Home
Archive
Columnists
Video
Blogs
Discuss
About
Search
Donate
Advertise
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Register to Vote: Rock the Vote, powered by Working Assets Wireless
Advertisement
  • AlterNetYour turn

Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.


Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.

Why Bush Won't Attack Iran

By Gareth Porter, IPS News. Posted June 23, 2006.


A careful look at statements by adminstration officials makes it clear: the president's Iran policy does not involve military force.



Digg!

Gareth Porter is an historian and national security policy analyst. His latest book is "Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam."

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »


Advertisement

 

Comments Turn comments off sitewide Give us feedback »
Comments closed.
The comments for this story have been closed. Thank you to everyone who participated.
View:
Here's the real reason the USA won't go up against Iran.
Posted by: strahlungsamt on Jun 23, 2006 3:27 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Read the following articles by the War Nerd. This guy's hardly a Liberal but he's never been wrong yet. Shiite, Holy Shiite and Super War Preview
The articles pretty much explain everything you need to know about Shiites and why America is so afraid of little countries.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Iraq's enough of a failure and what about funding?
Posted by: maxpayne on Jun 23, 2006 5:25 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Whatever funding was left in 2002 to wage a war in Iraq has long been sapped out. Bush and his ilk would have only bothered attacking Iran or China if they were funded well enough.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Cheney and Iran
Posted by: cynyk on Jun 23, 2006 6:14 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Wasn't it (then) Halliburton president Cheney who said at a 1996 energy conference:"We seem to be sanction-happy as a government. The problem is that the good Lord didn't see fit to always put oil and gas resources where there are democratic governments." ?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Bizzarro America declares War on the World!
Posted by: williameon on Jun 23, 2006 6:51 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The Bore Resident
And
The Hunchback of Halliburton
Dick the Heartless
Bomb New York into submission.

Fear and loathing in Americo!

To keep the prices high
Raise the F-15s high
Blame Iran again!
Oh, my!

Roll back the votes
The Beast wins again
Jeb stole it
In a mud slide.
Of Treason, Larceny and Deceit.

While the people languish
At the Kings feet
He has so many more
Billionaires to greet.

The Faux media avoids the
Elephant in the:
Improper gander room.

911, NSA, WMD, Voter fraud, Global Warning
See no evil!
Say nothing!
Stay with the game plan
Fool most of the people
Most of the time.
With Delusion

Scare them first,
Then plant the suggestion!
Old Nazi’s tricks.

Sure they know all about it!
The Media Whores.
But, fear works wonders
On cowards and bores

Spying, Terror, Torture and Treason!
They all serve
The Beast!

Throw in more
Young virgins
While they're being consumed
We will all feast.

Stealing votes is the name of the game.
Sit back and relax.
The s-election is in the bag.
&
The Bagman is:
The Faux News
Media Whores.

They know it.
We know it.
If you think they will stop.
BU__! SH__!

You haven't seen anything yet.
They stay up late at night
Thinking of new ways to
Torture and destroy you.

They give you the finger
They say: Fuck You
Because they know the game is fixed
They have won
And all that is left is:
The Dividing.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The DOLT will screw Iran over!
Posted by: symcokid on Jun 23, 2006 7:00 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The brain dead misfit will find a way to undermine Iran one way or the other. I wonder how much longer Russia and China are going to just sit back and let us steal oil at will from the Middle East and else where? Where is the United Nations in this free for US, oh, I forgot we are the United Nations!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

kristinar
Posted by: kristinar on Jun 23, 2006 7:35 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A dangerously naive position, I am afraid. The rhetoric espoused by the administration on Iran is identical to that on Iraq. Their words are carefully carafted to let everyone know that they will go along with prescribed, legal strategies as long as no one interferes with their plans. However, changing plans to whatever suits their agenda, legal or not, has always been their MO and anyone who thinks they will suddenly revert to acting within the law is simply not paying attention. If you watch the faces of Rice, Bush and Rumsfeld, you can see that they are toying with us and think they are getting away with it. A splash of cold water in the face is long overdue for these conspirators. KR

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

albiegf13
Posted by: albiegf13 on Jun 23, 2006 10:02 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Why Bush Won't Attack Iran...

I'll tell you why. Because he'll be lynched by his own family and friends if he does.... Talk about a family and friends program...!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: albiegf13 Posted by: Kanefire
He's out of troops
Posted by: medstudgeek on Jun 23, 2006 10:40 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
and he doesn't have the guts for a draft right now. If he did it would be 1968 all over again. I know a lot of you think that would be a good thing, cause a middle-class uprising etc. But look at it this way: we lost over 50,000 in Vietnam over maybe 10 years, we've been in Iraq for 3 and haven't even gotten to 3,000 yet.

