Posted on 03/04/2015 6:59:32 AM PST by Army Air Corps
It is extremely rare for any reasonable person to ever agree with anything Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says or does.
However, one must admit, Bibi did get it right, at least when it came to dealing with Iran.
The Israeli PM managed to hit the nail right on the head when he said that Middle Eastern countries are collapsing and that “terror organizations, mostly backed by Iran, are filling in the vacuum” during a recent ceremony held in Tel Aviv to thank outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz for his role during “challenging” times.
In just a few words, Mr. Netanyahu managed to accurately summarize a clear and present danger, not just to Israel (which obviously is his concern), but to other U.S. allies in the region.
(Excerpt) Read more at english.alarabiya.net ...
I remember Netanyahu telling us that if we get rid of Saddam that Iran would immediately collapse and peace would come to the region.
Not taking anything he predicts as gospel.
After all, how could Nancy Pelosi be wrong?
Please find a quote where he said Iran would immediately collapse and post it here. He said there was a possibility that there would be an implosion in Iran. He felt that the Iranian middle class would have the strength to fight the government if Iraq were taken out. He explictly said there were no guarantees.
Ping
No, I was merely pointing out that Netanyahu could not have been more wrong about the ramifications of taking out Saddam, so I will not blindly believe that his analysis is accurate.
Don’t you think that it was more likely that we screwed up the planning and follow-through in Iraq? Taking out Saddam was good and necessary - sort of like it was good and necessary to wipe out nazism. We were in no way prepared for maintaining the mission and control after seizing Baghdad and the handoff to civilian diplomats guaranteed failure.
Netanyahu is absolutely right and if you’re at all honest, you know it.
Well then, a nuclear Iran with long range missile capabilities is really cool. Nothing like terrorist loving muslims strong arming the globe...even more.
By capitulating, you are pretty much telling Iran do what you want.
In a parochial sort of way it’s like arming all criminals in the US with a lifetime supply of guns and ammo so they can be better equipped at murder and mayhem.
In your scenario, America would have had to maintain an enormous force for an insane amount of time, perhaps decades. I don’t think that is a good solution to the current problem.
Do you think we should have maintained an enormous presence there or do you have an alternative solution?
I am not arguing what current strategy should be in regards to Iran, because frankly I don’t see an obvious solution.
Again, I only pointed out that Netanyahu was dead wrong about the elimination of Saddam bringing a solution to the Iran problem. His claim that they would fail as a result is 180 degrees from what happened. Iran is far stronger now than before the fall of Saddam.
Do you disagree with that?
And what would you call our presence in Europe, Japan, and Korea? After any significant conflict, we have had to maintain a credible military presence to keep that part of the world stable and on an acceptable path.
We are the main presence on the planet for a number of reasons and one of those reasons has been keeping former enemies honest.
We should have maintained a large, well-trained and credible force in Iraq. I won't argue that GW Bush was right to go in - but once in, we had to finish the fight and keep Iraq and its neighbors stable.
The other choice is to renounce our place in the world, let others like China, Russia, Iran, and so on take the lead and get ready for what happens next.
Don't like having to maintain a preeminent military force? New Zealand beckons.
Your policy reminds me of McCain’s attitude towards all countries.
Iraq isn’t like anything in Europe or Japan. It is surrounded by uncontrollable chaos. If you kept American forces there, they would be under never-ending attack. If you want to volunteer for that or send your kids to that fate, fine, but leave me out of it.
New Zealand is beautiful, by the way.
We have exactly two choices: maintain the strength and resolve to defeat threats and stay there or surrender now and enjoy the camps.
The other choice is to renounce our place in the world, let others like China, Russia, Iran, and so on take the lead and not even get ready for what happens next.
Ah yes, the OBAMA Option.
You got it, Buddy. I’m starting to lose hope that any of our “leaders”, either party, have figured out what comes next if we keep on this path.
You and McCain and your types have taken us down this road before and still haven’t learned the lesson.
You can’t impose democracy on people who don’t want it. Send your kids as human sacrifices if you wish, but don’t bitch about Bush sending kids to die in Iraq or Obama sending them to die in Afghanistan.
Look at all the good that has accomplished. We would be in better shape today if we had stayed out of the region. Let them fight each other and kill each other.
Sad that on a conservative forum to see people who want to send their kids to slaughter for a totally corrupt government. Presumably you’re aware of how corrupt they are in every other facet of your life, but you have a blind spot when it comes to the way our government treats its soldiers and veterans. That’s why so many of our military commit suicide when they fail to get help from the people who send them off to do the dirty work.
Nobody's interested in "imposing democracy": we're only interested in eradicating threats to our country's safety and some of us were men enough to shoulder the risks and the losses.
What would you know?
Great non-answer.
What have we accomplished so far?
What specifically do you want us to do in the region?
Replying beat everyone up or blowing everyone up doesn’t cut it in reality.
Do you have answers or are you just continue to huff and puff tough guy talk?
You never answered the “the huff and puff tough guy talk” like why didn’t you serve your country in uniform? If you had you would have understood the world a lot better.
The world is made of lovely, charming people who would happily cut your throat if they were in charge. The whole reason we have survived as a free and prosperous nation is because we have the best and most effective expeditionary forces at our disposal. Minus you, of course.
Avoid the Middle East and they come here to kill us - they already demonstrated that. If Iran gets nuclear weapons, millions die because those primitives will use them.
Didn’t you learn anything from WWII ? We thought that avoiding the European and Pacific situation could keep us out of foreign entanglements and we could just watch while eating popcorn. War came to us anyway and many more of our and the world’s young men paid because we didn’t crush evil when it first emerged.
Hiding under our beds won’t protect us. Getting out and killing them in their beds will.
Again, you failed to provide a specific strategy. Kill em all ain’t a specific course of action.
As to my military service. I was lucky, the draft ended the year I was supposed to go to Vietnam.
I appreciate anyone who served their country, including yourself, but having served doesn’t make someone any better at deciding what needs to be done on the international stage.
George McGovern was a great veteran who was treated like garbage by America when he came out against the Vietnam War, even though his stance turned out to be correct.
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