Pages
As we attempt to disengage from Iraq, we need to do the right thing for friends we are leaving behind. We cannot abandon these Iranian allies and allow them to be tortured and slaughtered by the mullahs and their Iraqi quislings …
6 comments
1 |
Randall Gross Wed, Aug 3, 2011 2:41:37pm |
MEK are terrorists, they just happen to have helped and they are the terrorists favored by counter jihadists.
| 2 |
Randall Gross Wed, Aug 3, 2011 2:44:38pm |
I should have said “self styled counter jihadists”
| 3 |
_RememberTonyC Wed, Aug 3, 2011 6:04:09pm |
If the mullahs call them terrorists, that doesn’t mean it is true. In Syria, freedom fighters are called similar names.
| 4 |
_RememberTonyC Wed, Aug 3, 2011 6:09:41pm |
They are no angels, but some have said they should be removed from the terrorist list …
| 5 |
lostlakehiker Wed, Aug 3, 2011 7:27:42pm |
We never struck an alliance with them. There is no abandonment if there was no commitment to start with.
Backing rebel movements in Iran means war. It’s just a way to choose war.
Wars are dangerous. War with Iran would be a real can of worms. There’s no telling what course it might take. We could probably “win”, if we count as a win the thoroughgoing destruction of Iran’s nuclear weapons program. But that kind of “win” wouldn’t save the people the article is talking about, and any more ambitious agenda would be exponentially more difficult and costly to achieve. We could well fail. We could get them all killed.
Win or lose, the cost would be much greater than the cost of the Iraq or Afghanistan wars. I leave to others the evaluation of the chance that Iran will go ahead and use its nukes once it gets them. If we knew the odds were high, war with Iran, though a great evil, might possibly be the lesser evil. But how can we know that? And how could we convince the world that we act to prevent the greater evil, rather than because we like to play with guns?
It wouldn’t be easy, especially having got it wrong once before.
| 6 |
Curt Wed, Aug 3, 2011 10:02:35pm |
re: #5 lostlakehiker
Wars are dangerous. War with Iran would be a real can of worms.
Refreshing to know….are you aware, as a point of reference, that Iran has been in a state of conflict with us for a very long time? Happened back in 1979, and they have been doing that, just not with large armies on a field with arrayed formations of uniformed troops. As a result, the current “can of worms” has been fueled by Iran….heard of Lebanon? How about the finally admitted by ADM Mullen fact that Iran is delivering arms that are killing our troops? And don’t forget their fingerprints on a large amount of terrorism worldwide, and their President’s aggressive speeches at the UN and in other public forums…The can of worms was opened and has been spilling on the floor for decades.
I leave to others the evaluation of the chance that Iran will go ahead and use its nukes once it gets them. If we knew the odds were high, war with Iran, though a great evil, might possibly be the lesser evil. But how can we know that?
How can you know the pistol jammed against your head, held by your mugger, who says he’s going to kill you is or isn’t loaded? Do you pretend it’s not, so as not to offend them, or do you take that as a real , legitimate threat to your life? The “delivery capability” is certainly cold on your skin, and the voice indicates a willingness to pull the trigger. One has to evaluate these things based upon physical capability and the stated intentions, seen through the prior actions of the party in question. So ask yourself, from all you’ve seen, and all that’s reported about/from Iran, are you willing to risk genocide, or some finger shaking from the ones who have no capability to defend themselves anyway, let alone openly challenge a nation saying they will build and use nuclear weapons on a whim? On the streets of the US, we can have people hauled off and locked up when they act “crazy” and make such threats, and we consider that the maintenance of a sound, functional society. Why is is so hard to extend this concept to nation-states who act crazy?
And how could we convince the world that we act to prevent the greater evil, rather than because we like to play with guns?
I strongly disagree, unless you’re talking about the current fetish with Libya, a “war” that has been so poorly executes, with no clearly stated goal(s) and certainly not even a whisper of an exit strategy…by a man who derided a President for wars where there was a some coherent reason to respond to an attack on our Nation. Waging war in Libya and not in/on Syria shows a complete and utter disconnect in strategic thinking at the top levels of the Government. Add to it they let Iranian protestors be shot in the streets, yet sided with protestors in Egypt. The Obama Doctrine, based on an outside observer, may well be: “Hey, what do we feel like doing today?”
It wouldn’t be easy, especially having got it wrong once before.
Got what wrong? If a nation self reports it has WMD to the UN, and the UN votes unanimously to demand they are destroyed, just what is a member state of the UN to do when the nation in question refuses to allow inspections and even are seen moving material out of the areas to be inspected? The entire World voted an acknowledgment of Iraq having WMD, and they have and have used them (see comments above on capability and prior demonstrations of willingness to employ weapons) and “we” the US got it wrong? That being said, you can pretend we went it alone, just liked to play with guns, or you can thoughtfully look at the historical record of Iraq, and the UN/world’s reaction to actual events from the Iran/Iraq War and arrive at a much more correct view of the interplay of nations on the world stage, which is not about emotions, but pragmatism, here and abroad.
Once Praised, the Settlement to Help Sickened BP Oil Spill Workers Leaves Most With Nearly Nothing When a deadly explosion destroyed BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, 134 million gallons of crude erupted into the sea over the next three months — and tens of thousands of ordinary people were hired ...
Cheechako
Alone in a Bathroom: The Fear and Uncertainty of a Post-Roe Medication Abortion Angel tucked two white pills into each side of her mouth, bracing herself as they began to dissolve. Her deepest fears and anxieties took over. Angel had wanted to talk to a doctor before she took the pills to ... Cheechako
They Were Desperate to Get Pregnant. Then IVF Gave Them Extra Embryos. One morning last spring, Ashley Harrolle put her 1-year-old daughter down for a nap and went to the kitchen. She pulled up her fertility clinic’s contact information. It was time to make the call. In a freezer several hundred ... CheechakoJoe Bacon ✅
March FavoritesYou've seen these all already but looking back, just because. These are my favorite shots of this last month. That 1937 Zeiss Sonnar is such a gloriously wonderful bit of glass. Thanks for looking.
William Lewis
Russia’s New Combat Robots Blown Up by Drones Near Avdiivka When we landed on the moon, I thought about how science fiction had become real. Now, the robot wars have begun. It's more poignant somehow on the ground than in the missile wars we have in the air as ...
Rightwingconspirator
Why Did More Than 1,000 People Die After Police Subdued Them With Force That Isn’t Meant to Kill? An investigation led by The Associated Press has found that, over a decade, more than 1,000 people died after police subdued them through physical holds, stun guns, body blows and other force not intended to be lethal. More: Why ... CheechakoKGxvi
The Pandemic Cost 7 Million Lives, but Talks to Prevent a Repeat Stall In late 2021, as the world reeled from the arrival of the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus, representatives of almost 200 countries met - some online, some in-person in Geneva - hoping to forestall a future worldwide ... Cheechako
Texas County at Center of Border Fight Is Overwhelmed by Migrant Deaths EAGLE PASS, Tex. - The undertaker lighted a cigarette and held it between his latex-gloved fingers as he stood over the bloated body bag lying in the bed of his battered pickup truck. The woman had been fished out ... Cheechako
