"...this would be a lot tougher than Iraq."
The Iranians hate their government more than the Iraqis did Sadaam. You take out their military and the Iranian government has nothing to secure its ruling position. The result is revolution.
"The Iranians hate their government more than the Iraqis did Sadaam. You take out their military and the Iranian government has nothing to secure its ruling position. The result is revolution."
I'm sorry but it's not going to work that way. Regardless of their hate for their government. I assure you, hatred of the "Great American Satan" far outweighs their hatred for their own government. If you want to fight an Iran united in opposition to the US just start sending our troops in.
There wasn't much evidence that the Iraqis would pick up arms and fight the Ba'athists, and you've seen how that turned out. There's even less evidence that the Iranians will welcome an American military assault and pick up arms in war against the mullahs.
I am not sure some people here understand how the average Iranain feels towards the Iranian government. Let me try to explain: Saddam was a Sunni Muslim and he vehemntly oppressed the Shittes in Iraq (who make up nearly 60% of Iraq's population) and he also oppressed the Kurds (which make up 20% of Iraq's population). So the current Iraqi insurgency is heavily composed of Sunni Muslims and some very dangerous foreigners.
Now, coming to Iran, I am just wondering how many people here actually met an Iranian and asked his/her views about the current Iranian government. I have and their response was that yes, they are extremely unhappy with the corrupt regime BUT the Iranian government has yet to kill massive numbers of its own citizens with nerve gas and such. Also, many Iranians here in the United States voted for President Bush in the recent elections. Why? Because they thought Bush would be more willing to negotiate with Iran than start dropping bombs.
As for the United States not taking action, well, what exactly can we do? Remember that the most revered cleric in Iraq, Ayotollah al Sistani, has had much support from Iran for decades AND he does not accept Israel. Shittes around the world consider this guy to be there Pope John Paul just to give you an example. And al Sistani will not be very pleased if the United States starts to drop bombs on the country that gave helped him very much. Just think of it this way: if we could have bombed Iran without any massive political and military consequences, don't you guys think we would have already done it?
The solution is so simple: Use Nukes!
It would have been nice if...
we had taken out Iran, not Iraq
we had taken out Syria, not Iraq
Since we've known for DECADES that they are the ones providing direct aid to the majority of terrorist organizations on the planet.
Why didn't we?? That's the question people should be asking but they are not. And the answer is not "because Iraq was do-able" as Cheney has been reported to have stated.
Something is going on that the general public doesn't know about . . . I'm suprised more people on freerepublic aren't curious.