Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from an op-ed in The Washington Post.
By Fareed Zakaria
In 1989, Margaret Thatcher said in a toast to Mikhail Gorbachev, “Both our countries know from bitter experience that conventional weapons do not deter war in Europe, whereas nuclear weapons have done so for over 40 years. As a deterrent there is no substitute for them.”
If deterrence doesn’t work, then why are we not preparing preventive war against Russia, which still has a fearsome arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles? Or against Pakistan, home to a military-intelligence regime that has been implicated in more major acts of terrorism in the past 10 years than Iran has in the past hundred? The argument that Iran would be deterred does not rest on its reasonableness but on the regime’s desire to survive. “Rulers want to have a country that they can continue to rule,” says Kenneth Waltz, one of the most distinguished theorists of international relations.
To gain credibility with his conservative critics and with the current Israeli government, President Obama has gone along with them, ruled out containment, insisted that he does not bluff and spoken of a “window” of opportunity for negotiations. This might prove a serious error: It boxes in the United States, limits Obama’s options and forces him on a path that could push him into an unnecessary, preventive war.
Anguish over the prospect of an Iranian nuclear weapon is understandable. It would be better for Israel, the Middle East and the world if Tehran does not acquire such weapons. The U.S. effort, in collaboration with almost the entire international community, to prevent this from happening and to put tremendous pressure on Tehran, is the right policy. But were Tehran to persist, were its regime to accept the global isolation and crippling costs that would come from its decision, a robust policy of containment and deterrence would work toward Iran as it did against Stalin’s Soviet Union, Mao’s China, Kim Jong Il’s North Korea and the Pakistani military.
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i hope there won't be another war... it seems like israel will strike iran this year, though...
America should really reexamine its relationship with israel.
It's NOT Israel, it's Iran who is threatening other countries with a war. If there will be no other option to deter Iran force will be used to do it.
History tells us otherwise, Iran was invaded by Saddam Husain and fought a 10 year war, whereas check out all its neighbors, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, and Bahrain, at least 9 countries in the region and none had a dispute with Iran that resulted in hostilities, whereas in case of Israel, just let me know of one neighbor where Israel did not go to war at least once, and name another country on earth which is an occupying force for so many human beings.
wizarat you make some point with the talking about the number of neighbors that Israel has had wars with, but your point falls apart when you consider that in pretty much all of Israel's wars Israel was not the primary beligerent. This means that they were struck by the other country or some agent within the country using that country as a shield. The casus belli was for the most part due to attacks on Israel first. And in the case of Iran why are its other neighbors concerned about this country that has never attacked them, much lest attacked them first, having nukes. When the people who think like you think you shouldn't have nukes, where there's smoke there is usually fire, maybe you shouldn't have nukes.
Don't worry! The Iranian president is nothing but a small man with big bluffs! Even if he speaks of war (which he hasn't) the majority of Iranian people will not support it. Iran has gone through 8-9 years of war already and it's been more than enough for the people
Wizarat... Israel DID NOT start any war with any of its neighbors without being attacked first.
wizarat dont know
You are wrong and GIGI is right. We should leave Iran alone The idea that Iran is suicidal is nonsense. Their last serious war was put on them by Iraq with encouragement from the US. Our policies toward Iran over the last 100 years have been a series of disasters! War with Iran will destroy the world oil market and economy for a long time!
What do you expect if you invade next door !
Iraq war has been harmful to us in more than few ways DAMN it BUSH what did you do to our country !!! (:
Thinker23 – Technically, Israel started the Six-Day War in 1967 without being attacked first. It is, however, true that Arab nations were massing their forces for a probable attack when Israel surprised them.
Yes, "technically." So what is your point?
History has nothing to do with the present state of affairs about iran.
NO> this regime is morally corrupt....murderous unsympathetic and suicidal psycho-suicidal with
their belief in death and vestal virgins, and return of the mahdi in a world of chaos which IRAN WANTS TO
BRING ABOUT!!!
After the break-up of the former Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War strategists began to believe that nuclear deterrence was at best a dated concept. The world has been seeing new asymmetric patterns of warfare such as terrorism and other sorts of armed conflict, but no nuclear fear until recently. Now the issue of deterrence sees a revival. Would it work again. Yes, in game theory, deterrence is founded on cost-benefit analysis. (1) What make nuclear deterrence so special are the intrinsic characteristics of nuclear weapons. (2) Their destructive capability is such that only the most perfect protection against their effects would guarantee that an aggressor’s cost-benefit analysis would favour a gain on his part. Perfect protection, however, simply does not exist. Moreover, nuclear deterrence depends on more than just nuclear weapons: it also depends on the proper balance of those weapons to the infrastructure of military' and political power.
MAD, mutually assured destruction relies on the idea that neither party is suicidal. The thing that worried most people throughout the nuclear standoff with the USSR was that someone would go crazy and push the button. How many Russians or Americans were willing to die to start a war? None. Now, let's put Iran into the equation. How many Islamic martyers have strapped bombs to their bodies and willingly given their lives to murder the hated Jews or take down buildings in the Great satan? I don't believe you can compare the two. There is a mindset with the Islamic extremeist that didn't exist in the vodka soaked Russian that makes the two apples and oranges. Will an Islamic extremeist that really believes that god wants him to kill, push the button? I think I don't want to wait and see.
the reason nuclear weapons are a deterrent now is because there are few of them, they are tightly controlled and it is easy to identify who's attacking you even before there is a mushroom over your country. if the npt is allowed to be trampled on – there will be nuclear arms races popping up everywhere, there will be hundreds of thousands of weapons world-wide, invariably some of them will get lost, stolen, sold or even handed out to terrorists, and there will be no way in hell to say who's responsible for the missile launched from a sub in the middle of the ocean or for a device detonated in a shipping container in one of your ports, or one that was smuggled in over your unprotected border. nuclear chaos. mutual assured destruction will turn into imminent and inevitable destruction.
kevin
right on target.
WHat about all those russian ones that are missing, where did they go? The gov did not sell them they were stolen durring the whole ussr melt down.
“All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach.”
Adolf Hitler quotes (German Chancellor, leader of the Nazi party, 1889-1945)
The country that is terrified of Iran is a serious nuclear power. (?)
Thinker23, then why is it that "ISRAEL" has started COUNTLESS WARS in it's little short lived existence of less than 100 years, and yet Iran hasn't started "ONE WAR" in the last 200 plus years???? STOP YOUR SPIN AND GO BACK UNDER THE ROCK YOU CRAWLED FROM IN HELL AVIV!
Go bang your head on the ground a little harder next time .
Man anyone who belives in the false prophet childmolster mohamad is a sinner of the worst kind .
worst yet you muslim devils actully have your woman take children to pray to a childmolester .
I guess thats why muslims live on their knees .
I think Ill go to Mc Ds and have a muslim make me a bacon double cheese burger.
which wars did israel "start" ignoramus? did they also teach you that the brave arabs "won" all of those wars?
how is life upside-down?
Give me the name of one war Israel "started" in which there was no provocation.
What war has Iran started? How about the one they started against the United States in 1979?
Israel DID NOT start any war without being attacked first, "Joack O'Brien".
Joack sure ran away quickly huh???
“For the Moslems, make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it”
Adolf Hitler quotes (German Chancellor, leader of the Nazi par
The Nazi-Arab connection existed even when Adolf Hitler first seized power in Germany in 1933. News of the Nazi takeover was welcomed by the Arab masses with great enthusiasm, as the first congratulatory telegrams Hitler received upon being appointed Chancellor came from the German Consul in Jerusalem, followed by those from several Arab capitals. Soon afterwards, parties that imitated the National Socialists were founded in many Arab lands, like the "Hisb-el-qaumi-el-suri" (PPS) or Social Nationalist Party in Syria. Its leader, Anton Sa'ada, styled himself the Führer of the Syrian nation, and Hitler became known as "Abu Ali" (In Egypt his name was "Muhammed Haidar"). The banner of the PPS displayed the swastika on a black-white background. Later, a Lebanese branch of the PPS – which still receives its orders from Damascus – was involved in the assassination of Lebanese President Pierre Gemayel.
The most influential party that emulated the Nazis was "Young Egypt," which was founded in October 1933. They had storm troopers, torch processions, and literal translations of Nazi slogans – like "One folk, One party, One leader." Nazi anti-Semitism was replicated, with calls to boycott Jewish businesses and physical attacks on Jews. Britain had a bitter experience with this pro-German mood in Egypt, when the official Egyptian government failed to declare war on the Wehrmacht as German troops were about to conquer Alexandria.
Iran has proclaimed a desire to wipe Isreal off the map and STILL people seem to think this is Israel's fault. ALL the land Israel owns now is theirs. palesinians have no valid claim to it. Israel is being shelled EVERYDAY. Israel will protect itself with or without us AND with the aid of a much higher authority.
