Bush insists Iran biggest terror sponsor

[HOMELESS CAMEL]

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - President Bush gently nudged authoritarian Arab allies Sunday to satisfy frustrated desires for democracy in the Mideast and saved his harshest criticism for Iran, branding it "the world's leading state-sponsor of terror."

 

Speaking in this Persian Gulf country, about 150 miles from the shores of Iran, Bush said Tehran threatens nations everywhere and that the United States was "rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it is too late."

 

The warning about Iran was much tougher than Bush's admonition about spreading democracy in the Middle East, which had been billed as the central theme of his speech.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080113/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_mideast

[Italian Stallion]

Don't know if I can disagree with him...

[MoreheadEagle]

Little Georgy and Dick want one more war before they leave office.

[HOMELESS CAMEL]

Little Georgy and Dick want one more war before they leave office.

 

That's what scares the crap out of me. They may have already "invented" the supposed Iran boats that were too close to the Naval ships and now this. It's going to be a very, very long year before we get this lunatic out of office.

[HHSDad]

I believe that Little Georgie is correct this time. Iran is sending a lot of advanced weapons into Iraq, especially explosives to be used against our troops.

 

And how do you figure that the Iranian speedboat incident was "invented"? If that was the case, we'd have blown them out of the water in order to get this war started.

[MoreheadEagle]

Iran is a huge sponsor of terror and so is Saudi Arabia. The evidence that the Iranian government is sponsoring insurgents is not 100% clear. We've heard this story before and I hope the American people don't buy it like they did before Iraq.

 

Attacking Iran would be a HUGE mistake.

[AcesFull]

It never ceases to amaze me the extent to which some people will go to demonize their own elected representatives while attributing the most pure intentions to real tyrants. Israel is not the only country in the Middle East that believes Iran is a serious threat and President Bush is not looking to start a war with Iran.

 

Those of you who are so quick to believe the worst in George W. Bush, answer this question please. What should our navy do if Iran sends speeding gunboats toward one of our ships in the international waters of the Straits of Hormuz? Should our navy wait until after another USS Cole type attack before responding?

[MoreheadEagle]

Of course our Navy has the right to defend itself if they were fired upon or were really threatened.

However, the Navy is backing down on their story that these boats posed a threat and we've heard Bush, Cheney and the Neo-Cons all saber-rattling for two years now and given their history, I wouldn't put it past them to star bombing.

[HHSDad]

Attacking Iran would be a HUGE mistake.

With that I agree, just as the attack on Iraq was a big mistake.

[AcesFull]

Of course our Navy has the right to defend itself if they were fired upon or were really threatened.

However, the Navy is backing down on their story that these boats posed a threat and we've heard Bush, Cheney and the Neo-Cons all saber-rattling for two years now and given their history, I wouldn't put it past them to star bombing.

Please provide a link to back up your claim that the US Navy is "backing down on their story that these boats posed a threat." I must have missed that news.

[MoreheadEagle]

ask and ye shall receive

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/11/AR2008011103730.html

[AcesFull]

ask and ye shall receive

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/11/AR2008011103730.html

I read the article. I did not read any statement by the US Navy "backing off" earlier reports that the Iranian speedboats were behaving in a threatening manner.

 

The fact that the objects that the Iranians threw into the water turned out to be harmless does not change the fact that they constituted a potential threat. The next wave of speedboats could be carrying mines.

 

The Iranians would love to have our navy destroy a few speedboats as Democrats are undermining the Bush administration's efforts to pressure Iran. If anybody is staging a confrontation between our navies, it is the Iranians. With things going better in Iraq, Republicans have nothing to gain by starting a war with Iran.

[MoreheadEagle]

I was wondering when the good ol' "Dems hate America and are working with our enemies" argument was going to be brought out. No Democrats are undermining the efforts to pressure Iran when it comes to preventing them from obtaining a nuke. The difference is in how to pressure. Use bombs (as Bush and Co. want to do) or use diplomacy (as the rest of the world wants).

It's not in the Iranians interest to provoke US military action. We could cripple their military, with some losses on our side. The war in Iraq has made any situation in the Middle East 100 times worse.

[AcesFull]

I was wondering when the good ol' "Dems hate America and are working with our enemies" argument was going to be brought out. No Democrats are undermining the efforts to pressure Iran when it comes to preventing them from obtaining a nuke. The difference is in how to pressure. Use bombs (as Bush and Co. want to do) or use diplomacy (as the rest of the world wants).

It's not in the Iranians interest to provoke US military action. We could cripple their military, with some losses on our side. The war in Iraq has made any situation in the Middle East 100 times worse.

In the real world, diplomacy does not work without the threat of force, whether that threat of force is military or economic in nature. Democrats who believe that we can unilaterally throw down our stick, speak softly to regimes like those that control countries like North Korea and Iran and magically win concessions simply do not understand the art of negotiation.

 

Feeding your enemies a steady diet of free carrots just makes them hungry for the main course. Carrots must be earned to be appreciated.

 

It would be in Iran's interest to provoke our navy into attacking its smaller boats. The attack would constitute an international incident and would not likely lead to full scale war. George Soros and his nutty followers would immediately accuse the Bush administration of trying to start another war and the Arab world would publicly rally to Iran's defense.

 

Taking the threat of force off the table makes war with Iran more likely, not less.

[John Anthony]

Oil up 3 dollars with this comment.