But I have to disagree with him on whose fault it is that Iran is about to possess nuclear weapons. In my mind, the fault goes to George W. Bush. He had the provocation, the opportunity, & plenty of proof of Iranian nuclear intentions.
Everybody, everybody knew Iran was building nuclear weapons & the missiles to carry them. Everybody knew Iran was aiding the Shias in Iraq against coalition forces. Bush also knew that the sooner the Iranian nuke program was destroyed, the easier it would be.
Many, many FReepers were ABSOLUTELY sure GWB would do the job on Iran. In hindsight (20/20), we spent billions of dollars & used thousands of troops to defeat/subdue radical islam in Afghanistan, while ignoring (sanctions never work) Iran, a radical islamic NATION hotly pursuing nuclear weapons, right next door.
Instead of turning our attention to Iran after chasing al-queda out of Afghanistan, GWB chose to create & support a corrupt, dysfunctional democracy in Afghanistan, & pursue nation building & policing using our precious troops & money.
This is/was a total waste of limited resources, & left the far more serious problem of Iran to grow into an eventual crisis.
That is a very good point, but look where GWB was, politically, at the end...
George also was the first President to officially call for a Palestinian State, albeit with new requirements, that the Palis would probably never agree to. Never the less it became official policy.
One has to wonder why the Mossad has nothing of value on the President that they could leak, why is there not one person in the US government that has anything of value to tell us who this man is?
One possibility of course is that Bible Prophecy is being fulfilled, as scary as that may be to some on this forum. Still it is preferable to me to believe that, rather than try to explain away all that is happening by simply deciding that the whole bunch are just stupid.
I remember a recognition of the former president's clout having been already stretched, especially after the 2006 election, when the Democrats last regained control of the House.
But, that is all "academic," as it were, since we could argue all day over who deserves blame for this present administration's use of power and contempt for the Constitution and be no closer to a solution.
I agree the nation-building in Afghanistan, a generations-long occupation of a central Asian nation at the limits of our ability to project power and treasure, is perhaps futile. The former-administration's belief in Freedom and Liberty as universal rallying points was ridiculous. These are mutually exclusive of Islam, and among people living on the "survival-level" such things are pie in the sky.
Freedom and Individialism, with the responsibilities that they carry, are enemies people fly to mass movements to escape.
Whomever history will call at fault for it, we are already well-along in another world war, against another set of mass movements whose charismatic leaders (domestic and foreign) are promising freedom from responsibility in return for obedience to an illusion of the Collective.
Right now, at this moment, we are on the losing side domestically - though that losing side must ultimately win-out precisely because the Collective promise is a heretical lie against God and Truth.It must ultimately fail, if only after another short or long Dark Age.
The United States is in an existential crisis every bit as threatening as the one faced by Israel. I hold out hope the next election will deliver our nation, in rhythm with what happened after Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter the Nave, and of course I would like to be optimistic about our prospects - that the majority of American voters won't fall for the lie of the Collective.
I strongly believe everyone of us who can recognize the present crisis had better examine their own relationship with the Almighty, humble ourselves before Providence and earnestly pray. Beyond that, we might better start thinking of resistance, even at the cost of our own lives.
We had better decide what we fear most, God or Caesar. All of us know what will happen if we don't "hang together."