by Nick on August 7, 2008
Condi is bringing up Iran again, I’m sure to convince us all that we need another war.
“They should have felt like time is running out quite a long time ago,” she said in an elegant reception room near her private suite. “When you are having trouble getting banks to come in, getting investment, when export credits are going down from around the world, when you have inflation roaring, time is running out.”
The six-nation group – the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany - contends that Iran is building nuclear warheads under the guise of a civilian power program. Rice said the dictatorship will have to “make a tough decision” to avoid a further financial squeeze from the Security Council, which she believes is likely to act this fall.
“What is happening to Iran is that its isolation is costing them,” she said. “It’s having an effect. I think that’s one reason that you’re seeing them trying to give half-answers rather than simply saying no. But the fact is we won’t accept half-answers, either.”
You get that? Sanctions are working; the Iranians are struggling now. But we will still probably have to attack them!
I can’t wait until these clowns are out of office.
Go read the whole thing and watch the video over at The Politico.
by Nick on July 11, 2008
Posted By: Nick
There has been quite the increase in commentary this week about possible war with Iran. It’s an unfortunate situation that looks like it may not have a happy ending with the current administration running the show.
The truth of a war with Iran is that the United States would win. While Iran is larger than Iraq, and has a better military, they are still no match for the United States Military. We would win. We would win quickly and decisively. But after we win… then what? Suddenly we would find ourselves occupying a vast swath of the middle east (Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan). Iran is much larger than Iraq both in terms of geographic area and population. The occupation of Iraq will likely pale in comparison to an occupation of Iran.
The further concern is what will happen in terms of the broader Middle East. Will Iran launch missiles at Israel in response? Will this draw other nations into the conflict? The situation could quickly get out of hand. The mere though of the United States occupying so much more of the Middle East will surely inflame the Islamic world.
Oil prices, already at ridiculous levels, will surely increase.
But these things may be inevitable. Afterall, a nuclear Iran is unacceptable. Though some in my party on the far left would like us to never go to war for any reason, sometimes we must. If Iran looks to be on the verge of developing a bomb, we must stop them. Fortunately the recent estimates I’ve read give us at least another year before Iran has an operational nuclear weapon. And even then, they would have only the one (or maybe two?). We still have time to resolve the situation without war, and the Bush administration (and whichever administration comes in next year) should actively pursue all avenues of dealing with Iran. We should be talking to Iranians. Diplomacy works, and can work in this situation. But that shouldn’t be our only action. We should continue to actively seek sanctions as long as the Iranians continue nuclear development. We should maintain our covert actions to both hamper Iran’s nuclear production and to make Iran’s cost of doing business unmanageable.
If we actively engage Iran on numerous fronts (Diplomatic, Economic, Military [covert operations and threats]) we can resolve this situation before it gets out of hand.
The alternative of course is a war that we will win, but which may cripple our nation as a result.
