We are talking about another nut job that doesn't THINK like a person with a BRAIN.
You can't make deals with someone that hates us and who's only goal is to kill as many of us as they can.
"Cheesey" wrote:
Please don't tell me you actually believe this tripe. If you do, you've been brainwashed by our own government beyond its wildest dreams. The first step in making an enemy is always dehumanizing him, which you've just done in spectacular fashion.
Let's look at the
facts surrounding this situation, shall we?
Fact: Modern Iranians are the descendants of the ancient Persians; in fact, every Iranian I've met hates the word "Iranian" and refers to himself or herself as "Persian." By contrast, many Iraqis are descendents of the ancient Babylonians. This should ring a bell: throughout history, Persians and Babylonians have always been bitter enemies. So it should come as no surprise that they still are.
Fact: Iran and Iraq (or Persia and Babylon, if you will) share a very long border, which leaves them vulnerable to each other, an unnerving situation for two countries who have hated each other for 4,000 years.
Fact: The United States openly supported Saddam Hussein against Iran in the Iran-Iraq War that lasted from 1980 to 1988. In this war, at least
half a million soldiers died, not including
1 million Iranian civilians. This doesn't count the thousands of Iranians who are still dying slow, agonizing deaths from the effects of chemical agents used by Saddam Hussein in that war -- agents, by the way, that were sold to him by the United States.
Fact: In 2003, the same United States that supported their enemy in this unspeakably bloody war invaded Iraq and commenced an 8-year (and counting) occupation of a country on Iran's border, with the obvious intent of cementing American hegemony in the Middle East.
Now let's stop to think about this for a minute.
Imagine a country -- say, Germany -- supported Canada against the United States in a bloody war that killed half a million of our soldiers and a million of our civilians. Then a few years later, Germany invaded Canada, toppled its government, and occupied the land. Do you think the United States would sit idly by as this happened, or would we find this development downright terrifying? The answer is obvious.
So how can you fault Iran for being alarmed that the one-time ally of their most ancient enemy has occupied the neighboring country -- and what's more, has been openly rattling its sabers against Iran for the better part of a decade? Frankly, I would have no respect for Iran as a nation if they
didn't have some misgivings over this obvious threat to their national security, because it would be obvious they were completely naive.
Let's go on.
Fact: The government of Iran has a parliamentary system, which means that the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is essentially little more than a figurehead, albeit a loud, obnoxious, and fulminating one. Ahmadinejad is like a chained bulldog that barks really loud to keep out the burglars but is little harm if you stay outside the radius of his chain. And before you say, "But he denies the Holocaust and blah-blah-blah," of course he is going to say things like that. He's a loud-mouthed spokesperson whose main function is to polarize public opinion, much as George Bush said a bunch of things that were patently false to whip up public frenzy for his pet war. That doesn't mean Ahmadinejad represents the opinion of the sensible members of parliament, even if the ayatollahs are silently cheering him on.
Fact: The oldest Jewish community in the world resides in Iran (this was told to me by a Jew who lives in Israel), and in fact, until the founding of the State of Israel in 1949, one of the largest, most vibrant Jewish populations in the world was centered in Iran. (There used to be many Jews in Iraq too, until the British, not the Muslims, drove them out.) Iranians don't hate Jews. There is no tension between Jews and Persians in Iran. Many Persians, and the Iranian government in particular, do indeed distrust
Israel; however, that is
not because Israel is a "Jewish state" (it's entirely secular), but because they regard Israel as little more than an American and British colony that represents a direct threat to their national security. And when you think about it, this is actually a pretty accurate assessment of the situation.
Fact: President Ahmadenijad has never called for the destruction of Israel. He has been much quoted in the media as proclaiming that Israel must be "driven into the sea," but in fact, he never said that. His comments have been not only poorly translated, but (probably deliberately)
mistranslated. According to a professor at the University of Minnesota, who was interviewed on WPR recently, what he actually said was a quote of an ayatollah, who said that there may come a day the names of their (Israel's) leaders are wiped from the pages of history. In other words, not that Iran would destroy Israel, but that future generations would not look favorably upon the decisions Israel has made as a nation.
Israel, a small but brash and bombastic nation, already has nukes, not to mention the backing of the United States. Iran, a much larger nation with a much larger population, is understandably concerned and wants to be able to defend itself. Their desire for nukes has nothing to do with a supposed hatred of the United States, which, if it exists, is purely a product of our support of Israel and Iraq. If the United States pulled out of the Middle East and stopped supporting Israel, Iran wouldn't give two shits about us.
Iran is not a global threat. It is at most a regional threat. What are we worried about? These regional conflicts have been raging for four millennia and more. I say, let them rage.