The only higher authority Israel has is the USA. If you believe otherwise you must be delusional.
If USA was to remove all support for Israel, I would like to see how long Israel would last if they continue
their aggresive posture. Its easy to be aggressive when big brother got your back.
At best they would use MAD protocol if they were cornered.
Ronniq... I'm not sure what is your definition of "aggressive posture" but Israel ALWAYS offered peace to its enemies. In two cases, the enemies of Israel agreed to negotiate a peace agreement and peace was established between Israel and these two neighbors as a result. It is unfortunate but all other neighbors of Israel doe not recognize the right of Israel to EXIST. In addition, you may recall that Israel somehow managed not only to survive but to defeat all its enemies in three major wars in 1948, 1967 and 1973 WITHOUT American support despite the almost unlimited support the Arab states enjoyed from the Soviet Union. Something to think about, don't you agree?
The countries capable of wiping Israel of the map already have the bomb. Iran does not!
Truth about Israel from a REAL Jew... Watch Al Jazeera interview of Rabbi Dovid Weiss on Youtube
Some people with limited intelligence consider tales they like to be the "truth" ONLY because they like these tales...
“Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination. This is the war of the future.”
Adolf Hitler quotes (German Chancellor, leader of the Nazi party, 1889-1945)
Heinrich Himmler liked the Idea of islam, that warriors who died in battle fly directly into heaven. So the main reason for the collaboration, i guess, was because the "fight" against the jews and british, which were both enemies to arabs and germans in their ideology.
Same old, Same old.
Iran has stated, many times, that it desires Israel's annihilation. If they have the means, i.e. nuclear weaponry, then they will strive to attain that end.
Let's say you your closest geographic neighbor publicly states, 'I hate my neighbor's house. It is nicer than mine. I would annihilate it if I could.' Then you find out he's building something that can be used to accomplish that goal.
Would you worry? Would you want to defend your home?
Better yet, would you hope that your closest friend, who happens to live in the next county over, would at most come to your aid or at least support your decision to defend your home?
We'd better hope & pray Israel stops Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Iran and Muslims in general are a threat to the entire World ...connect the dots across the globe & throughout history, Islam is and has always been a violent miiltary movement.
israel doesn't have the guts to attack iran. they might attempt a false flag operation, you know, like bombing the world trade centers to get america to do it's dirty work. i'm not saying israeli's would fly airplanes into buildings; but the mossad could easily claim to be al queda and train some iranian radicals to do the job? sound familiar?
People need to read their history Gigi. The so called democracy of Israel is not but a nation of war mongering hateful people. They did start the war of 1967, preemptive or not. They did displace an entire people through force and propaganda in 1948. Some quotes from their leaders include:
"We shall reduce the Arab population to a community of woodcutters and waiters" Yitzhak Rabin
"We must do everything to insure they ( the Palestinians) never do return....The old will die and the young will forget."
"We have to kill all the Palestinians unless they are resigned to live here." Both by Ben Guirion
"One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail" Theodor Herzl
The US should reconsider all foreign relationships and Israel is one in need of serious need of being changed.
And i can't be anti semetic cause I am semetic...Palestinians are Semites too!
You people are naive communists, typical liberal point of view, give it up. Use common sense.
Let Iran get nukes, then see what happens. Be like sheep, dumb and follow. Pacify and hope, like Chamberlain did with Hitler.
And Fareed – quit comparing Iran with Russia or N Korea, there is zero comparison. Sir, you do it over and over and you look dumb. Iran has said that they will (not if, but when) wipe Irael off the earth. What if they declared that stance on the USA?
This is all Liberal posturing, Come on, get real, or get smarter. So obvious.
If they get nukes it can be predicted that thru Mexico a suitcase/trunk nuke will be imported across our border to a major US city with 5 years, compliments of Iran. They have already tried some things. They have declared they will wage war on us. Does that mean armies and ships and planes? Uhhh, no.
And did Russia or N Korea ever take a US embassy and a huge group of hostages for hundreds of days? "Rational people"? Right. Camon, I know you liberals know better than that.
Why do you always take the position that defies logic, I always wonder...
Ron, name calling does not look good. No one is a naive communist sheep who is just like Chamberlain simply because you disagree with him.
Setting that aside, it looks like you'd like to hear some "common sense." 'Not sure what you're referring to exactly, but I'll give it my best shot regardless...
One more-than-mildly risky way to deal with the threat of truck and suitcase nukes is to declare preventive war on every international trouble-maker – one by one – and hope that the timing of those war declarations isn't even the slightest bit off (lest trouble maker Z reacts to an attack on trouble maker A by sending a bomb our way).
Now, I'm a lay-person who pays attention to this stuff as a hobby – a far cry from particularly intelligent or strategy savvy. Therefore it is safe to assume this: if a lame policy hobbyist like me can punch holes like that into the "common sense" approach of preventative war, then chances are good that 'said approach is not the best one – or even a very good one for that matter.
Sorry if anything I said in this post was offensive or unclear.
As a matter of fact, there are only two choices in dealing with Iran. The first is to deal with Iran that DOES NOT HAVE nuclear weapons yet. The second is to deal with NUCLEAR Iran. The latter choice means a NUCLEAR war. Which one do you prefer?
The thinking that Ron represents is the cause of appearance of terrorism and the reason that some nations may want to acquire nukes as a deterrence. The predatory thinking that you can attack nation after nation and destroy their countries and enslave their people will clearly create resistance around the world.
@ ron – YAWN! Another zionist agent getting paid by posting propaganda rubbish!
YAWN! Another dirty muslim childmolester getting paid by posting propaganda rubbish!
in world war 2 a dude called "the grand mufit of Jerusalem", searched for allies in a fight against the british and the jews. He found an ally in hitler.
The grandmufti rested some years in germany, payed with german taxes of the nazi gov, visited some concentration camp and pushed the nazis to increase the killing of the jews. Organised a muslim divison called Handschar and other stuff. Was later searched as a criminal.
Details here–> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Am…
It`s said he played an important role with the antisemitismn in palastine which is present up to this day.
http://www.seraphicpress.com/images/Pale…
http://home.comcast.net/~jimsondergeld/H…
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7130/…
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2257/2387…
Garbage!
Maybe it defies your logic, which is probably good.
When it comes down to it, who do you think may know more
about such things: Zakaria or the people posting on this website with contrary views.
Zakaria leans left like a gas gauge on E, as does CNN.
Furthermore, this isn't news. This is opinion. Editorial.
It is DESIGNED to forment discussion, from both sides.
People like Ron (and myself) simply get tired of the far left abandoning common sense (not to mention the numerous examples we've seen throughout history) and thinking that if we keep negotiating with these regimes that they'll evenually give up their ideas of conquest.
The only thing you said that made sense is you don't like Liberals. SO WHAT!
FYI , Iran has never said it wants to wipe the isreal off the map. This is us media translation. They say they do not believe in Isreal as a Jewish state .
Where exactly did they say that?
Unfortunately Wiki isn't the best source of info, but...
"Our dear Imam (referring to Ayatollah Khomeini) said that the occupying regime must be wiped off the map and this was a very wise statement. We cannot compromise over the issue of Palestine. Is it possible to create a new front in the heart of an old front. This would be a defeat and whoever accepts the legitimacy of this regime has in fact, signed the defeat of the Islamic world. Our dear Imam targeted the heart of the world oppressor in his struggle, meaning the occupying regime. I have no doubt that the new wave that has started in Palestine, and we witness it in the Islamic world too, will eliminate this disgraceful stain from the Islamic world."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_and_Israel
Gigi, how about we "examine" your sense of loyalty. Do you know any of your history? Obviously not.
I would hate to have you watching my back.
never trust a muslim goes without saying .
would you let a dog into your house that was not house broken ?
Would you let a dog into your house if it has a history of killing people?
Wow... do you even know any Muslims to say that? And I am Christian by the way.... hate begets hate.. ask yourself what would Jesus say about that comment?
I would let any dog in my house, better than a lying, warmonger like Ahmadinedork and his followers.
Zakaria , write something from your own independent thinking . You have become a mouthpice of OBAMA administration . You wrote in your one Blog that it is not clear has Iran nuclear weapon or trying to produce nuclear weapon . You want to deter Iran from doing something that you are not sure . And How can Iran be a global threat ? If Iran drop one nuke on Israel , USA will not hesitate to drop thousand on Iran . Which fool will dare to use nuke against West ?
Times of the Iron Lady had the trend of "power look, lion's mane and padded shoulders". So was the name of the "ıron lady. I do not still believe rhat Iran has nuclear powers or intentions. They have as much nuclear intention as the Greek had in growing olives or Iraqians having chemical abusives. But I strongly advise you to watch the film called "the Cnadian Bacon". That film is about the answer.
