I like it and the background and colors make it easy to readk

America should just go ahead and repeat what she did to Iraq in Iran and stop hiding under the pretext of nuclear.

Cole’s response to the ridiculous hit piece on Cole by Hitchens linked to in comment #8547 (right below mine) can be found here:

http://www.juancole.com/2006/05/hitchens-hacker-and-hi tchens.html

Great article on Cole at Slate.
http://www.slate.com/id/2140947/

“However, this article does not go out of its way to show with absolute certainty that Bush and Co. are entirely wrong”.

Try a little harder 5096 - you were almost there - then you blew it.

You are asking Cole to prove that the neocons are ‘not wrong’ with ‘absolute certainty’. Hehe.

Do you realise how foolish that is? Were you even born when the US took us into Iraq? Is it not incumbent upon Bolton et al to ‘prove’ that Iran intends to develop a military capability. Your so-called ‘smoking gun’ showed nothing of the sort.

Perhaps you thing that the US should launch a nuclear dtrike against Iran because Juan Cole can’t prove that the neocons are wrong.

I’m only responding to your comment because I don’t have time to scroll up and find the other idiots. Bless you 5096 [American?]

To the oxymoron “American Iranian Patriot” and Mr. Mazloom’e bad bakht. It happens all the time but it never ceases to amaze seeing how low some people can fall under the American guidance and tutorship. The free and proud people of Iran are one hundred percent behind their sovereign government. The proud and free people of Iran have given too much in blood and treasure for their freedom to forget what kind of people you are and what criminal vulgar entity America and Israel are. We will fight America and people like you, although it is a given that you are too much of a coward to do any actual fighting, to your inevitable end and by Grace of God we will keep our freedom and we will prevail. You ran away to America the last time we showed you our fury. Lick all the American ass you want but don’t ask for our fury again; as there will be no place for you to run to this time, except perhaps up that American ass you are licking, you miserable piece of shits.

to all you iranians who wish US to attack iran and all that your a disgrace and you know what at least mullahs were elected by people 28 years ago after the revoloution people like you are the people that use to suck up to the sah or had liquir stores or any other illegal business with the shas regime, now with the islamic regime you cant countiniue your robbery of the iranian wealth before shah and you people use to take it for your swiss banks now the islamic regime spendis it on advanced weapons at least this benifits the people.

As a British citizen I deeply regret and I am angry that our own Prime Minister Tony Blair, commonly called in our country “ the poodle”, has allied himself so closely to President Bush’s policies in Iraq and for the new adventure in Iran. Even demonstrations against entering the Iraq war by over 1,500,000 people in London failed to obtain any acknowledgement by the Blair government.
I would ask the American people to wake up and “smell the napalm” which reeks throughout the Bush Administration. Their stench and stealth should not be allowed to kill one more person in the Middle East. The Bush/Blair alliance has caused incalculable damage to the harmony between religions, sects races and faiths throughout the region. Has the US or Britain gained one iota from the Bush/Blair action in the Middle East? Certain interested parties may have but as a citizen the only involvement I, my family and the other 60 million people of this Island have is the payment of many billions of tax pounds to finance these war games and the case of the US many hundreds of billions of dollars.
Remember Iran has threatened no one. It has been interfered with throughout the 20th century by oil companies, the CIA and US allies such as Saddam Hussein of Iraq during the 1980’s Iraq invasion of Iran.
PLEASE DO NOT FALL FOR ANY MORE PROPOGANDA, LIES, CHEATING, AND HYPOCRISY.

I think it has to do more with the Israel lobby and the oil bourse than a threat.  Just more fearmongering--same story, different country.

This is a response to those who think that the likes of Juan Cole give a damn about Iranian people, or their apirations for democracy and human rights.

First, this is a dmocratic society and people have every right to write and publish whatever they want, including Professor Juan Cole who is teaching in a respectful department of ME studies at the University of Michigan, the flag-ship of the Michigan universities.  He is not in the pay of IRI, or CIA, or Mossad, or whatever one may claim, but he is a known sympathizer of the IRI and has been rooting for this criminal regime since the time of the Revolution in 1979 to present.  I could not careless if he were Bahai, or Hindu, or Zantoo, or Twelve Imami Shia, or pur agnostic, or genostic of Goosaleh-Parast for all I car.

