Oh no, life has ended as I knew it. I find myself agreeing with you completely! :o)


>I heard an interview on the radio yesterday and that is exactly what was discussed. Many CIA and Israeli intelligence people had come to the conclusion several yrs ago that Iran is a very young, population wise, country. And most of the young are secular.
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>They do not agree with the Iranian govt. They go off by themselves to discuss american music, movies, etc. Without 9-11 there would some serious issues in Iran now.
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>Much as bush's policies have galvanized iraq against us, he has succeeded in doing the same in iran now.
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>And he also had the gall to say that he must do something in iran because he doesn't trust future presidents to do the right thing, only he is qualified.
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>>>So how long before either Israel or the US light up Iran? I'm saying within the next 2 months? Anyone else? Should we start a pool?
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>>Bush... propping up Iran's hardliners....
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>>http://www.juancole.com/2006/04/iran-can-now-make-glowing-mickey-mouse.html
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>>The ability to slightly enrich uranium is not the same as the ability to build a bomb. For the latter, you need at least 80% enrichment, which in turn would require about 16,000 small centrifuges hooked up to cascade. Iran does not have 16,000 centrifuges. It seems to have 180. Iran is a good ten years away from having a bomb, and since its leaders, including Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei, say they do not want an atomic bomb because it is Islamically immoral, you have to wonder if they will ever have a bomb.
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>>The crisis is not one of nuclear enrichment, a low-level attainment that does not necessarily lead to having a bomb….
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>>What is really going on here is a ratcheting war of rhetoric. The Iranian hard liners are down to a popularity rating in Iran of about 15%. They are using their challenge to the Bush administration over their perfectly legal civilian nuclear energy research program as a way of enhancing their nationalist credentials in Iran.
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>>Likewise, Bush is trying to shore up his base, which is desperately unhappy with the Iraq situation, by rattling sabres at Iran. Bush’s poll numbers are so low, often in the mid-30s, that he must have lost part of his base to produce this result. Iran is a great deus ex machina for Bush. Rally around the flag yet again.