And I doubt we've killed as many Iraqis as we did Vietnamese (even adjusted for time)

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Why bush won't attack Iran
Posted by: willymack on Jun 23, 2006 11:25 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
He won't attack Iran because, moron that he is, he knows Iran has a large, highly disciplined army, which will eat ours alive in urban warfare. Think the "insurgents" in Iraq are bad? Multiply that tenfold.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Why Bush won't attack Iran
Posted by: sidewinder on Jun 23, 2006 1:49 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The reason is very simple, it's because if he does the Iranians will use their "sunburn" missile to blow our navy completely out of the water. It's for this very same reason that we will never resist China when they decide to reclaim Formosa (Taiwan).

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Tried and true
Posted by: YHWH on Jun 23, 2006 2:05 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
As things stand now, Bush and Co. can't attack Iran, and they know it. They don't have the support, they don't have the manpower. But there is one thing that can change all that:

Iran "attacks" the U.S. (as in the U.S. military stages an attack and blames it on Iran).

This is the tried and true method to get us into any war. If Iran attacks us, we become the 'good guys' and can be perfectly justified in whatever action we take. The fact that we were trying 'diplomacy' right beforehand just makes it all the better, i.e. we were trying to be civilized and they went hostile. My prediction is one of the ships moving towards Iran right now will be blown up by 'terrorists' from Iran and we'll 'have no choice' but to bomb the #&$% out of them. Then there will be a draft because we don't have enough manpower and anyone who critisizes it will be accused of being unpatriotic

(sarcasm)
"You don't want those damn Iranians coming in here and pushing us around, huh? Do ya? HUH? YOU WANT THAT? Commie liberal bastards!"
(/sarcasm)

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Bush controls Shit:
Posted by: mite on Jun 23, 2006 3:02 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The rulers of this world tell Bush what to do- CFR, Tri-Commission, WTO, World Bank, IMF, United Nations.
Mr. Bush and family are only pawns in this Quiet War against all of the people of the world. If the U.S. does go after Iran, they will make us believe some new major 911 act through their control of the media.
If they need more military personnel their put the new draft into effect that is already in Congress to draft all men and women 18-42 years old.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Iran, perhaps...
Posted by: vangogh69 on Jun 23, 2006 3:32 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
You forget that our economy is backed by credit from Asia (i.e. China, Japan, and Korea). China, specifically, is calling the shots as regards Iran and an invasion of Iran by the US would either have to be backed by China (not entirely out of the question) or would be taken as a provocation against Chinese/Russian interests (a declaration of war on China? Russia?) However, Bush & Co. are in a troubling predicament...

They want to have endless wars with the US determining the geopolitical landscape as the world's "sole superpower" for another 50 years. This isn't possible with the current set-up. That takes money and for all intents and purposes, America is a nation running one big tab. (For an example of how the US is "propped up", look at California, a state with the biggest economy who nonetheless relies almost 100% on oil imports to sustain itself. The US imports more than it exports. Oil is primarily traded in the greenback...not for nothing do we have these bases all over the world.) Wars take financing and America can only request so much of that before some restrictions are applied by other nations.

The US has abolished the draft and institued Selective Service (or the "Economic Draft"/If you want gov. money sign away your life draft): this too poses probs for Bush & Co. We cannot fight endless wars with an all-volunteer army. (Curiously, we're one of the few empires in history to offer this.) As it stands, the US has the resources to pour a million officers into the gulf, but it means pulling out of the many 130+ military bases the world over and giving up all this talk about a "stabilizing situation i.e democracy" in the middle east. We could no longer play "innocent" or "stupid": Were we to pour in a shitload of troops, it would mean admitting to the world that we "just don't give a fuck" and are calling the shots from here on out. International Capitalism has sort of made that train of thought problematic, not to say of how other governments/nations (including our supposed "friends" in Western Europe) might disagree with our newly stated colonial goals. (Let us remember that WWI & II were fought in Europe, primarily by Europeans...they're not so pascifist as the propaganda would have you to believe.)

