Skip the hype, please, on Iran and consider the reality
I sincerely hope that the media, government officials and the public in general will take a long pause before taking all the latest Iran hype too seriously. One would think that caution would be the order of the day given most recent moral and financial boondoggle of Iraq. Were a general sense of caution (and a well deserved skepticism of government pronouncements) not enough I would implore people to consider a few simple facts about the current state of affairs.
First, Iran has not threatened anyone. The most strident thing they have said is that if attacked, they would respond. Given the United States newly minted right to preemptively strike any nation it desires, in comparison Iran’s position is restrained to say the least.
Second, even Iran’s long-time enemy and neighbor (and quasi-puppet regime of the United States) Iraq has stated they want no part of a strike against Iran and would not participate.
Third, how can Iran’s weapons be considered provocative when another middle eastern country, Israel, has nuclear weapons and has stated an openness to a preemptive strike on Iran.
Fourth, how can we rail at Iran’s meddling in middle eastern affairs (Iraq’s for example) when the United States brought armed forces half way around the world to complete a regime change (of its desire) on Iran’s neighbor. Who is really the intruder in this setting? In addition, informed sources admit that the United States has been covertly involved in operations inside Iran for some time.
Fifth, how can we complain of Iran’s repressive regime when the United States has spent the past five years arresting and imprisoning at will, with no formal charges, thousands of citizens of Iraq who disagree with our presence and/or oppose the regime we installed. What kind of democracy is that?
None of the above even begin to touch on the moral and financial arguments against any military strike on Iran. I can only hope the media especially will not repeat its much regretted rubber stamp of the Iraq invasion. I implore the media to skip the hype, look at all the realities of the situation, encourage exploration of all options and, most of all, not jump on the bandwagon for another war.
Michael D. Colligan
St. Louis
JD, what passes for conservatism these days is also a sickness. It’s almost like the John Birch Society has taken over the country, and might makes right is the mantra.
It might surprise you to know that I consider myself a moderate. I have just as many problems with the Jesse Jackson lunatic left as I do with the rabid republican neo-cons on the right. I wish there was a true centrist presidential candidate available to vote for. There isn’t.
hs,
I think if you ignore all the blather on the left, and all the blather on the right, you will see Barak Obama for the centrist he is. It is rather obvious to me.
hs
I agree with your statement on the far right. I am center to right, but not far right. I believe in the good lord, but don’t attend church of any type. My dog tag (can’t locate the second one) say’s No Pref for religion. I found god at 18 in VN. He and I have our own thing going.
I just don’t agree with the liberals on just about any subject, and Bush was not my first choice. I believe in a smaller, less intrusive government, and want people to stand on their own two feet, but willing and do help the less fortunate, disabled and mentally ill.
I want our country as powerful, with military might, that it can be. As far as I am concerned, that is the best defense we can have. Clinton cut the military back too much in the 90’s, along with a lot of other things I didn’t agree with. If I would have been 20 years younger on 9/11, I would have re-enlisted, but they don’t want or need old geezers.
Obama is way to far left for me, and McCain is well… McCain. Not my first choice again, but in my opinion, much better than Obama. I do wish we had a third choice, I mean a real third choice, and someday we may.
I don’t want to see higher taxes, or a govie run health system, a better health system yes. The gov would screw it up, just like they do with everything they get involved with.
I want the oil companies to be able to drill where the oil is, and work on an alternative at the same time. I don’t like $4 to $5 a gallon gas, but if that is what it takes to get an energy replacement program going, so be it.
It may sound sometimes, in my posting that I am far right, but agree with you, on the far right. There are whacos on either side.
Watch it, you tough guys on the right, liberals get their feelings hurt very easily. Why can’t you understand that it’s patriotic and Pro-American to despise your country for it’s “questionable” actions while our enemies are awarded a get out of jail free card and pass go to collect $200 for decapitations and dragging lifeless bodies behind cars? Hey, rest assured, if any political opponent, anywhere, commits an untoward act, these liberal über-patriots will be the first to call the offense to their attention. Diplomatically, of course.
Iconoclastic Sage,
It is only in your heads what you imagine America is today and your clueless idea of what patriotism is and who is and who isn’t. While you’re at tell the Saudi’s what you expect of them in the way of being patriotic due to their ownership of the U.S. and who can bring us to our knees at any time they decide, no matter our military might. This is what no one wants to talk about.
Much of America’s economy is built on Saudi money. It is reported that they have a trillion dollars invested in our stock market and another trillion sitting in our banks. It is also estimated that if they suddenly removed the money, our corporations and financial institutions would collapse and crash like nothing that we have ever seen before. This is your real everyday threat, right here, not all the political non-sense you guys are spewing.
