Aafshar, you should know by now: 90% of Truthdig is filled with people who prefer to NOT meet who they are mocking.

I’m in the middle, neither republican nor democrat, neither liberal nor conservative. I agree for pro choice and stem cell research, but I do see the necessity in SOME war. Afghanistan was, in my opinion, something that needed to be done. Iraq was not; not for the reasons that we did it, anyway. We took on a job far too big and made far too many enemies because of it.

A bombing of Iran would sadden me considerably, because I can see how Bush thinks. Bush thinks like an extremist: He believes that evolution is false, he believes that the Earth is 6,000 years old, he says that Jesus tells him what to do....sound a little off to anyone? It doesn’t surprise me at all that he so strongly defends Israel; he probably does believe that God chose that land for the Jews, and he probably believes that it is the holiest land around.

I hate to say it, but we’ll probably go to war with Iran. Bush (or whomever comes next) will hear Israel saying that Iran is a huge threat to their safety, fall for it, and attack Iran. Iran will be forced into battle, and we’ll see the entire middle east boil with intense hatred for America-just like Israel.

It’s all a mistake. This much suffering caused because of a supposedly loving God? It is pointless; yet the Jews in Israel are still trying to use the fact that their holy book(s) call them the chosen people; the people that God will protect and kill for, so they are now exercising their so called ‘power’ to choose who lives and who dies. Once they slaughter all of the Palestinians, they’ll start looking at Iran, probably...more land, less of other religions.

Sad. An ethnic cleansing done by the people that were ethnically cleansed.

To the Israel-humping-fanboys(and girls): This does NOT make me an anti-semitic/evil bitch/racist/terrorist/Muslim/Arab lover. I’m just a person, a person with Jewish ancestry, who thinks that it’s WRONG to allow Israel to act like a beast, always hungry and ALWAYS trying to consume and destroy those who are around it.

By the way you will not gain anything by labeling people liberal as the nut heads in your party want. There is nothing wrong being a liberal American, you are still American and haven’t sold your sole to a foreign entity like some in your party have.  Don’t you dare label an American liberal as if its some kind of disease, you seem to forget you are labeling your country man, an American, your blood and they only person who will defend you from a foreign tread.  Go read up and deprogram your head. Stop listening to the traitors sean hannity and rush Limbaugh and bill o rially and ann coulter They are the true traitors for dividing this country by labeling us red and blue, black and white, liberal and conservative.  Do you label your own children, should you??  They have divided us to rule us, wake up and look at your neighbor do you see him as an American or some alien liberal. Please think for your self don’t let others tell you what to think, that is what will bring down this country.  Not iran or Iraq or al qaeda our own division will bring us down.

captain happy
your labels wouldn’t stick here, for your information I was a Republican, I voted for GHB1, not only that i did fundraising for him, I was a donor and I walked the streets canvassing for him, but I could not identify myself with the party after newt gingrich and his contract on America, I was in the rational realist wing of the republican party, like Scowcroft, and Hegel.

Coming from Iran and seeing the religious fundamentalism I could not indentify myself with the religious fundamentalist in the republican party which this gang is.  I saw up-close how they operated and what they wanted to do with the country, do you remember the bombing outside the abortion hospitals, I do, killing Americans because of what they believed didn’t seem very American to me.  See this is an advantage we Iranian Americans have, we have seen all this first hand we have experienced it.  You have not seen this fundamentalist phenomenon here yet, you are just beginning to see it.  I could see how these guys were similar to the fundamentalist in Iran they were parallel, they took everything out of the book of fundamentalist in Iran and applied it here, same tactics and strategy.
First they create this enormous phony enemy, then they put fear in your head, now they have you complete attention and stop you from thinking, then thru media they fill your head with propaganda and now they have complete control over you.  These are old fascist tactics that now fundamentalist who are nothing but fascist use.  Ask any Iranian if you know any, ask them how were the fundamentalist able to avert the revolution from its course.  Why do you think they took over the us embassy, because they wanted to creat an enemy to control the environment and not let the nationalist have the power. So they had to create and enemy to create fear to control.  Go back to early 90’s when newt took over and read the news about him see how they were trying to make this monster enemy out of Iraq and iran and liberals, liberals were the true enemy of America.  My god, how can large population of American public become this evil enemy.  Look it up you will know what I am talking about.
Back to the first point I am not a democrat or a liberal, actually I identify myself more of conservative than a liberal given my back ground (because of culture most middle eastern are conservatives by nature). But I will never sell my country for my party which is what you people are doing, everything is for the party to win no matter if the country goes down to hell.  As long as the party is in power and there is no other party. That is the same attitude the Nazis and the communist had. That is so un-American. You should never ever put anything before your country and constitution nothing, country comes first. Last thing on your mind should be your party.  This is not some freaking football game that you have to win every time; this is about lives not scores.  Get this god damn win for the party mentality out of your head.  Try to deprogram your heads. And look at the elders of the party see what Scowcroft has to say see what hagel has to say they are the real republicans, the realist.  By the way the ONLY politician who I have great respect for right now is chuck hagel. not even al gore, the time when his country needs him now, he is worried about something that will happen 50 years form now.  what about what is happening in this country now? mr gore

Where did I say that they should be bombed???  Are you nuts?

voice of truth you post
“Which again leads me to why the folks on this site have such hatred for Isreal.  It is the only country in the whole region which actually has a representative, functioning government.”
so by your reasoning since a country doesn’t have a representative, functioning government we should go and bomb them. I have news for you, if that is you rationale then you better run to your bomb shelter because this country should get bomb as it is closes to your reach and does not have a representative government, reminder for you 2000 election which al gore won the popular vote but was not elected, does that sound like a representative government to you. functioning government, well this one sure is not functioning correctly, just look at how many vacant head of governmental offices we have, highest vacancy in the history of this nation. do you call that functioning. i doubt it.

