Says the devout Christian with the biblical quote in his signature. And please tell me you just lumped in the Iranian government with the Sunni ISIS fantastics, never mind that the Iranian army is actively fighting ISIS this exact second and has denounced them as fanatic extremists. Let me guess - you don't know any Iranians, have never conversed with one or have ever bothered to learn anything about the country or people nor have you ever tried to learn anything about them that didn't simply reinforce your established view of them, right? Iran isn't perfect (the govt obviosuly) but to continually vilify them when they could EASILY be one of the wests best allies in the region only demonstrates your lack of knowledge.
You have a very naive point of view. Obama's weakness in both Iraq and Syria directly led to ISIS' emergence. You seem to approve of this poor leadership style. Having Iran get the nuclear bomb is the absolute worst possible scenario.
Very simplistic argument to try to defend the Iranian PEOPLE. It's their government that is the problem. Basics, son. Educate yourself.
Question: Would ISIS exist today in Iraq if the Bush administration did not decide to dismantle the Baath party and their military? Second question: Hypothetically, if Bush served a third term, would he have fallen back on the 2008 status of forces agreement to withdraw troops by 2011? Note Texxx that I am not even questioning the initial invasion of Iraq in this instance so don't give me the "but the prominent democrats also voted for the invasion" excuse. I'm questioning the policies and tactics utilized AFTER the invasion.
I might be wrong but are you no longer American? Did you renounce your citizenship and do you no longer live in the United States of America?
I am very proud of my faith Wow, you actually answered this yourself without even realizing it, not that I would expect different from a naive liberal. Iran is Shiite and ISIS is Sunni. They are at odds with each other. Do yourself a favor and do a little bit of research before replying with such a dumb observation as it makes you look really bad. Based on the insane naivety of the post you made, I would say it is obvious you are the one who knows nothing about Iran.
Quick - where did I come out and support obama's foreign policy in regards to Iraq and Syria and in turn ISIS? Oh wait I didn't so go ahead and take away that strawman argument. I think Obama has botched the whole ISIS situation. But that doesn't negate his willingness to talk to Iran as a viable diplomatic approach. For all the vitrol spewed towards Iran - some of it deserved mind you - they are easily one of the most democratic and westernized nations in ME. to call SA and ally that can own a nuclear cache or, even worse, Pakistan which is home to almost as many extremists as any country on earth, yet justify sanctioning Iran bc they frighten Israel doesn't register with me. As a country (not proxy) Iran has been anything but an aggressor. It is a large country with a relatively educated and free people and, as a whole, wants nothing more than to get its economy back on track. To begin another act of aggression against those people who, btw, have every right in the world to distrust the U.S. for meddling in their affairs would do more harm in totally distabalizing that region practically to the point of being irreparable. As I said, you can continue to play along party lines if you wish... I'll continue listening to the family and friends who live there and visit there to know the potential positive role Iran can play.
Were you not asserting that Iran shared the same goal as ISIS in their attempt to establish a "caliphate" and bring about the end of times? I'm well aware of their differences. My point was that your assertion that Iran the nation is somehow similar to ISIS is flat out ignorant. I'll be sure to let my Iranian family know they know not what they speak of when discussing their country and that a random devout Christian American on an Internet message board clearly grasps the complexities of Iranian relations better than they do. Or perhaps that's exactly your problem - your perspective is inherently skewed. But no that can't be it. Btw you can keep calling me liberal or libtard or whatever other left leaning name you want but rest assured I've voted for many republicans. Doubtful you can say the same about a democrat.
Your Iranian family is likely biased. As was correctly noted today, Iran is a country that funds terrorism, hangs gays, persecutes Christians and jails journalists. They openly post on Twitter that they want the destruction of Israel. They're complete trash. Of course there are some good people in the country, but the government is absolute trash.
Your "Iranian" family doesn't call the shots in Iran, the Supreme Leader, who is a radical Shiite does, and he has said many times the goal is to wipe out Israel. I mean nothing personal against your family BTW. What religion are you and your family?
That is a non-sequitur to the notion that Iran would sacrifice their self-preservation and would even contemplate deploying nukes at Israel unprovoked if they eventually successfully weaponize a nuclear device.
Trashier than the governments of SA or Pakistan? Nope. So there hypocrisy right there. And what of the very pro-west but proud Iranian people? What happens when the US, who is largely responsible for setting the stage for Iran's current theocratic regime on top of arming saddams army which was used to kill almost 1M Iranians , is seen acting as an aggressor meddling in their affairs yet again? What then after the U.S. become a rallying cry for the Iranian regime?? What's the plan after that?? At what point does the U.S. stop using preemptive military aggression to distabalize sovereign nations? How many times does the U.S. need to fail in the meddling of others affairs before it realizes some cases may take a more deft approach? It's lunacy.
My point is that Iran's claims of death to Israel and the US are nothing more than propaganda. It's used to present a common enemy to its consitituents in order to maintain power. As fchowd has said time and time again Iran's main goal is self preservation - they can be a large economic power in the region. They also want to exert foreign policy muscle - hence some of the hardline stances. I don't think for one second that even a nuclear armed Iran is any more of a threat than a nuclear armed SA or Pakistan. I was raised catholic btw, mostly agnostic at this point though. The only practicing Muslim in my entire family is my grandmother. Believe it or not most Persians are not very religious.
Threatening Israel is a greater offense than the terrorist acts committed on 9/11? Good to see where your allegiances lie.
Poor logic. Don't confuse governments with people, which you've been doing way too much in this thread.
Question. There is a nation out there that already has nuclear arms and has explicitly threatened other sovereign states, states that are even closer allies to the U.S. economically(South Korea)... Why is your rhetoric less harsh towards this particular state that I am referring to than Iran? And if you want to compare the morality of Iran's regime and Saudi's regime, Saudi wins hands down in implementing harsh theocratic principles towards its citizens. Iran at least lets their women drive and freaking vote(Saudi JUST changed their stance on this).