We get our oil from Saudi. They own America. The oil companies are not going to step on Saudi toes. They don’t want to explore in this country at this time and it has everything to do with this globalization deal with Saudi being involved up to their ears.
This probably also explains why our carmakers have not concentrated on automobiles that use less gasoline. Now, if Saudi has over a trillion dollars in our stock market, it would be safe to say that they probably have great stakes in our automobile companies also.
See GREED is the downfall of this country. Most private companies went public out of greed. This opened the door to our downfall and the devil. The stock market being globalized was the problem. People controlling and running things here were not smart or moral, just greedy.
Never expect Bin Laden to be brought to justice, too much at stake. Don’t want to step on the toes of any of that family. 9/11 was obviously retaliation for something, an revenge act which is okay in their culture and no Saudi is going to allow Americans to capture or punish one of there’s over such an act. When are you going to see that we are in bed with the Middle East and will not be able to get out of it without being destroyed? Sad to say, but you can just forget about 9/11. There was never any intention to bring Bin Laden to justice.
The U.S. are deep in bed with the Middle East now, and you guys have better just learn to adapt and stop being so naively foolish concerning all this political pandering, left, right, conservative, liberal etc.. What a joke in face of the reality of what really is in America, and you people just want to continue to hand the power of our government over to greedy immoral shallow politicians and the greedy selfish rich under the disguise of conservatism, when oil and money has always been the driving force, and not the good of the people.
Left out the fact that the Saudi’s must also own much of our oil companies stocks also if they have over a trillion dollars in our stock market.
Is there really anyway out? The only way to become independant of oil is if our government begin to own oil companies and if our government get involved in building and owning automoble factories. But, as soon as that began to take place, Saudi will pull the rug from under us, and tumbling down we will fall.
Sad to have to admit,free enterprise and capitalization have caused us to lose this country and unknowing unwise Conservatives keep accusing ones who can see what is happening and what has happened as being anti-capitalization and socialist.
Well, these ones are not too bright, they still can’t see what has happened, they just keep marching to the tune of their blinded beat.
D.Walker:
“The U.S. are deep in bed with the Middle East now, and you guys have better just learn to adapt and stop being so naively foolish concerning all this political pandering, left, right, conservative, liberal etc.. What a joke in face of the reality of what really is in America, and you people just want to continue to hand the power of our government over to greedy immoral shallow politicians and the greedy selfish rich under the disguise of conservatism, when oil and money has always been the driving force, and not the good of the people.”
I bow to your superior knowledge of world affairs and human nature. I should have recognized the greedy immoral shallow politicians, after all, they have an (R) behind their names and they hang around with the greedy selfish rich among the dust bunnies under our beds while you struggle to find financial institutions to make investments for the good of the people that not only return nothing but charge you excessive fees for your charitable nature.
I’m puzzled though, how it’s so much our fault for the boorish behavior of the Saudi sheiks since America gets about 7 percent of our oil from the Middle East and the remaining 63 percent of our non domestic consumption is imported from Canada, Mexico and Venezuela?
Loopy losers should find something else to cry themselves to sleep over.
Here’s a good article to read and think about Mr. Sage preferring to remain blinded. You have better stop listening to all those Conservative shows and begin doing your own research that are based on facts not hype.
Read this then start doing some research yourself.
http://cache.search.yahoo-ht2.akadns.net/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=saudi+has+a+trillion+invested+in+American+stocks&fr=slv8-tyc7&u=www.brazzil.com/p117jun03.htm&w=saudi+trillion+invested+invest+investing+investment+%22invest+ed%22+american+stocks+stock&d=Sjpa_y72Q_-m&icp=1&.intl=us
Also it doesn’t hurt to become friends with people of other countries living in the U.S. Sit with them, talk and watch their T.V. and their countries reportings on world affairs, many times they talk about what American media outlets will not.
This is a non-issue. We don’t have the resourses, especially soldiers, to invade Iran even if it were a good idea (it’s another insane idea from yours truly by the way). Thank your president for the predicament we’re now in. The Iraq fiasco was supposed to be the “war of the 21st century” but there was never an intiative by this president to require everybody to pitch in and do their fair share.
Such a strategist W and crew have been. He went to war on the cheap, shot his wad and we’re now left holding the bag so to speak. Face it, “That’s all there is and there ain’t no more.” If I were poppy I’d tell W he better stop drivin’ that hot rod Lincoln.