Nuking Iran

More and more, it's looking like America is readying to strike against Iran. Either that, or the increased rhetoric is the Bush's Administration attempt at cooling Iran, and perhaps bring them to the table for talks aimed at defusing their nuclear ambitions. The one problem with playing chicken is, you could lose -- and when the game is being played by mad men, not only do they lose, but so do every single last one of us. America has military plans to take out Iran if necessary -- just as they must have plans against North Korea. It would be crazy for them not to. Having plans and executing them are two quite different things however. Admitting those plans to the public, as the Bush Administration has done with the New Yorker report (does anyone really believe that the report was a scoop?), demonstrates that behind the scenes talk with Iran, brokered by third parties, are heading nowhere. America is sending a message to Iran. The nuclear option is in the war plans to be used if needed against Iran. I believe the Bush Administration is more than willing to execute on those plans. I also believe the current Iran leadership is more than willing to "martyr" their citizens to secure their position as victims on the world stage. Their response to a nuclear strike will undoubtedly be violent and will be against non-military targets -- and they, and a whole lot of other people will see such a response as being justified. The games these people play will be the death of us all.

Update: April 15, 2006

• Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has again lashed out against Israel, calling it a permanent threat to the Middle East and promising soon that it will be soon liberated. This comes on the heels of the news that Iran has enriched uranium.

Update: April 16, 2006

• The Independent has an inside view of Iran. While Iranians are proud of the scientific accomplishment of enriching uranium on their own, most are concerned about their president's push to obtain nuclear weapon capability. Ahmadinejad is picking up the rhetoric and appealing to patriotism, making it difficult for his opponents to question his dismal domestic record. More and more, Ahmadinejad is sounding like just every other politician. When failing, they deflect issues, and set themselves up to champion something that can't be questioned. In this, Ahmadinejad shares a lot with Bush -- except this is Bush's last term, and he has absolutely nothing to lose. That makes playing chicken with Bush very dangerous, as chances of him moving are slim.