I have no love for Mubarek, the House of Saud, Assad or any of them.  They are just as horrid as any.  However, I don’t hear Mubarek running around stating publicly that his plans include the extermination of one country (Isreal) and massive killings in a second (Us!).

Which again leads me to why the folks on this site have such hatred for Isreal.  It is the only country in the whole region which actually has a representative, functioning government.

Bush is probably already signing the war papers; he probably thinks that Putin is allied with Iran and wants to kill America, so he’s ready to bomb ‘em both.

Putin’s been sitting here saying ‘don’t use bombs, there are more reasonable ways to do it and I don’t trust Bush enough to have him use bombs as the -only- way to do it.’ Considering Bush’s track record, this is a smart thing to say.

I know that there’s a lot of fear of Russia becoming the old Soviet...but I love her sensibility. Russia is thinking peaceful talks and diplomacy, -Russia!-, before the United States even bothers to consider it. How sad is that? Come on, even you Russia bashers have to see the trouble here! When RUSSIA is being more diplomatic than US, we have a problem.

#107502 by Peter RV on 10/16 at 11:06 am: “… This is the way to solve problems between the nations, not to throw the bombs. Let’s see if our jerk in the White House learns something from him....”

Can you imagine how convenient it has been for Putin to go there alone to give his declaration of supporting security for Iran? China has conveniently withdrawn from its visit so that he can have the limelight (to their mutual advantage) whilst blaming Bush over the Dalai Lama.

Step right up, folks........ sucker Bush, ha ha.

First, the obligatory “I’m not a fan of either Ahmadi-Nejad or Putin.”

There. Now having said that, there have been some pretty outrageous claims against both of them. One poster said, without any attribution or evidence, that Ahmadi-Nejad wants to “kill as many non-believers as he can.”

Please, give me the exact quotation and source where he said this (you know you can’t).

Then again, we hear that Putin is making “Joe Stalin look like a nice guy.” Really? Show me evidence that the number of political prisoners killed by Putin is anywhere remotely close to those killed by Stalin. (Don’t bother: we both know you can’t.)

The sad thing is, both these leaders would probably be quite open to a diplomatic approach by the USA. But the Bush nut-jobs don’t want diplomacy or peace: they want conquest, thinly disguised by some made-up pretense, just as they did with Iraq.

I hear of what an evil government Iran is but I don’t see any conclusive proof.

I see the provocative rhetoric this administation puts out via the jewish controlled (Israeli) media, with name calling, slandering and mis-reporting facts regarding Iran, all without proof.

I hear of the U.S. supporting insurgent elements inside Iran and arming them.

I see the U.S. talking about how Iranian supplied munitions are making their way across the border and being used in the killing of our soldiers, the nerve!

What a two faced foreign policy we have.

No big fan of Ahmadinejab, Putin, or Bush. But if Putin can do a bit to dilute the Neocon dream of perpetual unipolar dominion, then good. If he can do anything to overt the catastrophe that the bombing (nuking?) of Iran would be, then cool.

voice of truth please read this article and learn a little about history. below is a little excerpt of it but the whole article is here.
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/sahimi.php?articleid=11762

Hezbollah, notwithstanding its terrorist past and Iran’s major role in its formation, is now a popular movement that can bring a million people into the streets on short notice. In addition, in legitimate elections in Lebanon, Hezbollah received a significant fraction of the votes, and it is a participant in Lebanon’s government.

Hamas’ aim is to recover every inch of the Palestinian land occupied since 1967, in return for which it is willing to enter a decades-long cease-fire with Israel. It has never carried out any military or terrorist operation outside the historical Palestine, and it has no connection with al-Qaeda. Iran’s aid to Hamas is due to the popularity of the Palestinian cause among Muslims everywhere, and Iran’s desire to curry favor in the larger Islamic world. Saudi Arabia also provides financial aid to Hamas, and Egypt allows it to bring funds raised abroad into Gaza, all without U.S. protests.

First off, did I give any defense of President Bush??  Or do you just jump to conclusions and in so doing prove my point.  My point was that many, in their absolute hatred of President Bush, would rush to defend these two evil people.  By attacking me and linking me to Bush, you have proven that.

Now, to your point...Iran has not aggressed (your word, which I believe isn’t really a word) anyone in how long??  What is Hezbollah?  What is sending armed forces into Iraq right now?  What was the seizing of the US Embassy hostages?  What were the attacks on Gulf shipping.

Please do not argue history with me (real history, not a distorted view on what you think should be right).

Ahmadinejad is a wackjob intent on killing as many “non-believers” as he can, and taking the whole world with him, and Putin is cold-blooded murderer who is starting to make ol’ Uncle Joe Stalin look like a nice guy.

Are we really supposed to give any credence to what these monsters say?  Or is that so long as they denigrate Bush they are ok?

Please tell me that is not the case, that you are not so bound up in your hatred.