hiker
Member
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- Sep 1, 2005
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- at one with nature
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- Political Leaning
- Conservative
I could not have supported an invasion of Iran then or now. Reason one, our military and countries loosely allied with the US are on every border Iran has. They are contained from being a military threat to us or anyone else.
Reason two, in comparing Iran to Iraq, it is truly night and day. Iraq was a dictatorship, not a theocracy. The leading power in Iraq, the Sunnis, were very much a minority and easily replaced by the willing majority Shia. In Iran, the Shia are the rulers and the ruled. That gives the government much more legitimacy in the eyes of the governed, who also share the same beliefs as their leaders. The majority of Iraqis were not willing to fight to preserve an oppressive minority, the majority of Iranians would see an attack on their leaders and their country in a much different light. An invasion of Iran would most certainly mean the willful slaughter of civilians, many times more than fought for Saddam.
Third reason, the Iranians are open trading partners with Russia, China, and many more nations that would be vehemently opposed to such an invasion. How opposed, we do not know. No use in beginning a broader war, we could not win at this point. If faced with an impossible military situation, we still hold the nuclear trump card. Let us not even have to think of that, no matter what the administration may have in mind...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051026083447.htm
Think about that before you call it unthinkable.
And finally, I want to believe that we can talk Iran down from the nuclear ledge. Once a country has become too dependant on it's allies and trading partners for it to stay afloat otherwise, it tends to turn rogues into conformists. Look at Vietnam, recently Libya, South Africa, many more...nations that have too much to lose and nothing to gain from being a rebel. Iran has too many outside pressures and has ceeded too much of it's future economic potential to other countries to be taking stands for nuclear proliferation. They can talk all they want, but the last thing the Iranian government needs is to be cut off from the world and become another North Korea. The clerics in control have to know the people would not stand for it. The people of Iran want change, I do not doubt that. But they, like us, want to change from within and would fiercely oppose an invading force no matter how much they may disagree with their rulers.
Reason two, in comparing Iran to Iraq, it is truly night and day. Iraq was a dictatorship, not a theocracy. The leading power in Iraq, the Sunnis, were very much a minority and easily replaced by the willing majority Shia. In Iran, the Shia are the rulers and the ruled. That gives the government much more legitimacy in the eyes of the governed, who also share the same beliefs as their leaders. The majority of Iraqis were not willing to fight to preserve an oppressive minority, the majority of Iranians would see an attack on their leaders and their country in a much different light. An invasion of Iran would most certainly mean the willful slaughter of civilians, many times more than fought for Saddam.
Third reason, the Iranians are open trading partners with Russia, China, and many more nations that would be vehemently opposed to such an invasion. How opposed, we do not know. No use in beginning a broader war, we could not win at this point. If faced with an impossible military situation, we still hold the nuclear trump card. Let us not even have to think of that, no matter what the administration may have in mind...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051026083447.htm
“the new policy allows the U.S. to use nuclear weapons against states that do not have nuclear weapons and for a host of new reasons, including rapid termination of a conflict on U.S. terms or to ensure success of the U.S. forces.”
Think about that before you call it unthinkable.
And finally, I want to believe that we can talk Iran down from the nuclear ledge. Once a country has become too dependant on it's allies and trading partners for it to stay afloat otherwise, it tends to turn rogues into conformists. Look at Vietnam, recently Libya, South Africa, many more...nations that have too much to lose and nothing to gain from being a rebel. Iran has too many outside pressures and has ceeded too much of it's future economic potential to other countries to be taking stands for nuclear proliferation. They can talk all they want, but the last thing the Iranian government needs is to be cut off from the world and become another North Korea. The clerics in control have to know the people would not stand for it. The people of Iran want change, I do not doubt that. But they, like us, want to change from within and would fiercely oppose an invading force no matter how much they may disagree with their rulers.