Additionally, while the US may have been right to not interfere too directly with the Green Movement in Iran, it is now clear that they have no ability to change the situation (at least for the time being). As such, I don't think we should base any Iran policy considerations on how the Green Movement will be affected. If bombing them will "kill" a movement that is impotent anyway, and bombing will set the regime back in its progress towards a bomb, then I say bomb. Bomb now. Bomb often. Keep bombing until we have been bombing Iran every day for ten years. Destroy every bridge, power station, barracks, factory and tank in the nation if need be, Green Movement be damned.
You're not thinking long term, the green movement is not a short-term revolutionary force you want it to be - it's in fact much more profound than that. The broad coalition of young people, merchants, intellectuals, and religious leaders that took to the streets to protest the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a year ago has been spectacularly successful in achieving the one goal that they all had common: the de-legitimization of the Iranian regime. Put simply, the Green Movement, through its blood and sacrifice, has convinced almost all Iranians, regardless of their piety or their politics, that the Islamic Republic in its current iteration is neither Islamic nor a republic. The Regime itself is slowing dieing, it's not a question of IF, it's a question of WHEN.
The Green Movement morphed from Mousavi's platform to a protest movement and then to a civil rights movement. But I think the GM is pretty much moribund at this point. Any shake ups in the near-term will, I imagine, come in the form of individuals or perhaps factions, from Qom or from within the Abadgaran, being removed from positions of power.
70% of Iran's current population were children or were born after the Islamic revolution. They are the future of Iran and probably the most pro-western, pro-american population in the Middle east and Central Asia. And that population is the future of Iran. You're idea of "Bomb now. Bomb often." is a spectacular way of embittering that population of Iranians against the United States, and will only ensure that the regime will remain in power for generations to come. Iran is on the verge of the most significant social movement it has experienced in three decades. Whether for good or for bad, the Iran that ultimately rises out of the ashes of last summer’s uprising will be unlike the Iran we know today, and for that we can thank the Green Movement.
南無阿弥陀仏!
World Sees Obama as Incompetent and Amateur - OUCH!
19/06/2010 06:06:21 PM
- 1127 Views
I'm not surprised. Obama is incompetent and amateur. He makes Carter look good. *NM*
19/06/2010 07:40:22 PM
- 202 Views
I always thought he was going to be Carter Part II.....sadly, I guess I was right. *NM*
20/06/2010 01:54:23 AM
- 202 Views
It's true he's not living up to the expectations - domestically or abroad.
19/06/2010 08:16:54 PM
- 731 Views
I would say he is living up to my expectations
19/06/2010 09:46:49 PM
- 524 Views
He is living up to my expectations too
20/06/2010 12:03:20 AM
- 517 Views
yes leadership is hard
21/06/2010 03:55:24 AM
- 446 Views
Hillary Clinton is the only member of the Obama Administration who seems competent.
19/06/2010 10:04:29 PM
- 539 Views
Well, several of the cabinet members are solid
19/06/2010 10:19:00 PM
- 495 Views
I always consider Gates a Bush appointee.
19/06/2010 10:29:10 PM
- 501 Views
Well, new 'rumor' is Rahm's gone after November, maybe it will be a trend
21/06/2010 03:32:20 AM
- 462 Views
I'm not saying she's incompetent.
19/06/2010 10:50:27 PM
- 553 Views
If we were to bomb their nuclear facilities it would end up in a general war. We know that.
20/06/2010 04:39:52 AM
- 490 Views
Bombing Iran would be a disaster for the United States.
20/06/2010 11:55:37 AM
- 521 Views
It depends on our goals and how we achieve them.
21/06/2010 02:38:32 AM
- 539 Views
Do you think that when the bombs hit, they'll spare those who wear green?
21/06/2010 09:36:02 AM
- 611 Views
I'm not advocating bombing if it doesn't achieve anything.
21/06/2010 02:08:10 PM
- 524 Views
Bombing Iran won't achieve anything, that's the point.
22/06/2010 11:34:04 AM
- 635 Views
Why target the nuclear sites? Target Khamenei, Ahmadinejad and other regime leaders.
22/06/2010 02:36:15 PM
- 537 Views
I agree with your title.
21/06/2010 03:21:59 AM
- 518 Views
Well Tom get your tin hat and join up.
21/06/2010 01:07:21 AM
- 617 Views
Lol! You talk like those losers who vote for Lyndon LaRouche.
21/06/2010 02:35:00 AM
- 466 Views
So i'll take it you won't be joining up then?
21/06/2010 10:45:39 PM
- 544 Views
I just realized people like you aren't worth time responding to.
22/06/2010 12:47:50 AM
- 527 Views
You mean realised after the response or realised but then responded anyway.
23/06/2010 05:48:37 PM
- 624 Views
There's a lot of buzz that Obama will dump Biden and ask Hillary to be VP in 2012
20/06/2010 01:56:14 AM
- 551 Views
Isn't it a BIT early to talk about Obama going through a primary?
20/06/2010 03:16:06 AM
- 494 Views
I started to have trouble taking this seriously somewhere during the first sentence. *NM*
19/06/2010 10:33:48 PM
- 213 Views
A lot of us who had seen Tony Blair, thought we weren't seeing anything new.
21/06/2010 12:49:35 AM
- 523 Views
Re: A lot of us who had seen Tony Blair, thought we weren't seeing anything new.
21/06/2010 03:11:23 AM
- 630 Views
Re: A lot of us who had seen Tony Blair, thought we weren't seeing anything new.
21/06/2010 10:47:48 PM
- 488 Views