"So, what I intend to do is pray that Europe wakes up. Or maybe that the U.N. does something."
That sounds like an awful idea. I just finished reading the Guardian's latest articles and the posts from the citizens in the UK concerning Iran. Europe is all but lost!
What makes you think we only have 100,000 troops that could go into Iran? I am not even sure boots on the ground in Iran would be necessary for quite some time. We can do alot of damage to the little dictator from 50,000 ft.
The problem is that damage to Iran from 50, 000 ft. is exactly what they want us to do. It would cause public outrage and unite the country an. Think of what the London Blitz actually achieved in Britain? Did it break morale, as the Nazis had hoped? Not at all. It would just give the Iranian gov't an excuse to fund the global jyhad openly, and supply them, and give them public support and national will to do that. And I am saying we have about 130, 000 troops or thereabouts in Iraq, and we are finding recruitment drying up (even if reenlistment is higher than expected), and troops elsewhere spread thin. We can't afford a war with Iran which has an enormous military, and one which is of much higher quality than Iraq's former military (or current military for that matter, unfortunately). And forget carpet bombing Iran; you and I both know that is an impossibility given the political climate we live in.
If you think this situation is going to resolve easily, or painless, or quickly, or cheaply, think again. Iran is a huge problem. Even more so than North Korea (which China will deal with sooner or later anyways, whether we like it or not). Europe is not all but lost, but it is only beginning to awake, and very slowly, from a long sleep. It probably won't get up for breakfast in time...