What I think he is saying is, which isnt so much a broad generalization is that most terrorist activity is located in this one region and almost by one group of people. The islamic religion in itself has been skew'd and bent to benefit and justify what one group of muslim extremist constitute as just in the name of Islam.
What Surfguy says about Pakistan being involved in, "the nuclear technology black market by Khan (father of the atomic bomb) in Pakistan," according to numerous reports is true, and if anyone truly thinks the "Khan Network" operated without the knowledge of the Pakistani government, I have a bridge I'll sell them... how about the one over Lake Austin? Pretty nice bridge, if you ask me. I'll take a measly $1,000,000 for it. Any takers? Seriously, this is a huge problem, and has the potential for very, very serious repercussions. This isn't like the situation when Israel struck the Iraqi nuclear complex. Jordan was helpless to prevent it, if they even knew it was going to happen. In this scenario, Israel would have to cross Iraq, under US control, and no one would believe that we were surprised about it, or couldn't have prevented it. In other words, there would be no "plausible deniability." Everyone would know that we assisted Israel in it's act of war, which is what it would be. Iran has far better missiles, and the attendant technology needed to use them effectively, than Iraq had with it's Scuds. I have no doubt that Iran would use what they had in retaliation. All those missiles couldn't be taken out as part of the strike... far from it, IMO. It would require a massive air and special forces assault by Israel, not only on the nuclear facilities, assuming they are all known, but on the missiles and any aircraft that could strike back. The US would shoot down any Iranian aircraft crossing Iraqi airspace, or attempting to cross Saudi airspace. Turkey would also not allow Iran to use it's airspace. And I question Israel's capability to take out the missiles, aircraft and the nuclear facilities in a "surprise attack. " On top of all that, there is a very real possibility (lots of possibilities here!) of nuclear fallout affecting the region. In short, if Israel does this, we will be involved up to our neck, and the world will know it, regardless of what the Administration might say. And what would be the reaction be if the US openly helps Israel attack Iran? I know some will say, "I don't care what the rest of the world thinks." And frankly, I don't want Iran to obtain nukes myself. If they are going to be taken out, it would be better to do it ourselves and leave Israel out of it, IMO. And that's a heavy burden for us to bear, considering the burdens we bear already. This is a damned, devilishly difficult situation. Our being in Iraq doesn't help a bit. That's my opinion as well. I don't envy those making these decisions. The possibility of whatever we, or Israel, end up doing turning into a god-awful dangerous mess is all too real. Keep D&D Civil!!
Your interpretation of what I was saying is incorrect. My concerns are more oriented around the people running these countries not securing the technology properly, as cited in the Pakistan example, and some kind of black market evolving or worse. Also, you cannot tell me there are not Islamic extremists spread across that region up to no good who may be seeking anything they can get their hands on. I'm not talking about your friends, the general law abiding, peaceful Muslims, or characterizing Islam. I'm questioning these countries' governments ability to do the right thing and secure this stuff....Iran especially as, at least in rhetoric, they are a declared enemy #1 and, as is obvious, Israel and the US do not trust them to do the right thing. They have already participated in the Khan network with other countries buying materials on the underground.
Deckard i understand your point...and you do have a point from the way you see things... this is what i know: okay i have a source take it as you will... Pakistan DID NOT DEVELOP the bomb on their own...they got bits and pieces from different countries(INFO)... Germany was a big player in this from what i was told....my source is basically some chemical engineer son who's father worked on the project in Pakistan and was there ON SITE when they tested it.. so my point is that MAN they got this information from different countries...who gave this information away for definetly something in retern.. this in itself is a HUGE probelm...where is the control for this??...okay there probably some agency that tries to prevent this...but it happened.... i ALREADY think it is out of control...this is THE bigger unidentified problem... we just hear about the outskirts of information...never the details... who to go after??.. i agree what KHAN was doing was wrong...trying to pass the information on...though is'nt that how he got it in the first place?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
heheheheh Thats your inside information. I do agree wiht you that there something bigger that is obviously the problem. Though it is funny how people don't want muslim countries to have the Bomb. Funny shtufff. Like they area bunch of Bin Laden's sitting as leaders thats so funny. so unfamiliar to the situation they are. sorry too hyped up about SWIII.
Agreed. I do not understand why so many country's still support Israel after everything they did. They can terrorise the middel east because they know other country's will support them. Let them clean up their own mess.
That's not what was said and it's sad you interpreted it that way. Aight...this has been fun, folks. You've reassured the West that they can trust closed off, non-democratic, non-transparent, self-appointed Muslim governments like Iran to be responsible nuke owners. While Pakistan definitely received help in their nuke program, the fact is Khan wasn't discriminating in who he sold nuke technology to in his black market. He was out to make money. In fact, there were reports of meetings between high level personnel involved in Pakistan's nuclear program and Al Qaeda members before Khan's network was discovered. Who knows what might have been transferred to Al Qaeda in Afghanistan had 9/11 not happened and we had to get directly involved over there? We should all just sit back, let whomever wants to build nukes actually build them(Muslim or non-Muslim), and see how it all plays out. Everybody has them, noone is using them, noone is dealing nuke technology in the black market, and no terrorists are getting their hands on anything because...all is well, everyone is responsible, and everything is secure. Is that how it is supposed to go...on a leap of faith? As Pakistan has proven, security is a huge issue once a country acquires nukes and the processes to build them. This has even been proven in the US in that you need extensive security of sensitive nuclear data and aggressive evaluation of personnel involved in these programs so they don't go off and do what Khan did. I would feel better if Iran, in particular, was not just doing the absolute minimum to guarantee the world about their programs but were more transparent and forthcoming about it if they actually are not going to covertly build nukes. So far, they have only been defiant at best and forthcoming only after they have been busted hiding stuff. They are hardly transparent about what their doing at this point. As far as Israel, I don't think they were right in building nukes, either. They were under no threat of nuke attack or annihilation as they already have military hardware and support from the West. I guess we can blame France on that one.
I can see what everyone here is saying and I can agree with everyone to an extent. Khan was obviously wrong for what he did and although Pakistan denies it, I'm sure they were in the know and they got compensated financially. I think we can all agree that Israel attacking Iran would be the wrong thing to do and it will put us in a deep pile of you know what. A lot of the people in the Middle East view Israel and U.S. as being one and the same, and to be honest, with respect to Mideast policy, their assumption is not entirely incorrect. If Israel does this, we will feel the repercussions both in terms of patchwork that we will have to do and retribution that will be aimed towards us. A messy situation!
