I realize people will be quick bring up Iraq. But there is a religious zeal present in Iran's top leadership that wasn't present in the Hussein regime. And that could make them using a nuclear weapon more possible. Nobody is saying we need to race to war. But don't be surprised if it ultimately comes to that after all other options have been exhausted. And war weariness isn't an excuse to be in denial about the danger Iran poses.
I seem to remember that some of the people who were howling for war with Iraq making insinuations that Hussein was linked to Al-Qaeda and this was why we had to move NOW. Now the very same people are running the very same production about Iran. Again people should remember what happened, not just with Iraq but with Iran. Iran has the form of government it has now in large part because the US and the UK thought it was a good idea to force a coup in 1953. Blowback can have unforeseen consequences. War is such an evil thing that the only moral reason for it is self-defense. This is clearly not the case with the increasing war talk around Iran.
And the US and Israel (and others) are already conducting campaigns
of murder and disruption inside Iran as this former CIA officer explains. Pakistan has nukes and their leadership and large parts of the population have more religious intensity (insanity) than Iran. They've fought three wars with India (another country with many religious nutters) and had countless military exchanges. Large swaths of their territory are currently being bombed by the US. And yet they've refrained from nuclear weapons use.
If we still have a Constitution, war can only be declared by Congress and can not be used against a country that has not attacked us. We haven't even discussed the cost in terms of blood and gold.
Also, it should be pointed out that the U.S. aids Israel because it wants to. Not so much because Israel needs it. And that's due to the religious, sociological, and political similarities between the two nations. I realize this burns the ass of all the leftists with the heat of a thousands suns but oh well. You know, the ones who always bring up our aid to Israel but never mention the billions we give in aid to the Palestinians as well.
This is a separate issue (the Palestinians) but it's not the Palestinians who are building settlements and kicking out the Israelis. But Israel can take care of itself. If it feels threatened by an Iranian nuclear program it can certainly disobey US directives and start a war on its own. That would be, as some Israeli commentators have said, an incredibly stupid idea but whatever.
