Posted on 01/19/2006 6:23:57 PM PST by blam
So I guess Ronald Reagan was about the silliest President you ever saw.
No, he wasn't. Because he hadn't just invaded Iraq to install a Shia-dominated government. For your idea to begin to be feasible we would have reverse course 180 degrees and install a new Sunni strongman in Iraq. Or should we just break Saddam out of his cell and put him back in his palace?
We are where we are. You're right that Iran is in a stronger position now than it was before we invaded Iraq. But let's talk about realistic moves to deal with them, not told-you-so, woulda-coulda-shoulda fantasies.
Ultimately, this war is about democracy and whether or not it can take root in Iraq, and the Middle East. Why did we do invade? To remove the threat of WMD attacks and to install a democratic regime. Because democracies don't attack other democracies and terror-producing radicalism is defused by an open political system.
Obviously Dick Cheney, Rummy and the President must have been aware that if they installed a democracy in Iraq, it would become Shia-dominated and likely to come under Iran's influence. I think they expected the insurgency to be less intense and prolonged, and that we would have more troops available to deal with Iran.
We are in a tricky situation, and there are lots of variables. I'm not sure how the endgame will play out. Military action against Iran is not off the table. Airstrikes would delay their nuclear program, and the situation in Iraq can improve.
Ultimately, we and the Israelis would have to ask ourselves, can we live with a nuclear-armed Iran? Would the Mullahs be willing to sacrifice their regime and millions of Iranian lives in exchange for the destruction of Israel, or an attack on the United States?
Would using a terrorist outfit as a proxy protect them? I doubt it. There are ways to tell who made what. We would take them out, regardless.
Ahmadinejad seems like a dangerous fanatic, but I'm not sure if he would be willing to turn all of Iran into a suicide bomb. But a nuclear-armed Iran as a regional superpower would be a disaster for us all.
The Israeli air force flies over Damascus at will. There is no one left on earth that thinks that Syria has any illusions about their actual status of existence.
Unfortunately, you are wrong.
I find him to be very credible, as much as I don't like it.
What would be needed is to send in a crack team of commandos. Not simply to bomb the reactor. Equipment damage in that area steels an enemy's resolve as long as it has the brain trust in place. Kill all the scientists and technicians working on the bomb, and any components substantially related to it, destroy design schematics as well as destroy the equipment. That should set them back a minimum of 10-15 years...
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