If you do not believe that Iran has nuclear ambitions you should have no troubles to explain how will Iran possibly use hundreds of those intermediate- and long-range ballistic missiles that are virtually harmless without proper (unconventional) warheads. I'm all ears...
who cares what fareed thinks or says any way.
Uhhm, pretty much everyone here or we would not be commenting on it.
But I dont think many people really care what most people on this forum say (including me ie)
Einstein summed it up long ago.
What he said then (see http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/voice3_text) is still applicable today.
Generations do change, but usually only very slowly. So until mankind can begin reversing and reducing the causes that bring about the need for us to steal and kill, the prospect of a bright future keeps getting slimmer.
It would be better for everyone everywhere to smarten up and just think about it, preferably sooner than later.
The false fabricated threat of Iran allows many politicians around the world to scapegoat and take away the focus from the real problems. It certainly allows Netanyahu to continue to disregard Palestinians' peril and continue the rule of Aparthaid. It also allows him to disregard socio-economic problems in Israel by fear-mongering. World needs wisdom of politicians that take care of environment, create employment and spread cooperation and not politicians that spend trillions of dollars on wars justified on lies in order to satisfy military-industries and powerful lobbies.
The FACT is that Iran is doing everything it can to convince the world that it is developing nuclear weapons and that these weapons will be used to destroy Israel. On the other hand, NO ONE has any reasons to attack PEACEFUL Iran. This means that (at least according to the logic of some Jew-haters here) that Iranian leaders are traitors and Zionist agents.
Further, the Palestinians could have peace and a sovereign independent state long ago just for the asking. A sovereign independent state was offered to Palestinian Arabs in 1948, 1967, 1978, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2009 and they've REJECTED it every single time declaring that NOTHING short of destruction of Israel would satisfy them. As long as the Palestinians are willing the war to continue it will continue and more Palestinians will be killed. This (again) mean that Palestinian leaders are traitors and Zionist agents (again, according to the logic of some Jew-haters here).
Is not it time for these people to realize that peace can only be achieved when BOTH sides are willing to NEGOTIATE a peace agreement? Blaming Israel and the Jews for their troubles is easy but it will not prevent or end the wars and will make the situation of the Palestinians as well as their Iranian sponsors more difficult and complicated.
BS!
Didn't Saddam Hussein do the same thing in Iraq? He allowed the West to believe that he had weapons of mass destruction because he thought that might deter an invasion. However on the contrary, the Supreme Leader in Iran has consistently condemned nuclear weapons as immoral but loudly proclaims Iran's right to develop niuclear power. The nations of the world also reaffirm that right. It is about time that negotiatioins begin in earnest. Turkey and Russia should be employed and the rhetoric should be lowered.We had better consider our position in the world and especially in the Middle East. An attack on Iran while perhaps in the leadership short term interest of Israel and Saudi Arabia would unite the peoples of the muslim world against us.The Muslim Street wants peace; a two state solution for Israel and Palestine; and a better life.The wheel of history is turning in a new direction and we should go with the flow. Unfortunately elections are in progress and the timing is not good.
Neither Iranians are doing every thing to convince the world that they have a weapon program as you say nor Palestinians were ever given a real chance. You may sell these types of stories in a few countries through massive propaganda but fewer and fewer people believe these narratives. Both the fabricated "wipe off story" repeated a million times daily in some Western media and moving settlers even into cities like Hebron illustrate well the real agendas. The fact remains that Israel is an Aparthaid system today regardless of which narrative it comes up with to justify its tribal inhumane rule.
What apartheid?
The west bank and the Gaza strip are not parts of Israel anymore.
That's a big chunk of the country that has been split off.
They even have their own airports, sea ports and universities. What else do you want?
The fact that a lot of them come to Israel to work is their problem (mostly owing to the fact that their universities teach nothing but hate).
Netanyahu doesn't rule any palestinian.
Bob D... While the West Bank are not and never were parts of Israel they DO NOT HAVE any airports and the only sea port they have in Gaza is blocked by Israel.
You mean West bank is an independent country ? So how come you guys went mad in the UN when they asked for statehood ? Who are you going to fool ? So what are the borders of this Palestinian country and what do Israli soldiers do in cities like Hebron where 400 settles carry weapons in the middle of tens of thousands of Palestinians ?
This is well thought out and brings some hope for preventing the need to go to war, but having a second country that could easily outperform Pakistan (if you count the Iranian suicidal proxies of Hezbollah and Hamas, it may already outperform Pakistan) just doesn't make one feel comfortable.
Just how do you contain Iran's leaders who seem capable of providing nuclear weapons to suicidal people willing to deliver them against Israeli, and American targets. It's possible some of the civilian supporters of Hezbollah and Hamas would willingly die even if not involved, just for the sake of successfully attacking Israel or the USA. Everyone would be considered a hero who died for the cause of destroying Israel or the American target.
I am not sure we in the USA would retaliate with a nuclear strike on Iran because of the damage it would do to that part of the world; Additionally, odds are someone over there would find a way to twist such a retaliation against criminals into a US strike against religion. These are some of the challenges as I see them.
I am not sure Iran will take our containment efforts seriously.
Respected, Mr. Fareed Zakaria Garu, According to the Globalisation verdict, Iran is a good Dmeocratic country. so deterrent and negotiation is no need to Iran.
As a matter of fact, there are only two choices in dealing with Iran. The first is to deal with Iran that DOES NOT HAVE nuclear weapons yet. The second is to deal with NUCLEAR Iran. The latter choice means a NUCLEAR war.
What circular logic...so the solution is to blow up every country that is "pre-nuclear"? Never mind that Israel's got over 300 nukes AND doesn't allow inspectors in. No surprise there. Hypocrisy and double standards are the U.S. and Israel middle names.
The solution is NOT to blow up every country having nuclear weapons. You may understand it better if you recall that most of us do not have problems with police officers carrying guns but we have problems with violent criminals carrying the very same guns.
Israel has ICBM nukes and has threatened Iran's very existence. Of course Iran wants nukes. Iran needs a nuclear deterrent. Resolution lies not with further threatening or attacking Iran, but with immediate and severe UN sanctions disrupting Israel's exercise of its deranged fixations on dominance and invulnerability.
what israeli nukes ? have a picture of 1 ? how big is the nuke ? how many launchers ?
does israel already have a nuke in iran? just how many icbm are we talking about .
does israeli subs really have nukes on them ? how come iran cant find the israeli subs
What nonsense! Every Tom , Dick and Harry on the planet knows that Israel's got nukes. But they are "protected" from the transparency rules that everybody else must abide by.
Israel NEVER threatened Iran's "very existence" or the existence of any other country. To the contrary, Israel offered peace to each one of its enemies since the first day of its independence... but feel free to PROVE ME WRONG by showing official Israeli statements declaring that Iran or any other country DOES NOT HAVE the right to exist and should "disappear from the page of time". Good luck!
Israel has never used a nuclear weapon in any war. And has never said it wanted to destroy Iran. This has nothing to do with Israel. No one outside Iran wants Iran to be able to have a bomb.
Iran Could Consider Surrender Option?
http://iranandiranian.blogspot.com/2012/03/iran-could-consider-surrender-option.html
The escalation of war option by the US and Israel could lead to the surrender of Iran.
The United Kingdom (UK) and Soviet Union forced Reza Shah to surrender Iran to them in World War II. What is the other option for the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI)? Going to war will result of the annihilation of Iran.
The US is under pressure economically in one hand and under pressure by influential Jewish citizen of America to wage war against Iran. The US Governments are looking for an exit from economic desperation. It is right time for Jewish lobbyist to push the US into unwanted war by majority of American people.
President Obama is under pressure by Republican politicians and Jewish lobbyist in the same time. He is afraid to lose election because of Iran war option. In one hand he likes to save the US economy by not waging war on Iran, on other hand he do not want to lose election.
President Carter faced similar option and he lost election because he was soft on Iran.
President Obama is under pressure to not repeat President Carter mistake.
The war will hurt Iranian people and could hurt the US to join UK and France after war. The UK and France lost power to the US and Russian after World War II. The US could lose the power to China after this war.
Please Read my books of the “An Atomic Iran” and the “Return of the Medes” to understand better the Iranian people and the conflict between Arab and Israel.
NK faced decades of Western isolation, propaganda, sanctions, military exercises on its borders, threats of an attack and public humiliation from the West and it survived! So why can't Iran survive the same? You keep bullying and threatening someone, eventually they will take a stand and defeat you! Let's face it, if Iran remains resilient, it will eventually achieve its desired end result!
I haven't read your books, but no country has ever surrendered before the war began. If your books are on that level, I think there's nothing in there that will enlighten me.
