Fogbuster

Would that it were that simple.

1. You can bet the farm it would NOT be kept secret, not in today's environment where some people are *creating* these kinds of scenarios with their home photo-shop software; the extremists in Iran would make sure EVERY found out about it.

2. It certainly DOES qualify as "military action", albeit a far more concentrated and surgical use of military force to secure an objective. It's still the U.S. using her military forces to kill people of another nation.

3. Finding all the key human "targets" might be harder than you think. (Where's Osamu?? How long to find Saddam??)

4. Hitting *all* the dangerous missile silos and nuclear weaponry material is likewise a needle in a hay stack proposition. (See #3 above.)


No, we need to find a peaceful solution in Iran. I am heartened by the progress we have made in North Korea. I think the way that has progressed over the last year or so could be replicated in Iran, and elsewhere as needed. (Even on this list. Maybe if I took PC and GJA15 out to a boffo evening of fine dining and entertainment -- PC would love if I gave him ten grand in chips down at Foxwoods, for instance... )



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Real World

How about we wrok with the rest of the world to try to prevent a nuclear Iran. If that fails, we let everyone know that we tried the nice route, and it didn't work. In stating so, we also let EVERYONE know that the second a nuke goes off and it's Iranian made, that country becomes glass. It's really that simple. In the mean time, we use extreme prejudice against Iranian factions working against us in Iraq. Taking out another countries leaders is a no-no. Who the fukc do we think we are to do that?

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

gomezcat

It really ISN'T as simple as taking out some facilities and killing a couple of leaders. EVERYONE in the world would know who did it. They wouldn't need technical, legal proof. It would be pretty f***ing obvious. The result would be anti American and Western sentiment, in a country which isn't AS extreme as some might think.
I'd advocate keeping on the political pressure and keeping a close eye on Iran. Bombing anything that MIGHT exist would be counter-productive. Besides, if they DO have nukes, isn't goading them into retaliation the last thing we want to do?

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Fogbuster

That's a good point. Most Iranians are really nice people, certainly no worse than anywhere else, and maybe even a bit nicer (from my experience and travels). So hitting them militarily would only serve to turn this reasonable element, which is the majority, toward the extremists in their own midst, people like this utterly loose cannon, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Very bad move. We can and we MUST avoid making such a colossally stupid mistake. Iraq was bad enough; pre-emptively attacking Iran would kill America, I fear.



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