What amazes me is that this is only just now coming to light: Hamas wages Iran’s proxy war on Israel – Hamas leader admits hundreds of his fighters have travelled to Tehran. Perhaps it is more appropriate to say that I’m surprised that it’s taken th…

But there’s ample evidence that much, if not most, of the Iranian populace is anti-regime and (roughly) pro-West and pro-US.

Whether that includes opposition to attacking Israel is another question.

SteveMG on March 9, 2008 at 3:53 PM

I would agree with that statement. I was thinking about Isreal vis-a-vis Gaza. Iran would be more difficult to justify that kind of action against. The US for instance, didn’t really need to broadly attack the population of Iraq. Of course, by not doing that we never really broke the will of the forces who would oppose us during our occupation. Thankfully, however, Al Queda did need to attack the population of Iraq in order to try and break their will.

Isreal, though, would need total capitulation by the population of Gaza in order to gain anything militarily. “Unconditional surrender” is a phrase that comes to mind. Of course, when you decimate population centers in winning victory in war, you have an obligation to make them whole again and rebuild. Isreal should pound the population of Gaza into submission and then show a little “self interest well understood” and reoccupy/rebuild Gaza. Anything other than total capitulation by the population will leave them to fight again, with the Islamists requesting a faux “cease fire” so they can regroup and fight again another day

If a country faces an existential threat, and the populace is strongly in favor of wiping your country off the face of the planet, then It would seem the population is a fair target

But there’s ample evidence that much, if not most, of the Iranian populace is anti-regime and (roughly) pro-West and pro-US.

Whether that includes opposition to attacking Israel is another question.

If a country faces an existential threat, and the populace is strongly in favor of wiping your country off the face of the planet, then It would seem the population is a fair target. It was good enough for the Allies during WWII to bomb populations in Germany and Japan. I know this runs contrary to modern “ethics of war”, if such a thing could possibly exist. But a resounding defeat for the Islamic extremists could set Iran and the jihadists back significantly.

BryanS on March 9, 2008 at 12:18 PM

Well said, Bryan. However, the modern ethics of war you describe only applies to the west and civilized countries. In fact, the left’s version is to take it up *^&%^! and then to discuss it further. The jihadists have no qualms about using dirty bombs or worse to destroy what they see as our un-civilized, evil culture. That is why the appeasers amongst us must be continually pointed out and mocked (I’d like to do worse, but then I’m civilized, ha ha).

Since the tactics of some countries (like Iran) is to support small groups of terrorists and then deny any affiliation (it wasn’t us!), my foreign policy goes something like this; if there is any attack like 9/11 again or a dirty bomb or nuclear explosion in the United States, then Syria and Iran will cease to exist on this planet. You can hear the howls of protest already (we didn’t do it!). This approach is called punishing the whole class for the actions of one. It is time to put some pressure back on these bastards…

With three carrier groups in the Persian Gulf, I rather thought that President Bush had plans to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities, which would of course require destroying their military infrastructure as well. But he seems to have been sandbagged by the ‘intelligence’ people.

Sooner or later we or the Israelis, or both, will have to take on Iran. I figured there would be an incident to provide an excuse. But you can expect the Iranians to bide their time, now, hoping for a Democrat like Obambi, who will give them free rein over the entire Middle East, as we pull out of Iraq.

Will we now wait until Iran smuggles atom bombs into Israel, or lobs them on missiles? The Israelis cannot afford to wait, but I doubt they can take on Iran without our help. There are only 6 million of them.

The Isrealis should wait until Iran has one of those colorful hey we’re tough type parades and then blammo.

THE CHOSEN ONE on March 9, 2008 at 1:27 PM

Heh. It would be nice to see one of those displays go horrible wrong–might make the next tin pot dictator think twice about intimidating their populations through patriotic parades.

OY, Iranians will be dancing on the street when Obama wins the Election. true that.

gr8inferno on March 9, 2008 at 1:00 PM

Seems like there’s dancing in the streets in the middle east for any setup of an enemy, nomatter how grave. The culture of the middle east is despicable when they can celebrate death and destruction such as 911 or the recent shootup/massacre in Isreal. Western populations understandably celebrate when victorious over our enemies, but when was the last time we saw in the west populations celebrating atrocities and disasters visited on our enemies?

I’m not a practicing Christian, but I firmly believe the Christian foundations of western culture still makes the US the example everyone else looks too. Time and again, we have practiced the idea of loving your enemy. In fact, one could say that it’s far better for a country to lose to the US (Japan, Germany, South Korea, Philippines, and hopefully Iraq and Afghanistan) than it is to win (North Korea, Vietnam).

Is there any doubt about the kind of world we’d live in if Iran and their Al Queda allies of convenience win?

That’s okay, we just need to sit down face-to-face with Ahmandinejad and we can work out these misunderstandings between us.

Iran wants to dominate the Gulf, drive the US out of the area, and be the predominate Islamic power in the region.

We’ll just have to talk them out of these goals.

Oy.

SteveMG on March 9, 2008 at 12:44 PM

Oh no, SteveMG, we just have to accede to their goals. That will increase America’s reputation in the world, just as a President Obamassiah wants.

“….so it’s time to speak up Europe. It’s time to stop whining an bellyaching about the Americans for five minutes and show a little backbone for once… just once! Or, do we want to spend the rest of our lives, cowering like frightened mice from a handful of violent bigots who think they have a right to poke a finger into ~out~ chest and tell ~us~ how we’re allowed to live; what we can and can’t do, say, and think?”

You are correct. If Tel Aviv were to disappear beneath a mushroom cloud those on “that” side of the line will claim Israel deserved it. When an American city suffers the same fate these proponents of change will rationalize the murder of thousands by saying Bush’s policies created the situation. Those on “that” side of the line continue to blindly ignore history and hope that disingenuous rhetoric is enough to change America. If “that” side of the line is successful, I hope it will be a change we can survive.

Iran wants to dominate the Gulf, drive the US out of the area, and be the predominate Islamic power in the region.

We’ll just have to talk them out of these goals.

Oy.

Isreal should just do to Gaza what Iran wishes it could do to Isreal–drive them into the sea. If a country faces an existential threat, and the populace is strongly in favor of wiping your country off the face of the planet, then It would seem the population is a fair target. It was good enough for the Allies during WWII to bomb populations in Germany and Japan.

I know this runs contrary to modern “ethics of war”, if such a thing could possibly exist. But a resounding defeat for the Islamic extremists could set Iran and the jihadists back significantly.

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/gops_king_obama_win_would_caus.html#more

Defector01 on March 9, 2008 at 12:08 PM

I think you’re right. Lines have been drawn; you’re either on the good side, or the bad. Everyone who supports the terrorists/Iran/islamofascists will be willing to look the other way.

What amazes me is that this is only just now coming to light: Hamas wages Iran’s proxy war on Israel – Hamas leader admits hundreds of his fighters have travelled to Tehran. Perhaps it is more appropriate to say that I’m surprised that it’s taken th…