It's simple to understand the conflict between the arabs and Israel. The arabs say that Israel doesn't have the rigth to exist and should be destroyed. To survive Israel must defend itself in a hostel environment. (oh, also death to all other infidels who don't believe as we do).
That comment Admanedjad made about Israel is often exaggerated and taken out of context! Furthermore, that comment is not a position shared by Iran nor is it part of its doctrine that says Israel should not exist! President Adminedjad was the only person in Iran to ever made that statement and he didn't make that statement because he feels intrinsically that Israel shouldn't exist! He made the statement in reference to Israel's continued occupancy of disputed land and its long term atrocity and genocide against the Palestinian people! Let's face it, the Palestinians throw stones at Israel and in retaliation Israel drops cluster bombs and missles on refugee villages, schools and hospitals. These kinds of atrocities would bring out any kind of condemnation and anger from anyone especially when the West continues to supply Israel with the means and capacity to continue their ethnic cleansing!
Hmmm... President of Iran declared that "the regime in Jerusalem will vanish from the page of time" and NO ONE was able to explain the MEANING of his words. The Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei declared that "Iran will help any nation or group that confronts the "cancer" Israel". His predecessor Ayatollah Rafsanjani called "Muslim states to use nuclear weapon against Israel, assuring them that while such an attack would annihilate Israel, it would cost them "damages only".
So WHO IS A LIAR HERE, in your opinion, Netanyahu or YOU???
Israel has pushed US into many costly wars but this one will totally bankrupt American people.
President of Iran actually later was asked by an American reporter about what he meant by saying "vanishing the regime occupying Jerusalem with time" and he said like fall of the Soviet regime. Now how this story has been sold worldwide as Iran wanting to wipe off Israel militarily can only be explained by power of propaganda !
comment
The biggest problem is that Iran will not hessitate to give nukes to terrorists if Iran has them. Iran may not use them for fear of being turned into a glassed over parking lot...but dollars to donuts says Iran will give them to terrorists to target western targets. Yeah, we can bomb the pudding out of Iran after Iranian nukes wipe out NY, LA, and DC...but will it really make you feel any better with those cities gone forever?
My, you really are scared!
There will be a war in the middle east soon, because we are in the end times the Bible says it
Zakaria always gets it wrong. In this piece, he says that deterrence is the best option and then says it doesn't work so why aren"t we using it against Russia and Pakistan? What the heck is he talking about? It simply makes no sense at all. Starting off with Maggie Thatcher saying that nukes are the best deterrent makes one wonder, why then, don't we 'deter' Iran by nuking them? I think Zak needs a vacation, he needs to calm down, he has a brain in there somewhere but he's having trouble with it ... even if he can't learn to think straight, he needs a vacation so we are not subjected to this kind of drivel for a while.
Read the full op-ed (follow the link). This is a porrly edited digest of the full piece. When Fareed says "If deterrence doesn’t work..." he is referring to the conservative who used to say deterrence was the answer but who now say it doesn't work and we need to pre-emptively strike Iran. As for the Thatcher quote she was referring to the deterrent effect of having nuclear weapons, not using them. Google Mutually Assured Destruction if you need more background on the concept.
Agree
Agree w Wastral I mean.
Russia, the US and other western countries place a high value on life and survival. Iran, being an islamic state, believes in martyrdom. Sacrificing their country and their lives fits right in with their religion. Nuclear deterrent may not work with such a country.
That is nonsense ,, but if you say it enough times someone might begin to believe it.
Iran has done nothing suicidal.
IM sorry but you cant deter the USSR. IT was so powerful that people had to contain it and appease it in the 1970s.
Im not going to deny that detante worked in the 70's, but then the USSR thinks they can do anything and they ended up invading Afghanistan. Thus bringing the end of detente and the start of the 80's cold war hysteria.
We can appease Iran, but only for so long, until they think they are powerful enough to act without threat.
also the last thing we want is a middle eastern cold war with iran vs the saudis, which is exactly whaty will happen if iran gets nukes. the Bahraini naval base will be threatened and the US will have to spend more money making bases around iran becvause rather then just getting rid of them, they actually have to listen because they have nukes
You didn't mention our mistakes in Afganistan. Iran has not invaded anybody!
Zakaria, for once you make sense
THE U.S. SHOULD GET OUT FAST.....THEY DON'T APPRECIATE WHAT WE ARE DOING.....IRAN ?? LET ISRAEL DEAL WITH THEM, NOT AMERICAS PROBLEM
Israel does not have strategic bombers, aircraft carriers or millions of troops so its options to deal with Iran are rather limited... and when Iran and its oil fields as well as oil fields in some Arab countries will be turned into a radioactive wasteland it WILL become not only an American problem but a problem of the entire world.
Yes, an Iran counter attack on Saudi oil production would have much of the world walking. (?) Buy a bicycle.
ناشطون سربوا آلاف الرسائل من بريد الأسد وزوجته أسماء (الفرنسية)
كشفت مجموعة من الرسائل الإلكترونية التي يعتقد بأنها تخص الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد وحصلت عليها صحيفة ذي غارديان البريطانية أنه تلقى خلال الثورة السورية نصائح وتوجيهات من إيران وجهات حليفة عن سبل مواجهة الانتفاضة الشعبية الواسعة التي تطالب برحيله عن السلطة.
وقبل كلمة الأسد -التي ألقاها عبر التلفزيون في ديسمبر/كانون الأول الماضي- تظهر الرسائل أنه تلقى مذكرة تحمل لائحة طويلة من الاقتراحات من مستشاره الإعلامي، الذي أوضح بأنه استشار بدوره "عددا لا بأس به من الشخصيات بالإضافة إلى المستشار السياسي للسفير الإيراني في دمشق".
"
قام الأسد بتشكيل حلقة من المساعدين الثقاة الذين يرفعون تقاريرهم إليه شخصيا متخطيا بذلك الأجهزة الأمنية وأعضاء طائفته العلوية المتنفذة، الأمر الذي يعتبر تطورا هاما في طريقة عمل النظام السوري
"
وقد تضمنت المذكرة نصيحة للأسد باستخدام لغة "قوية وعنيفة" في خطابه وأن يحرص على إظهار امتنانه من الدعم الذي تبديه "الدول الصديقة". كما نصحت المذكرة بأن يقوم الأسد بإظهار مدى القوة العسكرية التي تتمتع بها سوريا وأنها قادرة على مواجهة تحد عسكري.
كما كشفت الرسائل التي تم تنزيلها من قبل ناشطين سوريين من حسابات بريد إلكتروني خاصة بالأسد وزوجته السيدة أسماء، أن الأسد تلقى تقارير عن وجود صحفيين أجانب في حي بابا عمرو في حمص، وأصدر توجيهات بناء على ذلك في نوفمبر/تشرين الثاني الماضي تقضي بـ"تشديد القبضة الأمنية" على المدينة وبابا عمرو بالذات.
وتبين الرسائل أن الأسد خلال الانتفاضة السورية، قد قام بتشكيل حلقة من المساعدين الثقاة الذين يرفعون تقاريرهم إليه شخصيا متخطيا بذلك الأجهزة الأمنية وأعضاء طائفته العلوية المتنفذة، الأمر الذي يعتبر تطورا هاما في طريقة عمل النظام السوري، ومؤشرا على شعوره بالخطر الداهم.
وكانت الرسائل الإلكترونية التي تم رصدها تستخدم نظاما بريديا خاصا بموقع اسمه الشهباء دوت كوم، وهي مجموعة شركات تابعة للنظام السوري لها مكاتب في دبي ولندن. وقد تم اختراق نظام الرسائل الإلكترونية للموقع في شهر يونيو/حزيران الماضي واستمر الناشطون بالتمتع بدخول حر وكامل للحسابات البريدية ونسخ كل شيء موجود فيها. استمر هذا الوضع حتى تم اكتشاف الاختراق في فبراير/شباط الماضي أي بعد ستة أشهر.
وتلقي الرسائل الضوء على قيام الأسد بتشكيل لجنة من المستشارين لوضع إستراتيجية إعلامية وكيفية مواجهة موجة الانتقادات العالمية المتصاعدة ضد قمعه للانتفاضة الشعبية السورية المطالبة برحيله عن السلطة، والتي ذهب ضحيتها حوالي عشرة آلاف سوري إلى حد الآن حسب تقديرات حديثة.
وقد منح اختراق حسابات البريد الإلكتروني للأسد فرصة للناشطين لتحذير زملائهم في دمشق من نوايا النظام السوري في مناسبات عديدة.
