsty despot than he already does it in the eyes of the world. Yes, I would like to see people who invade another country and killed hundreds of thousands of its citizens arrested. If I heard you had guns in your house and I came over there to assault you, I think you would want me arrested, too. My point earlier was that these countries: North Korea, Iran and Libya.. do not have the resources for large scale long-range nuclear missiles and, as for your comment on "hot spots," the concept of mutually assured destruction has worked well in the past and there's no reason to believe it won't work in the future. Yes, there are theological zealots who might not mind this, such as al-qaida.., but even somewhat irrational governments like Iran, N Korea and Libya would not attempt this toward any nation -- even Israel (which DOES have nuclear weapons, thanks to the US.) North Korea did not actually sell Iran or Syria nuclear material, but missiles which may be capable of holding it, but we can also find information everywhere that shows the US, UK and Russia sell weapons to countries all the time, and I'm sure you are aware of how faulty North Korean missiles are.. I don't think either the military dictatorship or the islamic fundamentalists are good for Pakistan. Saying that Musharraf (or the current government) has been good for his country or ours would be to completely ignore a lot of things he's done... In closing, al-Zarqawi's organization was NOT called al-Qaida In Iraq until after the invasion. Listen closely to anything bin Laden or Al-Zawahiri says -- the message is ALWAYS the same. The US seeks to take over Muslim lands, steal the oil and re-create The Crusades. The invasion has made his rhetoric plausible to a HUGE number of people in the Muslim world who would not otherwise take up arms against us. You might say that we are fighting terrorists there so we don't have to fight them here and you might also bring up that there hasn't been an al-Qaida attack since 9/11 -- but the only one before that was the 1993 attack on WTC. The invasion of Iraq has been a dismal failure. It has cost so many lives, so many billions of dollars and caused nearly irreparable damage to US reputation and standing in the world.. and for what? some obtuse ideological goals? I don't see how any reasonable person could say it was worth it. This will be a black eye for the US for generations to come and for Iraq -- even longer.
|
We need not be police of the world in order to justify threatening someone acting against our interests. By a good portion of the Middle East I meant Saudi Arabia and Egypt. I meant it so much I identified them by name in the very next sentence! Your quickness to bring up Israel betrays your own bias. As I did not bring them up, I will interpret your reference to them as – how would you say it? – tangential and not relevant.
Iran’s saber rattling did not single out only Israel. It was directed to its other neighbors as well as the West. In a way though, I agree with the thrust of your argument. It should not be left to the US alone to deal with these matters (with a few notable exceptions). Other nations should be carrying their weight as well.
When you speak of Bush you fall into an irrational state of hysteria. Any measured tone to your words goes out the window. Why not claim that he feeds on the blood of orphans while you are at it? Believe it or not, if multiple intelligence agencies (even non-US ones!) can be wrong about Iraq’s WMD, there is the possibility, however unbelievable it may be, that the single intelligence report claiming Iran has ended its weapons program is wrong. I hope its right. I would just as soon not have another conflict over there. But I would feel better if my government maintained a level of skepticism regarding Iran’s intentions.
(On a side note, I wonder how much it would bother you if Bush’s war somehow worked out in the end. Oh I know, and wouldn’t it be nice if there were fairies and pots of gold at the end of rainbows. But still, hypothetically speaking, I think it would bother you if the US could claim genuine victory some day. My guess is you would rather see Iraq fail than see Bush be vindicated by history. If that is the case, I think it’s unhealthy.)
OK. So neither option in Pakistan is good. Yep, that’s actionable. (You prefer things black and white, don’t you?)
I don’t really care what terror cells call themselves. I only carry that they are found and destroyed. If Iraqi’s of all stripes are helping in that effort, all the better.
Actually, bin Laden’s grievances go back to 1918 (let’s let bygone’s be bygone’s with the Crusades, eh) with the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire (whew, atleast one thing the US can’t be blamed for). As far as Muslim lands are concerned, he was chiefly concerned about the holy land – Saudi Arabia. The US base built up for the Persian Gulf War and subsequent missions over the Iraqi no-fly zone was an embarrassment to him. In a way, the Iraq War alleviated one grievance by moving US presence out of Saudi Arabia into Iraq. (But take heart, something tells me bin Laden’s reasons for killing will evolve as needed.)
US interests were attacked outside the US between 93 and 01 on numerous occasions.
I will wait until it is over before calling all lost. Thankfully, Iraqis will ultimately decide, not you.