Second, I do care and every men and woemn of conscience should care that Juan Cole is repeating this regime’s calims at a time that the world-over has come to this conclusion that the entity called Islamic Republic of Iran has become a big concern for stablity, peace and progress in the Middle East region that provides the bulk of energy resources for Japan, Europe, and partially the North Americ; the world consensus is that IRI is sponsoring all kind of Terrorist Organizations from Al-Qaeda to Hizbollah to a wide range of other terroristic organization that use Islam as their cover, and being financed by the IRI, carry out these terroristic activities in whichever part of the democratic wworld that Iran’s mullahs desire.  IRI is a cancerous tumor that has got to be removed for the sake of the wealth of the world and it seems that we are moving in that direction.

Third, USA and her allies should not attack Iran under any circumstance, but should support Iranian Oppositional Forces (from Jebhe Melli to Monarchists to non-Stalinist Leftist to Mojahedin Khalq, to Iranian Kurdish, Baluch, Torkmen etc., etc.) in order to topple this regime.  Prior to this, our President Georg W. Bush should come forward and declare the IRI as an illegtimate regime that has no support in Iran and is an international paraih for its past 27 years of continuous crimes against Iranian people (documents already exist and have been used by democratic societies against IRI officials as in the case of the Mikonos Trials in Germany), and against many other countries. 

In addition, the EU parliament shoudl take the case of the IRI’s crimes, including crimes of international terrorism that IRi has committed with the direct knowledge, order and participation of IRI’s top officials (from Khomeini all the way to Ahmadi Nejad).

Once the dossie is coplete it should be presented to the UN General Asse,bly for consideration.  Once it has been determined that IRI is an enemy of humanity for its continuous violations of Iranian people’s Human Rights and for comitting Crimes against Humanity (it is in the Charter of the UN), than IRI officals should be arrested and put in a Nurenberg tpe of International Tribunal and once convicted, should be pusnidhe accordingly.

In the mean time, the Interpol should be given the authority to arrest known IRI agents around the world, IRI’s embassies and consulates which ar ethe Den’s of International Terrorism should be closed and these elements should be declared persona non grata and asked to leave the civilized countries of the world, or better deported to Iran by a Con-Air type of operations.

Finally, IRI’s assests should be frozen and Iran’s seat in UN and in any other world organizations be given to those who represent the Council of Iranian Resistance in Exile who would hve the authority to speak on behalf of the Iranian People inside Iran and diaspora.

In short, no war, no invasion, no bombing, let Iranian people get rid of this cancerous tumor called IRI, and in the mean time, if a bunch of ex-Bahai now whatever Professors would like to defend Ahamdi Nejad, let them do it, who cares.  But I would not respoind to those agents of IRI who are of the opinion that we have “democracy” in Iran if we compare ourselves with Afghanistan under a bunch of 7th centry hominiods called Taliban.

As to one gadfly who thinks that I seek job at White House, I have a very good job and thanks to Allah, don’t need to apply for anything.

Once I was listening a debate between some democrat and republican politicians and ex-generals on C-SPAN TV in late 1990’s. The Democrat eager to score a political point against the Republicans pushed the argument rather forcefully that the 1991 war against Iraq was a failure. The Republican general could not take it any more and there slipped out the Freudian truth and he ushered. “We sent back Iraq at least two centuries to the dark ages and you are telling me that we did not succeed?” This is the real truth behind US policy, naked and revealed. And her policy towards Iran is not any different.

I hope by now there should be no question that the intentions of US policy in the greater middle east has to do all with domination for their own best interest, or better even, the best interest of few who are trying to take the world as their hostage while they are the only supper power and feel unchecked. For those naives including the “Iranian American patriot” who like to take the truth of undemocratic and theocratic regime in Iran as the evidence of US legitimacy for messianic quest to destroy Iran as it did for Iraq, it must be obvious that what is going on in Iraq or went on with over ten years of sanctions prior to this war is nothing to wish for. If some are naive enough to think that US wants democracy and respect for human rights etc in the Middle East region, grow up. US want client states. Just look at their allies in the Middle East, and wake up. If US want justice in the Middle East, learn the ABC of politics. Justice is only between equals. US can’t even provide health care for 40 million of its own population. If US does not care about its own population, many of them so poor and disadvantaged that is beyond understanding for a economic superpower, why would it care about the state of economy and overall well being of 70 million Iranians.

