“I’ve got one rule of thumb: If the president of a country denies the Holocaust, you should believe the worst, not the best, about what they’re doing.” – Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC
I don’t care if you’re Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green, or None of the Above: the above is a correct statement.
It also points to imminent war with Iran. Attitudes are hardening and the hawks are spreading their wings. Love war or hate it, it is coming soon, I feel.
I would beg to differ. It’s the same kind of talk we’ve been hearing the last couple of years, and it’s intensifying because of the UN General Assembly. Every wannabe big shot politician is out in arms about Libya and Iran and North Korea and how the UN isn’t doing enough to stop them/change them/control them. They’re not hawks they’re attention whores. They’re trying to steal the spotlight for a the extra fund-raising.
More to the point, the US has known about the second reactor that yesterday dominated the news. Why didn’t we use that as proof of Iran’s nuclear ambitions and lead a rally against it during the elections, when Iran was weakest?
1) We can’t afford to fight Iran right now. A third country in the middle east, basically creating an American corridor in the most volatile of areas? We’d have to go WWII levels of troops to have a hope of containing that chaos.
2) The hardliners would have won. We would have been meddling, showing that the opposition’s just American puppets, and they needed to be crushed, if they’re supports haven’t already abandoned them. No good for the US.
3) We wouldn’t be able to stop their nuclear program. As long as they claim it’s for peaceful purposes, we’re going to get nowhere. We’re not offering solutions, we’re not offering hard proof of greater ambitions, we’re not resolving it. Offer to help Iran build up a network of civilian-use nuclear powerplants, with American expertise, international overseeing of the fuel, and full backing of the international community that this is peaceful, and bam! everybody happy.
Long story short, he’s not a hawk, he’s a peacock, using a big spotlight to steal some attention. Iran’s not going to be attacked, and will probably be just as crazy next year at the UN General Assembly.
I don’t think that’s true. That is one person’s opinion which claims that “you should believe” the worst. She’s implying that you should go with a hunch without absolute evidence.
I hate to disagree but it seems much more complicated than that. So complicated that I can’t even begin to describe it.
My mom always says that you should never trust people who burn books. I think both that quote and my mom’s saying make sense. Even if people who say the holocaust didn’t happen are just trying to get attention, they’re still liars and, most likely, trouble makers. They may not be completely horrible, but that certainly doesn’t mean that whatever they’re doing is good either. Both people who deny the holocaust and people who burn books have something really, really wrong with them…
I have to agree with the quote, because in most cases it’s better to prepare for the worst than get caught unprepared.
But then if quote is true is it possible that all the government has told us about the economic crisis is just the tip of the iceberg?
@Eric: The mood in Israel has hardened significantly, even more so than its mood in 1991 or 2003. It is ready to act unilaterally – essentially jumping off a cliff, expecting the US to catch it. If the US fails to rescue Israel, the US looks to be a paper tiger and risks further challenges to its military claims. Taiwan, perhaps?
If the US does move to save Israel, then it further extends itself and the risk is that a challenge to the US foreign interests may have to be met with a nuclear, rather than conventional response.
@ Ali: Lindsey Graham is a man. Just saying…
Personally, I absolutely love the quote. It puts the extremist views of Ahmadinejad in perspective.
War with Iran will not be provoked by America. Israel will make the first strike. When Iran retaliates, the United States will be forced to defend its ally. America has given far too much support to the Israelis to be able to avoid entering this conflict and if we don’t aid Israel, there is a good chance they would be wiped off of the map.
Oh, i stand corrected.