Protests in Iran

[Clux4]

I understand that Iran is not the Soviet Union, or Poland, or New Jersey. Iran is soo complicated. The Soviet Union was said to be, oh soo complicated in it's day. It even spawned a whole area of study in academia, Sovietology. So maybe both Iran and the Soviet Union were complicated, but in different ways. Many of the arguments made in the last week against more forceful support of the reformers was made during the Cold War. Many people did not want President Reagan speaking forcefully about Soviet human rights abuses or supporting refuseniks, often by name. The argument was that antagonizing the Soviets over human rights and Jewish immigration would piss them off and derail talks on nuclear arms reduction, other pending bilateral agreements, and hoped for reform from within. Reagan's critics were wrong. We won on all fronts. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

You forget Iraq! Most of our enemies or potential enemies are complicated. If they were not, they would not be our enemies. It just goes to show that the American people need to understand what they demand when they want speedy presidential action.

 

[wink]

You forget Iraq!

What did I forget about Iraq? That it was a complicated situation? I honestly don't think anyone thought OIF or the aftermath was going to be truly simple. Some mistakes were made for lots of different reasons. Here is what I am remembering about Iraq. That after the defeat of Ba'athist Iraq and the, albeit fragile, blossoming of representative government, Libya dropped aspirations for a nuke program, Syria has toned down their belligerence, and Iran has demonstrators in the streets shouting "death to the dictator".

 

[Clux4]

What did I forget about Iraq? That it was a complicated situation? I honestly don't think anyone thought OIF or the aftermath was going to be truly simple. Some mistakes were made for lots of different reasons. Here is what I am remembering about Iraq. That after the defeat of Ba'athist Iraq and the, albeit fragile, blossoming of representative government, Libya dropped aspirations for a nuke program, Syria has toned down their belligerence, and Iran has demonstrators in the streets shouting "death to the dictator".

I am not arguing with you.