Lastly true that Iranian regime is for most part not democratic. True that it has suppressed its own people not allowing Iranians to become strong citizens and to be the authors of the laws they should obey. True that political executions, imprisonments, restrictions to Iranian journalists, authors etc has been hallmark of its governance. But Iran has not broken any international law; Is not in pursuit of nuclear weapon; is not threat to US or Israel or any other country in the world.

Democratic transformation in Iran can and will only be achieved by Iranians alone. The best world can do is not hurt the democratic aspirations of Iranians who are struggling to gradually institutionalize democracy in Iran and to some extent they have succeeded. After all Iran is a lot more democratic than Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Kuwait, Jordan, and other Middle East allies of USA except Turkey. I have seen and have been in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Turkey and have lived most of my adult life in Canada and now in US. Even Ahmadi Nejad’s election is more democratic than Mubarak’s. And furthermore Iranians should take some of the blames for Ahmadi Nejad taking the office. Just like Americans who should take the blame of re-electing Bush and not wonder why people in the world have such a negative view of America and Americans. 20 million Iranians who could have otherwise voted in the last presidential election in Iran and most likely were of moderate aspirations did not. They could have prevented Ahmadi Nejad from coming to power by at the least choosing a more moderate figure. But they chose to not play by the democratic rule and use the limited power of voting they have. I am sure they must be now regretting. They must understand that the reformists are impossible to be worst than current radicals. This is how it works. You want democracy you have to use every bit of it you have. Democratic transformation in Iran does not pass through the road of sanctions and military interventions in Iran. Nor does the road of piece and stability in the Middle East. Well beings of Iranians cannot be planned in Israel or Washington. Their missery surely would. And this is what US wants. Iranians must count on themselves to improve their lives not on US or any other country. Iranians have enough political sophistication to unite in the face of external threat as well.

Here come the MEK-MOnarchist brigade to accuse Cole of being a “pro-IRI agent”—how pathetic can you guys get? You’ve spent 27 years in comfortable exile, and in all that time you’ve done NOTHING against the IRI yourselves. You’/re the best “opposition” any mullah could want. And FYI, Cole speaks farsi and was even Bahai, morons.

I am startled at Juan Cole’s naiveté.  Clearly, he does not know the culture and mentality of the unique brand of post-revolutionary Iranian Shiite jurists/rulers.  For the latter, the end justifies the means, period.  Khomeini himself has emphasized the point many times, notably in his cancellation of the Muslim required Hajj pilgrimage.  I myself also once heard him say that “even divine monism (tohid) can be suspended when the issue is the perseverance of Islam,” (read the rule of the mullahs.  Thus, it snot bizarre at all, and totally plausible that the ruling clerical elite i Iran would cooperate with the devil himself in order to defeat the Us and repel the American threat against the “Islamic state.”

Moreover, if Juan Cole, as busy as he is, had read the report of the former senior negotiator Hassan Rohani, published in Iran, he would surely see the many instances of deceitfulness throughout the project. The new more radical officials were quite angry with Rohani for publishing the report which they believe, quite correctly, implies the regime’s desire to produce nuclear arms.

I am an Iranian myself and would wish nothing more than for Juan Cole’s optimism to be true.  However, as careful as the clerics are in Iran, they have left enough evidence.  Besides, one has to take into account the whole past 27 years and the culture of the elite leadership.  Optimism is different from naiveté, and although Bush has been wrong in many instances, he is on the mark about the regime in Iran.

It seems to me the Iranian American Patriot is applying for a job at the whit house, the way he repeats their propaganda. One thing is sure. If the US had ever had a slightest proof for Iranian terrorist activities, we would have seen it in the international bodies. Just because the same lies and accusations are repeated again and again does not make them true. So my suggestion for the Iranian American Patriot is to omit the Iranian from his name and put patriot in quotation marks.

Happy Norooz to all Iranians.

The piece by Professor Juan Cole is typical of academic nonsense written by the so-called “experts” on Iran most of whom neither read, nor speak, Persin (Farsi) whose knowledge and view of the Iranian history is shallow at best; in the case of Professor Cole, his views represents those who believe that the present regime in Iran is a pure form of Shii Islam+ third world populism that combined, can resist the hegemony of the West as represented by the USA. 

