Do you want to go to war with IRAN??? I DON'T!!!!

[The Sushi Bandit]

yea, like they are a big fucking threat to US. I have heard this war drum beat before... it was called Iraq.

This Bush Administration is criminal! They will publish FEAR until the lame ass masses all believe it.

"Oh they threaten our Ally Israel" When have I heard that before... its all just a pack of lies.

i am soooo pissed about this.. so stop making a case AGAINST war with another country.

[Deja Q]

1. They are a threat.

China and especially India are next door and would not like being hit by a nuke.

That's why the US should nuke Iran.

:crazy:

Won't happen, it's just more yakety-yak.

[The Sushi Bandit]

8. Who is in the Star Trek photo?

[stepnw1f]

2. Kill Everybody

he he he... yes, yes... kill. :crazy:

[Rocknrule]

15. Hehehehe fire! I am Cornholio!

[Democrats_win]

3. Maybe the war over the Mexican flag with slake their thirst for war.

[Meridian]

4. Iran is a real problem. However, as Wes Clark said...

we must go to the table first. The world community is with us. There is no need for war. Sadly, Bush will make any excuse as a lame attempt to start another war which we cannot afford at this time because of the disater he has made in Iraq.

[demosincebirth]

5. Welcome to DU, Meridian

[The Sushi Bandit]

6. I think Bush is the Anti-Christ

We need Sabrina to save us!

[Jack Rabbit]

7. Iran is several years away from actually having a nuke

That being the case, there is no urgency for war. Come back in three or four years, that might be another question.

Any action by Bush now will be read -- rightly -- as having more to do with his and the GOP's political fortunes than with any legitimate national security concerns. Bush has no credibility left abroad and little at home; there is nothing he or aides can say about Iran that won't be viewed skeptically. We should not allow him to lie his way into another war.

[The Sushi Bandit]

9. Well the networks are already starting the campaign

just like before the gulf war

[Neil Lisst]

10. It's BULLSHIT!! If Israel isn't worried, I'm not worried.

[paparush]

11. Here's the Linear Progression

US launches preemptive strikes against Iran.
Iran response by attacking Isreal.
Isreal responds by nuking Iran.
Muslim hardliners attack Isreal.
US uses tatical nukes to beat back screaming Muslim hoards.
Russian and China finally have had enough of Bush and nuke the US into oblivian.

Bush, the C-Student from Yale, the bankrupt oil man, and Texas dirt farmer, effectively launches Armageddon.

Meanwhile, 650,000 neocons simultaneously cream thier shorts awaiting the blond haired, blue eyed, Jesus to lift them to heaven.

[No Exit]

12. To those who want to "protect our American way of life":

Are you KIDDING?? WHAT "American way of life"? Bush/Cheney and the corporatists have already gutted it!

[Douglas Carpenter]

13. with 20 years experience of living and working in the Middle East

I can say without the slightest hesitation that there is not one single person with even the most cursory knowledge of the Middle East and who is the least bit glued to reality who would consider the prospect of a military attack on Iran anything less than absolute insanity.

[The Sushi Bandit]

14. Well Said!

[Douglas Carpenter]

16. If anyone just gave a few minutes thought to the consequences

the whole mad discussion would stop in one minute.

[depakid]

18. Unfortunately, the track record

points to a set of people who at best downplay or ignore the probable consequences of their actions and at worst, are hell bent on bringing about the rapture.

In addition, I think people "misunderestimate" the degree of irrational group think that goes on in the inner circles of this administration. These are extremists who can't be reasoned with and are qualitatively different than anything this nation has dealt with in its 230 year history.

[Douglas Carpenter]

19. actually just yesterday I was talking with a Syrian Shiite I knew from

my work experience about the prospect of the U.S. bombing Iran. He didn't think it was likely because surely the U.S. Administration has advisers who would explain to them the dire consequences of such an action. I couldn't help but think to myself, my goodness I'm talking to a Hizbullah supporter who has more confidence in the rationality and sanity of the Bush Administration than I do.

