Abizaid: World could abide nuclear Iran

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: AP - Yahoo

WASHINGTON - Every effort should be made to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but failing that, the world could live with a nuclear-armed regime in Tehran, a recently retired commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East said Monday.
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John Abizaid, the retired Army general who headed Central Command for nearly four years, said he was confident that if Iran gained nuclear arms, the United States could deter it from using them.

"Iran is not a suicide nation," he said. "I mean, they may have some people in charge that don't appear to be rational, but I doubt that the Iranians intend to attack us with a nuclear weapon."

The Iranians are aware, he said, that the United States has a far superior military capability.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070917/ap_on_go_ot/abizaid_iran

[TacticalPeek]

1. Golly, kinda like surviving the USSR having thousands of deliverable nukes?

Thank goodness somebody remembered we already know how to do this.

[mark414]

3. exactly....we can survive a 40 year cold war and the Cuban Missile Crisis,

but somehow a country buried in the Middle East with a handful of nuclear weapons, not one of which would ever be capable of reaching our shores, signals Armageddon...

[yurbud]

12. they aint stupid in DC, they just think the rest of us are

[yurbud]

15. yep...Third World nukes vs Cold War inspired me to make a couple of videos:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dqySikgiviw


http://youtube.com/watch?v=QXpZLgHXRhE

I've still got to make ones with B-1s, B-2s, and ICBMs.

[yurbud]

13. I am always amazed anyone old enough to remember Cold War could say Iraq was or Iran is a "threat"

with a straight face.

The people in DC who say that KNOW they are lying out their asses.

They know.

[Megahurtz]

2. It Never Ceases To Crack Me Up.

>>>"I mean, they may have some people in charge that don't appear to be rational..."<<<

:rofl:

Now who has people in charge that don't appear to be rational???

:rofl:

:crazy:

[emilyg]

9. Good one. lol

[mark414]

4. kick for some folks to see this

unless it's a dupe....

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

5. Excellent. K & R. The Truth Shall Set You Free, General.

:kick: MKJ

[Purveyor]

6. Neocon talking points: Well he is of Arab descent, what else could you expect. eom.

[DUlover2909]

8. The Iranians aren't Arabs, but the neocons don't know that.

However, I sort of agree with him. And if anything, we've shown that we don't threaten countries that have nukes. Look at N Korea. We won't go after Bin Laden in Pakistan. They have every reason to pursue nukes. I don't think anyone should have nukes, but the genie is out of the bottle and everyone has the right to defend themselves. I just hate the idea that Hezbollah might get one.

[IndianaGreen]

16. He is Lebanese, not an Arab!

Palestinians living in Lebanon are Arabs.

[truthisfreedom]

7. A voice of reason in the shrill "kill! kill! kill!" world of bushco?

Wow, somebody must have made a mistake.

[alofarabia]

10. But if Iran had nukes

would you let your family live in Tel Aviv?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

11. Honestly?

Yes, I would.

Iran is no more likely to nuke Israel than Israel is to nuke Iran.

It would be suicide for either country to do so and they both know that. Neither country wants to be exterminated.

If the world needs anymore nuclear weapons in it is a better question. As far as I'm concerned one was too many, but that wasn't what you asked.

[IndianaGreen]

17. I don't care if Iran gets nukes! Israel has plenty of her own.

The two countries will live with MAD, just as the US and USSR did. Perhaps they might even become friends some day, just as we did with the Russians (until Bush came along and fuck it all up!).

Americans should not be shedding blood for Israel, as we are doing in Iraq, and as the Israel Lobby wants us to do in Iran.

[TheLastMohican]

18. The friendship between USA, NATO and Russia

was like two wolves and a sheep deciding what's for dinner.
It ended suddenly when the bear decided to remove the sheep's skin or he would end up as a "dinner".

[IndianaGreen]

19. NATO should have been disbanded at the end of the Cold War

The fact that it wasn't, and its role as a tool of American imperialism in carrying out wars of aggression in the Balkans, further validates the view that during the Cold War the Soviets were reacting to aggressive moves by the West, not the other way around.

[Flabbergasted]

14. kix

[eridani]

20. That's what I've been saying

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=1703377

Nice that someone with real military street cred agrees. Obviously it would be good to stop proliferation, but it won't be the end of the world if one more country joins the nuclear club.