Bomb Iran
Just for your information, here is a short list of people who have been so concerned about "democracy" in Iran the last few days who, before a Democrat was in the White House, were agitating hard and fast for a bombing campaign against these same Iranian people:
John McCain
Newt Gingrich
John Bolton
Joe Lieberman
Norman Podhoretz
Bill Kristol
Rudy Giuliani
Serious spokesmen all.
John McCain
Newt Gingrich
John Bolton
Joe Lieberman
Norman Podhoretz
Bill Kristol
Rudy Giuliani
Serious spokesmen all.
Comments
I have to disagree with you. Obama has done all the right things in this crisis so far, saying nothing that could raise the level of hostility or give the Iranian government cover for their actions. The guys on my list are screaming for war. That's a big difference, in my opinion.
I would gladly support a more forceful political stance against ahmadinejad. We are to the point where riots and millions of protesters are in the streets, why not say something other than "something is happening in Iran."?
I would support small scale strikes or giving aid to the protesters.
Are you old enough to remember much about the Shah? This guy was a dictator with a vicious secret police, and a habit of oppressing his people comparable to his next door neighbor, Saddam. We overthrew the legitimate government of Iran in the 1950's and gave them this monster. This was done for one reason only- to protect the interests of American oil companies. We then provided this man with military aid to enable him to stay in power, until a group came along which was fanatical enough to force him out, thus supplying Iran with a repressive theocracy.
Americans may not remember that, but Iranians do. It is the reason why any aggressive behavior toward Iran from our government can only make things worse. We created the mess in Iran, and we have, consequently, no right to act in anger at the consequences.
I'm 19, so no. However, I have read a fair amount about the whole ordeal.
"thus supplying Iran with a repressive theocracy."
Yep, we were also fighting communists but I agree with your statement.
"It is the reason why any aggressive behavior toward Iran from our government can only make things worse."
Now that just isn't true. If the Iranian people as a whole do not want ahmadinejad, us supporting the Iranian people will help our relations with them, not worsen them. By supporting the shah, we were supporting an oppressive government against the people. In this situation, we'd be supporting the people against the oppressive government. So in all reality, helping those who are protesting will make things better, not worse.
We funded their oppressive government, and left their country in a very bad state. Our previous President spent eight years demonizing them and threatening to attack them. Why would they trust us? I certainly wouldn't. Bush and Cheney pretty well gave away any chance that they could see us as friends, and regardless of Obama's good will, we have a long way to go before we have an active role to play in their country.
They are two sides of the same coin.
Shades of Orwell's 1984.
And in both cases these 'ideologues' benefit by accumulating power and/or money at the expense of the 'little people'.
Are you saying they wouldn't welcome support from someone they don't like? An enemy of my enemy is my friend. They would gladly accept assistance from the US. There have been reports of Iranians cursing Obama+Biden+America in the streets for being silent. They want us to do something, just not something stupid.