Posted on 07/06/2008 11:16:59 AM PDT by Perdogg
The U.S., Israel and Iran are playing a very dangerous game of chicken that soon could result in a new Mideast war.
U.S. intelligence has concluded that Iran is not working on nuclear weapons. But the Bush administration and Israel, recently joined by France, are issuing increasingly loud threats of military action to frighten Iran into halting its nuclear enrichment program.
Iran insists its nuclear program is entirely for civilian use. Tehran is alternating between conciliatory statements and threats to retaliate against any attack by inflicting economic chaos on the global economy. Europe fears the economic damage a war against Iran would bring far more than Iran's nuclear program.
(Excerpt) Read more at edmontonsun.com ...
Since when is a Canadian lefty newsrag privy to U.S. intelligence data?
When Canadians say ‘U.S. Intelligence’, what they mean is ‘democratic-party-biased operatives’.
I’m not going to delve into the rightness or necessity of takng out Iran’s nuclear capability, but the economic damage would be considerable. Even a month’s disruption of half the world’s oil supply would lead to enormous price spikes, shortages and rationing, and not just the fuel itself. The US economy, and the economies of many other countries, are teetering already. Our leadership needs to think very carefully about this. There will be a cost to bear, economically and politically.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Drill and push non-conventional oil at the same time.
I’m sure that other measures could be taken as well. In the short-term, rationing might well be needed.
The time to do this is in November, after the election. Especially if Obama wins.
And we can stop them from disrupting most of the world’s oil supplies. We just really have to kick the shit out of them on the first strike. No holding back for fear of civillian casualties, as we have in recent wars. Sink everything flying the Iranian flag or which might be Iranian. Bomb every Iranian airfield and base, civil and military. Suppress Iran’s air defenses and launch Arc Light-style raids against any Iranian ground formation caught in the open. Lay vast minefields along the Iraq-Iran and Iran-Afghanistan borders and garrison the borders with heavy artillery, shooting at everything that moves.
It can and should be done.
It would be better, I need not add, if we could get over our own irrational fears and just do the right thing and use nuclear weapons against Iran but, alas, I don’t think that any of our leaders have the guts for that.
If we let that genie out of the bottle again, I'm not so certain we'll be the only ones doing so.
The man is fearful. He is scared that his peaceful utopian dream may be shattered and torn asunder.
The only difference between this asswipe Margolis and Scott Ritter is that Margolis hasn’t been trolling for teenage girls at the local Burger King.
Otherwise, not much difference: both of them are idiots.
New? But this war has been being fought on a low level since the UN made Isreal a nation............
So what if we are not the only ones letting the genie out of the bottle?
He's talking about that outdated NIE from --what-- 2004? For even a hack writer this is so misleading as to be a deliberate lie.
Between 1980 and 1988, BOTH Iraq and Iran tried to wage all-out war upon the Persian Gulf tankers.
Neither succeeded in precipitating any significant oil crisis.
When the U.S. responded to Iranian mining, the results devasted the Iranian Navy.
Once Iran goes nuclear, only nuclear war would reverse Iranian efforts to control Persian Gulf oil.
If the specter of a widening nuclear exchange in the middle east strikes you as “so what,” I don’t really know what to say. It would be a cause for concern to me, to say the least.
Is the current leader of Iran a rational person?
Seriously, I ask, is he as rational as say, Breznev was in 1974, or Andropov in 1983? If he is, perhaps what you say has a very large bearing on things, however....
What if he really does believe the 12th Iman will only come to a world in chaos? Would he push the world into chaos for this to happen?
If he launches an attack against Israel, Israel is not going out alone. If they think they’re going to be wiped out they may use the so-called “Sampson Option”, which is to nuke every potential enemy of Israel; meaning most of Islamadom, with their formidible arsenal of nuclear weapons. Then what of the economy of the world?
Perhaps the pain now would be better than the death-blow later. Like going to the dentist to have an infected tooth pulled, or a better analogy—going to the doctor to have a gangrene foot amputated. Sure it would hurt, and losing the foot would mean we’ll never walk right again, but—that’s better than death.
I'm more concerned with the cost of doing nothing. If he wants to increase the price of oil, all Iranian president nut job has to do is threaten Israel or us, which he does frequently, and up goes the speculative price of a barrel. Call his bluff and end this game. The world will be a better and safer place.
No kidding. The Strait could be closed to shipping for long enough that the world will pay for many years. Is it worth the cost?
And 1,000 years of New York, London or Tel Aviv be an inhabitable nuclear waste land may have a bit of an economic impact as well.
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