The Neocon Threat to American Freedom

Tyrin · Jun 22, 2007

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Jun 22 2007, 02:16 PM) [snapback]466478[/snapback]</div>

Defense Rests again - way too easy.
Stale argument.
Defense keeps resting.
Another LIBERAL judge?
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What I have never seen is dberman actually RESPOND (besides snide comments) to anyone who calls his arguments into question. Now THAT would be refreshing!

burritos · Jun 22, 2007

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DelerPrius @ Jun 22 2007, 02:34 PM) [snapback]466491[/snapback]</div>

What about another viewpoint? Here's a neocon who does NOT advocate military action against Iran. So much for your conspiracy theories.

http://www.nationalreview.com/ijaz/ijaz200601311250.asp

Terrorists Going Nuclear
Tehran’s recent efforts add to their history as terror masters.

...
Regime change is the only solution that will insure the world's safety against clerics who believe their right to have nuclear weapons is an apocalyptic defense for a final confrontation with the West that would guarantee their survival. Until then, and until they have a critical mass of nuclear weapons to carry forth their maniacal plans, they will bide time with a menacingly effective outsourcing strategy to hold their enemies in check — fingerprint-less state-sponsored terror.

The necessity of thwarting the use of untraceable terrorism as an offensive strategy for redressing policy imbalances, not the necessity of repealing Iran's right to civilian nuclear power, is why the world can never allow Tehran to have access to materials that could one day be converted into radiological "dirty" bombs, or shaped into nuclear warheads atop ballistic missiles that could launch electromagnetic pulse attacks.

...
In Iran's case, the international community has not yet mustered the resolve to do what needs to be done — to devise a cogent strategy aimed at removing the mullahs from power. The world community, which has tried every diplomatic option since Iran's clandestine program became apparent in 2002, has suffered the ignominy of not knowing which of the two governments in Tehran, the mullahcracy led by Ayatollah Khamenei or the democracy it coerces, contains and controls, it should deal with. Now that Iran is led by the firebrand Ahmadinejad, democracy has no voice and there is no ambiguity about where the mullahcracy stands — Tehran should be dealt with decisively.

Washington, which never believed in any of the diplomatic options tried by Germany, France, and later Britain, has military options available that will incinerate Iran's nuclear facilities without much collateral damage. But in the process, such a unilateral military step will destroy what is left of America's goodwill and credibility in the world.
What to do?
Sanctions will be tried, but they won't work unless they are global and aimed at what undergirds Tehran's clerics — the currency of oil. To go nuclear, Iran needs a lot of money. With the world's second largest oil reserves and a need to modernize and expand its oil pumping and distribution infrastructure, it also needs a lot of equipment and expertise it does not have at home.

...

The military options are not attractive either, unless Washington and its allies conclude the Iranian state is really about to launch an offensive strike against, say, Israel. Demolishing Iran's nuclear facilities through a preemptive Israeli air strike would do little to stop the program, since Tehran learned from the 1981 air raid which flattened Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor that dispersing key elements of the program, hiding most of them deeply below ground, was one way to make air attacks more difficult. Assassinating Iranian scientists or making attempts to hack into their nuclear computer software infrastructure are not considered debilitating moves that could stop the program's development.

A massive air campaign, which only the U.S. could launch, could require attacking as many as 100 sites, destroying a good part of Iran's air force before attacking its facilities, and causing a lot of collateral damage. Iran's retaliation could be to close the Straits of Hormuz and force a showdown with America's naval forces. Iran would probably manage to get a handful of ballistic missiles in the air. No Gulf country wants a nuclear Iran, but neither do they need another Gulf war.

All of which leaves Washington policymakers to consider a hybrid solution: encouraging an internal uprising against the Iranian theocracy buttressed by the threat of unprecedented use of force with a new class of U.S. weapons that would selectively but completely destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities. Tehran has masterfully conducted a destabilizing guerilla war against U.S. interests in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is time for Washington and its allies to return the favor by enabling an equally capable insurgency force to rise up inside Iran — students, average workers on the street, even sympathetic police forces and army officers — to coalesce into a truly revolutionary force aimed at overthrowing the clerics.

The insurgency force could target Iran's vital infrastructure systems. Shutting down parts of Tehran's electricity grid, or having truckers stall their vehicles en masse on Tehran's streets, or flooding Iran's airwaves with radio messages, or taking over rail lines moving critical supplies to Iran's military and nuclear installations could all play a role in unnerving the clerics while creating the conditions that would bring hundreds of thousands of demonstrators out into the streets of Iran's biggest cities. Ukraine's Orange Revolution of November 2004, or Georgia's Rose Revolution of November 2003, would pale in comparison to what is bubbling up under Iran's theocratic veil.

The ensuing bloodless revolution would give Iran back to its people, free the world of its maddened rulers' nuclear threats, and enable the West to help build Iran's nuclear infrastructure in a verifiable and accountable way, much in the same way that the U.S. has agreed to assist India. Iran would also then be free to pursue what is innately ingrained in the minds of its people — democracy, freedom, and liberty for all.

— Mansoor Ijaz is chairman of Crescent Investment Management

* * *
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Why do I get the feeling that Mansoor Ijaz would make a ton of money in this proposed venture and that if any blood were to be spilled, none of it would be his or his children's?

The Neocon Threat to American Freedom

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The Neocon Threat to American Freedom

Tyrin New Member

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