Probably because their crime has nothing to do with the color of their skin.
You think rape and molestations happen only in the black community?
Here we go with the "wipe Israel off the map" people again. Newsflash (but you won't care) THAT'S NOT WHAT HE SAID. There is plenty of nuttiness coming out of Iran, you don't need to make things up. Look it up. "wipe" "face" "map" were never said. It's not even an Ahmadinejad quote - it's a re-quote from an previous leader - "the regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time." Not the country, not the people, the REGIME. He then lists other regimes that failed... That's it. He dislikes Israeli leadership. Big deal. There are plenty of leaders around the world that feel that way. Ok - this is where you start name-calling and insist I'm an anti-American or that I love Iran and all that crap.
"Perhaps they'd like to leverage al this bluster into a more influential postition in the Arab/Islamic world. "
I think you nailed it right there. Iran is one of the world's oldest continuous major civilizations, Iran is strong, and they want everyone to know it. Globalsecurity.org estimates that Iran has the capability to pull off the largest troop mobilization in the world, even though Iran is actually one of the least actively aggressive countries in the region. Over the span of their civilization, they have been in surprisingly few conflicts, and their percentage of GDP spent on the military is low. Far behind the US and FAR *far* behind Israel.
My boss fled Iran right before the revolution, and maintains contact with many back in Iran. He's a great source for me - plus I read everything I can get my hands on ;-)
You could be right there. It's a pretty tangled web. Last year I was trying to dig up some facts about OBL's actual wealth, and it's hard because it's so diversified for obvious reasons - but it's pretty clear that it is completely staggering. It got me thinking about how this war on terror will probably move into the financial realm. They can clearly turn out endless supplies of brainwashed dogma-douched immature martyrs, but they can't necessarily turn out endless streams of cash. I would like to see the US crank up some monetary terrorism of it's own to see if we can cut these clowns off at the knees. There is a good argument made that the attack on the world trade centers was primarily one of forced economic instability, with the fear factor being a "side-dish" served cold.
This is a tough one for me, because ultimately, I am not sure that ousting Saddam saved lives in the long run, and might possibly be one of the reasons for Iran's protracted belligerence. We seem to pick and choose which evil we choose to act on and which we choose to ignore, and that is frustrating. I am not qualified to say myself, but there are plenty of scholarly types who say that ousting Saddam did exactly the opposite of "stabilizing" the Middle East. One of the reasons Saddam was so resistant to inspectors, was that he didn't want Iran to see his hand... Sometimes the threat can be more powerful than the actual guns in the garage. That said, it's no secret that Saddam was a filthy, murderous, pompous piece of garbage - and I'm not totally convinced by any argument I have yet heard that his capture was a mistake, may he burn in hell.
Ok - you can call it "balance" if you want. Against Hitler, the United States found common cause with Stalin. In the war against Japan, America aided Vietnamese rebel Ho Chi Minh. In Third World struggles, America helped Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein. And yes, CIA money directly supported Bin Laden. He used this money along with money from the Saudis for everything from grenades, to building roads. I'm not praising this, or finding fault with it - just stating the facts.
Well, to be blunt and basic as possible, no. I don't believe Iran is a direct threat, (In a war sense) to Israel. I don't believe the majority of Iranians support it, and due to their important position in international energy security and world economy, Iran has WAY too much to lose and little to gain. I think, like most hotheads, Ahmadinejad is all bark and very little bite. I hope I'm right. if they even pulled off a strike on Israeli soil, they would be the world's port-a-potty, and blown into oblivion by technologically superior firepower from multiple unified nations. They know this.
Once again, you are correct. The majority of Iranians (that are Muslim) are Shi'ah, similar to Iraq and Yemen. But these numbers reflect only about 10% of Muslims - the other 90% are Sunnah (sunnis.) The Saudis and the Iranians have an uneasy alliance that reflects the fragility of their own internal conflicts. I've not heard of any direct aggressive talk directed at SA or Egypt or any of the more conservative Arab states.
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Thingamajig