You don't have to be an f'in vaginal sissy liberal to realize that the Iraq invasion was one of the biggest blunders in history - and that's with my conservative hat on. Invasion justification - unbelievable abuse of power with no analysis. Invasion execution - horrendously bungled for years. No project management plan.
As a result, we now have Iran's government (what passes for one anyway) with a nice big shot in the arm (though their populace would disagree) and empowered by the whole thing. We could well end up with an Iraq/Iran superpower when the smoke clears from this.
I think that Iran is one of the countries you have to keep an eye on (if they ever do get closer to nukes there will be some hard choices that need to be made, but by the WORLD, not us alone) and talk tough with but at the same time, treat them with the 'oil' respect that they warrant.
Attacking any of their ops right now is not an option (or shouldn't be) because of the way we are leveraged to oil and because of the nationalist fervor it would set off in a populace that is currently not happy with their leadership. Here's a better option - formulate a long term and responsible exit plan from Iraq and don't give Iran a chance to use us for a target.
So in the meantime, get a real energy policy formulated - one that includes some SERIOUS energy conservation along with the rest of what needs to be done to use less foreign oil.
As a result, we now have Iran's government (what passes for one anyway) with a nice big shot in the arm (though their populace would disagree) and empowered by the whole thing. We could well end up with an Iraq/Iran superpower when the smoke clears from this.
I think that Iran is one of the countries you have to keep an eye on (if they ever do get closer to nukes there will be some hard choices that need to be made, but by the WORLD, not us alone) and talk tough with but at the same time, treat them with the 'oil' respect that they warrant.
Attacking any of their ops right now is not an option (or shouldn't be) because of the way we are leveraged to oil and because of the nationalist fervor it would set off in a populace that is currently not happy with their leadership. Here's a better option - formulate a long term and responsible exit plan from Iraq and don't give Iran a chance to use us for a target.
So in the meantime, get a real energy policy formulated - one that includes some SERIOUS energy conservation along with the rest of what needs to be done to use less foreign oil.