وقد وفر الاختراق معلومات هامة وحساسة عن النظام السوري ورئيسه، ومن بينها رسائل من رجل أعمال لبناني يتمتع بصلات وثيقة مع النظام الإيراني وحزب الله اسمه حسين مرتضى. وقد قام مرتضى طبقا للرسائل بالكتابة إلى الرئيس الأسد بعد حادثة انفجار سيارتين في دمشق قبيل وصول المراقبين العرب، وحثّ مرتضى الأسد على التوقف عن اتهام القاعدة بتدبير انفجارات السيارات المفخخة، وأفاد مرتضى بأن اتصالات وردته من إيران وحزب الله توافقه الرأي ووصف اتهام القاعدة بأنه خطأ إعلامي تكتيكي يصب في مصلحة الولايات المتحدة والمعارضة السورية.
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رجل أعمال لبناني مقرب من إيران وحزب الله نصح الأسد بالسيطرة على الميادين والساحات العامة بين الساعة الثالثة عصرا والتاسعة مساء لحرمان المعارضين السوريين من فرصة التجمع
"
وفي رسالة أخرى، أبدى مرتضى للأسد اعتقاده بأن على قوات النظام السوري السيطرة على الميادين والساحات العامة بين الساعة الثالثة عصرا والتاسعة مساء لحرمان المعارضين السوريين من فرصة التجمع.
يذكر أن إيران وحزب الله قد كانا متهمين طوال سنة -هي عمر الانتفاضة السورية ضد الأسد-، بأنهما يقدمان دعما عمليا على الأرض لنظام الأسد، مثل إرسال مقاتلين وخبراء تقنيين لتعقب الناشطين السوريين الذين يستخدمون الإنترنت، إلا أن كلا من إيران وحزب الله قد دأبا على إنكار تلك التهم.
من جهة أخرى كشفت المراسلات المسربة أن الأسد اعتمد بشكل كبير على امرأتين سوريتين درستا في الولايات المتحدة، في مجال الاستشارات الإعلامية. وتظهر المراسلات أن المرأتين هما شهرزاد الجعفري وهديل العلي واللتان دأبتا على إحاطة الأسد بأهمية التواصل على شبكة الإنترنت.
وكان التلفزيون السوري قد أفاد في فبراير/شباط بعد اكتشاف الاختراق وقبل نشر الرسائل المسربة أن العناوين الخاصة بموقع الشهباء دوت كوم لا تمت بصلة للرئيس الأسد وذلك في محاولة لنزع الثقة عن أي ترسيبات مستقبلية.
SYRIAN PRESIDENT THE EVIL BASHAR AL KALB TAKEN ADVISE FROM IRAN ARMY ABOUT THE BEST WAY TO KILL THE SUNNI. SOME SUGGESTS BURNING THE BODIES, , MORE THAN 23,000 PRIOSNERS WERE KILLED AND CUT TO PEACES AND THERE BODIES PUT IN THE SEA, SOME SEND TO IRAN BY IRANIANS SHIPS AND NOW IN IRAN PRSIONS TO BE USED AS HUMAN SHIELDS...
SYRIAM REGIEME SENDING CASH AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS TO HIZBOALLAH USING AT LEAST 12 LARGE TRUCKS A DAY....IT IS A FACT WE HAVE AN EYE WITNESS ON THE GROUND WATCHING THIS ...WHERE ARE THE USA AND UK INTELGIENTS!!!! WAKE UP NATO , ATTACK SYRIA AND HIZBOALLAH NOW BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, IRAN ARE HELPING AROUND THE CLOCK WITH CASH, WEAPONS AND TO MAKE SURE THAT IF THEY GO SYRIA AND HIZBOALLAH HAVE PLACES FOR THEM TO HID WITH MONEY AND SUPPLIES/
Let's see, war with Syria, Hezebola, Iran and Afganistan! Did I miss anybody? In the meantime if you really want to worry, how about Pakistan who does have the bomb and a dis-functional government!
Riddle me this Fareed: Has any country ever been successful at denying another country the ability to serve its people? Do you really think breaking that society down by HOPING to create an internal regime change will be successful? Show me exactly where in history that has worked where WE DIDN"T HAVE TO GO TO WAR. Starve the regime, its people, etc, go ahead...works so well in NK, worked awesome in Africa nations...you're an awesome analyst bro.
Exactly. Insanity (or stupidity) as defined by Einstein. "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result".
Fareed, get a hammer and hit your head again....
Me thinks Fareed may be...one of them!
Do you have mental problems? Take your meds.
A very naive article. The US and USSR were rational adversaries. Both knew an attack would be mutual destruction. This is what kept the first missile from getting launched. Iran is not ruled by rational people who value life. A death resulting in martyrdom is considered an honor and more valuable than life itself. Iran has also expressed its wish to wipe Israel off the map and will likely try to do so once they have the ability, perceived or otherwise, to accomplish this goal. You cannot "contain" a country with this as their "mission" and their belief that their destruction is honorable.
As some people have mentioned, the difference is that deterrence worked in the past for rationally minded (under the western view of rational) people, in that they didn't want to risk harm to their people, but Iran does not have that same interest. Iran is willing to sacrifice as many people as it needs to in order to accomplish their goals. The only solution is then to take out those people who are pushing those goals. Deterrence in this case would be deterring the world from stopping a horrible power committing tremendous atrocities. We have the power now to stop Iran while it is small, why wait when it's larger and more powerful?
Seems very strange argument when Iran today is a thousand times freer in comparison than Russia under Stalin. Actually Iran is both socially and politically 100 times freer, in relative terms, than some Western allies in the region like Saudi Arabia.
Those other countries aren't beating up and arresting protesters like they are in Iran. The Iranian economy is being shut down by the sanctions. You know the people there are as oppressed as anywhere.
So Mr. Netenyahu says Iran's nuclear program is "approaching the point of no return!" So how do you define or explain the point of no return? Does Netenyahu have an insider in Iran's nuclear facilities gauging daily its progress and extent of enriched uranium? And does Netenyahu have an insider in Iran's government to update and brief him on Iran's intentions whether or not to build a nuclear bomb to wipe Israel off the face of the earth? And by the way Mr. Netenyahu, since you have so much worldwide knowledge and insight on what's happening in the countries of your neighbors, could you please tell us where Saddam Hussein hid the WMD's that inspired our legitimate invasion?
Apparently, poor baby, on your planet they've never heard about military intelligence...
Military intelligence? Nobody predicted the fall of the Soviet Union, fall of the Berlin Wall, 9-11, The market crash in2008 and the twin disasters in Iraq and Afganistan. So are you reading tea leaves?
how do you know "nobody predicted the "fall of the Soviet ..."? Is that another lie your imam told you?
They have been saying that since 1985 ! Actually NIE and CIA believe Iran hasn' a nuclear weapon program.
NIE (CIA and 15 other US agencies) reported in 2011 and 2007 that Iran has not a nuclear weapon program and has not yet decided to build one.
Prove it or shut the hell up.
IRAN is not a threat to anyone in the region, especially Israel! Look, Pakistan and India have had nukes for a long time and they have not destroyed each other. Yes they have threatened each other but did not strike. They know better not to destabilize the region. Get the US out of the middle east period and look after your own people and country. There are to many more important issues back home.
Agree!
mohamad told bigger lies , they even have a book full of lies called the koran
So, you're telling us that Israelis should just sit idle waiting to be nuked and hoping that Iranian leaders LIED when they've promised to destroy the "cancer of the Middle East"? Would YOU do it if you were in their shoes?
So just who has the bomb and is likely to bomb Israel? (?)
read the news and educate yourself before trying to participate in a forum.
USA must invite a dialoogue with Iran rather than deter Iran on the issue of nuclear weapons to ensure that they are not likely to use for waging a war.This dialogue may help the world to believe what they say that it is for constuctive purposes.Without the dialogue,we all have to live with danger for an indefinite period. Diplomacy is always preferable. God Is Great.
While the West is scrutinizing and accusing Iran of failing to have concrete dialogue with the international community regarding its nuclear program, I find the criticism hypocritical and laughable! So how many decades now has the UN and the international community exhausted in vain trying to get Israel to get serious and hold serious dialogue and bring an end to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict? Half a century? At least Iran is making progress despite the unfair and unjust way in which we have singled it out and sufficated its people with outrageous sanctions!
But I have a nagging question to pose to Mr. Natenyahu!!! And that questions is if this nuclear conflict with Iran is resolved and Iran eventually decides to dismantle its nuclear program, will Israel follow suit (no not with its own program), but will Israel follow suit and give the Palestinian people their home land? Or will it be more decades of genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestine?
As long as the Palestinians are willing the war to continue it will continue and more Palestinians will be killed. When the number of dead Palestinians will satisfy those still alive they will ask for peace negotiations. Israel will gladly agree. If the negotiations will succeed a peace agreement defining the terms of peace, the exact borders between Israel and the still non-existing Palestinian state, the status of refugees, etc. will be signed. Then (and ONLY then) peace between Israel and the Palestinians will become possible.
