This thread has already
been Godwined.
Godwin only applies when it is an inapt comparison. Here we have a national leader who has promised to exterminate the Jews, and is proceeding at maximum speed to develop the materiel with which to carry out that promise.
No, that is not true.
1. Ahmadinejad has never promised to exterminate all the Jews, he is at worst an enemy of Israel. There are Jews in Iran, and even in the Iranian parliament.
2. Israel possesses military superiority over Iran in any aspect, superiority so decisive that it simply
does not require American help to deal with Iran. Israeli leadership, however,
benefits vastly politically in both playing up the Iranian threat, and trying to make sure it's America that does the actual shooting.
3. Ahmadinejad is not calling the shots in Iran WRT the developement of nuclear weapons.
4. You may have noticed that I do not in any way suggest the Iranians are nice people. The Iranians, in my view, sponsor Islamic terrorism in the Middle-East for their profit (namely, high oil prices and political gain). They benefit hugely from there being instability and fear in the region - not just because it jacks up oil prices, but because it benefits them politically - but they do not benefit from war, because they'd be squashed like a bug. Their game is to rock the boat just enough, but never actually provoke anybody big. If they are seeking a nuke it's to give themselves more latitude in the boat-rocking, not to blow people up.
Arming Hezbollah? Yes.
Arming the insurgency in Iraq? Yes.
Attacking Israel or America with nukes? No.
Ahmadinejad may or may not be crazy, but the people who are behind him are most definitely not. They're shrewd politicians, and they don't want to die. They also know enough Islamic doctrine to know that they do not need to die in battle to gain the proverbial virgins (the Hadith is crystal-clear on this).
Let me say it again:
In any serious armed confrontation between Iran and any Westernized country, Iran would get it's a$$ sliced, diced, and handed back to it on a plate. America, Israel, and Saudi Arabia each could beat Iran in air, on the ground, and on the sea. Even Iraq pre-Invasion beat Iran. There's no contest.What does this mean?
1.It means that diplomacy with Iran is possible, just like diplomacy with the USSR was possible (Reagan did it). America and the West are in a position of strength, and can afford diplomacy.
2.We on this forum are almost all conservatives (I use the term broadly, and include libertarian minarchism and libertarian anarcho-capitalism as conservative ideas). In the past, when the Soviets were around, many conservatives believed that the Soviet threat was a good enough justification to tolerate Big Government, and that dealing with foreign affairs was Priority One of our movement. However, my point is merely that Iran is NOT a threat of the magnitude of the Soviets. EVEN IF these people were once right, they are no longer so.
In my view, our objectives should be Change and Hope. Namely conservative change (eliminating spending, regulations, taxes, and gun control) and right-wing hope (that we can roll back the Welfare State and achieve Liberty in Our Lifetime).
I refuse to curl up like a little mewling puppy and let the fear of 'terrorism' and 'the Islamic threat' to distract me from my main objective, which is freedom.