Iran: U.S. not in position to start war

[rodeodance]

Bush/WH does NOT like being told what to do!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070224/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_us;_ylt=AoDsk4okG77rUicQWc_B_KzMWM0F

Iran: U.S. not in position to start war

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer 38 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran -
Iran said Saturday the United States was not in a position to take military action against it and urged Washington and its allies to engage in dialogue.


"We do not see America in a position to impose another crisis on its tax payers inside America by starting another war in the region," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters.

Mottaki was responding to U.S. Vice President
Dick Cheney, who renewed Washington's warning to Iran earlier Saturday that "all options" were on the table if Tehran continues to defy U.N. demands to halt uranium enrichment.

At a joint news conference with Prime Minister John Howard during a visit to Australia, Cheney said the United States was "deeply concerned" about Iran's activities, including the "aggressive" sponsoring of terrorist group Hezbollah and inflammatory statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Cheney said top U.S. officials would meet soon with European allies to decide the next step toward planned tough sanctions against Iran if it continues enriching uranium.

[Greeby]

1. Fatal mistake

Presuming sanity from the current occupant of the White House

[hadrons]

2. Iran is thinking logically, but remember who's in charge

[Sterling]

3. It seems a common mistake these days to equate our mess in Iraq

with a loss of ability to wreck havoc on a country. The Iranians as well as DUers have unfortunately fell into this kind of thinking. Don't count on it unless you want to be shocked and disappointed.

Put this war in the context of precious wars and compare how little of our countries resources have been used for this war. The idea that because we can't stop the civil war in Iraq means our military can't fight a war is dangerous to those who want peace. If the war with Iran can be stopped it won't be because of Iranian or DUers wishful thinking.

[Hardrada]

5. We have to mobilize against all our imperialist wars

precious or otherwise.

[ngant17]

7. I think Iran is fundamentally correct

wrt the ability of the Pentagon/US military to wage another war on the scale of what it's doing in Iraq. Assuming you define war as invasion of armies and occupation by ground forces for the immediate future.

Iran could withstand a US blitzkrieg because there would be nothing to back up the attack after the initial US bombing and rocket raids. Certainly a lot of Iranian military infrastructure would be knocked out, but again, if you don't follow up with an invasion and an occupation, Iran will have time to recoup and counter-attack in ways which the US cannot fully prepare against.

Iraq is essentially one of two fronts that the US has to worry about at all times. Not to mention trying to secure the borderlines of half-dozen Islamic states which may or may not be supplying weapons and personnel to attack the occuping army.

It's only a question of time before Iran has sufficient nuclear weapons to join the M.A.D. group of lunatic superpowers who are pushing the world into a mass annihilation of humanity, perhaps on the scale of the extinction of the dinosaurs. And the USA is leading the pack.

[ohio2007]

8. I agree and will ad this excerpt from the original article

<snip>
Iran's enemies, through hiring some mercenaries and with their wishful thinking, want to create instability but ... the armed forces will strongly suppress anti-revolutionaries and rebels who are dependent to foreigners," Safavi was quoted as saying.


Yes, between the lines,
Iran has more to fear from a rising fifth column than US boots on the ground. Unemployment and inflation is an internal ignored threat thats going to play out in any negotiations with their rival European "enemies" gathering next week.

[Pavulon]

9. It depends on your definition of war

if you mean take and hold ground, I think that would not be easily done. Not without massive killing. A ww2 style war with destruction of cities and displacement of millions would be required. It would require a war economy.

If you mean reduce cities, public works, food, ports, ships, troops, and anything that took a human to build to a smashed mess we can do that conventionally.

That would be counterproductive and a long term failure. Not pushing that option just pointing out that the us air force and navy are basically idle and can carry out massive air assault.

[grytpype]

4. We weren't in a position to attack Iraq, but Bush/Cheney went ahead anyway.

Our armed forces were way too small to successfully occupy Iraq.

[Peace Patriot]

6. Yup, $10 trillion deficit, busted army, busted schools, busted medical system,

busted infrastructure, busted emergency services, busted taxpayers, outsourced jobs, outsourced manufacturing capability, outsourced president and vice president...this guy has a point.

