Comments Posted By Rick Moran
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Brad:
Your taking the NoKo line on the fuel oil deliveries is puzzling. Didn't we stop deliveries AFTER they threw out the IAEA inspectors and "restarted" their nuke program?
I use quotes around restarted because most experts say they were cheating all along. And this is why negotiations are not going to work.
You need two people to negotiate in good faith. Both NoKo and Iran see negotiations as a stalling tactic and are not serious about reaching any agreement that would thwart their nuclear ambitions. The NoKo's were processing uranium as early as 1998 according to the IAEA - this is while a couple of their sites were under surveillance.
It doesn't matter what agreement is reached with Iran. If Russia gets to enrich their uranium, all they have to do to complete the process of making bomb grade fissile material is to take U-238 and bombard it with neutrons which transforms it over time into plutonium. This can be done in any nuclear reactor but is best done in heavy water reactors. Iran has two of those and only one would be monitored by IAEA. The other is "military" reactor and would not be under IAEA jurisdiction.
Mr. McNabb:
You are correct in almost everything you said. I read a piece published in the Congressional record that estimated a successful invasion-occupation of Iran would take more than a 700,000 troops - which means we would need NATO and probably Egypt and the Gulf States to come along; admittedly impossible.
As for Iran's neighbors getting the bomb, we could hardly stop them after allowing Tehran to build theirs. Read that SSI study especially Part III that deals with the regional problems of a nuclear Iran.
As for "an act of war"...That may have had meaning in a pre-nuke age but not now - except perhaps to the delicate sensibilities of some of our citizenry.
Doing what needs to be done in spite of a hostile world should be a given. Nothing we can ever do - except give up our soveriegnty - will ever get the world to "like us." We could pull back every US troop to our shores, dismantle our military, kowtow to the UN, kiss Chirac et al's ass, and people would still hate us.That's the price we pay for being the biggest kid on the block. And frankly, since the process of becoming popular again will not only compromise our security but also damage us economically as we allow the rest of the world to trample all over us (moreso than we do now) I frankly could care less that other countries would like to see us subsume our national interest in the name of comity.
We'll let the Democrats handle that when they get back in power.
Comment Posted By Rick Moran On 20.01.2006 @ 15:28
Where have you been since June. HAVE YOU LISTENED TO WHAT THAT LUNATIC IS SAYING?
Russia, China, and every other nation who presently has nukes (NoKo may or may not) is led by rational, sane people.
Someone who threatens not to have nukes to deter BUT TO ATTACK ("wipe Israel off the map") is a danger to human civilization and must be taken down.
There is no argument Iran also is the major funder and supplier of Hizballah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Th Muslim Brotherhood and a half dozen other terrorist groups who want to kill us. The fact that Ahamdinejad has hinted at making those weapons available to those groups puts him BEYOND THE PALE - he is in fact evil. And if you can't recognize that - if you're moral relativism has so blinded you to the threat, then there is nothing anyone can say to convince you it would be madness for the Iranians to have nuclear weapons.
I would say that the odds of them using them without warning within 6 months of getting the bomb are 3-1...at least that's the odds the bookies in England are giving.
Comment Posted By Rick Moran On 20.01.2006 @ 11:41
Brad:
1. By "attack" if you mean bombing, yes; invasion no.
2. Again,if "war" means a sustained bombing campaign the answer is easily yes. If invasion, the answer is not without a lot of help from NATO and probably Egypt.
3. Trying to excuse a nation headed up by someone like Ahmadinejad by trying to justify their building the bomb (and don't deny it, that's what you are saying when you write "compelled to have a Nuke to protect your country") is despicable. WE ARE NOT THE BAD GUYS!
As for China and Russia, China has already said they will invade Taiwan whenever they wish and Russia went into Chechnya without so much as a by your leave.
4. Um...read the damn article again. I think I say three times we need help.
5. President's don't "deserve" anything. To make such an argument is silly. President's exercise power granted them by the Constitution. Some agree that the NSA intercept program falls under that rubric. Others don't. The fact is no one knows a damn thing because details of this top secret program cannot be revealed. I do find it revealing that even the Democratic leadership who have been briefed on this program have not called for its ending.