Iran's policy mirrors Islam. Understanding Iran means understanding Islam's MO. Iran's supreme leader: the ayatollah is a resemblance of prophet Mohammed' conduct, thoughts, moral and ethical actions. This is the main difference with other dictators and regimes. Islam is irrational, violent, unpredictable, lacks basic ethical and moral standards. It is like treating a person with multiple personalities mostly negative, incoherent, without logic.
India continues to play a double game with Americans in Iran. On one hand, India has its begging bowl out for US FDI and technology transfer and on the other hand is assisting Iran in beating the sanctions, Shame on Indians for their duplicity with the American taxpayers who have given so much to them for so little in return. Time to take out the balance sheet with these Indians and stop the free lunches.
That tells your lack of knowledge about India's foreign policy....Indian's have their own problems..India has the second highest Sunni concentration in the world..They dont want to arouse them by taking sides...
Well done Iran. Build your nuclear industry. Make economic, technological, and scientific progress and prosper. These brainwashed, fat, diabetic, yankee, jewish b u t t k i s s e r s can choke on their McDonalds.
dont bash mac Ds , they are the only one hiring muslims
You must be washing dishes ova dere to know all this. LOL
Let us not forget that the nukes and missile technology were gifted by the South Koreans to the Indians while the Americans looked the other way. Reverse gifting from India to Iran could occur as quid pro quo for the oil that India is receiving from Iranians with alongwith some very creative financing. Let us call a spade a spade for a change Mr. Z.
We haven't even defined what victory means in Afghanistan and we're talking about going to war in Iran? What the hell is wrong with us?
Abdul, you would say anything to stop the war against your country. War is coming, and Iran is responsible. Deal with it!
I fear the U.S. is stupid enough to start a war with Iran, if China will loan us the money and we can get rid of that burdensome medicare and social security.
Going to war with Iran is not a question of stupidity but a question of necessity. If you know a better way to convince Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions than the use of force tell it to the US government. If you DON'T KNOW a better way to do it then it means that use of force against Iran is THE BEST WAY to prevent Iran from acquiring nukes you know. If you prefer to wait for Iran to acquire nukes and THEN deal with the consequences then it's YOU who has mental problems, NOT the U.S.
You know how you are always bemoaning the fact that AH did not finish the job "The Final Solution"? Well, here is what the butcher thought of Moslems,
It is a characteristic of the Moslem world, from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the Pacific, that what affects one, for good or for evil, affects all.
17th February 1945
This does not sound like a compliment.
Mind you, I have seen the weaves you have posted and, by a slight of hand, you can say anything and pronounce it correct==by the will of Allah!
Jeremy Bernstein of the New Yorker wrote an interesting e-single on Iran's developing nuclear program. Bernstein is a physicist, but it is more of a history of how we ended up in this "are they or aren't they developing weapons" situation. Worth reading, for those interested: http://goo.gl/RvCmG
Iran will become a nuclear power and nothing bad will happen. The same Chicken Littles who lied about Iraq will scream bloody murder the entire time. We learned who the liars are and we won't listen to them again.
They have been saying that since 1985 ! Actually NIE and CIA believe Iran has not got a nuclear weapon program.
The basic fact remains that Fareed is trying to make an argument mainly to support the left's seemingly "always pacifist" position, aka Chamberlain.
AGAIN – Iran is NOT a rational player compared to others in the nuke club, I.e.: Russia and North Korea. Those countries have never stated that they wanted to anialate another country, a race, or religion. Not exaggerating or being sarcastic here, but it's like Nazi talk. In addition, do you all rememeber Russia, N Korea, Pakastan, India, er all taking over an embassy and taking the people hostage, the government supporting and aiding this, mullahs, and holding them for hundred(s) of days? Please Fareed, quit the montra that Iran is rational player.
I do agree that all peace efforts should be initiated first. But even Obama says Iran cannot have nukes. He is right. But being naive and waiting too long is a dead end. That's how North Korea tricked and stalled everyone. It worked. But although they are scary and seem unstable, they have never crossed the line and have initiated positions like Iran.
Btw, I am not a Zionist....actually of German decent, and liberal on some issues, conservative on others. Just like to be logical.
look at history , country after country has threw out the JEWS
ever wonderd why . Perhaps they did not start wars but it seems they quite guilty of provoking the the other side . what bout that ?
...............
So, lets' blame the victim. Nice.
http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/iranian-commander-says-we-must-destroy-america-obama-warns-tehran-to-cut-deal-or-face-the-consequences/
Read this and tell me Iran doesn't want a war.....most of the Iranian citizens might not want war, but the leaders do
The one wants a war who attacks first. Wait and see who does
If hitler's Germany was attacked first in 1939, about 40 million people would have survived.
You obviously don't know much about war or history.
Check Arutz Sheva- israelnationalnews.com- just published. IRAN OFFERS PERMANENT HUMAN MONITORING on its uranium enrichment program(s). Senior Advisor to the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei MOHAMMAD JAVAD LARIIJANI- the leadership is distancing themselves away from Pres.Ahmedinejad by offering transparency and that it is not an official policy of Iran to obliterate Israel. Speaker of the Majlis Ali Larijani was previously the nuclear issues negotiator with the IAEA.
Fareed is the most transparent, pro-muslim, azz clown! We're going to incinerate a whole bunch of your buddies Fareed! All your BS isn't swaying a sole!
Detente will not work with hate-motivated fanatics. A fool's gambit Zakaria.
dont protect your killer this usa army shi t killed children and women he is cowered and he is not crazy, he must be hunged, he was fit to duity and he was checked and cleared by usa doctors and fit, so now dont play the crazy ticket liers ..– The American staff sergeant accused of killing 16 Afghans was on his way to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on Friday, his attorney told CNN.
The soldier has been in protective custody in Kuwait and was expected to arrive at Fort Leavenworth on Friday afternoon, said the soldier's civilian attorney, John Henry Browne.
Browne said he had spoken with his client Thursday and he seemed distant, like a deer in the headlights. Their conversation was curt because Browne said he did not believe the phone lines were secure.
But he said he was wary of why the soldier was deployed to Afghanistan after three tours of Iraq left him with mental and physical injury.
aNYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL...IN AFGHAN...HE WOULD NOT HAVE..
ALSO...It may not be his fault as he was mentally handicapped at the time the shooting happened.
I believe blame should be on the military brassor doctors that did not give him an opportunity to be examined
before his deployment....NOT HIS FAULT!!! Blame the higher echelon!!
سيرسل أنّ الذي يكون شرّيرة كنت إلى جحيم.
I think the Fareed Zakaria and those who believe containment and deterrence will work with Iran, are missing the point entirely and are asking the wrong question. The question should be, "Can a society whose entire political and social culture embraces the concept of martyrdom, be deterred." Everyone assumes that the leadership of Iran are rational players. WHAT if they are not? The ultimate power within that country ARE NOT the elected leaders. They are the mullahs, many of which embrace the radical concepts of Islam as espoused by the likes of Bin Ladin and Al Qaeda and have no problem committing personal or national suicide if it's in accordance with their interpretation of their religious tenets. Is it really worth risking allowing a society such as this to obtain and possess the most dangerous weapons in the world? Do you really want them to have enough of them to be able to set human civilization back hundreds of years, if not end humanity itself? If deterrence can't work, then I think that attacking them to stop them and then re-attacking as many times as necessary to stop them, is going to be the only option......
TOTAL AGREEMENT!
This is a regime that believe the holy Mahdi will return when iran sets the stage by putting the world in chaos.
They BELIEVE in this and THIS is what is so very dangerous...the koran say the holy mahdi can only come
when the world is in chaos ...radical MULLAHS want to bring about the mahdi on earth and will go through
any means to see him return....as long as the world is plunged into chaos...which the regime will DO if NOT
stopped.. They are insane, radical muslims who want the world plunged into the abyss for the mahdi's return.
The same way that they will all go to PARADISE and meet their vestal virgins after they die...THEY ARE
ABSOLUTELY INSANE AND MUST,,,MUST ,,,MUST BE STOPPED. Israel will stop them even if they have to act
along for survival.
iran need a thorough psychological examination . they are suicidal and TOO DANGEROUS to ignore them.
THEY MUST BE STOPPED AND SOON!!! for all our good!!!
It does not matter what anyone says:
ISRAEL WILL attack Iran sooner than later. If later Israel may have a rain of nuclear missiles on their cities Tel Aviv etc..
As the leader says: I WILL NOT LET MY PEOPLE LIVE IN THE SHADOW OF ANNIHILATION BY IRAN. Iran
vowed the elimination of Israel. In other words: YES Israel will attack , they have no choice . it is INEVITABLE!