Having read many of Professor Cole’s and his like-minded comrades views as to what the present regime in Iran represents, Cole seems to be beating on the same dead-horse namely, that Iran (the the other name for this regime), has every right of pursuing the right of the people regarding access to nuclear technology for “Peaceful” purposes because it is a signatory to the NPT.

First, this regime does not represent the Iranian people.  It has never been a representative regime and it will never be.  It is the regime of a bunch of unelected mullahs who have committed prosecutable crimes, including the crimes of international terrorism against many countries. 

Professor Cole does not seem to realize that it is not one’s signature that gurantees one’s right to access to nucelar technology, but one’s intentions, action, rehtoric and long-term plans that lend credibility to one’s signature.  The present regime in Iran is an international paraiah due to its years of enmity with Iranian people and their national aspirations for democracy, human rights, an slef-determination in peace and prosperity; this regime has rejected every conceivable good and decent structures and institutions that all civilized societies have adapted to their social norms, values. 

This regime is despised by the majority of the Iranian people based on the very words of the top mullahs in Iran who openly threten Iranian youth on a daily basis that if they attmpt to dismentle the regime they will face death and destruction.  To make good on their threats, they hang, on a regular bais, those youths who dare to challenege this regime’s criminal and terroristic actions that include public lashing of teenaged boys and girls, public hanging of yoths and adults, stoning to death of women who have shown their love and affection for others, behading, gauging the eyes and cutting the limbs of those who have committed a wide range of wierd things that this regime has criminalized based on its Jurasick Park mentality.

The likes of Professor Cole usually ignore these stark relaities of the Iranian society as they sit in their ivy league universities and colleges writing a bunch of academic gabildigook whitewashing the crimes of these type of corrupt and terroristic regimes that rule the larger Middle East region in the name of Islam, Nationalist, Socialism etc.

The present regime has been condmned for 51 times by the General Assembly of the UN based on reports that HRC has presnted to the UN doumenting the most blatnet violations of human rights in Iran from the time of Khomeini to the time of ahmadi Nejad.  Yet, Professor Cole has the audacity of supporting this regime’s “rights” to pursue neuclear technology in the name of the “rights” of the Iranian people.

It is not ironic that Professor Cole, like his pro-IRI lobbyists in the academia, closes his eyes on the amount of death and destruction that this regime has inflicted on the Iranian People during the past 27 years, and instead tries to find legal pretexts for this regime to make its case to the world public opinion to the effect that the IRI is in search of “peaceful” (!!??) technology for procuring energy!!  This is a laughable, if not utterly simplistic argument, that a country such as Iran which possess some of the largest amounts of the oil and natural gas reserviors is in need of a tchnology that the absolute majority of the civilized and technologically advanced countries of the world have dismentled as inefficient and environmentally dangerous way of procuring energy.  Worse yet, Cole does not explain why a country in need of such a technology would lie, cheat, and use all kinds of gangester-like strategies to obtain such a technology from the undergound market run by the likes of Abdol Qadir Khan (known as Pakistan’s Father of the Atomic Bomb)?

Finally, Professor Cole, like all other IRI-lobbyists and sympathizers in this country, ignores the fact that one who needs nucelar-technology for “peaceful” purposes, would not make the argument that Iran lives in a region that is filled with atomic weapons, an argument that these mullahs and their supporters have been doing adnausium from the moment that the Iranian oppositional forces have disclosed this regime’s clandestine bomb-making schemes.  How in the world, a technology that is supposed to produce cheap electricity according to these pathological liars, is supposed to deter Isreal from taking action against such a “peaceful” instillation if we follow the logic of Mr. Cole’s representation of Ahmadi Nejaj’s views to that effect?  This is the same guy who is on record that Isreal should be wiped from the face of the earth? 