But even if the Bush Junta weren't the biggest wrecking crew on earth, at home and abroad, and even if our country were in tact, preemptive war is still illegal and immoral, especially against a country that has harmed no one, has evidenced no imperial intentions whatsoever, and only wants nukes because they are being threatened by war criminals.

Not to mention that the entire world opposes any strike on Iran--including 84% of the American people who oppose any US participation in a widened Mideast war. Forbidden by international law. Forbidden by the Constitution. Forbidden by ethics and decency.

Whatever Cheney says, you can figure the opposite is true. He is a great educator on international affairs, in this respect (and on domestic policy as well). He says Tehran is "defying U.N. demands to halt uranium enrichment," implying that Tehran is somehow breaking a law. But Iran is a sovereign nation. It is a member of the UN and a signer of treaties by choice. No one can dictate what they require for their defense. Iraq was an entirely different case--when sanctions and military action occurred, by international consensus. Iraq had invaded another country. Iran has done nothing of the sort.

And how about "aggressive" sponsoring of "terrorist group Hezbollah"? Hezbollah was a legitimate political member of the Lebanese government. They have a constituency. They provide public services. They are in a dispute with Israel about their lands being taken. Is that "terrorism" or patriotism? I don't know what evidence there is that Iran is "aggressively" sponsoring them, or sponsoring them in any way, but why shouldn't they, if they have cultural/religious kinship with Hezbollah and agree with their claims? It is a dispute. Why is it cause for dire threats by the most powerful nation on earth? And with Cheney making these charges, we have great reason to presume that they are 100% false, as a starting premise.

Cheney says the Democrats are aiding Al Qaeda, by criticizing and trying to stop the horrid war on Iraq--an illegal, immoral strike on a nearly helpless country, and a complete disaster of an illegal occupation, by which Cheney and his cabal are looting us and the Iraqis blind.

If this is the sort of liar and war criminal that Israel's supporters want to hang with, then they are quickly going to lose the once great support and kinship that the American people have had for Israel. We have little reason to continue siding with Israel, in its disputes with Hezbollah and the Palestinians, with Dick Cheney as the champion of 'christian' jihad against Israel's neighbors in disputes that Israel could very well settle peacefully. When Cheney attacks Democrats, questioning our patriotism and our good sense, because we will not bow to his oil war, and his lies, and his ill motives, and he drags Israel's territorial disputes into the bargain, we are all put in jeopardy, including Israel, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's prediction that Israel and the U.S. will go down together, becomes prescient, not crazy. He has a point. We are dragging each other down--into fascism, and militarism. This is no way to live. This is no way to support each other. This no way to proceed to a more peaceful and secure world. Dick Cheney is a liar and thief. What does that make his only allies in the U.S.--besides war profiteer CEO's--Israel's kneejerk rightwing supporters?

People who truly revere and want to protect Israel, and people who truly revere and want to protect the U.S., had better step forward, and soon, to severe this man's power over U.S. foreign policy. Sometimes your enemies are the only ones who tell you the truth. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is looking more and more like such an enemy. I don't like him or approve of him. But, with the US war machine on his border, I can certainly see where he and Iran are coming from. And I think he knows, perhaps better than any of us, what a complete and total disaster it will be for the US--and most especially for Israel--if Bush/Cheney attack Iran, and rouse the entire Muslim world against us, IN ADDITION to the non-Muslim world, which is already discussing how they will punish us and shut us down. China (which holds much of our debt paper), Russia and India recently met on this very issue--how to stop the US bully?

If we had a sane government, I would say they are playing a diplomatic game, pressuring Iran not to intervene in Iraq (which they have reason and right to do), as cover for a US withdrawal from Iraq. But our government is in the control an old sick man, who may want to see a bloody triumph before he dies. He doesn't have time left to enjoy his immense stolen booty or to lord it over others. I think Ahmadinejad is right. Israel and the US are at great risk. And our bankrupt government is the least of it.

[CatholicEdHead]

10. By traditional military doctorine they are correct

but nothing is traditional nowadays.

[VegasWolf]

11. They are correct, Bush has made the US impotent with the dual wars in

Afghanistan and Iraq. No way will Bush be able to attack a country with a real military at this point. Bush can pout and cry, but that's about it. Thank the Reptilians for destroying the US Military.