So what if the guy (Iranian prez elect) IS the hostage taker?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

Does this give us some kind of right to attack them?

I think not.

BTW my basic assumption is that it's NOT the guy, but what does it change if it is?

[atreides1]

1. Exactly

Who here can say that they didn't some crazy things when they were young?

[m0nkeyneck]

8. lots of kids experiment with hostage taking ;-)

[AtTheEndOfTheDay]

2. Iran, watch out, we're gonna get you.

Just as good a reason as Bush had for anything else. In fact his favorite reason. Revenge.

[Beaverhausen]

3. Look at all the people who keep parrotting the "Saddamm gassed his people"

They will use this info in the same way to justify what they are about to do.

[acmejack]

4. No, it doesn't

Going into Iran would be an even worse decision than invading Iraq. It doesn't matter if he was in a position ot deal with Reagan and his merry band or not.

[NorCalDem]

9. Agreed

Iran would crush us. We would have ZERO, count it, ZERO chance of winning that war without it escalating into WWIV

[htuttle]

5. Wonder if they still have that Bible that Reagan sent them?

They probably ate the cake long ago, though.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Raksha]

7. I don't care one way or the other.

And that's what I'm going to tell EVERY freeper who gets in my face and tries to pull the patented phony outrage routine. I DON'T CARE! If it is the same guy, why are we just now hearing about it? This is just another diversion tactic and that's what I'm going to tell them.

[Yellow_Dog]

10. our presidents past

doesn't speak too well for him either;
drinking
drunk driving
drugs
draft dodging
political favors to get into his draft dodging NG unit
killed hundreds as Gov of Texas

[bunk]

11. raise your left hand

If you think that Iran has NOT been the largest state sponsor of terrorism over the last 25 years.

[stevietheman]

12. Immaterial...

that's not a justification for the U.S. starting _another_ naked aggression against Iran.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. Compared to the USofA they're base amateurs.

[Malikshah]

18. *raises hand*

and points it at a few other "friendly countries"

[lachattefolle]

14. This kind of stuff doesn't happen in a vaccuum. The college kids

didn't wake up one morning and decide, what the heck, let's overtake the US embassy. They did it because we were supporting the Shah and his minions oppressed the Iranian people at least as much as Saddam Hussein's guys oppressed his people. I think until we understand why many Muslims call us the Great Satan, nothing will improve. You don't have to agree 100% with someone's point of view, but our leaders (I use the term derisively) don't bother usually to do anything but shove our wants and our needs down other countries' throats.

[stevietheman]

15. It's funny...

I don't think I fully comprehended the rationale behind "Great Satan" until this Iraq mess came to the fore. I guess I can thank Bush for this... my education is now complete.

I think that the Muslims who see us as the "Great Satan" are seeing something that many Americans cannot see or are in denial about... 1) that our government preaches "democracy" but delivers to the Muslim world despotism, and 2) our government is potentially run by some kind of "shadow mechanism" that ensures that the military-industrial complex is maintained and "continuous war" is the unstated official policy of the U.S.

Certainly, we Americans should be most alarmed at the possibility of #2, but it's near-impossible to get the proper investigations rolling to unravel all this. (And of course, #1 is alarming enough, as it fuels Muslim hatred and groups like al Qaeda)

[lachattefolle]

17. I get asked all the time why I "bash America". It's not that our

government is necessarily more underhanded and selfish than any other, but for sheer hypocrisy we're hard to beat. And alot of that is the fault of the American public. They wear blinders and refuse to see that they have any share of the blame.

[killbotfactory]

16. I guess we'll think twice before overthrowing democracy's and setting up

dictators to control oil. It sure does cause a lot of unexpected consequences. I'm sure we'll learn from our mistakes.

:sarcasm: