My Dilemma Part 1a

Well, it seems as if the invaluable Michael Totten is in the same boat with me as well about who to vote for this November 2nd.

I do want to touch a little more in regards to Iran. I see that the Tehran Times has an article about the Europeans pressuring the Bush administration to adopt a more Kerry-like policy of "a mix with a package and incentives" toward Iran. I can't help but laugh. Iran has repeated rebuffed the European and US's respective policies, but in a last ditch effort to avoid an Iranian nuclear regime, they resort to bribes. Although, let me me clear about something, if it appeared that the mullahs really did want to play ball and would completely scrap their program irrevocably and allow extensive and intrusive inspections, it might be a wise policy to give them what they wanted (yes yes, I'd be giving into nuclear blackmail. It would be worth it to avoid the consequences of a nuclear armed Iran)

Now, back to reality. the Iranians will never give up what they deem, correctly, to be their impunity card. They will be greatly bolstered to conduct more operations inside Iraq and elesewhere, knowing that the Americans never attack a country with nukes. You could offer them a $100 billion dollars and yet, that won't be as good as a couple nukes. Iran is equipped with a highly advanced missle system, spearheaded by the Shahab-3.

I do recognize that me bitching and moaning about various proposals doesn't do a lot of good. So, you may be asking, what would you do about it LJ? Answer: There's really nothing that can be done. I'm sorry, but that's just a fact that we are going to have to get used to once the Buhser and Natanz reactors come online (Joe Katzman says 4-6 months at the earliest) The fact of the matter is that the Bush administration as well as the Europeans drug their feet for so long that it's too late for anything meaningful to happen. At Thursday's debate, neither Bush nor Kerry laid out any kind of plan to deal with the Iranians. Some people are still clinging to the idea that magically the regime will be toppled by the Iranian people before the production is complete. Dream on. Also, what's to say that even if the theocracy is removed from power, the new government won't continue the program?

If we bomb them, they will unleash chaos in the Middle East.
If we don't bomb them, they will unleash chaos in the Middle East.
Our best hope: to close our eyes and make the threat disappear.

I can't see any better options, so please, if you have any feel free to share.