Once Iran is Attacked, There Won't Be Any Going Back....

[Blackhatjack]

And that is the danger of spending time on non-binding resolutions on Capitol Hill.

The American people are way ahead of them on this issue.

Bush/Cheney and the NeoCons know that the time to 'double-down' is now. They are at rock bottom of public opinion polls, and eventually Congress will move onto real action to end this war in Iraq. There likely will not be an opportunity for the NeoCons to attack Iran the closer we come to the end of Bush's term.

IT is danger time, all the time, and once the first missile or bomb lands on Iran, there will be no going back... we are in for years of fighting that will serve the ends of the NeoCons and their game plan for all war all the time throughout the Middle East.

[iconoclastic cat]

1. One could argue that there was no going back after W's win in 2004. nt

[marmar]

3. True....

That was one of those "fork in the road" moments. The country made a bad right turn.

[oldtimecanuk]

2. I said it before and once again... If the US attacks Iran...

you can pretty much be sure that World War will ensue, with Russia and China taking sides with Iran. They are not likely to sit back and watch. Look at the thread directly below this one, and you will Russia and China together against the US with respect to arms in outer space.... That tells the story IMO.

ww

[Blackhatjack]

5. Historically Russia and China have been wary of one another...

However, both have an interest in a weaker United States.

Their ability to exploit world natural resources will increase as the power of the United States wanes --and that especially applies to the financial difficulties of the US.

China is holding a $Trillion dollars of US debt, and it would be easy to affect the US economy if they saw fit. Of course to do so, they would have to absorb the loss of a regular buyer of their goods--if the US could muster such a response.

[Strelnikov_]

12. IMHO, Russia and Chindia will take a pass

Russia stands to make a fortune. And if all the gulf oil goes off line, they become the worlds sole energy superpower. It appears to me that Russia is playing both sides.

Chindia will dig in, weather the storm, and emerge in a position to snap up all those production contracts that will no longer go to US multinationals. Also, all those dollars they are sitting on will go a long way to outbidding us on what remains of the world export market. It appears that Chindia is also playing both sides.

No, Russia and Chindia will play the "If the enemy is destroying themselves, don't get in the way" card.

The Japanese, on the other hand, are scared shitless . . .

[Blackhatjack]

13. There is nothing here I disagree with .... they will reap the rewards of sitting this out...n/t

[Loisenman]

4. Iran

Sometimes one's worst fantasy has nothing to do with reality, but at other times one's worst fantasy does not go far enough. This is my worst fantasy with respect to Iran. The Neo-think-they-are-gods start a war with Iran, this means a draft, this means civil unrest, and this means they suspend the 08 elections. The damnedest thing is they could do this all thinking, at least at a conscious level, that they are doing this for the country's good. I don't know whether this is true, but I do know these characters are more likely to do it than perhaps any other administration in the history of this country.

[Blackhatjack]

6. You are correct, it is a short hop to 'Martial Law' from the next terrorist attack...

... and I would not put it past them to 'suspend' elections during martial law. After all that play has worked well for other dictators around the world.

[Rainscents]

7. We are living in the scary time.

You are right about no going back.

[Blackhatjack]

8. What is really scary is we still have time to avert this disaster, and what are we doing?

Not much.

No one acts like there is any urgency to take on the Bush/Cheney NeoCon Cabal while there is still time.

"Non-binding" is fine with this bunch --it might as well be labelled 'please ignore this if you like."

[Individualist]

10. Non-binding resolution:

"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

If ever there was a time when actions are needed rather than words, this is that time. The cabal is hurtling our nation headlong toward WWIII.

[no_hypocrisy]

9. No allusion intended, but the genie will be out of the bottle. n/t

[jwirr]

11. considering what the Iraq war has done to our economy another war

with anyone is going to bring us down just like it did the USSR. I cannot imagine what *ss and co. have to gain from the destruction of the Unites States but obviously they have something the will gain. We the people need to stop this nonsense now.

[Raffi Ella]

14. .

seems the only thing that will bring a mass of American citizens to the streets is the Draft and I don't think Bush is that stupid.

[HuffleClaw]

18. a hot and growing war with iran/syria... and another 911 would have the public

accept a draft i'm pretty sure

[Jonathan50]

15. A post from a real military/political expert

I've been lurking on intel dump, a blog for military officers and ex officers for quite a while now. I thought you might be interested to see how some of them feel about attacking Iran.

http://www.scifi-movies.com/english/short.php?data=horreurvenuedaudeladelespace1958film

Publius:
"But I am no political scientist."

Well, actually, bg, I got papers on the wall that say I am one of them. For what it's worth. But I don't have any magical answers. In fact, I am utterly amazed that my country, this country that I served on active duty for more than 20 years and that I love more than I can say, has managed to paint itself into such a corner. I spent more time than I care to remember in Vietnam and I lost friends there. I think we Vietnam guys were the ones who coined the term "goat-fuck." At least I don't recall seeing it come out of earlier wars. Well, we are now facing the mother of all goat-fucks. And no matter what we think we can do will change the harsh reality of the Mideast, Arab culture and Muslim thinking. These people have done their thing since time began (cradle of civilization and all that) and we can only be classified as arrogant fools for thinking we can somehow change them.

We have no military options. Nor do we have much leverage in dealing with Iran. You want to bomb Tehran? Go ahead. Say goodbye to a whole lot of American hostages we've conveniently placed right next door. Nuke 'em? Say goodbye to the U.S. Government as you know it. Plus our hostages still die because you can bet the Iranians—Persians are very smart, you know—have key forces dispersed. Prove they're killing Americans? Hey, man, that only matters to Americans. The rest of the world knows it. They're sophisticated in these matters. They don't care. Most of them don't like us anyway. Our ass is hanging out like you can't believe.

As a nation, we have succumbed to our own propaganda: sole remaining superpower and all that. The reality is we're closer to Rome in the third century than we are to the U.S. from the 1950s to the 90s. This "super-power" of 300 million people that wants to dominate the world—and yeah, that's what we want to do—can scrape up at best maybe a million ground forces to meet our commitments. Think of North Korea launching south. Think of China deciding to end the Taiwan issue once-and-for-all. What draft we have consists of—as best I can see—postcards through the USPS.

More:

[Jonathan50]

17. Continued from last post

http://www.intel-dump.com/posts/1171050024.shtml

Problem is we have a warlike leadership and lots of warloving people. But it's all a house of cards. We're in no way prepared to fight a real war. Yeah, we have a great Navy and Air Force, or so they say, but land wars are in vogue these days. I don't see any of those F-22 pilots or boat drivers providing much to a battalion commander who has to deal with a division-size formation. We've never learned any of the lessons of history.

Super-power? More like a fraud. Largest debtor nation in history—if we were Brazil or one those countries, we'd be on the IMF's critical list—and fast sinking. We're steadily working towards third-world status. We've got it all, disappearing middle class, no medical care for a fourth of the nation, intractable immigration problems, increasingly uneducated and ignorant populace, caudillo political culture.

And I should care about Iraq when my own nation is crumbling before my eyes? Sorry, all you soldiers and war lovers: I can't hear you any more.

[roamer65]

16. If we attack Iran, it will be shades of August 1914.

It will be the spark that sets off World War III, much like the Archduke's death did with World War I. The Chinese will not allow the US to carve Khuzestan province off from Iran. You can take that one to the bank.

[Jonathan50]

19. Kick

[Jacobin]

20. How do you "Un-Start" a War?