[kabar]

The 'facts on the ground' are not your friend. There may be groups of disgruntled youth leading some sort of opposition, but remember that it is the 'young' that rallied behind, and continue to rally behind Ahmadinejad, who organized the Basij brigades (children serving as human mine sweepers during the Iran/Iraq War) and retains much of his political power due to the Basij.

Ahmadinejad is not popular and many boycotted the election that put him in power. And the mullahs are having major problems with the economy.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran increased the price of gasoline by 25 percent Tuesday, faced by the same quandary that has sent prices at U.S. pumps soaring: Its lack of refinery capacity means it must buy gas on the world market. Public discontent has been growing in Iran in recent months as housing prices have doubled and prices for basic goods have tripled since last summer. Many drivers were surprised Tuesday morning to find gas prices had risen overnight to 38 cents a gallon from 30 cents, part of a major plan by the government to reduce state subsidies on gasoline.

Ahmadinejad is trying to divert public attention from what is happening domestically by creating an phony external threat. We would be helping him now by attacking Iran militarily.

As for 'national suicide', embracing the Carteresque doctrine of 'don't use military force' virtually guarantees national suicide.

I was referring to the Iranians. The Mullahs don't want to commit national suicide by overtly attacking the US or Israel or Europe. They want to maintain their power at all costs.

a.) Qom is only an 'important religious symbol' because the Islamofreaks believe it to be so. You know and I know that it is just one more fake idol of an ideological death cult.

We would be fools to "nuke" Qom. It would be seen as an attack against Islam worldwide.

Who gives a damn? The world condemns America every day and every night for any and all perceived 'offenses' whether deserved or not. You need to stop worrying about what the rest of the world thinks about us, and start promoting the idea that the rest of the world had damn well better start worrying about what AMERICA thinks of THEM.

We don't need to alienate the rest of the world by launching a unilateral nuclear attack against Iran. There are other ways to achieve our objectives.

Uh huh. And what do you think is going to happen when Tehran acquires even a rudimentary nuclear capability?

Iran still needs to sell its oil. It is the main source of its national income.

It's not going to happen. That's why we should have nuked Iran last week. Truman didn't worry about what the world would think of us after nuking the Japanese in 1945, and neither should we worry about it today regarding Iran. This is an ideological struggle to the death. Do we want to win, or do we want to die? Choose wisely.

Iran is neither Imperial Japan or Nazi Germany. It can never defeat us militarily. As I mentioned, the greatest threat they pose to use is their sponsorship of militant islamic terrorism. We cannot win the WOT without regime change in Iran. We just disagree on how best to accomplish that objective. Having lived in Iran 1977-79, including during the hijacking of the Iranian Revolution by Khomeini, I have my own firsthand experience to base my opinion. Iran was and will be again our ally. We should not allow the mullahs to bait us into an ill-timed military attack and bail them out of their growing domestic crisis. There are covert ways we can hasten their demise.

[mkjessup]

Ahmadinejad is not popular and many boycotted the election that put him in power. And the mullahs are having major problems with the economy.

The 'election' was a farce anyway, you actually think Iranian elections are 'free and fair'? LOL

As for the mullahs having major problems with the economy, it doesn't appear to be holding up their drive for nuclear weapons, nor is it inhibiting their proxy war against our troops in Iraq, nor is there any let up in their state sponsored support for terrorism around the world.

Ahmadinejad is trying to divert public attention from what is happening domestically by creating an phony external threat. We would be helping him now by attacking Iran militarily.

Ahmadinejad doesn't give a hoot in Hell about public opinion, he's in charge, he has a political base, and the mullahs are happy to have him leading the way while they hide and stay out of sight.

As for economic difficulties in Iran as reported by HeraldNet.Com, it means nothing. Iran is not a capitalist democracy in the sense of a Western nation, if the Iranian people suffer hardship, they are told to bite the bullet, shut up, or they get a visit from the mullah's thugs in the dead of the night. That's the reality of what's happening 'on the ground' in Iran, and guess what?

That's pretty much what's been going on since the Assahollah seized power in '79.

We would be fools to "nuke" Qom. It would be seen as an attack against Islam worldwide.

Did you somehow miss 9/11 when 19 Islamic terrorists led the opening attack against US?!? Perhaps you need to check out following passages from the Quran:

Qur’an:8:12 “I shall terrorize the infidels. So wound their bodies and incapacitate them because they oppose Allah and His Apostle.”

Qur’an:8:57 “If you gain mastery over them in battle, inflict such a defeat as would terrorize them, so that they would learn a lesson and be warned.”

