>>>Or one could start from the position: A nuclear armed Iran is unacceptable unless not accepting it would require stopping it, in which case ... oh well.
>>>
>>>Obviously, if one does not think a nuclear armed Iran is a problem then there is no reason to try to prevent it. If one decides it must be prevented, then options must be broad - especially if the goal is to prevent it through negotiations. A CINC who publicly takes the military option completely out of the equation - especially where the issue is a military one - is not negotiating seriously but simply putting on a show.
>>>
>>>I am not a believer in invasions as a preferred tool, and I'd have to be pretty convinced bombing would do it before that looked good. I would prefer more focused efforts.
>>>
>>>Once upon a time Iraq was going to build a very very very big gun to point at Israel ...
>>
>>Once upon a time Iraq had a nuclear program too. Israel took care of it the first time.
>
>And look how effective that was in the long term.
Pretty much 100%. No Iraqi reactor ever went on line and the likelihood of Saddam trying to get the French to build him another one has been greatly reduced ;-) Imagine 1991 Iraq with nukes.
Now imagine 2010 Iran with nukes.
Charles Hankey
Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.
- Thomas Hardy
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
-- T. S. Eliot
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
- Ben Franklin
Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
