The American Spectator

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Fifteen Rounds of Fun

7.22.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 2 of 4)

Mr. Obama has himself become a pop icon to a group I refer to as Obama Lama Ding Dongs. These are an admixture of children who easily ignore reality because they have no idea what it is; radicals who wish to debase the reality that has been this once great nation; and finally, the far left leadership of the democrat party who daily reframe reality based on their popularity polls.

Sadly, these are the people who now run the country. Happily, they have the attention span of a gnat and so...
-- Jay Molyneaux
North Carolina

I am getting a little tired of hearing about Team Obama. How about "Obama-rama," the European Medicine Show starring Dr. B. Hussein and his star-studded cast of back-up singers Wilson, Couric and Gibson, in perfect harmony! Dr. Obama will be offering free samples of his Elixir of Hope to all and visas to those who might wish to emigrate and vote in our November election. Mercy boocoo.
-- Diane Smith

DELICATE WORK
Re: Jay D. Homnick's Splitting Hairs (and Atoms):

Mr. Homnick makes a good point that changing from a hard-line approach to a softer one rarely produces positive results in these circumstances. But, it may just be a bit premature to criticize the Bush administration for placing an "observer" at the EU-Iran nuclear negotiations as changing our approach.

First of all, it must be acknowledged that nothing, short of armed intervention, is going to slow, let alone stop, Iranian nuclear development. Therefore, any negotiation is doomed to failure. But, that would not stop the Europeans from capitulating to the Iranians, in the current spirit of "ignore it and it will go away." Therefore it may be wise to have our own observer at these talks to remind everyone that the U.S. has not lost interest in this matter. And that there are currently 130,000 U.S. troops just south of Iran.

Secondly, this whole situation is a complicated one. The United States surrendered control of it, to the Europeans, several years ago. The results of that decision are apparent today. Nothing has been accomplished with regard to curtailing Iranian nuclear development. Add to that the reasonable fear and concern of the Israelis and the Gulf States about their futures if Iran nukes become operational and the US is in a serious bind. Israel has stated, and I believe that you can take those statements to the bank, that they will not allow Iran to produce nuclear weapons. They will take unilateral military action against Iranian nuclear sites when they become convinced that a nuclear Iran is inevitable. The only thing that has held Israel back, from this course of action, has been pressure from the U.S. Israel may feel that it is in their best interest to mount a campaign against Iran prior to the swearing in of a new President in January 2009 or even before the 2008 Presidential election to solidify US support for their actions. A U.S. presence at the next round of EU-Iran negotiations may dampen Israel's commitment to immediate military action, while reminding the EU that the U.S. will support Israel should action be taken.

Third, everyone seems to forget the fact that Iran is, technically perhaps but still, at war with the U.S. Iran declared war on the US in 1979 and that declaration has never been rescinded. That the US chooses to ignore this is strange on the face of today's situation, but it nevertheless exists. It is impolitic to have formal relations with a nation with which you are at war. Senator Obama seems to be ignorant of this tenet of international diplomacy. Jimmy Carter attempted to negotiate with Iran and we can see how that turned out. Therefore, having an observer in position to remind the Iranians of the continued commitment of the U.S. in this matter serves a diplomatic function without engaging in negotiations.

Personally, I do not feel that placing a U.S. observer at these talks will have any effect on the current Presidential elections. However, direct military action by Israel will certainly have a major effect on the U.S. electorate. The outcome is simply impossible to predict.
-- Michael Tobias

Keeping nukes out of hostile Iranian hands?

Don't look now, but that train done left the station already. Like in 1979, when Jimmy Carter snapped it off short in the Shah of Iran's back. In fact, the station ain't there no more.

I think ayatollahs plus nukes equals insanely dangerous situation, same as anybody else with an IQ above freezing. That doesn't change the fact, however, that there is very little we can actually do to prevent it.

Bomb their N-weapons program out of existence? Oh, Puh-leeze. Hitler put his war industries underground in about five years. Iran has had thirty year's grace. Even allowing for the legendary corruption, self-delusion and fecklessness of the would-be heirs of Xerxes and Ali, the guts of such nuke program as they actually possess have unquestionably been removed from the reach of air strikes, ours or Israel's. If not, somebody in Qom needs to have his virgins confiscated. And if Iran's "new-kyu-lur" ambitions are actually scotched by one neat surgical strike, I'll undertake to paint my hindquarters blue and walk naked, backwards, down the street in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Praising Jesus the whole way.

To wipe out Iran's nuclear weapons capability, we would need to invade the country, seize the sites, and take them apart. And then pray to God they hadn't had time to rathole the essentials next door (but they've obviously had that time, in spades). Send them to Russia, for instance? Same as Saddam Hussein did, via Syria, with his toxic toys that we never found?

And if, as is surely true, even the most sanguine American patriot regrets the cost of the occupation of Iraq (437,000 square miles, diverse and manipulable Arab population, 28 million), will we be willing to pay the price of physically pacifying Iran (1.7 million square mile; homogenous Persian population -- proud to the point of xenophobia -- 66 million)?

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Business, Islam, Abortion, Law, Founding Fathers, Military, Iraq, Iran, Russia, Israel, NATO, North Korea, Libertarianism, Nuclear Weapons