I have a prediction ... It WILL NOT be Israel that attacks Iran - at least not initially. It will be the United States, acting in concert with international partners if possible, alone if necessary. The attack will be done in phases and in conjunction with diplomatic initiatives that should give Iran options to consider. The first phase will take out its air defenses and enrichment facilities. It will last several days. It WILL NOT include the destruction of its nuclear reactor. To do so will risk spreading nuclear fallout. The risk of such from the bombing of the enrichment facilities will be minimized because it will be buried under tons of earth. Iran will be given time to ponder it's options. Should Iran over react, a second phase will be implemented and it will be characterized by the destruction of much of its remaining military assets. It WILL NOT include destruction of civilian infrastructure. This will also be done over several days and Iran will again be given time to gauge diplomatic initiatives and formulate its response. If it escalates, then a third phase will be done, which WILL INCLUDE the destruction of the nuclear reactor and much of the civil infrastructure. How Iran reacts will determine whether a IV phase is done. This phase will most likely be characterized by a ground invasion. I really hope I'm wrong about everything .... When OR IF Israel enters the fray will be determined by how effective Iran's inevitable retaliation will be .... again, I hope I'm wrong ....
You are wrong.
The members of the Free States know who is propagating war, lies, descent to hide the creation of WMD to attain the wishes of Allah, Muhammed and their evil gangs. When, and if there is a war, it will be because of the threats by the Islamic world. Who hits first is irrelevant.
Fareed's concept of containment has a serious flaw. The only deterrence past sanctions is war. The longer Iran tries to buy time, the longer they have to build a bomb, which is unacceptable. It is absurd that Iran would go to war over not allowing inspectors to look at their reactors. Even if they are building a bomb, nothing is worse than actually going to war!
The Iranian mentality is seriously nuts, to risk actual war over preventing outsiders from looking at their nuclear program! How can anyone want to or try to deal with such irrational people? The only hope is that they wake up and start acting like normal human beings.
I totally agree with you, Furthermore, WHY is iran hidding nuclear development for peaceful purpose????
We are not stupid or dumb...They are hiding because the are developing nukes in secret underground bunkers.
NOONE HIDES IN BUNKERS TO BRING PEACEFUL NUCLEAR ISOTOPES TO CURE CANCER!!
Give me a break....Iran is lying and have always lied,,,, even about shooting that young woman in Tehran last year.!!!
Mr. Zakaria...
All this bluster, talk about containment etc...You are greatly mistaken,,there is NO containment factor.
containment means nothing, iran will use the pretext when they are ready to launch ballistic nuclear missiles
into ISRAEL, NO Israel will not wait for containment but will destroy any potentially developed nuclear missiles
and this VERY SOON! Your assessment of Israel strategic goals are very far disoriented.
Fareed,
All this bluster, talk about containment etc...You are greatly mistaken,,there is NO containment factor.
containment means nothing, iran will use the pretext when they are ready to launch ballistic nuclear missiles
into ISRAEL, NO Israel will not wait for containment but will destroy any potentially developed nuclear missiles
and this VERY SOON! Your assessment of Israel strategic goals are very far disoriented.
Your life and my life and anyone's life will change soon.
What you take for granted now, will be non-existent soon. Your way of life will change.
From a benefactor to a SURVIVOR mode. When Israel attacks iran as Israel has no choice.
It is inevitable. Unfortunately, ww3 will happen when it happens. Then ALL our lives WILL change to the
survival mode. It is a fact, it is inevitable. PREPARE YOURSELVES AND PRAY!!!
zakaria.....
Deterrence....FOOLISH NONSENSE.. You cannot deter iran as you cannot deter a caiman from attacking.
YOU are very wrong as usual.....ARE YOU A SPY FOR IRAN?????????
Please do us a favor......stop your politically incorrect image of iran, please spare us the foolish rhetoric
about iran.....a despotic, murderous and insane state. !!!! THANK YOU!!
I believe that there is a desire by most people in the world to see a full and comprehensive peace in the Middle East but this vision has not been helped by Israel’s current Prime Minister Mr Netanyahu, who continues to build settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
To put the conflict into context with respect to international law and the feelings of the world, may I convey the following.
Last November, there were a further 6 UN Resolutions on Palestine and the Middle East. One resolution on Jerusalem was supported by 166 nations plus the UK. Israel disagreed. In fact, there are over 150 UN Resolutions (including 181, 191 and 194) – all remain unimplemented in full.
Furthermore the ruling of the International Court of Justice in the Hague pertaining to the ‘security barrier’, which is 3 times the length of the Berlin Wall, has been sadly ignored by Mr Netanyahu. Perhaps if the ‘security barrier’ had to be built at all, it would have been better to have constructed it on the 1967 borders – instead of inside the internationally recognised Palestinian Territories (including East Jerusalem).
Nonetheless once this ‘separation barrier’ and the settlement enterprise is completed, Palestinian communities will be separated into pockets of territory that lack contiguity, surrounded by settlements only accessible by settler only roads. ‘Natural growth’ settlements too were not acceptable as part of Phase I of the internationally agreed Road Map (2003). Day by day, the ‘security barrier’ and settlements erode the possibility of a two-state solution and the viability to bring about a fully comprehensive peace for Israelis and Palestinians.
There are 130 nations in the world that recognise Palestine including India, China, Russia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brazil. More recently Iceland and Thailand have added to that recognition. Lastly UNESCO’s recognition last year of Palestine (supported by France, Spain, Ireland and Norway amongst many European nations) was still a positive step forward and a counter balance to those who deny Israel or Palestine’s right to exist. Dignity and peace is paramount for both peoples and recognition of both states ensures that those in the rejection camps are marginalized even further.
We believe that pointing to Israel as the bad guy is propaganda and bad tactics. The problem is with the propagation of violence by the Q'ran. Point finit.
it is south sudan problem why get involve, if you want to help the children and old people 12,000 of them was murdered by syrian thugs bashar al asad , ask your africN president the half muslim president to go and help and get red of bashar al asad. SOUTH SUDAN DESIDE TO HAVE A country and seperate so let them drink the oil....they should think about that before , north sudan dont give a sh it with the south each have there own country...there is allot of oil in north sudan and they will dig it and sale it , the south should look to pipe the oil and ship it withg the help of usa....
Obama is a half muslim president and israel should not listen to him at all. israel must attack iran now and all the evil terror will fall like hizboallah and syrian terrorists those shiia thugs mut be elemnated......obama is cowered...he has his nobel prize for peace so he will never start the war they nobel prize so smart they gave him the reward to not allow him to be strong on his enemy...
You lie about so many things that we do not believe anything you say. Insulting a Christian President, trying to sow descent, that is what points to you as an Islamist pig. We know your tactics and these tactics are not working.
the afgani investigation and the international lab proved now that 15 usa soldiers was involved of killing more than 16 children and women, and that 15 soldiers ra pe 2 afgani ladies young ladies ra pe them repeatdley and then shot them dead and burned there bodies , exactley as it happened in iraq when usa soldiers ra ped 14 years old girl then shot her and shot her parents and brothers and burned there bodies ...usa did that in vitnam ,korea and many other places they are murderous thugs ra piest killers and OBAMA say soyy all the time!!?/while leaving evil iranians and evil syrian bashar al asad killing more civilians obama is a cowered president if obama want to fix this problem he must attack syria now and remove bashar al asad to show to the muslim world that he mean it, remove the evil in syria now and prove your point OBAMA.......why you are silent...SILENCE IS A CRIME.
Why you lie, lie is a crime.
You keep repeating lies over and over again until, even you, believe those lies. People who are not Moslem, people who are not lied to on a regular basis, we need references, we need the truth. Do you comprende?
قصف على أحد الأحياء في سوريا (الجزيرة)
كشفت تسريبات لما يبدو أنها وثائق سورية رسمية كيف يوقع الرئيس بشار الأسد شخصيا على الخطط التي يضعها مركز إدارة الأزمة في حكومته محددا أولوية الحملة الأمنية الصارمة لمنع زحف المتظاهرين ضد نظامه إلى دمشق.
وقالت صحيفة غارديان البريطانية إن مئات الصفحات من الوثائق السرية التي قدمها منشق لقناة الجزيرة تصف الاجتماعات اليومية لجميع قادة وكالتي الأمن والاستخبارات السورية الذين يراجعون الأحداث ويصدرون الأوامر التي يصدق عليها الرئيس بعد ذلك. كما أوردت وكالة أنباء إنترفاكس الروسية أن قوة عسكرية لمكافحة الإرهاب وصلت إلى ميناء طرطوس السوري على متن ناقلة بترول من أسطولها في البحر الأسود.
وأشارت الصحيفة إلى أن القوة بلغت وجهتها في وقت أيدت فيه الحكومة الروسية دعوة من الصليب الأحمر لهدنة ساعتين يوميا للسماح بوصول المعونة إلى المناطق الأسوأ ضررا بسبب العنف.
