Am I anti American andunpatriotic for thinking this way?

[napi21]

I don't want ANYONE to have nuclear bombs, but that's just not the way it is,soooo

if the USA hasnukes and they've already named your country as an axis of evil...and attacked one of those already,

and...

Your neighbors Israel and Packistan & India already have nukes, and they're sure not your friends

Wouldn't it be protecting your Country's interests and survival to get your own nukes?

Understand, I think the best solution to the nuke problem is to have every Country agree to dispose of all nukes...for the salvation of the earth! But that doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon.

Am I unamerican because I can understand why Iran wants to have a nuke?

[Colobo]

1. Not really, because

Having an opinion should not be considered unamerican.

[Erika]

2. W restarted the Cold War

for those of us old enough to remember the last cold war.

[Dhalgren]

3. Let's just take it a step closer.

Dozens of countries have and operate breeder-reactors. They do this for energy/industrial purposes. Why is it that Iran should not be allowed to have one? Iran has signed the NPT, they have large uranium deposits in their country, they have stated categorically that they will not make weapons, they are a democracy (not a "Western" one, but one nonetheless), and they have never attacked any other country in modern times. But they can't have a breeder-reactor because...

[napi21]

4. I guess youphrased it better than I did, but I am having a real problem understanding

why WE feelwe can tell everyone else what they can and can't do, but god forbid anyone disagrees with us!

I'm not against American independance and safety, but I also thinkwe should be fair, and it's sure not looking like we are.

[Prophet 451]

9. Because

...the USA has, for about thirty years now, felt itself perfectly entitled to tell the entire world what to do without ever listening to what the world is saying in return.

[Blashyrkh]

5. it damages the reasons W needs to bomb the shit out of them.

[gravity]

14. I understand your point

but I highly doubt the intentions of the leader of Iran, Ahmadinejad. I don't trust the intentions of Bush either.

I believe there should be a compromise like what Clinton did with N Korea. Help them with their nuclear program, but have measures to ensure that they don't build a nuclear bomb.

[Tigress DEM]

6. Only with the "shut up N sing" crowd.

If you're with the I'm Taking My Country Back or Dear Mr President minded folk, it's easy to get how you understand even if you have a different personal opinion. It's called being mature and looking for common ground. It's the fork in the road that leads to diplomacy vs war.

So if someone calls you unpatriotic for having an educated opinion, say, "Were you the guy the Dixie Chicks wrote that song about? You, know, I'm Not Ready to Make Nice? Cause I'm REALLY beginning to 'get' that song here and now in a way I never have before."


And if they are still flapping their pie hole after that, here's a few more zingers I made up special just for you to zap the "shut up N sing" crowd.


:kick:

"Yauuup, you might be a neo-con if..."

..."You prefer pre-digested opinion with talking points chunks floating in it to them hard to swallow facts that look like *ushit, smell like *ushit but just COULDN'T HAVE COME from such a COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATIVE agenda."

..."You walk into a room and people stop talking cause they know you get your news on FAUX and wouldn't understand the conversation anyway."

..."Even Republicans and church ladies tell you to take your head out of *ush's *ss & breath on your own for awhile."

[gravity]

7. TRAITOR!!!!!!!!!!

:sarcasm:

The only thing that is unAmerican is calling someone unAmerican for having a free thought.

I think your idea about every country having a nuke is crazy though, but I understand too why Iran wants one. I think Bush is the #1 motivation to attain one.

[whoneedstickets]

8. No, you're not unpatriotic, you're a Realist...

Of course, by the same power logic, you should also understand why the US wants desperately to prevent Iran from getting the bomb. The entire shape of the Middle East power structure is impacted if there is a counter to Israel's nuclear arsenal. Iran becomes impervious to regime change by the US (holding Tel-Aviv hostage) and has free reign to foment Shiite fundamentalism through Hezbollah in Syria, Lebanon, perhaps even Jordan. Iran's power over the Persian Gulf (which was always strategically great because of Hormuz) becomes unquestionable.

Problem is, there's nothing anyone can do to stop it. An Iranian bomb is virtually inevitable. We need to start planning for that future and act accordingly.

[Erika]

10. Just a tidbit - Saddam was a Sunni and we axed him

As are the Saudis.

[kenny blankenship]

16. yes--that was stupid of us. Most stupid.

But our short run thinking said, isn't it fun to kick Saddam around? Too fun to stop. Clinton did it too. After a while we had progressed from kicking Saddam around to thinking, hey we control 2/3 of Iraq's airspace daily, and can overfly Baghdad at will, let's get Saddam out of the way completely! Then we can do whatever we want. Classic short run thinking: if we control things directly, they'll naturally work out in our favor. We get the oil and the M.E. becomes our plaything.

Bush, the frog exploder, thought dropping bombs on people made you have magical powers. You can transform alien peoples, he thought, and create a bourgeois republic where only sectarian minority dictatorships like Saddam's, or sectarian Islamic republics can naturally grow. He was wrong: bombs don't have that kind of power.
So stupid. Only in America, one is tempted to say.

[whoneedstickets]

17. Yeah, I know that...

...there are Sunni Fundies (the Wahabbis) and there are Shiia fundies (the followers of the Ayatollahs). While the Sunni ones spawned Al Qaida, the bigger issue in the 'fertile crescent' from southern Iraq to the Levant, is the growth of Shiia-backed Hezbollah as a political movement and ideology. A bit like the struggle between Catholics and Protestants in Europe, the Middle East is embroiled in an internecine struggle between the two main branches of Islam. Each is trying to one up the other as the true anti-US/Israel 'army'.

Saddam's Sunni Bathists were long a bulwark against the Shiia. His military suppressed the southern provinces and cut Iran off from influence in the Western Middle East. With Saddam gone, the power vacuum has been filled by Iran and its minions. Hezbollah's resistance to Israel scored major points for the Shiia with the radical portion of the Arab population and it is a fast growing power despite the non-Arab source of Shiia influence (Iran isn't ethnically Arab)

Al Qaida scored points with 9/11 but they have faded because unlike Hezbollah, which provides community and social services along with anti-US/Israeli violence, Al Qaida is primarly only active in Iraq and Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan now. Plus Al Qaida lacks the overt support of its home countries on the Arabian Peninsula.

[Cobalt-60]

11. If i were Iran, I'd want Nukes too

Check out their location!
Turkmenistan(old Russian Nukes?) on one side, Pakistan (nuclear) on another ,
The United States (nuclear) colony of Iraq on another, Israel (nuclear)
in range and liable to attack at any moment, and savage Turkey (doesn't need nukes)
on yet another I'd want some too.

[Erika]

12. Yep, the Cold War again. W went for war rather than peace

We need a true Statesperson in the WH again.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. The line of thinking is that Iran is evil, therefore should not have nukes

Thugs figure it's like handing guns to bad guys. Unfortunately, that's also their rationale for the US having nukes.

I'm beginning to think the only way to resolve the nukes problem is to equip every country with the means to deflect missiles. If everybody can defend themselves, it would render the bombs useless.

[napi21]

15. I agree,unless some radical idiot enters the picture and actually

uses one! Unfortunately, I'm scared to death that idiot just might me OUR IDIOT!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

18. Of all the nuke-controlling nutcases in the world right now,

I'm afraid you may be right. :(