To make a long story short, the likes of Professor Cole have every right of writing whatever that comes to their mind as the above article, but they have no right of ignoring or whtiewashing the crimes of this despicable regime in Iran under the pretext that because we can’t produce “eveidence” against specific acts of terrorism committed by the present regime in Iran, then it has every right of getting its dirty paws on the most dangeroud weapons of mass destruction, Atomic bomb. 

contrary to Mr. Cole’s absurd logic, there are ample evidences that IRI is the god father of international terrorism and in fact it can pride itself for having invented a wide range of tactics to commit the most leathal form of terroristic acts around the world.  The academic world is filled with Armchair Philosophers who devise all kind of utterly nonsensical theories as to why we can live in peace with terrorists, criminals and gangs of mafia who comprise the likes of the IRI in the Third World provided that we try to “understand” their motives; it takes one Hitler, one Khomeini, and now one Ahmadi Nejad, to prove to these academic simpletons that this mixture is quite volitile and explosive despite our good intentions towards them.  Who said that the raod to hell is paved with good intentions Professor Cole?

Dear Mr. Cole,
You are either extremely naive to think the iranian regime has intentions other than terrorism and pursuit of the nuclear weapons or you think we don’t recognize a paid agent of the regime. I am convinced there is no thrid option. I hope U.S. will not back down from its position and people like you will learn a lesson in what happens when a few mullahs hold 70 million people hostage. i wish to be around for that day. The present clerical establshment in iran will do all it can to stay in power, it will hire people with no integrity, it will bild WMD’s, it will spnsor terrorism, it will kill innocent iranians, etc. I amsurprised this web site published garbage like your comments but again freedom of expression is mandatory in the west, something your types would not understand.
So dear mr. basiji what is your real name?

Let there be light ...

Let There Be Light

More bravo sierra from the speaker of the Mullahcratic regime, Mr. Cole in the USA

This report by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt of Harvard shows the power of the Israeli lobby (AIPAC) on US foreign policy and the reason for the threats against Iran which is no threat to the US, Perle telling Syria, “you’re next”, and the reason the lobby runs the state department’s foreign policy regarding the Middle East.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html

Republican Spells Mistake
http://www.uploading.com/?get=CRIJ4008

America’s true agenda in the middle-east:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1036571 ,00.html

My judgement is that Iran would love to have nuclear weapons. Why not? Once it has them, it doesn’t have to worry about being invaded by the U.S. any more, and can negotiate from a position of relative military parity. Its like Eddie Griffin was saying on the Bill Maher show, “You got a bomb, I don’t got a bomb - ok, $50 a barrel. You got a bomb, I got a bomb too - $120 a barrel. Yeah, nuclear weapons, the old equalizer.

How is it that anyone attaches even one iota of credibility to anything that our president says?  Name one project, other than what he delivers for his anti-abortion, NRA and assorted other absolutists, where he’s come anywheres close to telling it the way it really is. 
Invariably the truth (what’s real, that is) turns out to be the opposite of what he tells us - Iraq is developing a nuclear bomb (false); there’s no man made contribution to global warming (false); nobody thought that the levees wouldn’t hold (false); the Medicare drug plan is the best that we can offer (false): we’re safer now than we were before 9/11 (false) and so on and so forth.
It’s not just that he’s a liar.  It’s that his lies cost us dearly; with already more than thirteen hundred of our best and brightest killed in Iraq and with the same number (and still counting) having drowned in New Orleans when (on account of our president’s criminal neglect) those levees broke
So what happens next?  We the people either continue to let the president get away with his lies and their bloody consequences or we see to it next November that we elect a Congress that’s going to place the impeachment of our president as its top priority.  . Change the world, anyone?  How’s that for starters?

Am I the only one who sees the recent US saber-rattling as diplomatic cover intended strictly for internal US consumption?  The US and Iran support the same Iraqi Shiite religious parties, and the US war against the Taliban in Afghanistan was also welcome to the Iranian regime.  Since our government has built the Islamic Republic into one of our top official enemies, yet in real life we are collaborating with them, some diversionary posturing seems to be necessary to avoid confusing the home audience.  This seems so clear to me that I am surprised that no one else seems to see it this way.

Juan Cole wrote: “Although Bush charges Iran with “support for terrorism,” he seems unable to name any international terrorist incident of the past six years that can unambiguously be attributed to Iran.

His baldfaced accusation that Iran is in “pursuit of nuclear weapons” is, as we will see below, not proved either.”

Religious fundamentalists of any stripe need no proof to believe anything. As always, their philosophical “infection” enables them to just make it up then repeat it until it becomes FACT and TRUTH in whatever they’re using for brains.  From that point on there’s no communicating with them on the issue in question.

I sure hope there are enough “uninfected” Americans to defeat these religious nitwits who’ve hijacked your government, and soon. Otherwise, we’re all doomed.

