Wow, so "The Iranians just need to know that the free world is working together to send a very clear message: Don't develop a nuclear weapon," huh, Bush? You sure they haven't already developed nukes? Hm? Are you positive you don't want to make that leap? Come on!!! Ya know ya wanna!
We all know the Pentagon is looking at plans to invade Iran--suuure, they say that it's just routine stuff and that they're not really planning to invade and yet, they do have plans to invade Iran... go figure.
Of course, not everyone is as dumb as Republican voters and the media are, Iran's government can see through the Pentagon's spin and is now promising a "burning hell" to anyone who messes with them. And who can blame them? Unlike Iraq, Iran actually has a military. Read about that military, Iran's population and size on the CIA's web page on Iran to understand how stupid the USGov would be to invade Iran.
Truth be told? If Bush has any brain cells at all, he won't invade anywhere. The USMil is stretched so thin, an invasion now would break the back of the USMil, making us (and the world) vulnerable to NoKo and any other nutbag leaders who decide to start invading places or blowing them up.
NoKo does have nukes--in fact, they just admitted it publically.
Seriously, Iraq is enough of a mess--Iran would be a total fricken nightmare--no joke.
Hey Pete, just thought I'd comment on this. First I have no way of knowing if Iran has weapons of mass destruction, but I am more than certain that they would like some, or have tried to get some. This intent should make them a state to be studied and where military contingency plans should be developed. Unused invasion plans by military bureaucrats really isn't anything new and it isn't necessarily something to get too worked up about (although the volatile nature of Iran may be.) I've read some of these crazy contingency plans from the cold war era, a friend of mine was doing a paper and he looked up declassified files on this very topic. They had all kinds of invasion and counter measure operations developed, especially in case the Ruskies ever shot off the big one. Or if we ever shot off the big one...and let me tell you, some of those were looney tunes. But for these war minded types in the CIA or the Pentagon, it really could be a matter of routine analysis and preparation, not beating of war drums it may immediately appear to be.
ReplyDeleteAs for Iraq being a mess? Yes and no, this is argued so much I don’t really want to get into it, but for now it is OUR mess, because we cannot at this time simply pull out, not if we have any kind of decency. I was against ever getting involved in a war, saddened to find that the pretense for the war was false, but now that we are there I know we can’t back out. If we ever did, at this HIGHLY unstable time Iraq, I think, could very well erupt into civil war and violence far more terrible, destabilizing, and enduring. The way I see it, we are there for the long haul.
Also, Invading Iran would be a very bad idea indeed.
Normally Jon, I'd agree with you--these plans probably would be for nothing if it weren't for the history of this Pentagon and the Bush 43 Admin. I had the same attitude back before the Iraq Attack--I thought it was just sabre rattling and that wouldn't *really* happen. Then, it did. I thought Bush was just joking back in January of 2001 about his job being easier were he a dictator--now we've got the Patriot Act, Americans being convicted of terrorism charges (but no Arabs) and plenty of fear of Al Qaeda--whom could never make more than a minor dent in America, even if they did get a nuke. America faced down the Soviet threat and we're all trading in personal and state's rights because they might get a single nuke? But I'm digressing here.
ReplyDeleteAll through out Bush's first term people thought things like, "Oh, Bush is right, Sadam is a threat to us." and "Yeah, we really do need to take care of Al Qaeda because they're a threat to us." Well, surprise-surprise, neither is true. Iraq had no WMD and Osama is such a big threat that we haven't captured him in THREE years.
I don't trust this administration or its Pentagon to do anything right and with their "slam dunk" track record, I don't think anyone can blame me for it.
Oh and as for "our" mess in Iraq--I don't think I know enough about it to know whether us not being there would allow a civil war to happen or not--I just know that there was relative peace in Iraq before we got there. Maybe I'm letting my pacifist-side take too much control here, but I like to think that the Iraqis would be able to work this stuff out on their own without our corporate/colonial interests muddying the waters. Iraqi's may not be Americans, but I do think they're capable of rational, mature, responsible thought and behavior. I get the sense that many conservatives (not neccesarily you, Jon) would admit to thinking that Iraqi's don't have the "civilization" enough to manage to avoid a civil war. I'm not so sure that sentiment is wrong, but I'd like to give them a chance to prove it that way.
We can't pull out if we have any decency? Dude, we broke International Law by invading a sovereign nation, killed over 10,000 Iraqi civilians (some estimates say it's more like 100,000) and then tortured Al Qaeda suspects. I'm not sure we have any decency.
Thanks for stopping by, Jon! Thanks also for commenting. It's always great to hear your opinion! ^_^