"I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran [if it attacked Israel]. In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them." -- Hillary Rodham Clinton, April 22, 2008
A glimpse of actual atomic obliteration of a civilian population.
3 comments:
So an Iranian first strike should go without retaliation?
We just let Iran wipeout six million Jews Isreal? Or an Americn city for that matter, and do nothing?
Before the first Gulf War, the Mayor of Hiroshima wrote to Saddam and said midsjudging America was a very unwise thing.
I'd send these photos to Akmenijad and tell him the same.
An Iraniam First strike on any of its neigbors should be met by massive retaliation.
It won't deter Iran's mad Mullahs or Akmenijad, but these phots should sure be shown to the Iranian public so they understand how close to the edge their leaders are pushing.
Oh please, we're not waiting for any first strike against Israel or anyone else.
http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/05/09/war-with-iran-might-be-closer-than-you-think/
Mr. Baar,
Perhaps I set my standards too high, but in order for me to take an argument seriously, that argument must meet a few minimum standards.
First, the argument must not engage in deliberate logical fallacies -- in this case a classic straw man argument.
I did not say "an Iranian first strike should go without retaliation." I did not even suggest that "We just let Iran wipeout six million Jews Isreal (sic)" To my knowledge, no one has made such a suggestion.
Rather, I suggest that a first strike by Iran against Israel should not necessarily result in the United States of America killing the SEVENTY-ONE MILLION humans living in Iran. Because that is what Clinton's threat to "Obliterate" Iran means.
Which brings me to my second minimum requirement for taking an argument seriously: that its proponent demonstrate a familiarity with the definitions of the key terms used in the argument. In this case, the term in question is "obliteration".
The American Heritage Dictionary defines "obliteration" as "To do away with completely so as to leave no trace." Houghton Mifflin is even more succinct: "To destroy all traces of." In other words, "utter destruction." Of 70 million innocent people. Yes, innocent.
Which brings me to my third requirement for taking a purported argument seriously: It must be, at minimum, internally consistent.
On one hand you approve of "obliterating" the people of Iraq for actions the state of Iraq. But on the other hand you seem to understand that the state of Iraq is actually controlled by a few unelected men, i.e. the Assembly of Experts or as you so cleverly called them "Iran's Mad Mullahs". (But not so mad as to carelessly invade Iraq.)
Those 86 men -- and those 86 men alone -- determine the Supreme Leader of Iran. The Supreme Leader, in turn, is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and has sole power to declare war or peace. The heads of the judiciary, Iranian state radio and television networks, the commanders of the police and military forces and six of the twelve members of the Council of Guardians are also appointed by the Supreme Leader.
When civilians have no role in determining who becomes the commander-in-chief -- the man who declares war and peace, and who mobilizes the armed forces (including hypothetical nuclear weapons) -- they cannot be morally responsible for his decisions. They are not guilty of the crimes perpetrated by their unrepresentative leaders. They are, in other words, innocent.
Any argument that holds civilian citizens morally responsible for decisions that they did not and could not make or even influence -- upon penalty of atomic death! -- is either internally inconsistent or grotesquely hypocritical.
You've earned the benefit of the doubt, Mr. Baar, so I presume your argument's logic is merely, but fundamentally, flawed.
But fear not Bill, you are remarkably consistent in one aspect: Your willingness to bang the drums of war and risk the lives of others to promote your geopolitical fantasies. U.S. troops, Iraqi men, women and children and now Iranian civilians -- no price is too high for others to pay for a neoconservative's hegemonic dreams.
-- SCAM
so-called "Austin Mayor"
http://austinmayor.blogspot.com
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