Pat Oliphant for February 07, 2012

On Mogan David.

It is probably only a matter of time until nuclear weapons are used in the oil fields of the Middle East.

If a weapon of sufficient power is used, the damage will be visible from space. Or a lesser, dirty weapon would cause hysteria and effectively close down production in some area. It might be caused by fundamentalists who long for a simpler time without petroleum’s corrupting influence, or through a more sinister plot to manipulate world markets.

Whatever happens, the physical damage itself will not be as disastrous as the inevitable over-reaction to it. I wonder if our leaders have plans in such a case.

Time to break out the radiation suits, stockpile water and canned goods, and bury yourself in a 200ft hole.

Time to break ties with Israel. They do nothing for us, they spy on us, they take our money, and they make us look like idiots to the rest of the world.

The US is just as guilty as Israel in threatening to attack Iran.Sanctions will only bring the Iranian moderates over to Ahmadinejad side as they feel threaten by the US.

The character who should be portrayed on the rope would be Ron Paul, not Uncle Sam. He is the only man from either party arguing for diplomacy instead of saber-rattling and sanctions. He fears, rightly so, that an attack on Iran it will lead us into another meat-grinder like Iraq. Or at the very least lead to a dramatic rise in gasoline prices that will further unstablized our weak economy.

Anyone who advocates war with Iran should be willing to put their child or spouse in front of the line to go over there and fight.

You know, one thing I can’t help noticing. Even the harshest critics of Israel on this score seem to be taking something for granted — that any airborne attack the Israelis make on Iran is automatically going to succeed.

Nobody wins every time If the Netanyahu government does choose to launch a raid on Iran, there’s every chance their planes will get blown out of the sky without getting anywhere near their targets

And where will THAT leave Teheran?

They way Reagan did, by letting Iranian sponsored terrorists get away with killing 300+ Marines and then ( illegally ) selling missile parts to Teheran?

There seems to be some regular bickerers missing lately on these comment threads. have certain people been banned?

Every war is a failure. A failure to talk things through. What happens after some idiot starts shooting? Loss of life, loss of property, huge costs. And then? Will Iran flip over and kowtow to the West? Hell no. We’ll end up talking to them whatever happens. Might as well start now. – The danger is that some people hype themselves up to a point where they can’t NOT shoot – even if they really don’t want to. – Iran is a complex country, with many factions. We should encourage the moderates.

The Atlanta Jewish Times publisher suggested the Mossad put a hit on the president, that Biden would be in the best interest of Israel. He suggested it days after an Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated. Yep, we support these guys.

Did we give any of our nice bunker-busters to Israel?

nu…give israel a pile of weapons, then its biggest ally enrages its nextdoor neighbor, Boom. so what’s to figure out here? i don’ t get it.

Hiya [s] or whatever you call yourself. You’ll be gone before you know it.

The truly scary thing is that Jews, Muslims, Christians, AND “officially” Atheists, all have nukes. Too bad none listen to that old "thou shalt not kill’ admonition.

WHen the radiation cools, the oil will still be down there.

The Mossad needs to continue to eliminate Iran’s nuclear scientists. That will cripple their bomb-making program better than a direct attack.

Iran has made it’s sentiments and intentions about Israel very clear. Can they carry it out? Not a chance. Israel is still one of the major military powers in the world.

how come bush didn’t stop north korea from getting nukes?

Good luck with that.

Indonesia and the Philippines have lots of Muslims, when do we let Israel (Likud actually, not "Israel) bomb THEM in “self defense”?

^has indonesia and the phillipines called for the destruction of israel AND acted in a way consistant with those words?

Thanks.

Thanks fennec.

Thirdrail: what about all those weapons systems, like helicopters gotten from Russia and refurbished in Israel for sale to “countries of interest”? The components for weapons systems used in the U.S.? Also, that highly damaging to resources facility on the Mojave desert is making a LOT of money, from the TAXPAYERS to PROFIT private companies, including those either linked to , or outright owned by Israelis, to damage PUBLIC lands. Hmmmmm, some of those things you bring up have SERIOUS consequences for the world, and American taxpayers, not to mention, troops.