Suppose They Send US The Bill?
On July 12th, the deadline that the US imposed through the UN on Iran to halt its nuclear program will expire.
What then?
The Air Force wants to bomb. They're good at that. The Marines don't want to have to secure the ground. The ground is not too good for that. The Army and Navy aren't too hot about the whole idea, either.
What if we bomb? We're thinking of simulating a small nuclear explosion by dropping bunker buster bombs in sequence on the same spot. There is a 75-foot deep subterranean laboratory where the Iranians are creating nuclear fission materials. We know where the entrance is because we can see it from the air. We don't know how far the complex extends, or in which directions, because we have absolutely no spies on the ground. So we can only bomb the part we see from the air.
We will not knock the complex out. They will construct another entrance.
We're also thinking of bombing a lot of other places while we're at it. Hit Iran a stunning blow. Then maybe they'll come to their senses.
It can only work in our favor, some think.
We have no intelligence.
Maybe when you're five miles high the world is simple.
Proceeding on faith alone - on faith-based intelligence - we will embarrass ourselves. Not so badly as diving into the Iraq war on Feith-based intelligence, but it will still be expensive.
Who is going to put all this back together again? The Bin Laden family, who have done a lot of the turn-key construction projects in Saudi Arabia?
Who will pay the bill, and how will it be paid?
There seems to be faith among some that the Apocalypse is at hand. George, Donald, Richard and Karl are the four horsemen. We can borrow all we like, because there will be no tomorrow.
But many other people, especially in other countries, differ. The beliefs of frightened Christians aside, people in the other religions and cultures in the world do not generally believe that we are going to hell in a handbasket.
They believe that the world is slowly working out all our differences. They believe we are headed into a planetary culture. While we may retain our own governments and religions, our values and standards will be global. Law will become global.
This means that if you break it, you pay for it. Sooner or later.
Our descendents will receive the bill for Iraq's and Iran's rebuilding.
Consider how Cuban landowners whose land was confiscated during the socialist days of the Cuban revolution are now planning on getting it back, perhaps through the courts, the day Castro dies. They lost that land 43 years ago. Who will be suing us 43 years from now for the losses we've brought down on them today?
So not only are we burdening our grandchildren by our borrowing to fund a foolish war, we may also be setting them up for a big cash judgement. Against them.
Can we picture first, not the flexing of our own prowess, but what we want the world to look like when we're through with this Iran exercise?
Every action invokes an opposite and equal reaction. What reaction would we like to invoke from the other side? What result do we hope to obtain? What benefit, and how much will it cost?
Can we do something that invokes friendship?
If we don't begin to ask these questions, one of these days the world is going to put this country in a play-pen.
What then?
The Air Force wants to bomb. They're good at that. The Marines don't want to have to secure the ground. The ground is not too good for that. The Army and Navy aren't too hot about the whole idea, either.
What if we bomb? We're thinking of simulating a small nuclear explosion by dropping bunker buster bombs in sequence on the same spot. There is a 75-foot deep subterranean laboratory where the Iranians are creating nuclear fission materials. We know where the entrance is because we can see it from the air. We don't know how far the complex extends, or in which directions, because we have absolutely no spies on the ground. So we can only bomb the part we see from the air.
We will not knock the complex out. They will construct another entrance.
We're also thinking of bombing a lot of other places while we're at it. Hit Iran a stunning blow. Then maybe they'll come to their senses.
It can only work in our favor, some think.
We have no intelligence.
Maybe when you're five miles high the world is simple.
Proceeding on faith alone - on faith-based intelligence - we will embarrass ourselves. Not so badly as diving into the Iraq war on Feith-based intelligence, but it will still be expensive.
Who is going to put all this back together again? The Bin Laden family, who have done a lot of the turn-key construction projects in Saudi Arabia?
"The bin Laden family owns and runs a five-billion-dollar-a-year global corporation that includes the largest construction firm in the Islamic world, with offices in London and Geneva."
Who will pay the bill, and how will it be paid?
There seems to be faith among some that the Apocalypse is at hand. George, Donald, Richard and Karl are the four horsemen. We can borrow all we like, because there will be no tomorrow.
But many other people, especially in other countries, differ. The beliefs of frightened Christians aside, people in the other religions and cultures in the world do not generally believe that we are going to hell in a handbasket.
They believe that the world is slowly working out all our differences. They believe we are headed into a planetary culture. While we may retain our own governments and religions, our values and standards will be global. Law will become global.
This means that if you break it, you pay for it. Sooner or later.
Our descendents will receive the bill for Iraq's and Iran's rebuilding.
Consider how Cuban landowners whose land was confiscated during the socialist days of the Cuban revolution are now planning on getting it back, perhaps through the courts, the day Castro dies. They lost that land 43 years ago. Who will be suing us 43 years from now for the losses we've brought down on them today?
So not only are we burdening our grandchildren by our borrowing to fund a foolish war, we may also be setting them up for a big cash judgement. Against them.
Can we picture first, not the flexing of our own prowess, but what we want the world to look like when we're through with this Iran exercise?
Every action invokes an opposite and equal reaction. What reaction would we like to invoke from the other side? What result do we hope to obtain? What benefit, and how much will it cost?
Can we do something that invokes friendship?
If we don't begin to ask these questions, one of these days the world is going to put this country in a play-pen.
posted by Dan McIntyre at 6:01 PM
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