Let's Give Iran Some Of Its Own Medicine (Mark Steyn)

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 1-17-2006 | Mark Steyn

[Cyber Liberty]

Qom should be the next target. Anybody who spells their city's name with a "Q" and no "u" should be erased post haste.

[popdonnelly]

"It would be a lot easier to put pressure on Iran if not for the current situation in Iraq."

We would be better off if our sworn enemy was still running Iraq and we had no presence there?

[popdonnelly]

"Why bother saying anything about military plans at all?"

Exactly. Let them guess at our plans.

[Cyber Liberty]

A case could be made that helping out the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan is what bit us in the butt. Training up a bunch of Sunnis in Iran and handing them a mess of hardware would almost certainly cause a butt-bite that will leave a mark.

[popdonnelly]

"Can we possibly be preparing to live with a nuclear-armed Iran?"

Not if we have any sense. And we already know that some of our fellow Americans don't have any sense. So ignore them.

[FreedomFarmer]

...they would have been shipping sterile weapons to the Iranian students and others years ago.

I and my sneaky friends have brought presents for all the good little Iranian boys and girls. Enjoy...

[popdonnelly]

"Needless to say, the German deputy foreign minister, Gernot Erler, has already cautioned that this may be going too far"

Fine. We'll accept Iranian nuclear missiles, as long as they're only targeted on Berlin.

[popdonnelly]

"I'm getting a strong feeling lately that all the diplomatic efforts will somehow all fail."

Why should they work? We diddled with Iraq for ten years. Now we have to impress the Iranians with the fact that we're serious this time. We'd be better off scaring the Hell out of them.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

You got that right. Did you read the book "The Delta Force" about how Carter micromanaged the hostage rescue attempt and scr-- it up.

[HiTech RedNeck]

If you can make them believe you will kick them hard in the geopolitical hiney, almost all Mooses will back off. I'm not sure that Iran's mad mullahs believe this yet. If Bush would just get on the telly and tell Teheran in front of the world that we've had enough, one more provocative nuclear move and we bring the war next door to you, they'd stifle.

[jwpjr]

I agree 100%. I don't care if the rest of the world likes us or not, respects us or not. I do want them to fear us. It would be nice to be recognized and appreciated for all the great things we do and for the most generous population of any country in the history of the world, but failing in that I will settle for them to be very afraid of us. Afraid because we have the most horrific weapons the world has ever seen and fear us because we are just selfish, or crazy, enough to use them for our protection.

We have spent the last 60 years or so seeking the assistance, or at least the tacit approval, of the rest of the world anytime we were threatened. It has gotten us nowhere and in fact the delays encountered in trying to explain our actions to the wussies of the world have only served to embolden the enemy and give them time to build their strength.

A single statement to the effect that if Iran doesn't back down by a certain date their ability to continue nuclear development for war or peace will be destroyed. And point out we might just knock out their oil producing capability as well since they have threatened to use it as a weapon against us.

This BS is not going to stop until we do whatever it takes to convince these rogue countries ruled by Islamofasicists that we mean business. Iraq could have been a great start, but we let the rest of the world delay our actions there until they had time to remove the WMD's and prepare for a long term fight after we had overthrown them.

[HiTech RedNeck]

grunt

[NoCmpromiz]

laterreadpingtomewhatelsedidyouthinkwashiddeninthissecretmessageanyway

[Oatka]

Why not tap into their excess energy right now?
Most coherent plan of attack yet....go Steyn!

My thinking also - set up a "no fly" zone and declare the area a Free Iran government-in-exile. The mullahs would be so busy trying to suppress the dissidents they wouldn't have time for nukes.

[ASA Vet]

Why bother saying anything about military plans at all?

No one of any importance has said anything.

[Peach]

Good point!

[Rummyfan]

Great post thanks.

Sticky problem but something must be done - we cannot let these madmen produce nuclear weapons. The Israelis certainly cannot live with such a situation. Does Western Europe want to live under the threat of a nuclear Iran?

Bomb the heck out of them!

[NZerFromHK]

I think a large part of anti-American Third Worlders are starting to discover this idea, and they are actually bashing you Americans for this stance. I found this on a Korean left-leaning site back before the Iraq war:

http://peacemaking.co.kr/pds/view.php?code=e_pds&idxno=98&start=180&search=0&find=

[Rummyfan]

I like your idea!

[knews_hound]

BTTT

Cheers,

knewshound