robert gates, a rare holdover from the bush admin. is a solid citizen. his memo, leaked by somebody, that we dont have much of a plan to prevent a nuclear iran or deal with a nuclear iran is one of the most important issues today
given that i believe that china will work with us on north korea, there is no greater threat to global security than iran. and the questions are; are we committed to stopping iran from having nuclear weapons or not; whatever it takes?
while obama and clinton are busy beating up on israel, what are they doing about iran. we made iran more dangerous. by allowing iraq to invade kuwait and creating the first gulf war; and electing george II who took out saddam but created chaos; iraq disappeared as a counter force to iran.
both iraq and iran where trying to acquire nuclear capability for years. we did a poor job of slowing them down.
what are we willing to do? these are not nice people. they wont stop by asking nicely. sanctions? maybe if tough and targeted. but what if not enough? will we go military or not? i dont think they will stop without military threat or action. do we have the balls? and why are we beating up israel when they are the only ones with the capability and the balls to do something?
i think america is going to be too little too late with iran and put israel a difficult position
duck and cover!
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5 comments:
So of the options on the table you have the following pros-cons:
1.The attack-the-sites option:
a. Pros: temporary set-back of development activities that buys us time to come up with other alternatives. Every military “expert” (I don’t claim to have heard them all) says it is highly unlikely we could deliver a devastating blow since they have tunneled their sites and we don’t know where the tunnels lead exactly.
b. Cons: Incites even greater nationalism in Iran; undermines the growing middle class that is lobbying for a stable economy and gives Ahmadinejad further reason to attack the opposition forces in Iran. In any society if you lose the support of the middle class you have sown the seeds for a revolt: your options are to wipe them out as Mao did and Kim Jong-il is doing and accept a 4th world economic reality, or face being overthrown because history has shown that a middle class will protect their economic interests by funding a revolt.
2.The economic boycott on steroids option:
a. Pros: The revolutionary guard is now the largest business concern in Iran. Human nature being human nature, and the reality that greed and self-interest 9/10 trumps ideology, this potentially could undermine Ahmadinejad by turning the revolutionary guard against him. The result would be an authoritarian regime much like China's that stands to make a lot of money for its powerbrokers because Iran could and should be an economic powerhouse the size of Turkey. Giving up the nuclear option would be good for business.
b. Cons: good luck getting China, Europe, Russia and the Haliburtons to go along. Unless it is 98% effective it’s just an opportunity for someone else to make a lot of money.
3.The anti-war option (fund and support anyone who would attempt to overthrow the regime):
a. Pros: you don’t have to be successful; you just have to keep the government occupied. It cost the least amount of money and political capital; you can always deny you know anything about it, and at the end of the day it can serve as a bargaining chip…. We’ll stop supporting the underground movement if you give up the nuclear option.
b. Cons: the current armed opposition is mainly Sunni in a Shiite country. I am sure the CIA, Mossad, and MI6 are currently doing this and I am obviously not privy to their internal memos, but I have to guess that this is a long-term oriented project and may not meet our required timeframe.
So Robert Gates (who you correctly point out is one of the best Sec. of Defenses that we have had; credit to Bush for finally replacing that idiot Rumsfield , and credit to Obama for having the courage to ask someone from the previous administration to continue to serve and defying his left wing) is right in stating that we don’t have a plan. And for good reason. There are not a lot of great options to create a plan with. This is a huge messy problem, made even worse since we gratuitously eliminated Iran’s biggest geopolitical threat on its border, Iraq, and installed a Shiite regime there. Brilliant.
Anyway if anybody out there in blogosphere has any better options, then I, and probably Robert Gates, would love to hear them.
in response to the posted comment above:
the united states is incapable, and i mean incapable of stopping iran now. we have a president who's foreign policy is as solid as a jelly fish. he is a joke, and like the US under carter, we have become a paper tiger to the iranians.
only the israelis can take care of iran. their moles already know where the tunnels are. the beauty of the jews and i mean this as a compliment, is that when it comes to israel's survival....they will do what it takes. they cannot afford to pussyfoot around.
our dearly elected president could not even make up his mind regarding the number of troops while in the midst of a war already engaging the enemy. he was too busy wining and dining cow michele in new york. his dumbass statements of how we can work with iran through diplomacy has not helped our cause one bit. fool.
and when israel moves, and hopefully it will be successful....watch the idiot talking heads denounce and bring their UN resolutions. israel will never win the PR war...but they have the courage to take out their enemy....something we no longer appear to have.
george w did not create chaos in iraq. the left nut wings in this country created the so-called chaos. that is their mantra. stop buying into their crap.
you should ask an iraqi what they think of george w's chaos....i know plenty of them. they appreciate being liberated by our troops. to some, this is the first time they have ever been free.
looks to me like we have ourselves in a corner regarding iran. no way to move, except play the sanctions role, which amounts to nothing. i say let the israelis alone, they appear to be the only ones who can take care of them.
i fear for them. we sure are not behaving like an ally to them.
Gates must be in a quandry. Imagine working under a boss that doesn't know sh__ for shinola.
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