Five guys and their camel is not a "state"
All put together, they don't amount to the population of a section of Tehran.

Posted at December 12, 2007 9:19 PM in response to Thomas Friedman's Flawed Analogy on Iran

500,000 Iraqi children killed as a direct and foreseeable result of US pre-invasion sanctions on Iraq. And that was just the start.

Posted at December 12, 2007 9:17 PM in response to Thomas Friedman's Flawed Analogy on Iran

Actually, come to think of it, Iran suffered about 80,000 casualties as a result of US-approved and backed Iraqi chemcial weapons. That's the about equivalent of 26 times Sept 11s.
And thats not counting the Iraqi Kurds nor the rest of 500,000 Iranian casualties in the war for which Rumsfeld was literally shaking Saddam hands.

Posted at December 12, 2007 9:16 PM in response to Thomas Friedman's Flawed Analogy on Iran

Stop trying oh so hard to attribute views to others that they do no hold.

Posted at December 12, 2007 9:09 PM in response to Thomas Friedman's Flawed Analogy on Iran

If anyone's the "religious psycho with a gun" it is Israel and the Bush administration, both of which are undr the influence of apocalyptic messianism.

Posted at December 12, 2007 9:08 PM in response to Thomas Friedman's Flawed Analogy on Iran

Iran's nuclear program IS legal.

Posted at December 12, 2007 9:06 PM in response to Thomas Friedman's Flawed Analogy on Iran

Iran's nuclear program started in the 1960s with the full support and encouragement of the United States (link) because it makes perfect economic sense and Iran does need nuclear power.(link)

The IAEA has stated repeatedly that it has no evidence of a nuclear weapons program in Iran - not today, not in 2003, not ever.

There's absolutely no reason why anyone should accept the NIE's claim that Iran had a nuclear weapons program in 2003.

Posted at December 12, 2007 9:05 PM in response to Thomas Friedman's Flawed Analogy on Iran

There's no actual evidence that there ever was a nuclear weapons program in Iran - not now, not in 2003, not ever.

There's no more reason to believe this NIE than there was to believe the previous NIE. Who knows what the next NIE will say.

Finding secret nuclear weapons programs is the job of the IAEA, which has stated repeatedly that it has not found any such evidence. If the US has the evidence, let them present it to the IAEA. That's the bottom line.

The NIE is just some more spin by the Bush administration which wants to explain away the absence of evidence (by claiming that the once-existing weapons program was "halted" as a result of US policies) and yet still scaremonger about IRan's alleged "intent" or "capacity" to make nukes.

Posted at December 8, 2007 4:31 PM in response to NeoCons Go Ballistic on Iran NIE

Hiding behind the skirt of "France and Russia" isn't going to hide the FACT that the United States of America was DIRECTLy, KNOWINGLY complicit in Saddam's atrocities, which including providing him with political cover, funding, arms, and the necessary items to make and launch chemical weapons.

Posted at December 8, 2007 4:30 PM in response to NeoCons Go Ballistic on Iran NIE

You can infer that I am uninteresting in debating the FACT that the US backed Saddam Hussein and was DIRECTLY AND KNOWINGLY FULLY COMPLICIT IN HIS CHEMICAL WEAPONS PROGRAM AND US and other atrocitis because there are a bunch of flat-earthers like you who just don't want to face up to the ugly facts and will instead pull this "I know more about it that you do because I'm such an expert and can throw around jargon a lot" as if that makes a tiny diffference.

The US provided Saddam with chemicals that WE KNEW FOR AN ABSOLUTE UNQUESTIONABLE FACT were being used to kill people.

We removed his regime from the State Department list of Terror Nations so as to ease the transfer of "dual use" technology which we knew PERFECTLY WELL was going to be used to murder people.

We sent him helicopters that we KNEW FOR AN ABSOLUTE FACT were being used to kill Kurds.

WE Covered up for his atrocities.

We FUNDED his military.

WE sent bio weapons material to his weapons labs

We provided him with cluster bombs and other munitions.

We provided him with "agricultural guarantees" that we knew were diverted to military use, and we knew that he couldn't pay back (Look up the BNL scandal)

When the Iranian showed that Saddam had used chemical weapons on the Kurds WE TRIED TO SHIFT THE BLAME ONTO THE IRANIANS.

Those are the facts.

FACTS.

Now go on telling me about Schedules I bullshit.
No one is interested.

Posted at December 8, 2007 4:24 PM in response to NeoCons Go Ballistic on Iran NIE