What does that tellya?
6. I never called you a commie. But anyone who brings Haliburton into any discussion involving Bush, Cheney, or the American government is a conspiracy loon.
Comment Posted By Rick Moran On 20.01.2006 @ 10:27
Brad:
Let me check here...wait a sec...
Yep.
You didn't miss one single loony lefty fantasy about Iraq, Iran, N. Korea, or Bush.
Congratulations...that's a record.
Comment Posted By Rick Moran On 19.01.2006 @ 16:49
Mr. McClelland:
What possible relevance did your comment have to this post?
I don't know what planet you're from, but on this one, if the comment is not germane to the post, it gets deleted.
You've got a blog - post it there.
Comment Posted By Rick Moran On 16.01.2006 @ 22:08
Don't sell yourself so short. They've been known to jump the shark many a time. Remember the Clinton impeachment? They said then that obstruction of justice was probably not an impeachable offense.
Comment Posted By Rick Moran On 7.01.2006 @ 09:42
Actually, the CRS is usually pretty non partisan. The fact is - and this is something I probably should have mentioned as a barometer of bias - it is made up largely of former Congressional staffers who would naturally take a rather dim view of ANY expansion of executive powers.
That said, the report is carefully non-committal about the legality of the program but more certain about the probable stupidity of the Justice Department's AUMF argument for constitutionality. That was a non-starter from the beginning and makes me wonder what was going through the idiot's minds at DOJ when they made it in the first place.
There are probably better arguments under Article II for the program's constitutionality as the Powerline guys point out. I'm pretty sure that will be the tack taken by the Administration during the Congressional hearings on the program later this month.
Comment Posted By Rick Moran On 7.01.2006 @ 09:07
MORE TWISTED INTEL FROM THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION
Cambone has been a thorn in the side of the CIA since before the Iraq war. He headed up a group in the Pentagon that vetted their OWN intel because they didn't trust the CIA to give staright dope on Iraq.
It's not his fault. Rummy never assigned enough assets to vet the info in the first place - apparently until now.
Hayes thinks there might be more bombshells in there - maybe even direct evidence of Saddam cozying up to Bin Laden. We'll see.
Comment Posted By Rick Moran On 6.01.2006 @ 21:31
CRISIS BREWING? OR WINDOW DRESSING?
1. No evidence that Iraqi Shia's wil "align" themselves with Iran. Absolutely none.
2. We shouldn't have gotten rid of Saddam because it empowered Iran? What an idiot.
3. "Nuclear excuse?" No wonder the American people will not trust idiots like you with our national security. Even your heroes the French are extremely worried about that.
4. Your amateurish and fallacious analysis is about what I've come to expect from lefty trolls here. THe idea that Shia nationalists in Iraq would take a chance of coming under the thumb of the mullahs in Iran is just plain batty and only proves you know jack crap about Iraq, Iran, and the Middle East.
Comment Posted By Rick Moran On 4.01.2006 @ 21:18
MORE JAW DROPPING IDIOCY FROM THE TIMES
Kbible wanted to leave a comment here but was prevented from doing so by my anti-spam program. Here it is:
Can I just say, that I wouldn't care if the NSA listened in on every phone call I made for the rest of my life, if I knew that this would help keep terrorists from killing another 3,000 Americans in one morning...
NY Times needs to get a BIG clue. Americans spend a lot of time watching both spy/action films and tv shows like Law & Order. From their Hollywood "education" they see that spying is a necessary thing, and that warrants take precious time. Imagine Q telling James Bond that he can't use his special ear-piece spy device until he files forms in triplicate and waits for a judge to issue a warrant. So James is sitting in a hotel room, while the bad guys plot next door. By the time the warrant has been issued, they've already eaten their continental breakfast and left to blow up some innocent people...
Comment Posted By Rick Moran On 4.01.2006 @ 17:39
