An intellectual exercise.

[lumberjack_jeff]

I am strongly opposed to an attack on Iran. Am I thinking this through?

Let's play "what if". Let's assume;
Al Gore assumed the Presidency.
9-11 happened anyhow.
a less belligerent administration continued sanctions on Iraq and that the war never occured.
North Korea developed and tested nukes.

Given that situation, how should President Gore react to the statements and actions of Ahmadinejad? They're developing nukes, they're one of the centers of radical fundamentalism in the middle east, and they've been up-front about their belligerent designs on Israel.

Am I letting my lack of confidence in anything this administration does color my judgement? Does the last four years of clusterf*ckery in Iraq justify my differing attitudes?

I fear I have lost objectivity. I have no confidence that they can do anything right. Especially in important things, they cannot be trusted to do the right thing, or to do it competently.

My biggest fear is that they might step out of character one day and tell me the truth.

[The Traveler]

1. I am opposed to the war on Iraq

because, as a former member of the intelligence community, I do not trust what we are being told about the intelligence.

I didn't trust it back in 2002 ... it smelled wrong. Sadaam had even less than I expected but it was really stretching the imagination to presume he presented a credible potential to threaten the U.S. 45 minutes to nuclear holocaust ... yeah right.

What we do know is that the handling of intelligence is so highly politicized these days we cannot trust the political apparatus to present it to us in any reliable fashion.

Iran may indeed represent a major threat to world stability. They may well be on the verge of building a nuclear weapon. But as long as Bush is in power, we cannot trust that assessment. And even if we could, there are lots of less risky and humane ways of dealing with it than attacking Iran right at this moment.

[AndyTiedye]

5. If Iran is Such a Threat, Why Is The Rest of the World More Worried About US?

Methinks if Iran was such a dire threat to the world, that somebody other than
George Bush and the Israelis would have noticed.

We don't hear alarm bells about Iran coming from anywhere else.
They all seem more afraid of what Bush** is going to do next.

[The Traveler]

6. Tell me that is not a reasonable fear

Go ahead. Tell me. U'll laugh at ya! But you won't tell me that because you get it, too. This is a trigger happy asshole, and no one has any reason to trust his judgement.

[hfojvt]

2. according to

www.liberaloasis.com\

Ahmadinejad is not the real power in Iran and further he got spanked by moderates in the last Iranian election. Sabre rattling by Bush, however, is likely to strengthen Iranian extremists at the expense of moderates. Trouble is the two war-mongering lunatics Bush and Ahmadinejad feed off of each other.

[WritersBlock]

3. You hit the nail on the head there.

Trouble is the two war-mongering lunatics Bush and Ahmadinejad feed off of each other.

[AndyTiedye]

4. Plan B

Let's play "what if". Let's assume;
Al Gore assumed the Presidency.

Then "Plan B" would have gone into effect.
President Gore would have been assassinated by "terrorists",
and President Lieberman would have given them their war.
No need for 9/11 in that case.