Bush says sees risk of Iranian nuclear blackmail (understatement alert!)

Reuters ^ | 1/23/2006 | Steve Holland

[Dark Skies]

While Ahmadinejad may sound crazy to westerners, he sounds perfectly sane within the context of devout islam (even Wahhabi's seem to agree with him). There is little or no doubt that he will spead islam via nuclear blackmail if given the chance.

He must be stopped...and IMO this talk of referral to the Security Council is only prelude to real action.

[RexBeach]

I think we should offer to put a nuke in this guy's shorts...today.

[Williams]

"in a setback for U.S.-European Union efforts to crack down on Iran over its disputed nuclear program, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief ruled out advancing a wide-ranging report...."

This is what's wrong with the UN approach to anything. Some UN official is going to prevent the United States from taking action by delaying a report???

[jdm]

"the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief ruled out advancing a wide-ranging report on the issue in time for a February 2 crisis meeting of his agency."

The UN is either late in reacting or doesn't react at all. What an effective organization. \ (s)(a)(r)(c)(a)(s)(m)

[hershey]

This Iranian crackpot has a plan....he's putting little children around every single nuclear facility and daring the US to bomb them. Which we will do.

[American Quilter]

Was it Sun Tzu who said, "Kill one to terrify 10,000"?

[plain talk]

"We are not going to yield to pressure to abandon our rights, and we have the necessary tools to protect ourselves (er ... I mean provide for our future energy needs)," Ahmadinejad said

[livius]

I suspect that you're right. However, I honestly don't think the high-living sheiks of Kuwait, Qatar and even Saudi Arabia particularly want to give up their yachts, mansions, cocaine and girls or boys for some scraggly-bearded nutcase in a dismal country. Remember, any world economic impact is going to impact them, as well.

This has nothing to do with ideology. The oil-rich sheiks, mullahs and even elected officials are Muslims and as such, hate us simply for being; but they want to keep the goodies flowing, and I would be surprised if they all sign off on the Iran Doomsday Project.

However, one never knows, and I think we should prepare for the worst.

[surely_you_jest]

Diplomats close to the IAEA say ElBaradei disagrees with the Western thrust for referral now, believing further direct talks with Iran and IAEA investigations could still rein in Tehran before a volatile showdown in the Security Council.

Sheesh. Talk, talk, talk. But since the UN has no teeth, we're going to get gummed to death.

[doc30]

The UN nuclear watchdog chief is muslim. Need any more be said?

[ANGGAPO]

Seems to me that we have been here before with the UN. Not to long ago it was Iraq, then sanctions, then stalling and stealing. A unilateral attack will get us more grief from the Europeans and the UN. This time I think they should solve the problem of Iran. After all they are in range of Iran's missiles.

[Puppage]

daring the US to bomb them. Which we will do

Well, according to everything I have read bombing will do nothing. After the Israelis bombed in 1981, the Iranians went underground. WAAAY, underground.

We'll need boots on the ground for this one, I am afraid.

[demkicker]

This Iranian crackpot has a plan....he's putting little children around every single nuclear facility and daring the US to bomb them. Which we will do.

I seriously doubt it

[Cobra64]

That is one loooooong paragraph.

[GovGirl]

Considering what happened the last time the Iranian's took matters into their own hands, I think I'd prefer not to have the youth population run wild with no direction.

I think the student population now is generally more moderate, although there are some really crazy exceptions, but they haven't had any sort of true leader or experience in bringing about a true democratic revolution. Yeah, overthrowing the regime sounds cool and all, but if done wrong we could be in an even worse place than we are now.

Anywho. I have a few friends who work internationally on this sort of stuff and when they get busy it's never a good sign. They're really busy right now. This could get bad fast if we aren't very careful.

[RegulatorCountry]

"the Iranians went underground. WAAAY, underground."

It wasn't just the Iranians. Seems we're the only ones who bought into MAD.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Some heavy reading :

Iran & the Bomb : How Close Is Iran?

Some links and excerpts....

[livius]

overthrowing the regime sounds cool and all, but if done wrong we could be in an even worse place than we are now.

My feeling, too. BTW, I am the first to acknowledge that I am speaking from a position of total ignorance. I only know what I read in the US and European press.

However, I think the rather sunny idea that we will somehow, in the course of the next two weeks, be able to encourage a "resistance" to arise and overthrow the mullahcracy is a pretty futile hope. Many of the student dissidents of last year, btw, wanted a MORE Islamic and Sharia dominated state rather than a more liberal one.

Again, I have no insider information, but I don't think the "revolution" exists at this point nor do I think we have the time or ability to develop it.