[stjohnychan]

Felix-
I've kindof even lost the thread of what you're advocating re: Iran. We are supposed to kill them w/ one mighty pounce, most likely nuclear? But what for, exactly?

This preemptive stuff is like when you're playing cards w/ a nutto so you decide to be a nutto too. And then you end up in a hand where you both have squat but you both five bet-bluff at it becuase each knows the other is nut... and most likely some third player ends up catching you both off guard and gettin all chips from both of you...

I just don't get the point. It's some dick measuring contest or something- relies almost entirely on the premise that "they're evil." Well maybe they are but more likely they're just different. And who's on the evil list these days anyways? Iraq was, Iran is, you also have mentioned Egypt, Saudi Arabia, probably Syria, you'd have to include Sudan... but why stop at just Islamic coutries? Throw in N. Korea, China, possibly Russia, why the hell not- "they're evil!" Are we supposed to fight every evil country? Or just the worst ones? And all at once or can we pick? And if we're picking why didn't we pick the most dangerous one? (N.Korea both before Iraq and currently) Or the most ready for democracy? (Iran before Iraq, but now noone really) Or the easiest? (Sudan- [censored], we could conquer the largest country in africa w/ a couple of helicopters and a jeep, stopping a genocide instead of avenging a couple of thousand deaths a decade old). Anyways attacking Iraq was stupid and attacking Iran would be worse.

For generations, Western foreign policy was defensive-- just fighting off whatever threat was coming at us, while relying on the strength of our ideas to win all the best immigrants in the short term and nations in the long term to our side... and it worked- democracy slowly and consistently expanded.

... Then came the neo-cons and their ridiculous reverse-domino theory. Didn't they learn anything from the cold-war? Nations aren't dominos, one doesn't become something just because the one next to it did- whether that something is democratic or communist. But anyways now we use trumped up excuses to invade countries, and clumsily.

Anyways I'm rambling now but your ideas are just so ill-formed and well, dangerous that they really bother me.