Saturday, 3 December 2005 - 11:31 PM CST

Toby, I do not want you posting on my blog and will continue to delete your comments. Please be an adult and cease posting there.

Sunday, 4 December 2005 - 7:19 AM CST

This is the "I meant to do that" defense.

It's a plenty brilliant stratergerary, all right: Put the most powerful military machine on earth at their doorstep and rattle our sabers at them. Hoo-ah! That will convince them to abandon their rush to develop nuclear weapons. That will also convince the Syrians to support our pro-Iranian, Shiite theocracy in Iraq. Yeah, that must be why I invaded Iraq. I didn't realize how smart I was. I'm plenty smarter than Poppy. And plenty brillianter than Juan Cole, too.

(I know, don't tell me -- "Translation: It's our fault they are rushing to develop nuclear weapons.")

Sunday, 4 December 2005 - 10:18 AM CST

I understand. You're an insecure person who lacks the gravity to rebut me. You do much better in the pack setting, where you can attack before a friendly audience and with other lightweights to aid you.

You're a joke.

Sunday, 4 December 2005 - 10:27 AM CST

We haven't needed to rattle anything at the mullahs yet. Somehow ---maybe through bribery--- we have been able to get the Europeans and the IAEA interested in Iran's nuclear ambitions. I wonder how much of the intelligence for that has been [manufactured] and [manipulated].

The Iranians still have some friends. Like Russia, who is merely fucking with us in a stagecrafted sorta way. The Asiatics are big on saving face. North Korea would also like to be friends with Iran, but with large parts of its society starving to death, their help won't be so helpful.

Oh, and I almost forgot Palestine ---a very big friend of Iran's. But I hear they're busy just now not killing each other.

I hope we never have to invade Iran. I hope the younger people there can get themselves into power and move faster and faster towards secular liberty.

Sunday, 4 December 2005 - 2:02 PM CST

Thus, the greatest military machine on Earth now sits on the east and west flanks of Iran.

And the same thing has worked so well on the 38th parallel to keep Pyongyang from developing nukes, right? Do you think threatening armies lined up on the Line of Control between India and Pakistan would make either one decide to disarm their nukes?

The presence of an army lined up on a border doesn't prevent nuclear development. If anything, it speeds it up. Bush's belligerence and bull-in-a-china-shop bellicosity have had the effect of scaring the crap out of people and making them think they had better get nukes ASAP to keep us from bombing them. Bush is great at fighting fires with gasoline. This is not a strategy for counter-proliferation, which is all about dispelling perceived threats; not making threats.

This was not Bush's plan for Iran or Iraq, trust me. The Europeans and IAEA have been on this for some time and have been trying get Bush to pay attenton to it without Rice screwing it up by threatening Tehran.

I guess you read this week that the Israelis told Washington that they prefer Assad to regime change in Syria:

http://jta.org/page_view_breaking_story.asp?intid=270

Sunday, 4 December 2005 - 9:30 PM CST

Either the current administration screwed up and continues to screw up (gross incompetence)

or...the current administration manipulated the country into engaging in an adventure which they had already planned (cold dishonesty)

either way, no slack should be given.

they can all go hang.

Monday, 5 December 2005 - 1:01 AM CST

Rider:

And the same thing has worked so well on the 38th parallel to keep Pyongyang from developing nukes, right?

That's an excellent point, but our troops in South Korea are a defensive measure, not an offensive one. They were put there to ensure that the ceasefire is observed. But they are also there as a venue for our force projection in Asia more generally. Why isn't that a legitimate factor in the current situation in Iraq? Is there really a reason to second guess the significance of our presence there besides just the partisan ones?

You aren't going to complain about this ten years from now when oil is $125 a barrel and that keeping it flowing even then is what will be keeping our economy alive. We have China and India to compete against for That Resource. Stop being such a provincial and let Uncle Sam take care of himself.