All this means, of course, that in order to blatantly attack Iran the US will either need another 9/11 OR the US will have to give up its posturing about what it really stands for as a nation. We can't be an Empire and a Democracy at the same time! We cannot (if we admit that we "just don't give a fuck" we will alienate a lot of Americans, which might prove problematic if you then want them to turn around and volunteer for your wars which they had, to that point, believed were purely of a defensive nature). Now, Bush & Co. do have cleaver people working for em and I wouldn't at all rule out them somehow (through some whodo-voodoo shit with Couric spewing the propaganda on the evening news while half the nation watches American Idol) that Iran is somehow responsible for an attack on Israel with the help of Hamas (with Qaeda worked in there somewhere for sure!) and somehow an attack on Iran is necessary for the security of Israel which involves, of course, the cooperation of the US. WWI started in a similar way with a regional conflict (the assasination of the Archduke, to the Balkan Wars, to Austrian posturing) quickly turning international from the July Crisis (German and Russian provocations, Alsace-Lorraine) to of course the ("defensive")launching of the German army by the Kaiser, Wilhelm II (in response to Russian "offensive" manoeuvers). And of course, we see what WWI accomplished: (highlights include) laying the groundwork for the Third Reich and the A-Bomb on Hiroshima!

Hold you breath yet, kids...

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Limited Insanity
Posted by: jimlup on Jun 23, 2006 6:06 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'm not convinced. This author makes much of his particular interpretation of the NSA memo. The problem is that the Bush folks may be planning a "limited attack". They want to hit several targets in Iran with bunker buster bombs. They may decide to use tactical nuclear weapons for this job.

Long term regiem change is their goal but limited attack may serve their current propaganda ends. They may want to "do Iran" in a hard night of bombing and then play a game of brinksmenship afterwards. This would serve notice that they are just insane enough to pull the trigger. A position that seems to appeal to them.

The test they were waiting for in Nevada ("Divine Strake" - delayed indefinetely while they figure a way to appease the enviromentalists.) was all about bunker buster nuclear weapons. If they felt that they had the political power to proceed, I believe they would.

A lot depends on November here. If they hold congresss I believe they will fell released to do a limited strike. If you look at a map of the Middle East I do not believe that it is a coincidence that Iran is bordered on both sides by the American occupied countries of Iraq and Afganistan. This seems like an unlikely conicidence for the long term U.S. designs.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Sunburn Missile
Posted by: gonzoskismet on Jun 23, 2006 6:52 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Goggle these two words. 'Nuff said.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Sunburn Missile Posted by: jimlup
I know The real reason
Posted by: popsicle67 on Jun 23, 2006 7:59 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We don't have to worry about Iran anymore. Cross it off your lists. They will no longer be a problem in 30 years. That's right
How do I know this? just go to youtube and type in Iranian death metal. Kids all over iran are rebelling against the religious hierarchy. It will only be a matter of a few short years before the government will be inundated with more liberal thinkers as conservative clerics die off one by one.
Time, it seems, does wound all heels.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Only A Greedy, Utterly Incompetent Fool Would Attack Iran
Posted by: bcgirl125 on Jun 23, 2006 8:08 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
And that's why I'm 100% convinced Bush & his clique of crony capitalists will go right ahead and do it. They don't care what happens to America -- they only care about enriching themselves. Even if the American economy collapses as a result, they'll still try to grab Iran's oil for private corporate interests. Neocons are so greedy and aggressive that common sense and self-control are completely irrelevant to their strategies.

To find out how these traitors think, read a few pages written by their spokespersons, such as Coulter or Kristol, or tune in to Faux News. It's nothing but imperialistic jingoism, yet it has a wide following among the public. Remember, at least 48% of voters did pick Bush, vote fraud aside. In addition, 6 large, conservative corporations control all the major news outlets in America, and the average citizen who relies on the mainstream media is inundated with pro-war propaganda. It's not hard to get a substantial segment of the population to support another war, even when they can see that the current war is hurting their pocketbooks.

So the whole idea that Bush won't attack Iran because such an action would be unreasonable and unaffordable is simply naive.

And don't forget the power of the Israel lobby, and American's military and political ties to Israel. It is unlikely that Israel will tolerate competition from another nuclear power in the Middle East. All the Israelis have to do is lob a few missiles at Tehran and force the Iranians to hit back. Then America will be forced to "rescue" the Israelis and the war will be on. I wouldn't be surprised if the Israelis are being encouraged privately to do exactly that by the Neocons, to give Bush the excuse he needs to attack Iran.

In addition, don't forget about Peak Oil. As supplies dwindle, all oil-consuming nations will be forced to compete, with ever-growing industrial appetites, for a shrinking pool of oil. Since the American economy will collapse without oil, a gambler might think it worth the risk of bankruptcy to seize Iran's deposits, since without them bankruptcy is assured anyway.

