Rick Santorum: Let's Bomb Iran!

[guywithashovel]

http://news.yahoo.com/santorum-says-...160712330.html

He wants to bomb Iran's nuclear sites if they don't dismantle them and open them up for inspections.

Apparently the wars we've been in over the last decade aren't enough. We need some more.

[HYHYBT]

Because this approach worked SO WELL when Bush used it to get us into Iraq...

[Greenday]

Because this approach worked SO WELL when Bush used it to get us into Iraq...

Except the Iraqi government was total trash who liked to commit small genocides and torture it's people for shits and giggles so it's not like there was only one reason to go in there.

[MadMike]

Except the Iraqi government was total trash who liked to commit small genocides and torture it's people for shits and giggles so it's not like there was only one reason to go in there.

But that wasn't the excuse we were giving for going in there, was it? It was those nonexistent "Weapons of Mass Destruction."

Even if that was the reason, it's not like that was the only country that commits these atrocities. So are we supposed to go to war with all of them? When did it become our job to police the entire world?

[Greenday]

Even if that was the reason, it's not like that was the only country that commits these atrocities. So are we supposed to go to war with all of them? When did it become our job to police the entire world?

You're right, we should definitely sit back, watch it continue to happen, and pretend like someone else gives a big enough shit to do something about it.

Oh wait...

[protege]

When did it become our job to police the entire world?

We get sucked into conflicts, because certain people in our government think that it's in our best interest. I'm all for bringing our troops home, and not getting involved in other countries' problems. With that said, I do find it interesting that people flip their shit about our troops being in Iraq and Afghanistan...yet we've had bases in Europe since 1945, and nobody's said a thing about that

[MadMike]

You're right, we should definitely sit back, watch it continue to happen, and pretend like someone else gives a big enough shit to do something about it.

So why do we step in sometimes, and just sit back and let it happen other times?

[AdminAssistant]

yet we've had bases in Europe since 1945, and nobody's said a thing about that

Don't forget the bases in Japan, that the Japanese people/government don't want anymore. I believe we also help monitor the DMZ area of South Korea. Having bases/hospitals strategically positioned around the world does make a certain amount of sense. I know soldiers seriously wounded in the Middle East get flown to Germany to recuperate...makes sense.

Iran really isn't the boogeyman we think it is. President Imadinnerjacket has, essentially, no power. The country is run by clerics. Yet, it still scores higher on the civil rights scale than, say, Saudi Arabia. I know a few girls from Tehran. They're fairly liberal-minded smokers and very well educated. I've also met girls from Saudi Arabia....who are covered head to toe, never speak, and don't go out without their husband/boyfriend in tow. (Although, if you want to break all Muslim women stereotypes, hang out with a girl from Dubai. Crazy.)

Trust me, I wish Iran didn't have nuclear weapons and it would be nice if they'd patch things up with Israel. I also wish North Korea didn't have nukes and would stop starving its people. I wish the US would grow a spine in regards to its relationship with Pakistan. I wish a lot of things.

[Greenday]

(Although, if you want to break all Muslim women stereotypes, hang out with a girl from Dubai. Crazy.)

Confirmed. I've made a pit stop in Dubai a few times and it's always an adventure there. The women there are definitely not stereotypical Middle Eastern women.

[AdminAssistant]

The girl I met was nuts. She was on her...3rd degree and 6th college, I think, all on Daddy's dime and all to keep those student visas extended. Don't get me wrong, she was very bright, sharp, all of those things. Doctoral student in Political Science, which is no joke. But...really, really, really fucking rich.

[SkullKing]

You're right, we should definitely sit back, watch it continue to happen, and pretend like someone else gives a big enough shit to do something about it.

This isn´t about giving a shit(nor was Iraq) it is about having a convenient excuse for your agenda.

War is a racket

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Is_a_Racket

[Skunkle]

I think it's clear re: the past. Something did need to be done about the corrupt, insane government in Iraq. But I don't think it was necessarily necessary that WE, America, HAD to do it. We're really not necessarily the world's official police. We went into Iraq because they "had WMDs" which we were pretty sure they did not have. Any remnants they might have had were leftovers from the stuff they used on the Kurds... which WE gave them.

Per that incident, I asked a very firmly far-right guy I know about why we gave Saddam Hussein WMDs...and then slammed him for supposedly having them. His response: "We gave him weapons because he was our ally. As soon as he wasn't, we bombed him. That's the way it should work."

[Hyena Dandy]

So why do we step in sometimes, and just sit back and let it happen other times?

In short, yes.

We should do it when it's practical. We should avoid it when it's not.

For a war to be just, it should have three things.

1) A legitimate authority must declare it
2) It has to have a legitimate grievance
3) It has to have a reasonable expectation of success.

We shouldn't declare a war we have no possibility of winning. We can't go into China right now, or North Korea. We don't have a reasonable possibility of winning.

However, on the other hand, the Iraq war was declared based on WMDs. It wasn't until AFTER it turned out not to have WMDs that we said we did it because they were genocidal fuckwads.

So, the Iraq war was not a just war, I think. However, I think it ended up more positive than negative, all in all. At least specifically applied to Iraq.

[Greenday]

It wasn't until AFTER it turned out not to have WMDs that we said we did it because they were genocidal fuckwads.

I feel like so many people forget this. I'd be willing to wager that prior to that war, most people would have said they believed Iraq had WMDs.

I don't know if Iran has them yet, but they sure as hell are trying. They'd love to wipe a certain country oh non-Muslim faith off the face of the Earth. And for some reason, I'm not cool with that.

[SkullKing]

I feel like so many people forget this. I'd be willing to wager that prior to that war, most people would have said they believed Iraq had WMDs.

I don´t know how true that would be in the U.S.A

But you would be very hard presses to find someone who believed that was the reason for the war around here.

I do think saddam need to be stoped.

I also think the war happened because of the money it could bring the interested parties.