[paparush]

26. You've just excluded 75% of the current administration's decision makers..

[Douglas Carpenter]

17. Juan Cole: Fishing for a Pretext to Squeeze Iran

link: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060313_fishing_for_a_pretext_in_iran



snip"Bush’s allegations about the Iranians providing improvised explosive devices to the Iraqi guerrilla insurgency are bizarre. The British military looked into charges of improvised explosive devices coming from Iran, and this past January actually apologized to Tehran when no evidence pointed to Iranian government involvement. The guerrillas in Iraq are militant Sunnis who hate Shiites, and it is wholly implausible that the Iranian regime would supply bombs to the enemies of its Iraqi allies."

snip:"Iran is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect and monitor its nuclear energy research program, as required by the treaty. It raised profound suspicions, however, with its one infraction against the treaty--which was to conduct some secret civilian research that it should have reported and did not, and which was discovered by inspectors. Tehran denies having military labs aiming for a bomb, and in November of 2003 the IAEA formally announced that it could find no proof of such a weapons program. The U.S. reaction was a blustery incredulity, which is not actually an argument or proof in its own right, however good U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton is at bunching his eyebrows and glaring.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty allows Iran to develop civilian nuclear energy, and the United States itself urged Iran to build reactors in the 1970s. Iran does not have a heavy-water breeder reactor, which is the easy way to get a bomb. It does have light-water reactors for energy production, but these cannot be used to get enough fissionable material to make a bomb. Although Vice President Dick Cheney has made light of an oil state seeking nuclear energy, it would be a rational economic policy to use nuclear energy for domestic needs and sell petroleum on the world market. Certainly, the NPT permits such a policy."

snip"It is often alleged that since Iran harbors the desire to “destroy” Israel, it must not be allowed to have the bomb. Ahmadinejad has gone blue in the face denouncing the immorality of any mass extermination of innocent civilians, but has been unable to get a hearing in the English-language press. Moreover, the presidency is a very weak post in Iran, and the president is not commander of the armed forces and has no control over nuclear policy. Ahmadinejad’s election is not relevant to the nuclear issue, and neither is the question of whether he is, as Liz Cheney is reported to have said, “a madman.” Iran has not behaved in a militarily aggressive way since its 1979 revolution, having invaded no other countries, unlike Iraq, Israel or the U.S. Washington has nevertheless succeeded in depicting Iran as a rogue state."

to read full article - link:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060313_fishing_for_a_pretext_in_iran

[Realityhack]

20. Thanks for the link.

and your excelent well balanced posts.

[Douglas Carpenter]

22. thank you very much

I try to be balanced but when people start promoting unnecessary wars I just frankly lose it.

I think it is safe to assume that anyone who has a cavalier attitude about war simply have no idea what they are talking about. It's like listening to little children playing toy soldier or young adolescents playing their video games. I certainly hope they are just being childish and naive. If not they are just plain evil people.

What do they think war is like? What do they think it is like for those on the receiving end of military fire power? What do they think happens when the social fabric of a society is fractured by war?

I would tell them to just imagine all the horrible headlines you see. The really bad ones; children massacred, people kidnapped and tortured, peoples homes and life's work all lost in minutes. Then imagine it was not happening not in some far off and distant place. Imagine it was happening in your home town every day; and it just doesn't stop. It's like a nightmare that you cannot wake up from. That is war. And with the social fabric of a society fractured it doesn't stop for a long, long time even after it officially ends.

[The Sushi Bandit]

23. A second thanks!

good stuff

[AusGail]

21. Just a simple question

Why is it that America can have the biggest nuclear arsenal in the whole world? They are also the only ones ever to have used atomic bombs on humans. Why is it that they get to decide who gets them and who doesn't. What makes America different from the rest of the world, especially since it has a maniac for a leader?

Please don't think I'm anti American; I just cant stand fascists like the Bush administration.

[The Sushi Bandit]

25. We are the Schoolyard Bully

no one gets to have "our" toys

[demo dutch]

24. Hans Blix insists they're at least 5yrs away &diplomacy must be the course