Re the “IEDs from Iran”:  Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a press conference that there is no proof that the Iranian government is involved.

This is so pathetic, to see the admin trotting out all the same kinds of lies and have so many people swallowing them whole.

5275 JBIRD ... you just made my point ... 

# 5285 ..pardon ?? Sounds like typical elitist blather ...  Your post didn’t make a bit of sense to me...(guess I haven’t reached your level of enlightenment and sophistication .. thank goodness) I made a simple point that there are alot of anti-American zealots who embrace thier kook conspiracy theories about Bush, Halliburton etc. etc. etc. without ever producing anything factual to prove it. Very simple point.You must really enjoy listening to yourself.

Well written piece by Mr. Cole…I consider most of it academic and makes an interesting opposing view on TV shows like Bill O.
To most Persian-speaking people it was obvious the mistranslation of Ahmedinejad “Israel be wiped off the map,” was intentional, this actually happens all the time- conveniently when the topic is about Israel and jews.

Living in the US for over 35 years as an Iranian-American I’ve seen how neo-zionist (euphemistically known as neo-cons) creeping into America in every way and destroying the fabric of this country for what it was established for. I just hope we as Americans wake up to what’s happening in America to regain the American way of life and stop taking Americans as fools and gullible.

Just to clear the air I have nothing against jews. Specially as an Iranian. When I lived in Iran, there were over 200,000 jews and I could not tell if I ran into one- they looked like Iranians with exception of bigger nose if you can believe that and flappy ears. So, I could not have developed any feelings toward Jews. After the revolution, most of them say about 175,000 moved to Beverly Hills and that leaves only 25,000 in Iran. This means on a daily basis Average Ahmed will not be seeing a jew on the street and they would not even know it if he saw one. So why Ahmedinejad talks about Israel and stuff like that. the short answer is that he is a politician. He creates a crisis and uses it to rally around it. Something quite foreign in our politics in America.

Let’s focus on America…

Two final notes…

US WILL NOT ATTACK IRAN PERIOD.
THIS WHOLE SHENANIGAN IS ABOUT MONEY PERIOD.

Comment by Bill Woolsey (#5274) : ‘U.S. economic prosperity is not based on having oil priced in dollars. The dollar price of oil changes every day, as does the dollar price of the euro.  It is easy to calculate the euro price of oil.  If oil was mostly priced in Euros, it would be the same.’

Actually, Bill, our ‘prosperity’ will be seriously threatened if the world trades oil in Euros instead of Dollars. One major reason countries such as China and Japan buy U.S. Treasury Notes and keep Dollars in its foreign reserves (which is a loan to the U.S., and on which we depend for our ‘prosperity’) is the fact that their oil imports futures are traded in Dollars. (Trading in Euros futures, then trade that in oil futures, as you seem to suggest, does not work.)

Thus, when they can freely trade oil futures in Euros in the new Iranian bourse, many of our creditors will likely slowly switch their reserves from dollars to Euro. Some of this switching is already occuring, by China, Korea and Venezuela. The war, your mortgage, car loans, are financed with low interest loans from these countries. When the Fed bumps the interest up to continue financing our monumental debt, watch out for a serious drop in our ‘prosperity’.

For further information and confirmation, read recent articles by Harvard economist Paul Krugman.

Re: Comment #5225 by Hunter W.  on 3/15 at 8:03 am

Rather than address the post, the following is apparently considered of sufficient value to a certain breed to take the time to type, perhaps preview, and submit.

WOW ... alot of America haters in here ... #5161 wishes for our downfall .. #5160 trusts in Iran’s leaders over our own .... and there are many posts that should start with “in my opinion” because alot of insults/accusations are thrown around without a shred of proof of anything. ..

While that is completely lacking in providing “facts” and, apparently due to not starting with “in my opinion” is therefore considered “factual” by the author, the “America haters” reference is clearly trumped by the following:

Too many hate Bush/America wannabe conspiracy theorists .. oh to find some intelligent civil discussion/disagreement without all the hate ..

The identification of a man/country is interesting- actually, not really.  It is the stuff of cultists or shills (paid or not).

Those who wish for a discussion filled “with intelligent civil discussion/disagreement...” while writing in that vitriolic fashion should hold up a mirror while casting a stone to see if their house is made of glass.