And then there's the 500-pound gorilla in the living room, the American deficit. The only thing keeping the value of the American dollar from a complete implosion is the fact that it is used as a world currency on the oil markets. Foreign Countries have to hold a supply of dollars to purchase oil; if another currency starts to be widely used, all those unwanted dollars will come flooding back to America. Iran is planning to open an oil bourse in Euros (it was scheduled to open this spring, but it was delayed), which can only hurt the American dollar.

So all in all, to Neocons there really are no hold-backs on an attack on Iran, and several reasons in favor of it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Out of your mind... we're ALREADY at war with Iran
Posted by: xbj on Jun 23, 2006 10:32 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Special forces are ALREADY undergoing missions in Iran, just at they were in Iraq LONG before the actual invasion. Unmanned Predator drones are flying spy missions selecting targets. Troops have been readying deployment out of Iraq, and to Iran, for months now.

The Bush Adminstration has absolutely no choice but to invade Iran. The Cheney-Rumsfeld moneyminting inept, unwinnable, and "endless" (by purposeful planning, implementation, and design) war on Iraq has just about gone as far as it can go without the continued support of the American People (which they no longer have) without expanding it to another "axis of terror."

The gravy train is about to END for the offense contractors, and also their mob tribute contributions to the GOP. Congress is quaking at the bottom of the food chain.

Not to mention the fact, that after the 2006 Diebold and ES&S sweep, which will go 180 degrees against all exit polls and show MASSIVE GAINS, not losses, for the entire GOP, including Lieberman (who is absolutely a GOP mole), disenfranchised voters, their votes thrown into the garbage FOR THE THIRD TIME, will be so enraged the Administration and Congress THEY NEVER ELECTED will be under siege, facing its greatest chance of revolution since the civil war. Wal-mart won't have any pitchforks, tiki torches, rope, OR ordinance left to sell. Martial law, without an Iran invasion happening? COUNT ON IT. Haliburton is building the camps AS WE SPEAK.

So folks, like it or not, troops or not, support or not, Bush is ABSOLUTELY INEVITABLY GOING TO NUKE IRAN, and use the very nukes he drops as "proof" that Iran had WMD, because the military and the Adminstration will LIE THROUGH ITS TEETH and claim "NO NUKES WERE USED." No mistake of accidents while trying to plant them this time will ocurr like in Iraq, where an entire squadron was irradiated to death when an IED blew up the convoy planting WMD INTO Iraq, and the military put its foot down and told Herr Rumsfeld and the Adminstration to "Go f*ck yourself, you only got one shot."

And, in order to get the good American People on board for their little moneyminting expansion (call it Phase III in their corporate war industry Plan for an "American" Century), they'll just have to nuke a small town somewhere in the US or bring down another tower... the Sears Tower was marked the day George H.W. "Poppy" Bush took a sightseeing trip to the top just shortly after 9-11, "just enjoying the view." Now you know why they left the border open, by the way.

So folks, get ready for the war, it's already here, and after Iran is nuked to a black cinder, they plan on going after Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and yes, the final target, Israel. A Bush ally doesn't exist that knows that all previous Bush allies (Osama, Noriega, Saddam) end up with knives in their backs sooner or later.

But it won't get that far; China and Russia have plans for their combined entire nuclear arsenals, as well as all their nonconventional top secret weapons (of which they have as many, if not more, than we do) and they will remove the Amerikan "problem" from the face of the earth the very second Bush nukes Iran. Even Israel is covering their bets and backs by dealing with China, which, in any nuclear asault with the US, will recover much sooner due to far greater population and greater rural land. The US, on the other hand, will remain an glowing black cinder for a very long time.

But America's survival is of no importance; the current illegal, unelected rogue US Adminstration cannot stand against all its enemies (foreign and ESPECIALLY, domestic leaking their crimes like a strainer) without committing another 9-11 act of treason and rallying the rabble against the new enemy we're ALREADY at war with.

Make your peace with your God or get your family the Hell away from the northern hemisphere just as fast as you can.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Nonsense, we WILL attack Iran.
Posted by: stevenp on Jun 24, 2006 6:38 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The Judeo-fascists want war so we'll have war. End of story. American democracy has imploded into a vote between Zionist A and Zionist B:

The Bush-Kerry presidential debate:

George W. Bush: “A free Iraq will be an ally in the war on terror, and that’s essential. A free Iraq will set a powerful example in the part of the world that is desperate for freedom. A free Iraq will help secure Israel. A free Iraq will enforce the hopes and aspirations of the reformers in places like Iran. A free Iraq is essential for the security of this country.”

