Lest we forget the Bali Bombers:
Its really very simple,
they want us dead so much, they made it a religion.
The religion that raised Barack Obama from childhood.
While it's true that the mullahs have been playing us with "good cop, bad cop" tactics, there are nevertheless millions of Iranians who are not down with the 8th-century b.s. and who are relatively Europeanized and civilized and have been so since the time of the Shah. They are not Quds Brigade thugs.
The solution would have to take out the mullahs and their supporters selectively -- "decapitating" the black-rag superstructure -- while taking care not to touch the Iranian populace. Wrinkle: Any major, indiscriminate attack on Iran would radicalize even the "civilized" Persians and possibly cause them to rally to the scumbag regime.
The Western-oriented people who served the imperial Iranian military establishment 35 years ago are probably all gone now, but their scions may still serve in the ranks. I just don't know how opinion profiles inside the Iranian military, but the mullahs have done us the favor of continuing to draw off the wild-eyed types to the IRGC and the Quds Brigade, meaning that the regulars may be a lot less raggie-sympathetic than many people think. I just don't know. But why stir them up? Just kill the mullahs and be done. Leave the general population alone while killing the Basij and IRGC red-hots.
I do not believe there is any way around not getting the hands bloddy with collateral damage to non-radical elements in that country...
I recall similar things being said of the country next door. We saw how that turned out.
Lest we forget the Bali Bombers:
Its really very simple,
they want us dead so much, they made it a religion.
The religion that raised Barack Obama from childhood.