Iraq is fly paper for the terrorists, they come and we kill
them.



"Icebound" wrote in
message ...
|
| "Jay Honeck" wrote in message
|
oups.com...
|
| Although I'm not in favor of nuking Iran, I must point
out that you're
| judging the results in Iraq with typical American
impatience.
|
| The outcome of this war won't be known for decades. I
believe history
| will look favorably on the decision to intervene when we
did -- as it
| will when we are forced to do something in Iran.
|
|
|
| Sorry, Jay.
|
| The routing of the Taliban in Afghanistan: yes, history
will look very
| favourably.
|
| But the invasion of Iraq will be viewed as one of the
worst decisions that a
| President of the United States has ever made. Even if
the eventual outcome
| produces the most idyllic non-violent pro-western
participatory democracy
| that the world has ever seen... there is no way to tell
whether that may not
| have come about in time, anyway, from internal pressures
of a disenchanted
| populace, plus diplomatic pressures from a united world.
|
| But the negatives are pretty clear. Not the least of
which is that....
| after being deprived of their Afghanistan training areas,
....(and with the
| Arab countries united with the USA, however grudgingly,
against Bin Laden
| and his cronies)... that Al Qaeda had nowhere to go...they
were being
| dispersed to oblivion.
|
| The invasion of Iraq handed their followers a focus... a
training-ground in
| a country where they were not even previously welcome.
Now after
| 3-plus-years of battle-hardening they are dispersing
again.... not to
| oblivion, but to cause more havoc across the world,
including back in
| Afghanistan.
|
| ---
|
| It is interesting that we, the west, are making nice with
Pakistan, who not
| only *has* the bomb *already*, but is the source which
sold nuclear secrets
| to various not-so-savoury characters and countries.
|
| But we are rattling war-weapons at Iran who claim only to
want electricity.
| Who have agreed to UN IAEA inspections (although the west
rejects that
| because we want something more...???).
|
| The US, of all people, must know that citizens' pride is a
very strong
| emotion. Invasion of Iran for what they *Might* do, will
make Iraq look
| like a Sunday stroll in the park. If we agree to
inspections and it proves
| wrong, and Iran actually DOES build a bomb and actually
DOES harm to
| someone, the retaliatory world coalition would stop them
permanently in six
| days or less.
|
| The total damage will probably be considerable less than a
protracted
| pre-emption... like Iraq, where it will be six *years* or
more.
|
| It amazes me that anybody can still think that we will
drop a few bombs,
| wipe out their nuclear capability, and that the war (and
threat) is
| magically "over"...that 60 million citizenry will
automatically accepts our
| interpretation of their governments' "obvious" misdeeds,
and politely say
| "thank you for bombing our homeland".
|
| Yes, there is the psychotic rhetoric of Ahmadinejad to
fuel our fears. But
| in 1956 Nikita Khrushchev beat his shoe on a United
Nations table while
| shouting "we will bury you" to the USA. I wonder if it
would have been a
| "better world" today if we had invaded or nuked the USSR
back then?.?.
|
| ---
|
| I also find it intriguing that Second Amendment proponents
at home, are
| *not* "Second Amendment proponents" on the world stage.
"It's okay to have
| a gun, but only for me and my friends, and I am not so
sure about the
| friends".
|
| ---
|
| And finally... if Iran really just wants power, why
doesn't the west save a
| lot of money and trouble and just offer to BUILD the damn
nuclear power
| plants *for* them, no strings attached. It would cost a
lot less than war,
| in both money and bodies, and they would no longer have
any excuse for their
| own program. Think of it like good old fashioned American
| litigation...sometimes its cheaper to settle than to go to
court, even if
| you are right. If they persisted with the program in
spite of the offer, at
| least you now have a *real* excuse.
|
| As a bonus for the west, it might be a small step from
operating their
| nuclear plants, to operating their oil plants.
|
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