"We have hoped and waited for the Iranian people themselves to solve their own problem, but the time for waiting is over. We cannot wait more than a few more weeks."
Apparently the President and State Dept don't agree with you.
"The current government of Iran believes the Mahdi is coming soon, probably to be revealed sometime THIS YEAR"
Reza Pahlavi has said there is a need for urgency.
Apparently the President and State Dept don't agree with you.
1. If we were planning an attack "soon", it would be throwing away the element of surprise to announce it in advance. To announce we plan to launch a strike intended to knock out Iran's emerging nuclear weapons capability would be militarily counter productive.
That does not mean we would not choose to do so for political reasons. After all, we have the Democrats and their media allies to contend with.
2. To continue to "negotiate" is to do nothing. That decision leads to the terrible consequences eloquently described in the article, AT BEST.
But the fanatical belief in the return of the Mahdi, soon, most likely AFTER major trouble has already started, means Iran is quite likely to initiate much more trouble than described in the article above.
3. Which is why we have so little time left. If WE do nothing, then Israel will find itself threatened by an Iranian regime that has already put itself on record as favoring the nuclear extinction of Israel, even if the surviving Israeli submarines are able to launch attacks killing 50 times as many Muslims in retaliation.
We may still choose to do NOTHING. There are many in the world who would not mourn the destruction of Israel, particularly in Europe and much of the Muslim world. But Europe is impotent, and could not take action against Iran even if they could find the moral clarity and courage to do so.
Here in the U.S., our own Democrat party is certain to attack anything George Bush decides to do, and the media is certain to join in the attack. Given the overall political situation, doing nothing may actually be the choice we are forced to make.
But the United States is not the only nation that must make a decision. If we do nothing, we will have forced the same decision upon the Israelis. And they have their entire nation at stake.
If YOU were responsible for the preservation of Israel, and the United States refused to act, what would YOU do? How much longer would YOU wait?
Since Israel cannot wait until AFTER Iran has the nuclear capability to obliterate Israel, the only remaining question is when that will be. A number of published reports have said Iran may have their first nukes by the end of March, 2006.
I have no inside information and certainly cannot confirm that timetable is true. But I know for certain that waiting until Iran is armed with nuclear weapons is to risk the total destruction of Israel. I also know that a miscalculation/intelligence failure that allows Iran to develop nukes before we expect this to happen would be the same as deciding to do nothing.
So... We seem to be between a rock and a hard place, and time has just about run out.
BTW: The graphic you put on your FR home page was clearly a lot of work to create, and well done. It includes the Iranian flag, the lion that used to be in the Iranian flag, and the sun. All of these are symbols of the old Iranian regime.
You also included a representation of the U.S. flag, and an eagle. I assume this was to show solidarity between Iran and the U.S. If so, thank you.
However, the U.S. flag is shown upside down. Although it was probably an oversight, showing the American flag upside down is not something most Americans would do.