Reply #20: You say that...but [View All]

[bdab1973]

Iran has other motivations beyond sectarian issues. Iranians are also Persians, and there is a pretty storied history of distrust between Arabs and Persians, yet the Iranians are funding and arming Arab Shia militias and groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Jaysh Al Mahdi (Mahdi Army). Something that transcends Iran's dislike of non-Shia and non-Persians is their dislike of Western and pro-Israeli forces in their backyard. There's quite a bit of mounting evidence that Iran is in fact supplying arms, explosives, EFPs and other things to various factions in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

I work with the Iraqis here in Baghdad. And they agree that perhaps after we leave Iraq, maybe we should mind our own business...EXCEPT with one issue...Iran. All the Iraqis here are worried about Iran, they express doubt that any political process will prevent Iran from going nuclear, and as the flight engineer I talked to a few days ago said, "the Iranian government is crazy". I don't know if I'd say crazy...but they are calculating and they are posturing to become a regional power. If you ask any of the guys I'm advising, they all know what the nuke is to be used for...to nuke Israel, not the US.

I think many of the other threats in the world can be managed from a foreign diplomacy point of view, but Iran worries me.