Iran

[scaeagles]

Decided to make an individual thread because I couldn't find where the other Iran stuff was posted....

Anyway, with Iran now able to enrich uranium on their own, the Iranian leader seems to want to be attacked. Really.

Isreal will be annihilated

From the article:

"Like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation," Ahmadinejad said at the opening of a conference in support of the Palestinians. "The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm."

How is one supposed to interpret "one storm"? The obvious interpretation is the one that I would subscribe to.

With continued rhetoric such as this, either the US and NATO is going to have to take out Iran's capabilities, or Isreal will, and that's would be particularly ugly.

I know there is an argument for self determination of indendent states, but Iran is a nonproliferation treaty signatory. I really do not doubt that this leader, with nukes, would nuke Isreal.

[innerSpaceman]

He certainly is trying to goad us. Should we bite, and let this maniac determine American military foreign policy ... and use our stupid blunderbuss of arrogant might to bring about the jihadist armegeddon that he desires?

[Alex]

If Iran should actually find itself in a possession of a nuclear bomb and we know they intend to use it on Israel. What action, if any, should we take?

Ideally, I suppose we should attempt to prevent it. Realistically, we should wait until they successfully use it because if we successfully prevent it then too many people would argue that it would never have happened and paint us as the aggressors.

For this reason, even if a preventive or pre-emptive military action is warranted in the sense that it avoids a greatre evil, they're success will always look like aggression and their failure will look like stupid aggression.

That's why the police don't get to arrest a person simply because they're confident that the person will commit a crime eventually.

[Gemini Cricket]

"And Iran, Iran so far awayyyy..."

[scaeagles]

It is a difficult situation. Should he acquire a nuke and use it on Isreal, Isreal will certain wipe Iran off the map and Isreal has many, many nukes.

However, surely the Iranian leadership knows this. It could be, though, that the desire for the annihilation of Isreal takes precedent over self preservation, as is the case with every suicide bomber out there. Perhaps Ahmadinejad is simply a nuclear suicide bomber.

Looking at the proximity of Europe to the whole mess, I think the best way to resolve this is to have the French, who have been very vocal about their opposition to Iran acquiring nukes, take the initiative and take out the facilities. They are more than capable, and are not viewed by anyone as an aggressor.

I doubt they have the cajones to do it, but it's the best solution I can think of.

[Alex]

Well, if Iran nukes Israel without real provocation then pretty much the whole world would support what would then happen to Iran.

Though if the reports of the hardening of the nuclear sites is accurate, I'm not sure how France would deal with it without resorting either to invasion or tactical nuclear weapons. Since we probably don't have "rods from god" it is almost certain that the French don't. And they're not likely to have much more support in doing so pre-emptively than we would. The Islamist anger would just turn to focus less on pro-Palestinian and more on pro-Angolan.

[BarTopDancer]

Lets turn the entire Middle East into a giant sheet of glass then build the worlds largest Disney resort on it.

Or a race track. Either one is fine.

[€uroMeinke]

I suspect the Isrealies will conduct any airstrikes - though probably with American support and intelligence. I bet they'd also have no problem using nukes in the circumstances

[scaeagles]

The letter sent by Aminadabooboo (or whatever the heck it is) to Bush is very interesting.

In the letter, he asks Bush to convert to Islam:

"The whole world is moving toward Allah. Would Your Excellency
[referring to President Bush] not wish to join?"

First of all, the media uproar if Bush asked him to convert to Christianity would be deafening, but that's not the point I wish to make.

Iranian scholar Amir Taheri offers this insight:

"Ahmadinejad's move fits into a 14-century-long Muslim tradition, initiated
by the Prophet Muhammad himself, of writing letters to 'the rulers of the
world.' . To each, the prophet's offer was simple: Convert to Islam and
secure a place in paradise - or cling to your beliefs and face the sword of
Islam."

I wonder if this is a sign that Iran is planning something? Just a thought.

[Alex]

There is, thankfully, points of commonality on which Ahmadinejad and the Bush can build. According to yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle article:

The 18-page letter did not offer any concrete proposals for dealing with the nuclear dispute but suggested that the United States give up its liberal, democratic, secular system and turn more toward religion.

Out of four bullet points (abandon liberal, abandon democratic, abandon secular, more religion) I think they already agree on the latter two. If they could just come to terms on which religion (perhaps they can accept Mormonism as a satisfactory compromise making Orrin Hatch ruler of the world) world peace would certainly result.

And then everybody can gang up and stone me.