Why does Iran keep making these idiotic statements?

[BushOut06]

It's almost as if they're begging Israel to take action against them. We all know about the statements the Iranian leader has made in the past. His latest is that Israel will "be removed" by Palestine and "other nations".

As much as I think that it would be a mistake to take action against Iran, we have to admit that Iran isn't exactly helping their cause with statements like this. It's one thing to make "saber-rattling" statements such as "the US will burn in flames" and "death to the US (Denmark, Israel, insert country)". It's quite another to directly threaten another nearby country with extinction.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=78985

[babylonsister]

1. Perhaps if WE stopped inciting them, they'd calm down:

This seems to work both ways.

US prepares military blitz against Iran's nuclear sites
By Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 12/02/2006)

Strategists at the Pentagon are drawing up plans for devastating bombing raids backed by submarine-launched ballistic missile attacks against Iran's nuclear sites as a "last resort" to block Teheran's efforts to develop an atomic bomb.

Central Command and Strategic Command planners are identifying targets, assessing weapon-loads and working on logistics for an operation, the Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

They are reporting to the office of Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, as America updates plans for action if the diplomatic offensive fails to thwart the Islamic republic's nuclear bomb ambitions. Teheran claims that it is developing only a civilian energy programme.

"This is more than just the standard military contingency assessment," said a senior Pentagon adviser. "This has taken on much greater urgency in recent months."

more...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/20 ...

[zanne]

2. It's sabre-rattling.

When we say something like "all options are on the table", referring to military action, we're "sabre-rattling". When they say "Death to America", that's sabre-rattling, too.

[meganmonkey]

3. Keep in mind which of those 2 countries has nukes pointed at the other

Peace.

(on edit: I guess I mean that figuratively, I don't know for sure that they are aimed at Iran. Although I imagine they likely are...)

[ECH1969]

4. He would love for us or Isreal to kill his people

It would make his position in Iran much more secure politically for him for a very long time.

[blm]

5. That's why BushInc WANTED a fundie extremist in Iran. Recall how Bush made

anti-Iran remarks right before their election when a moderate was expected to win? Bush's last-minute attacks charged up the populace to vote for the anti-west extremist candidate.

[msongs]

6. its for political manaagement of the population in IRAN

much like the bush gang uses fear to keep americans on edge and under control.

msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[jobycom]

7. A more important question is, why are we suddenly hearing about them?

No doubt the leaders of Iran are simply saying things that help their poll numbers, and that they've been saying all along. Why are we suddenly hearing what they are saying? I doubt these comments are any different than what gets said in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Kuwait, or the nations of any of our allies.

And another question: How accurate are the translations?

I don't believe Iran is doing anything out of the ordinary, I think BushCo is spinning a war out of very thin threads. Don't fall for it. He can't claim "WMDs" anymore, now he has to claim "wacko Muslims." The methods leaders use to incite wars hasn't changed in thousands of years. They are still bayonetting babies in the streets (or dumping them from incubators), they still want to bury us, they are still barbarians who can't be reasoned with. And we still fall for it.

[BushOut06]

8. Granted - but it is entirely possible for their leader to be whacko also

The United States doesn't have a monopoly on religious extremist whacko leaders. This is why this whole Iranian situation scares me to death.

[jobycom]

13. It's all spin. They started this as soon as he was elected, remember?

They claimed he was one of the hostage takers. That didn't stick--though I'm sure there are Republicans who still believe it--so they've moved on to the standard swiftboat attempt.

What's he really said? He called the Holocaust a "myth," which technically does not claim it didn't happen. He claimed that westerners have used that myth to justify Israel's bloody occupation of Palestinean land--certainly true. He stated that since the Holocaust was a Western issue, that the West should have paid the consequences for it, instead of stealing Muslim land from people who had nothing to do with the Holocaust. A rather astute (though debatable) statement. And he claimed that Israel should literally be wiped off the map. As in, taken off maps. That statement lined up with a more violent American idiom (like Kruschev's "We will bury you," when he was literally saying "we will leave you in our dust") so BushCo spun it. Other than that, they have the standard anti-Israel policy of the other Middle East nations.

I don't see a wacko. I see a standard politician speaking defiantly back at an insane empire who has made much more grave threats towards his nation and his entire region. Condie Rice has said recently that they plan to remake the entire Middle East. How is that not more extremist than anything Iran has said lately?

Don't fall for it. They are spinning this man as crazy so you won't care when they attack him. It's Warmaking 101. It's a prestigious line of work, with a long and glorious tradition, to quote Vizzini.

[NNN0LHI]

9. You tell me what has changed in Iran since they won their independence...

...from the USA. Has their leaders rhetoric changed since then? No it hasn't. If you could remember the ayatollah that ran the place back then the rhetoric was the same. Yea, no shit. Don't believe me? Check back a couple of decades and see for yourself.

Don

[converted_democrat]

10. Why does * keep making idiotic statements?? n/t

[Bridget Burke]

11. "Iran" does not keep making those statements.

Don't you get mad when Bush's latest idiocy is called "US Policy"?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to be a "popular wartime president"--just like GW Bush. It worked for Bush--for a while. Sure, there are Iranians who want more personal freedom than the mullahs & the military allow. But they'll all need to pull together if there's an invasion. (Perhaps with some heavy bombing, first?)

[seabeyond]

12. so.... lets see how smart, diplomatic our adm is. OH WAIT, we didnt

hire them because they were smart??????? just cause they could grab their balls and spit.

how about if our administration does their job. actually roll up their sleeves and solve a problem, instead of making it worse. ya think

again another round about post supporting bushco's.

[stevietheman]

14. For the sake of peace, hopefully Iranians will find a way to...

change leaders, and fast. The current guy is just playing into Bush's hands. He needs to shut his trap or step down.

[BelgianMadCow]

15. because he can imho

[MadHound]

16. The same reason that the US keeps making them,

You know, things like including Iran in the "Axis of Evil" and vowing to go on a crusade, stuff like that. It is saber rattling and playing to your base. Many times though, it gets out of control, and real violence results. Witness Iraq. Last I heard however, Iran hadn't hurt anybody or bombed anyone. The US on the other hand. . .