Apologies for any offense.  Civil enough?

What’s intersting to me about some of these responses is that first Bush’s saying that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, which proved untrue. Now Bush says that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon, which Juan Cole gives evidence is not true. Haven’t people learned from the Iraq example?

Bush had no evidence for his statements about Iraq and he has none for his statements about Iran. How can people, after Bush was 100% wrong about Iraq, believe in Bush about Iran? He can’t be believed. In the last weeks books and artcles have come out how Bush, Rumsfield and Tommny Franks even had disasterous war plans in Iraq that led to this current bloody fiasco.

Why would people ever believe a man who is so totally inept? Who never gets the evidence right. When evidence is given Bush, he ignores it. He couldn’t even help New Orleans. Bush isn’t going to offer any protection to Israel. Get real. He’s too inept to do that. He lives in a fantasy world which has got this country into deep disaster in Iraq. This present Bush policy against Iran will prove as much of a disaterous as his idiotic policy in Iraq.

Hunter W at #5225, you’re an idiot…

I wouldn’t assume that ending the “occupying regime” means an end to the occupation of the West bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.  I suspect that it means an end to the occupation of all Palestinian territory.  In other
words, pre-1967 Israel, or even what the UN gave to Israel.

Perhaps I am in error, but I think the Iranian regime has continued to be a “rejectionist state” insisting the the formation of a Jewish state on Muslim land has always been unacceptable.  I think the goal is to reestablish a Muslim state in the entire territory. 

Generally, the “frontline” states have been willing to deal with Israel to get territory back.  Syria appears open to a deal.  But the states further away have stuck to “principle.”

The Arab nationalists wanted back the lands of the Arab Nation.  The Islamists take a different tack.  They want it all back under Islamic rule.

Turning all of the territories currently inhabited by Jews into some kind of nuclear wasteland (wiping Israel off the map) isn’t what is proposed.

It is rather having a special state for Jews is
the Palestine (anywhere close the the ancient land of Israel) is opposed.  Jews, in general, can live in an Islamic state.  I’m am not certain what treatment the current citizens of Israel could expect if their state was destroyed, but it isn’t obivious that Islamists (including Iranian ones) would insist on expulsion of anyone.  I do think that all of those Arab farms and olive groves would go back to the previous owners.

P.S.  U.S. economic prosperity is not based on having oil priced in dollars. The dollar price of oil changes every day, as does the dollar price of the euro.  It is easy to calculate the euro price of oil.  If oil was mostly priced in Euros, it would be the same.

Having lived in America and Europe and now living back home in Iran it is very easy for me to see all the sides to this “Iran nuclear problem”. The rabid ignorant redneck that has a bumper sticker that reads “Nuke Iran”, yes I know you, and may even have met you. The liberal college educated boomer that knows exactly what Bush is all about and makes regular donations to Greenpeace, yes, I know you also, and have met you. And yes, I also know you the investment banker Bush voter that deep down knows it’s about oil and believes it should be “ours” so as to be put into its most productive use so you can make a good return on your stockholdings.

But, what you all need to wake up to is this simple fact: If Bush starts dropping bombs on Iran it will instantly create 70,000,000 Iranians into enemies of America. One single bomb will be considered a declaration of war and every Iranian that still calls Iran home will find a way to take revenge. Be it a year from now or a generation from now. America will eventually pay for the crimes it has committed and continues to commit. The most important step Americans can take is to go into the streets and demand regime change in America! Because it is your outlaw regime that is the problem.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8260059923 762628848&q=loose+change
Watch this video and be amazed of how less you know about our government.

WOW ... alot of America haters in here ... #5161 wishes for our downfall .. #5160 trusts in Iran’s leaders over our own .... and there are many posts that should start with “in my opinion” because alot of insults/accusations are thrown around without a shred of proof of anything. ..  Too many hate Bush/America wannabe conspiracy theorists .. oh to find some intelligent civil discussion/disagreement without all the hate ..

We, meaning the United States, meaning the Bush Administration, meaning fundamentalist Christians and American Zionists, do not want Iran to have nuclear weapons because Israel already does.

End of story.