Ishaq:326 “If you come upon them, deal so forcibly as to terrify those who would follow, that they may be warned. Make a severe example of them by terrorizing Allah’s enemies.”

Qur’an:8:67 “It is not fitting for any prophet to have prisoners until he has made a great slaughtered in the land.”

Ishaq:588 “When the Apostle descends on your land none of your people will be left when he leaves.”

Ishaq:326 “Allah said, ‘No Prophet before Muhammad took booty from his enemy nor prisoners for ransom.’ Muhammad said, ‘I was made victorious with terror. The earth was made a place for me to clean. I was given the most powerful words. Booty was made lawful for me. I was given the power to intercede. These five privileges were awarded to no prophet before me.’”

Ishaq:327 “Allah said, ‘A prophet must slaughter before collecting captives. A slaughtered enemy is driven from the land. Muhammad, you craved the desires of this world, its goods and the ransom captives would bring. But Allah desires killing them to manifest the religion.’”

Qur’an:7:3 “Little do you remember My warning. How many towns have We destroyed as a raid by night? Our punishment took them suddenly while they slept for their afternoon rest. Our terror came to them; Our punishment overtook them.

[with a big thank you to Freeper 'DennisW']

We don't need to alienate the rest of the world by launching a unilateral nuclear attack against Iran. There are other ways to achieve our objectives.

Those 'other ways' consisting of the dubious approach of 'covert action', and/or inflicting unnecessary casualties on our OWN troops by going in with mostly conventional weapons, or perhaps you mean (har har) "diplomacy"?. Lookee here bud, America's goal is not to win some global popularity contest because we desperately need to be liked, America's goal is (or should be!) to defend our way of life, and that way of life is threatened by Islamofascism, and at this point in time, Iran is leading the charge. We have the means to wipe their asses out tomorrow morning, and we should do it. Neither Russia or the ChiComs in Beijing are going to risk a general nuclear exchange with us over Iran, they'll shriek, wail and scream bloody murder, but when faced with the option to up the ante and risk further American retaliation on THEIR vital interests?

Uh uh, they'll fold their cards. The United States is the only nation on Earth to use nuclear weapons in warfare, and it's time our friends and enemies alike got a reminder of that historical fact. Iran is that reminder, and we need to stop wasting time about it.

Iran still needs to sell its oil. It is the main source of its national income.

The mullahs and Ahmadinejad don't care. They are in the grip of Islamic 'end times ideology' and they believe that by bringing on armageddon, it will only hasten their entry into 'allah's paradise', in the meantime, they are going to continue to push the envelope to see how much they can get away with, and as Podhoretz pointed out, one of their most recent tests of Western resolve was the taking of those UK sailors hostage, and Britain showed itself to be utterly neutered and powerless. You think that's a good thing?

Iran is neither Imperial Japan or Nazi Germany. It can never defeat us militarily.

It's not about defeating us militarily, it's about a regime in Iran that is the classic definition of the 'inmates taking over the asylum', and if they achieve a nuclear weapons capability, the world situation is going to be 100 times worse than anything that might have happened in World War II with Germany and/or Japan. Believe that.

As I mentioned, the greatest threat they pose to us is their sponsorship of militant islamic terrorism. We cannot win the WOT without regime change in Iran. We just disagree on how best to accomplish that objective. Having lived in Iran 1977-79, including during the hijacking of the Iranian Revolution by Khomeini, I have my own firsthand experience to base my opinion. Iran was and will be again our ally.

Someone who lived in Germany from 1937 until 1939 might have made the same statement, and while Germany did indeed become our ally, it wasn't until after the whole damn country was flattened by strategic bombing.

It's a quaint notion that Iran might return to those pre-mullah days when the Shah of Iran was in fact one of our best friends in the region and a force for stability. But your faith in Iranian society to do an about face, no matter how fast or how slow, is likely going to be misplaced because that nation is no friend of ours, the regime currently in charge is not going to go quietly, and the only way Iran is going to start behaving itself is for the United States to slap it down and HARD. If that means carpet bombing the damn place from one end to the other, so be it - they will have brought it on themselves.

We should not allow the mullahs to bait us into an ill-timed military attack and bail them out of their growing domestic crisis. There are covert ways we can hasten their demise.

Your faith in covert operations is misplaced.

The stakes are too high to trust the CIA to do in Iran what they helped to accomplish in 1953. In this case, lightning will NOT strike twice.

I say fuel up the B-1s and B-2s.