US Options In The Mid East Amount to Choice Number 1, 2 or 3.....

[leftchick]

I am betting on number three. They are hell bent on their third war in Iran....

US vs. Iran: Is an attack inevitable?

<snip>

US Options

No US administration has ever damaged United States’ interests so heavily and in such a short time as Bush’s administration. This administration has managed to alienate over 1 billion Muslims around the world. It has alienated Europeans, Africans, and Asians. It has used threat of force to force nations into submission, and instead of wining friends has created enemies across the globe. Russia, China, Iran and Venezuela are just to mention a few countries, out of fear (for details read “Cold War II”) are trying their utmost to make sure that US doesn’t get any stronger.

This has left US with few options. Having destroyed the balance of power in the Middle East, it is left with either accepting the new arrangement, or throw the whole world into an unimaginable economic chaos.

US has three options: (1) Withdraw from Iraq, (2) make a grand bargain with Iran, or (3) attack Iran.

1. The first option is a huge strategic defeat for the US; something that will affect all the countries in the Middle East. A US withdrawal is tantamount to a defeat. The US clients having backed the US against the will of their populations will have to make a U-turn making similar security deals with Iran, ensuring an even greater strategic rise in the Iranian power.


2. US can not/will not come to terms with Iran. United States, after spending billions of dollars, not to mention the thousands of American dead and wounded wants to have economic and strategic compensation. Iran does not accept US hegemony and demands security guarantees from US that it will not in the future invade Iran; something that US doesn’t want to give. There is also the matter of Israel. Iran has become the centre of the Islamic and Arab world. Muslims now look to Iran to protect the interest of the Palestinians. A grand bargain would also mean that Israel has to vacate the occupied lands and return to its 1967 borders, something that the US Jewish lobby does not accept.


3. This leaves US with only one choice: weaken/isolate Iran first (if possible) and then attack it. All the talk about NPT and uranium enrichment etc is geared towards this end.

http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Egypt/202396

[tocqueville]

1. option nr 3 is the most likely

historically bullies act that way. But that means their fall. Prepare for the collapse of the USA within the coming 5 years. Just pray to skip the radioactive ashes.

[leftchick]

2. and I have two children.

:(

[leveymg]

3. 1. is inevitable; 2. is already a de facto reality; 3. is psywar

1. Does anyone seriously think that in five years we're going to have anything more than a token military force inside Iraq?

2. The moment we overthrew Saddam Hussein we guaranteed that Iran would extend something approaching sovereignty over Shi'a southern Iraq.

3. If you think that the Iraq War has been costly, think times ten or times 100 to get into a full-fledged war with Iran. For what? Are U.S. troops going to occupy Khuzistan? Saddam tried and was pushed out after a couple years and half a million Iraqi casualties. Oh yes, there's the nuclear option. Does anyone seriously think we're going to drop H-bombs on Iran and gain something from it?

[leftchick]

4. I am afraid the neocons including rummy see nukes as a positive

:scared:

[leveymg]

5. Wall Street doesn't see the use of nukes as a net-positive.

Don't forget who's really in charge of this Administration.

It isn't the neo-cons. It's bankers. What do you think is going to happen to the Dow if H-bombs start going off in the oil patch?

[leftchick]

6. I wish I shared your optimism

neo-cons have ruled since 2001 along with some corporate cronies. I can't see them changing their agenda now no matter who is trying to scream sense at them.

[leveymg]

8. I'm not really an optimist. I just don't think Wall St. is suicidal or

stupid. There's still too much of a fixed investment in this place, and all the infrastructure and trading networks that feed into it are too fragile, to let the crazies really destroy things on a big scale again.

My biggest fear is that -- if the US doesn't turn around soon -- there may eventually be a big push to liquidate what's left of America as part of a giant corporate restructuring, with the capital assets being moved off-shore.

Once the real value is liquidated, it might make sense to blow things up.

I'd hope that the U.S. military brass and intel wouldn't have anything to do with that. Maybe I am a bit of an optimist.

[Marrak]

7. This administration (in a short frickin time)...

has managed to alienate over 1 billion Muslims around the world. It has alienated Europeans, Africans, and Asians. It has used threat of force to force nations into submission, and instead of wining friends has created enemies across the globe. Russia, China, Iran and Venezuela are, just to mention a few countries, out of fear (for details read “Cold War II”) are trying their utmost to make sure that US doesn’t get any stronger.


:kick: