I didn't say I support preventive war, but I at least understand it. The military commanders of the US believe that they have to prevent another Great Power from emerging in the world to prevent another Great Power War (WW3). So they stifle all potential great powers before they ever even take off. That if the basis for invading and occupying the middle east. Like I said, I don't support it. But that is what is going through our leaders' heads. I'm sure the facilities do provide power, but Iran wouldn't be so secretive if that is all they wished to use them for.
You forgot to mention that the Iranian people overthrew the Shah by mass demonstrations. Unfortunately he was replaced by another dictator, this time with anti-US sentiment.
I don't believe the US is terrified of Iran getting nukes. But Israel is, because they are neighbors and Israel has been legitimately threatened. Unfortunately, Iran is very anti-Western and supports Islamist militants. Some muslims actually are crazy. Thanks for the history lesson. The Iranian Revolution followed in 1979 in which the people revolted against their installed pro-Western Shah and replaced him with an Islamist, anti-Western ruler. Iran knows that a war with the US would destroy our empire.
Mutual destruction is not desired by Iran. Israel and Iran are not neighbors. Nowhere do their borders touch. Nowhere has Israel been threatened by Iran. The "wipe Israel off the map" translation has been called into question by multiple sources. Iran has nothing to gain from playing chicken with a nation that has 300 plus nukes, and the support of the U.S. and NATO. Iran had enough trouble quelling their own protests in 09. They aren't looking for trouble with Iran or U.S.
I'm skeptical Iran would nuke Israel knowing full well that for every missle they send, Israel would reply with ten. Israel also has high tech missle defense capabilities while Iran doesn't and won't for a while. The bigger fear of Iran gaining nuclear capabilities might be that bombs would fall into the hands of terrorist groups that Iran sympathizes with and supports. Iran could very easily let the whack jobs do their dirty work for them.
If nuclear weapons fell into the hands of terrorist elements why would the terrorists not simply hold Iran hostage? Give us control over Iran or we blow you up? Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
What?? I don't understand your question. The fear is that Iran gives nukes to terrorists who share their hatred of the US and Israel.
Why would 2 groups with similar ideology fight with eachother like that when they could easily wipe out a common enemy? Hamas has no trouble sending missiles over the border in the Gaza Strip, and that is likely how it would play out if Iran obtained nuclear weapons. They would arm missiles with nuclear weapons and let Hamas send them over. A lot of Iran's civilians are in favor of the US, so when Israel retaliated they would kill many pro-Western civilians, and the Iranian government would use that as leverage in getting other middle eastern countries to join their fight.
Power is the end game, not a fanatical hatred of the U.S. or Israel. The Taliban care about exerting power over Afghanistan as they have pre-911, not bombing U.S. or Israel. So if a similar terror group were to acquire a nuclear weapon, it is much more likely that they would use the weapon in a coup d'état to gain power for themselves. If they use the weapon, they lose all political clout from the weapon. It's much more useful to use the threat of nukes to gain power rather then using them against a foreign country. Once the weapon is gone, so is all their power. Nuclear weapons are a tool of power because of the physical threat they carry. They bring the owner power through the threat of force rather then in their actual use.
War is still war, there's no such thing as "Preventive War". Its an oxymoron. And they've allowed full UN inspections, unlike Israel.
Who told you that Iran wants to wipe out Israel? Fox news and MSNBC? Some pentagon embeds? I don't trust anything that the media tells me. I know for a fact that the US has nuclear weapons and supports terrorists around the globe. Iran will never match the funds that the United States has already spent turning Islamic terrorism in to a global problem. ...
Believe it or not, some Arabs really do have a fanatical hatred of Israel, and for the US for supporting her. Have you never heard of Muslims thinking of Jerusalem as their "Holy Land"? Radical Islamists will do whatever it takes to rid their lands of Western influences, mainly Israel. As long as they are on the same team and out to create one power, then the fanatical hatred of Israel really is their motivation.
Believe it or not, the only ones beating the War drums here are Israel and US. See maxrule's post above yours. You are falling into the same trap as the WMD scare of Iraq in 2003. Radical Islamists are a direct consequence to interventionist foreign policy by US. For every terrorist the U.S. kills, 3 more pop up. Osama Bin Laden's 3 motives for Sept. 11 attacks: U.S. sanctions against Iraq Presence of U.S. military in Saudi Arabia (sponsor Saudi dictatorship) Support of Israel U.S. interventionist foreign policies have created the problems we face today. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein
I agree, but a minor war in the middle east is nothing compared to a World War involving Great Powers. Just so you understand where they're coming from.
Actually it was the Islamic Republic News Agency who first reported it. But since it has been pointed out that it was a mis-translation, we can act like it didn't happen. You have a point, but the US was hardly trying to eradicate global Islamic terrorism. Russia already had their problems with Islamic militants, China had theirs, and Europe had theirs. We were trying to prevent bin Laden from forming his own caliphate, and we used his attack on us as an excuse to invade. Iran simply funds terrorist organizations to carry out attacks against Israel and the US so that they can't be directly implicated. To deny the fact that Iran hates Israel's existence is laughable. The Iranian government is pretty much made of Islamic radicals, and they despise the Zionist movement. The proper translation of Iran's leader was that the Jewish government in Jerusalem must end.
"Give Israel back to the Palestinians ans that will fix everything" ??? This is not an appropriate response in regards to middle eastern sensitivity. Where do you expect 8,000,000 Israelis to go after that? You think they should all become refugees just to make some thugs happy? Perhaps Muslims should stop acting with such a gang mentality, 'you hurt another Muslim and the rest of the world pays' it's not logical that a Lebanese person should kill and American because what some Israeli has done to a Palestinian. The world is run in a way in which debate and diplomacy help sovereignty, not intimidation and violence.
I don't think anybody is advocating giving Israel back to the Palestinians. The point was that Iran won't be content until that happens, so they will attack. Iran will try to get nuclear weapons to build up allies so they will stand a chance against Israel/US/UK. If we attack them now, it would be devastating to the US as a whole and Iran would likely get nukes anyway and China and Russia would likely covertly assist them.
U.S. interventionist policies are the direct source of the problems we face today. Iran doesn't want to detonate a nuke in Israel. Israel has 300 plus nukes, easily enough to destroy Iran. The fanatical muslim argument is ridiculous, Supreme leader Ali Khamenei is interested in the preservation of power, not mutual destruction. Dictators only care about retaining power and expanding upon the power they already have. He won't work towards a war with Israel because it would mean the end of his regime. 6 B.S. Myths You Probably Believe About America's 'Enemies' | Cracked.com
There is a reason there have been many many wars fought over the land that is now known as "Israel" and it isn't our War on Terror, and it isn't because Islamists get along with Jews. Read some history, when two religions share a common "holy land" there will be wars over it. We didn't cause it. We just picked a side. Bin Laden wanted to create a caliphate, and knew that luring the US into the middle east would help him gain him supporters in the middle east. We countered that by getting the Saudis on our side and killing bin Laden.