Comments on: U.S. to Attack Iran This Year?

By: 12th Monkey

12th Monkey — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 17:33:00 +0000

Bush supposedly believes in the Rapture of course. By Randy's logic that means he should be denied nuclear weapons as well. Is Bush's apocalypticism just posturing to pander to the religious right? Maybe, but then the same might well be true of Amadinijad's. The argument about contingency plans is specious. The US may have plans to invade Canada in some dusty drawer but it seems to be *actively* developing these Iranian ones. Finally a general comment. I have to admit that this site suffers a lot from what I see on a lot of these "futurist" or "transumanist" oriented sites. It has attracted the usual contingent of belligerent right wingers and spaced out Heinlein fanboy types. These people do great harm to what really could be a force for progress in the world. Anyone actually interested in saving humankind from existential threats needs to realize that the current American militarism, as exemplified by these insane plans for yet another war, IS one of those threats.

By: randpost

randpost — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 21:47:45 +0000

Yes, more war and killing by the Americans. Sounds good to me..

By: Randy Roach

Randy Roach — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 15:22:34 +0000

It seems to me there is a great deal of difference between planning an attack and intending to attack. I'm certain the military has contingency plans for Iran; they would be remiss in their duties if they didn't. I'm equally certain there are detailed plans to attack North Korea, China, and every other concievable adversary. Gates said "we have no intention of attacking Iran" but that doesn't preclude prudent contingency planning. There are many problems with nuclear proliferation including increased probability that the weapons will fall into terrorist hands; increased chance of accident; increased chance of war by mistake (false alarm, asteroid strike interpreted as attack, etc.); and lack of traditional deterrents. This last problem is the most disturbing. During the Cold War, the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) made the thought of nuclear war unthinkable. However, with nuclear weapons under the control of those who believe the 13th Imam will return as the Mahdi to restore Islam as the dominant faith. The President of Iran is a follower of this belief and he seems bent on hastening the Islamic 'end days', much like his fundamentalist Christian counterparts. Obviously MAD will not deter someone who wants to bring on the Apocalypse. Apparently the mindset is "kill 'em all, let Allah sort 'em out". The concept that kept us relatively safe during the Cold War no longer applies. That's why they must be denied nuclear weapons.