Letters to the Editor
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A must read—let's hope somebody does
The most frustrating thing for me about Bush's Iraq policy is that it is a failure on its terms—any of them. A careful, sober analysis like Galbraith's here reveals that beyond a doubt in the case of Iran. It is perfectly obvious that rather than containing Iran we have empowered and radicalized it.
What is especially terrifying about this is not that Bush blundered, but that his enablers and partisans are dedicated to hiding the extent of his mistake from us rather than of trying to mitigate it. At the same time, the issues are too complex for most people to try to parse, so even now that so many have turned against the war, most do not understand even an inkling of what Galbraith patiently explains.
It makes me doubt my cornerstone liberal belief that we are a democracy of people who can be entrusted with the task of understanding our world and acting as a people to further our own interests. I don't want to contemplate the alternatives.
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News?
Why should it surprise anyone that the invasion of Iraq has been and continues to be of benefit to Iran?
Our invasion, justified (at least in theory) by Osama bin Laden's attacks on the US, has almost completed bin Laden's vision for Iraq. Why would it stop there?
Bolstering Iran's place in the Middle East and in the world is an inevitable consequence of this adventure. At the very least we have removed the balancing power for Iran. How much more we do to support the Tehran regime is just a matter of waiting to see.
If there was some way to provide a benefit to Pyongyang, I am sure we would do that too.
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I don't think that either the US or Iran will deal honestly
My husband is from Iran and I have travelled there numerous times since 1982. I don't know if either the US or Iran will honestly communicate with each other.
Tonight, Sunday night, Ahmadinejad was on 60 Minutes. One of the times the interviewer asked Ahmadinejad about the "bomb" Ahmadinejad replied in Farsi: "The day of the bomb is over. The day is for dialog," The translator was able to say the first part "The day of the Bomb is over." The second part was edited out. It is apparemt they edited. I went to the CBS.com site and the translation also did not contain his full quote.
I doubt in Iran all of Ahmadinejad speeches at any of the venues he appears at will be translated to Iranians. I doubt in the US any will be fully translated for public consumption either.
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I want grown-ups to be in charge......
How did we allow such utter ineptitude to rule this land for almost a decade? My God, when will we say enough? Or is everyone in DC just resigned to the fact we are at the mercy of the Cheney/Rice struggle for Bush's favor? I hope there is a plan for somebody to say no when the simplistic, third grade playground rule-based foreign policy goes too far....again?
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It would be funny if it wern't so tragic
With the loss of over a million Iraqi lives and thousands of American lives, and with the displacement of millions of Iraqis, this tragic war has destroyed Iraq and with it much of America's moral and economic power around the world.
It is ironic that the neocons and Israel Lobby, who worked so hard to bring about this war through misinformation and deception, have only succeeded in giving Iran the strategic dominance that it couldn't achieve through its own war with Iraq. Now they are trying to correct this mistake by getting the US into a even more disastrous war with Iran. Hopefully, people can see through this.
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Who can blame Iran
Really. The U.S. along with England helped stage a coup against the Iranian government in 1953.
On false pretenses, Bush invaded a neighboring country.
No matter what one thinks of Ahmadinejad, the guy would have to be daft no to counter in every possible way the American presence in the Middle East.
Just imagine what the U.S. would do if another country did the same to Mexico or Canada.
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Excellent point about Afghanistan
The Taliban's past relationship with Afghan Shiites could be classified as genocidal.
And Iran has traditionally been the ally of whatever local power in Afghanistan is opposed to the Sunni mullahs.
You see this is what happens when you make lying into an official government policy. I can't believe anyone with a degree not from a religious college in the Bush administration actually buys this nonsense. This has to be a consciously crafted lie on someone's part.
Amazon.com has a huge selection of books on Afghanistan. You can open any single one of those books and understand why the Taliban would never work with Iran just from skimming a few relevant chapters.
What kind of flight from reality is this country on these days?
Is it ever going to end?
Are the grownups ever going to get back in power?
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Brushes the surface
A good article, but it is difficult to understand Iran without delving more deeply into its history and its relationship to the US.
From our perspective, it is impossible to conceive that Iran would not be developing nuclear weapons. It is simply a matter of self-preservation.
It is also inconceivable that Ahmadinejad would come so boldly to the US and speak to Americans.
Yet, he does so.
It is impossible for us to understand that tens of thousands of Iranians marched after 911 to offer condolences. While at the same time, Iran supports organizations such as Hezbollah, which we deem a terrorist organization.
We do not understand, and it is almost impossible for us to understand, and because we are Americans, we don't care that much about understanding anyway.
I worry more about us than them. They will likely survive whatever we throw at them. We may not survive what we throw at ourselves.
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I for one can't wait for Iran to get the bomb
And use it on us.
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some rational thinking please
The rest of the world was 100% sympathetic to America in the weeks following 9/11.
However we did not support going to war. Canada for one, stayed out and we are happy we did.
We want peace, rule of law, harmony and productive economies.
Bush and co. are ruining our prospects for a safe, secure and decent future. That doesn't mean,however, that we stop being vigilant; it just means that we need to stop warmongering and start exercising some common sense.