John Kerry: “Soldiers know over there that this isn’t being done right yet. I’m going to get it right for those soldiers, because it’s important to Israel, it’s important to America, it’s important to the world, it’s important to the fight on terror.”

This democratic collapse is in turn driven by Jewish media control, a fact that single handedly redefines America as a Judeo-fascist regime. Media control and democracy cannot co-exist under any circumstances:

"Four of the largest five entertainment giants are now run or owned by Jews. Murdoch's News Corp (at number four) is the only gentile holdout -- however Rupert is as pro-Israel as any Jew, probably more so."
Los Angeles Jewish Times, 'Yes, Virginia, Jews Do Control the Media,' Oct. 29-Nov. 11, 1999 p. 14

"Time-Warner, Disney, Viacom-CBS, News Corporation and Universal rule the entertainment world in a way that the old Hollywood studio chiefs only dreamed of. And, after all the deals and buyouts, four of the five are run by Jews. We're back to where we started, bigger than ever."
Jewish Week, 9-17-99, 12

"The greatest concentration of Jews, however, is at the producer level -- and it is the producers who decide which stories will go on the air, and how long, and in what order, they will run. In 1982, before a shift in assignments, the executive producers of all three evening newscasts were Jewish, as were the executive producers of CBS's 60 Minutes and ABC's 20/20. And Jews are almost equally prominent at the 'senior producer' and 'broadcast producer' levels as well as in senior management. When Reuven Frank stepped down as president of NBC News in 1984, for example, he was replaced by Laurence Grossman, who left the presidency of PBS to take the position."
Charles Silberman, A Certain People. American Jews and Their Lives Today, Summit Books, 1985, p. 154

Judeo-fascism is not a recent development. This hidden ruling elite has been intimidating sitting presidents into behaving like frightened children for quite some time now:

"This [Jewish media] stranglehold has got to be broken, or the country's going down the drain," Graham declares. "You believe that?" Nixon says. "Yes, sir," answers Graham. "Oh, boy," replies Nixon. "So do I. I can't ever say that, but I believe it."
Nixon-Graham tapes (1972)

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Irrational Fears
Posted by: Vani on Jul 25, 2006 5:01 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I really wonder about AlterNet. Are you just a front for some Conservative Organization or what? What does it matter that Iran obtains Nuclear capacity? Who the hell would they use it against, their neighbor? These are tiny nations that are all crammed in the same tiny space. No one could get away with using nuclear weaponry without horrific fallout (lame pun intended) for all his neighbors, enemies and others. Can you imagine the devastation in the Middle East, if we had a radioactivity contamination crisis over there?

Why didn't you start your article with something that matters like questions concerning Israel's possession of nuclear weapons? Why does Israel have to have nuclear weapons; against whom does that trigger-happy, mass-murdering nation intend to use them; why didn't anyone try to stop Israel from obtaining nuclear weapons? With her unreserved, ruthless use of the abundant and highly sophisticated arms that America gives her, this is the one nation above all others which should not possess sophisticated weaponry. Let alone NUCLEAR BOMBS. Hell, Israel could attack US. It certainly is privy to most of our secrets and vulnerabilities.

Is some one trying to slip in anti-Islamic rhetoric here? Why is Alternet raising concerns about Iran during Israel's campaign of bloody destruction of Lebanon. Uh, don't you have somethign else to think about, like, er, let's see here - Lebanese children dying? While it is certainly very different from us, Iran not a security concern. Yes, their penal system and law enforcement policies do not match ours. Yes, they are a theocracy. Yes, their official religion is Islam. So what. All of above is part and parcel of what is known as diversity. Diversity is very healthy for us all. Which is why nature spontaneously produced millions of life forms that differ greatly from one another. Respecting Iran's right to govern as itself as it chooses, to choose its own friends and allies is an important part of respecting the diversity that is human existence on earth. Furthermore, Iran has emerged as one of the most stable nations in the Middle East. On the hother hand, America is a destructive force in the world and is in no position to point fingers at ANYONE, and I really do mean anyone. After Abu Ghraib, who can they consider themselves to be superior to? Canabalistic chimpanzees have shown greater evidence of civilization and humanitarianism than Modern Democratic America. Leave Iran alone, you chimps.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]