It’s all a storm in a teacup (otherwise known as a manufactured casus belli). If the Iranians want a nuclear arsenal, they don’t have to create it from scratch themselves; they can buy raw materials, parts, or more-or-less complete weapons, from the Pakistani black market, the Russian mafia, or perhaps soon, an un-treatied India, with George Bush supplying the knowhow and John Howard supplying the uranium. There is going to be a banquet of ironies soon; pity Americans will starve.

What amazing hypocrisy and double standards the conservatives are twisting around to find a way to criticize Iran. Forget about whether Iran wants nukes. US conservatives have surrounded Iran on all it’s borders with either standing armies controlled by an openly hostile US leadership, or rouge states like Israel and Pakistan which themselves brandish nukes which are NEVER questioned. Iran has every right to defend itself against the horror of US wars or US sponsored civil wars, and nuclear parity is their best option. It is also the example offered repeatedly by the US and its subservient allies.

So US conservatives can absolutely blame themselves for any nukes built by Iran. Mad cow must be eating your steak fed brains, you freaking hypocrites. You destroyed whatever credibility you might have had.

Bush is all about politics money and power. And he is stupid. (I say this because anyone who has that much trouble with his native language is stupid. “Yale, Harvard,” you say. I say, “stupid.” He doesn’t read. No one that language deficient could possibly be reading anything other than--well, nothing; maybe the sports page.)

So, we come to Iran. Remember: politics, money and power. Approval rating in he 30s? Election coming up? Ah Ha! War. Iran. Attack.

So, we attack Iran; just bomb the shit out something, oh, say around September, 2006. (Rumsfeld: “I love the smell of burning Iranians in the morning.")

October’s poll Q.: “Who do you think is better able to protect America’s helpless women and children from rogue terrorist states such as Iran and Hades, Republicans or Democrats?”

Don’t think they won’t. Bush and gang are criminal. They cannot, and, I dare say, will not permit a house of the U.S. Congress to begin investigating and subpoenaing them.

In respond to Comment # 5157

Rafsanjani NEVER called for annihilation of Israel . This is the link to Rafsanjani’s speech :

http://www.rense.com/general18/mids.htm

Did anywhere in his speech Rafsanjani say that Israel SHOULD be annihilated? Did he say that he wants to Annihilate Israel? Did he say that Iran wants to annihilate Isreal ?

What he said was the fact that *** IF ***there is a nuclear*** EXCHANGE *** in Middle East , due to Israel’s Small size ( Which Israel always use as an excuse to occupy her neighbors land ) Israel will suffer more than any other country .

Your historian , Daniel Jonah Goldhagen , must have been peddling his own genocidal agenda .

in reply to Comment #5140 by Wayne on 3/14

So just a wild thought how bout iran or korea or russia or japan or iraq or palestine any of these countries that in the past 50 years us has invaded dropping a nuke on the united states to get their respect kill a few millions ????? is that they way all americans think well if they do then america is nothing but a big high school fully of bullys.

The people of this nation were brought up on american mythology, buttressed by John Wayne, Bruce Willis and Chuck Norris movies. It will be its undoing. In regards to Iran, the cure sounds worse than the disease. If either the US or Israel hits Iran, whats to stop them from seriously disrupting the worlds already tight oil market? How long will our ‘house of cards’ economy survive $8 a gallon?

The context of the Iranian president’s remarks makes it even clearer that he is talking about the elimination of Israel. Note he speaks about “the occupying regime of Qods [Jerusalem]” having been established by “the world oppressor [the United States].” Israel was established 20 years before east Jerusalem was occupied.  Therefore the vanishing of that regime = the vanishing of the state of Israel, not the end of the occupation of Jerusalem.  He even congratulates the conference on its name {"A World Without Zionism"}. He also reassures his listeners that it is possible to have a world without the United States as well.
Is this a pacifist who will work toward “the vanishing” of the “occupation regime” through Gandhi’s methods? I think not.

The quote is below, to be found at
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/weekinreview/30iran. html?ex=1142485200&en=60861e175f00885c&ei=5070

////////The establishment of the occupying regime of Qods [Jerusalem]was a major move by the world oppressor [ the United States] against the Islamic world. The situation has changed in this historical struggle. Sometimes the Muslims have won and moved forward and the world oppressor was forced to withdraw.

Unfortunately, the Islamic world has been withdrawing in the past 300 years. I do not want to examine the reasons for this, but only to review the history. The Islamic world lost its last defenses in the pa