On "spreading democaracy:"
One of the "reasons of the week" for invading Iraq was to introduce democracy to the Middle East. The irony is that while Iran is not exactly an American-style democracy, it is more democratic most countries in the middle east, including several US allies such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. When visitng Iran for a documentary last year Ted Keppel noted that in the Iranian media, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is ridiculed as much as George Bush is in the American media.
On Iran and nukes:
If we don't want more countries to develop nuclear weapons, the worst thing to do is to go on Iraqi-style invasions. In international relations, nuclear weapons are the equilvelent of a .44 Magnum on your hip that says "don't fuck with us." No country that possesses nuclear weapons was ever been invaded, and countries with no nukes know that well. Would Osama bin Laden have been able to hide in rural Pakistan for 6 years if Pakistan didn't have nukes? Remember what Bush said after 9/11: "We will not make distinctions between terrorists and the countries who harbor them." Well, that doesn't apply to rural Pakistan becuase the biggest danger in the world is not the prospect of North Korea or Iran, it is Pakistan falling into the kind of instability that Iraq is in now. Who knows who would get control of the Pakistan nuclear arsenal???
On Invading Iran:
I recently heard an inteview with former UN ambassador John Bolton. He claimed that there are large numbers of young Iranians who don't liketheir government and would welcome and support Amercian invasion to remove the Iranian governent.
Not only does this argument sound disturbingly familiar, it is comletely absurd. Imagine if a foreign power such as China thought "Look at all the Americans who don't like George W. Bush. If we invaded America and removed George Bush, all the people who don't like Bush would be greatful and supportive of us."
Completely absurd. Young Iranians may very well want change in their country, but like Amercans, we they'd want to do it themselves.
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