LIB,MR BEARS said:I bet the contortions you go through to explain Israel exchanging land for peace are really something to seeThe_barBEARian said:Redbrickbear said:
Rod Dreher- [So, it's on between Israel and Iran. Things are moving so fast that by the time I send this dispatch, God only knows what else will have happened. The things to keep in mind are these:I wish it had not come to this. I went to bed last night praying that it wouldn't. It was always going to come to this, though, as long as Iran is ruled by the Islamists. The threat a nuclear-armed Iran would have posed to Israel was and is undeniable. Expecting the Israelis, or any other nation so targeted by Iran, to remain idle and hope for the best was totally unrealistic. Given that the Iranian government has for many years been openly stating that its goal is to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, there is only one obvious reason for Iran to get a nuclear weapon.
- Iran, a country ruled by Islamist fanatics, has long signaled its intention to destroy Israel. Not to live in peace with Israel, but to destroy it.
- It has shown its willingness to do so by subsidizing the Hezbollah terrorist army in Lebanon. Israel destroyed that terror proxy.
- Iran has also openly supported Hamas, financially and otherwise, since the 1990s, as part of its regional war against Israel. The October 7 massacre showed Iran's willingness to sponsor a 9/11-style mass terror attack on Israeli citizens.
- Israel judged correctly in my view that Iran's acquiring a nuclear weapon would be an existential threat to itself. Yesterday the IAEA said that Iran has not been living up to its commitments to curb its nuclear research meaning that the Tehran government's word cannot be trusted.
I hope the Israelis succeeded in their mission goal. The Natanz nuclear enrichment site appears to have been destroyed. The Israelis wiped out the entire senior leadership of the Islamic Republic, save for Ayatollah Khamenei. Iran reports the deaths of at least six of its nuclear scientists; there are probably more.
The retaliation against Israel by Iran will be severe. Happily, now that Hezbollah and Hamas have been deactivated by the IDF, Israel will have less to worry about. But there will be massive drone strikes against Israeli cities. If you fear a regional war, then you should be aware that there is no chance that Arab states will come in on Iran's side. The Iranians are not Arabs, and they are Shia; the Arab states have long been afraid of Iran's regional hegemony. Whatever they say for public consumption, you can be sure that there is great relief in the governments of the Gulf Arab states today.
There will be Iranian-sponsored attacks on US interests in the Middle East. What we have to hope for is that the Iranians won't be foolish enough to provoke Washington to come into the war on Israel's side. In my view, Trump will only involve the US in this conflict if the Iranians attack American interests, either directly or via terrorist proxy. If Tehran does provoke Washington in this way, then the US military will be end the Islamist regime in Iran. I hope and pray it does not come to that we do not need to be involved in another Mideast war! but if Iran attacks us, we will have no choice.]
Two points...
1) the head of the IAEA is an Israeli asset... so that entire organization is as compromised as our Federal Government.
2) The US military has already entered into this conflict and shot down some of the Iranian drones.
The one part I am actually looking forward to in all this is that the cowardly, corrupt Gulf Arabs are all next for Israeli expansion ALL of Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria are within the territorial ambitions of Greater Israel along with portions of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.
That was before your hero Satanyahu took over
