New in PJ Media:
I’m debating the alleged comedian Dave Smith tonight on the question “Should the U.S. support Israel in taking out Iran’s leadership?” ZeroHedge is cosponsoring the debate, with Matt Gaetz moderating it on his OAN show, and so I’ve just learned over there that I’m an “Iran hawk” who “supports Israel’s efforts to assassinate Khamenei,” and who has “written well over 20 books bashing Islam.”
Well, actually, ZeroHedge, I’ve never written a single book “bashing” Islam, but I have written 31 books, including many that tell the truth about the religion’s beliefs and practices, and that elucidate why the world has such a persistent and growing problem with Islamic jihad terrorism. But as I’m being painted as something I’m not in so many ways in connection with this debate, it’s important to set the record straight. (ZeroHedge commenters are also assuming I am Jewish — after all, who else would argue that regime change in Iran could be positive? In reality, I am not.)
Dave Smith, in his endless discussion with Douglas Murray on Joe Rogan’s podcast and elsewhere, has insisted that for the U.S. to try to neutralize Iran’s nuclear threat today, and above all to try to topple the Islamic regime that has been in power there since 1979, would be repeating the same mistakes that George W. Bush made when he went into Iraq in 2003 and toppled Saddam Hussein. As the world discovered soon enough, Saddam Hussein was, for all his brutality and tyranny, a stabilizing force in Iraq and the entire region; the removal of his regime created an opportunity for the jihadists in the region and led straight to the formation of the Islamic State, one of the most blood-drunk jihad groups on the contemporary scene.
And so the argument goes that if the Islamic regime falls now, it will lead to similar chaos, as well as the likely emergence of forces that will make Khamenei and his henchmen look as fearsome as the local slow-pitch softball team.
As a consistent opponent of our misguided misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan from the beginning, I’m here to tell you that Iran in 2025 is not Iraq in 2003. Back in March 2003, I argued in an article in the late, lamented Insight magazine that President Bush did not have a realistic plan for bringing democracy to the Middle East, and that “insisting that the nations of the Middle East choose between Western-style democracy or the terror state would do more harm than good.”
There is more. Read the rest here.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Actually, both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars were doomed once they hit mission creep. In Afghanistan, we won that war in December 2001 when the Taliban fled not just Kabul, but their headquarters in Kandahar as well. In Iraq’s case, we won that war the day crowds of Iraqis emerged and brought down Saddam’s statues. We only started losing those wars once we started helping them write new constitutions (which codified islam as the national religions of both countries and made shariah their laws), and tried to transform them into Switzerland
This time, our troops aren’t even planned to be there. In the next 2 weeks, we may bomb the Fordow reactor, but even that may not be required if the regime collapses before that. Already, the Iranians are getting bolder and once they get more convinced that the regime is about to collapse, they themselves will revolt. Once the Ayatollah & members of the government are either captured or killed, the Iranians will be at liberty to revisit their systems of government. Forget US, even Israel won’t need to be involved
Previously, I was hoping that either US or Israel blow up the Fordow reactor, but after watching an interview of Martha McCallum of Reza Pahlavi, I’m no longer leaning even that way. The presumptive Shah pointed out that bombing that reactor could result in a major nuclear contamination of the place, but that if the regime falls, it won’t even be necessary. He pointed out that parts of the military have told him that they are ready to defect, and that an increasing number of people are starting to revolt, and that once the regime collapses, that reactor can be decommissioned w/o needing to cause an environmental disaster
https://youtube.com/watch?v=BCjJdkOqhTg
࿗Infidel࿘ says
On another note, I saw an interview of an Iranian dissident who condemned both the woke left & the woke right for coming together on the issue of Iran. Her main point was their assumption that if the Ayatollah falls, Iran would descend into chaos, since the Iranian people are a bunch of savages who couldn’t manage themselves. She said it about Bernie, but she might as well have said it about Tucker. It’s one thing that Tucker is antisemitic, but if one scratches the surface, he seems to hate the Iranian people – the ones revolted by islam – just as much
Hopefully, we have gotten to the point where the Iranians can topple the Ayatollahs themselves and take it from there. If nothing else, they can revert to the pre-1979 constitution that they had, before deciding what final system of government they should have
Will watch the video later
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR_ryJG3ggo
James Lincoln says
࿗Infidel࿘ says,
“Previously, I was hoping that either US or Israel blow up the Fordow reactor, but after watching an interview of Martha McCallum of Reza Pahlavi, I’m no longer leaning even that way. ”
Understand.
But blowing up the Fordow reactor should be on the table as a “last resort” if “all else” fails.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
James
It should be done if it becomes clear that the islamic regime ain’t going anywhere. But the thinking is that the reason they want their nuclear program is that that’s the only way they can hang on to power, and if it’s blown up, they’ll be overthrown. I’d prefer that they be overthrown first, rather than after the nukes are destroyed
Put another way, if I had the choice of taking out Iran’s nukes vs their regime, I’d pick the latter
James Lincoln says
࿗Infidel࿘ says,
“I’d prefer that they be overthrown first, rather than after the nukes are destroyed”
So would I, but it may not happen that way.
And there’s the question of “how long do you wait” for an overthrow – with the Iranian nuclear threat “smoldering” in the background.
OLD GUY says
While I agree, I do worry that desperate people do desperate things and having nukes in their hands is scary.