Israel, Lebanon, and Gaza

[Alex]

Originally Posted by wendybeth

You don't think a country should be prepared to fight before picking a fight? We're good, but not three or four fronts good. Don't get me wrong- I think Iran is incredibly dangerous and the Chamberlain approach would be a mistake, but I was originally comparing (very simplistically) the differences between Bush and Kerry. They are polar opposites, and sometimes the answer lies somewhere in the middle: try every diplomatic tactic, enlist as much aid as possible and try real hard to remember that we live in a global community and if we keep pissing off everyone else we will be standing alone.

If that is what you mean by wall, then I suppose. But what you suggest is what Bush has mostly been doing with Iran.

And we are more than capable of taking on Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea, Brazil and The Netherlands simultaneously if we really wanted to. The only reason it looks difficult is that we're doing our best to fight without killing.

Other than attacking their historic enemy and rhetorically telling the truth about them, what have we done to provoke violence from Iran? What position in relation to Iran have we taken that has been condemned by the international commnity? What action has Bush taken that obviously provoked Iran into giving missiles to Hezbollah for use against Israel?

try every diplomatic tactic, enlist as much aid as possible and try real hard to remember that we live in a global community and if we keep pissing off everyone else we will be standing alone.

That isn't necessarily something in the middle. There is always another diplomatic tactic that could be tried.

For the record, I believe that Iran should be able to develop nuclear weapons if it wants that the the "diplomacy of non-proliferation" is stupid and a time waster in that it is doomed to complete failure. So I'm not in support of what the diplomatic community is trying to do with Iran. I'm just reacting to your violent dog analogy. You don't put off dealing with a violent dog, you muzzle it as soon as possible.