وفي خضم تقارير عن قتال في ضاحية المزة بدمشق أمس -الأعنف في العاصمة منذ بدء الانتفاضة قبل عام- قالت الجزيرة إن الوثائق هُربت خارج سوريا بواسطة عبد المجيد بركات رئيس قسم المعلومات بوحدة إدراة الأزمة للدولة والذي يختبئ حاليا في تركيا مع نشطاء المعارضة.
وتلقي أحدث الوثائق مزيدا من الضوء المباشر على إستراتيجية النظام ضد الانتفاضة، بما في ذلك حشد آلاف المليشيات المعروفين بالشبيحة وأعضاء حزب البعث السوري في عمليات صممت لقطع دمشق وحلب وإدلب والمدن الكبيرة الأخرى عن المناطق المحيطة.
وكما كشفت الوثائق أن الميادين الرئيسية في العاصمة تقع مسؤوليتها على أفرع مختلفة بجهاز الأمن السوري الكبير، بما في ذلك مديرية استخبارات القوات الجوية السيئة السمعة التي كثيرا ما اتهمها مؤيدو المعارضة السورية وجمعيات حقوق الإنسان الأجنبية بالوحشية والتعذيب.
سحق المتظاهرين
وفيما يتعلق بأيام الجمع، حيث تبلغ الاحتجاجات المناوئة للنظام ذروتها منذ بدء الانتفاضة، تنص الخطط على عزل العاصمة عبر 35 نقطة تفتيش للتحكم في الحركة. وتُغلق الطرق المؤدية لدمشق من المدن المجاورة على نحو متكرر وتُنشر قوة من ألف فرد أمن في وسط ميدان أمية وحده.
"
الوثائق أوضحت أن الأسد شخصيا متورط في المصادقة على إجراءات سحق الاضطرابات. وتوقيعه كان ظاهرا على إحدى الوثائق التي تخول عقوبات بالسجن للمظاهرات غير القانونية
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قناة الجزيرة/غارديان
ومن جانبها قالت قناة الجزيرة إن الوثائق أوضحت أن الأسد شخصيا متورط في المصادقة على إجراءات سحق الاضطرابات. وتوقيعه كان ظاهرا على إحدى الوثائق التي تخول عقوبات بالسجن للمظاهرات غير القانونية.
وفي إحدى الوثائق المسربة السرية حذرت الحكومة وزير الخارجية بشأن دول تحاول إقناع دبلوماسيين سوريين بالانشقاق.
وقالت الجزيرة: "كل مساء في تمام الساعة السابعة بتوقيت دمشق هناك اجتماع لكل رؤساء الأمن والاستخبارات لمراجعة ما حدث عبر البلاد أثناء اليوم ويعدون خططهم وأوامرهم لليوم التالي. وهذه الخطط تذهب لمكتب الرئيس الصباح التالي ويقوم هو شخصيا بتوقيع كل الأوامر ويعطي الضوء الأخضر النهائي".
ووصفت الجزيرة بركات كجاسوس معارض داخل القيادة التي توجه حملة فرض النظام والذي أدرك الشهر الماضي أن حياته معرضة للخطر وفر من البلد ومعه 1400 وثيقة تعتقد القناة أنها حقيقية.
وفي مقابلة مع القناة الفضائية بقطر قال بركات إن "مهمتي كانت نقل المعلومات للمعارضة داخليا وخارجيا. وأي شخص يقرأ هذه التقارير سيُصدم وسيدرك أن سوريا تعيش أزمة حقيقية من التقتيل والإجرام وقمع المتظاهرين. لكن رؤساء الأمن يرسمون صورة وردية في تقاريرهم ويتجاهلون حقائق هامة كثيرة على الأرض فقط لرفع معنويات الرئيس".
ومن جانبها لم تعلق الحكومة السورية على الوثائق. وقال التلفزيون الرسمي السوري إن ثلاثة "إرهابيين" وعضوا في قوات الأمن قُتلوا في معركة دمشق.
ومن الجدير بالذكر أن ميناء طرطوس يمثل الآن القاعدة البحرية الوحيدة لروسيا خارج الاتحاد السوفياتي السابق. وقد زار أسطول بحري روسي المكان في يناير/كانون الثاني فيما اعتبر من قبل كثيرين عرضا لتأييد موسكو الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد.
the shiia thugs lies and they call it TAQEYA, the shiia muslims evil call taqeya ((white lie) they can lie and it is halal ok and god allowed itmmmmmmmmmmm allahhhhh allow lies good for you shiia thugs, they also use MOTAA and calle it halal kosher allahhh allowed it mmmmm motaa is fk ing your relatives, and is an legal adultery in iran so the mullas can fk any girl they want , they can fk there sisters and that allowed in shiiazim islam...alahaahahahah
Mutual Nuclear Deterrence -MND- is not MAD..
MND is also called Civil Deterrence, or Civilizing Deterrence.
MND makes both venues unsafe for war.
a FEW NUKES can Deter MANY NUKES.
Deterrence: is inaction caused by the perception of danger.
MND leads to fewer Nukes in the world.. not more.
MND leads to voluntary arms reductions...
MND leads to voluntary disarmament...
No nation wants NUKES except to deter sociopathic governments from attacking them.
The best defensive weapons are defensive deterrent weapons..
Mutual Assured Destruction MAD is insanity.. and it is not what causes deterrence..
what is the minimal nuclear capability that creates deterrence?
deterrence is all throughout nature...
Beware, Mutual Nuclear Deterrence -Civil Deterrence- has enemies whose tactics and agenda are not in your best interests...
most of the world's opinion and thoughts about Civilized Deterrence -MND- has been manipulated by those who are not your friends and who have ulterior motives...... most of what you hear on this subject is misinformation -propaganda- and those who believe it are in many positions of decision making government... they don't know much all they have is one point of view -the propaganda- and all they can do is repeat the layers of propaganda... which they believe....
I have summarized some of the important points... each one of them can be supported with clear thinking, facts... beware of anyone who is against Civil Deterrence, Civilized Deterrence, MND.
IRAQI SHIIA THUGS ARE SENDING MILLIONS TO SYRIA GOVERNMENT TO KILL THE KURDS AND THE SUNNI, ALSO TAKEN IRAN OIL AND SALE IT FOR THEM
في عراقنا المزيَّنِ بالفقر والعوز والثكالى وفقراء الطرق الذين يمسحون زجاج السيارات في برد بغداد القارس والدولة عنهم في غيبوبة، أقول في هذا المشهد المظلم يخرج الينا مجلس النواب ببدعة جديدة في الإسراف والبذخ، وهذه المرة من خلال شراء عشرين قطعة سلاح لكل نائب. أود تذكيركم سريعاً وقبل الدخول في الموضوع ان كل نائب يستلم ما يقارب 12.000.000 دينار مقطوعة عن 12 يوم عمل في كل شهر اي مليون دينار عن كل جلسة سواء عقدت ام لم تعقد كما يستلم 22.500.000 دينار لثلاثين شخصاً يحمونه علماً ان الغالب الاعم من النواب يقطنون المنطقة الدولية والتي لا يكادون يحتاجون فيها لحماية من أحد، ويعلم الجميع ان عضو المجلس يستلم كامل المبالغ المخصصة للحماية نيابة عن الحماية على اساس ان يوزعها لاحقاً.
وفوق هذا البذخ الصلِف للمال العام الذي يجب ان يكون محلُّهُ فقيرات العراق وعجزته ومعوقوه ومعدموه قرر مجلس النواب ان يشتري لكل نائب عشرة مسدسات (من نوع CZ99 سعر القطعة في بلد المنشأ 500$ كما يظهر فيهذا الرابط وعشرة بندقيات نوع M16 سعر القطعة في بلد المنشأ 586$ كما يظهر في هذا الرابط وبعملية رياضية بسيطة سيتضح ان كل نائب سيكلف الدولة 21.720$ دولار امريكي علماً اننا احتسبنا الكلفة حسب قيمة الاسلحة في بلد المنشأ وتغاضينا عن عمليات الفساد الحتمية التي ستضاعف المبلغ وتضخمه، ومعنى هذا ان مجلس النواب سيقتني اسلحة بقيمة 7.059.000$ دولار امريكي اي ما يعادل 8.611.980.000 مليار دينار عراقي اذا اخذنا بالاعتبار ان عدد اعضاء المجلس 325 نائباً حفظهم الله ورعاهم ذخراً لنا وللفقراء والمعدمين.
ولإنعاش الذاكرة وحسب اود التذكير ان المجلس موشِكٌ على الموافقة على شراء سيارة مصفحة لكل نائب فضلاً عما ذكرنا من قبل من اسلحة، وتود رئيسة لجنة شؤون الاعضاء والتطوير البرلماني الدكتورة حنان الفتلاوي زعيمة مقارعة الفساد ان تجري مناقشة الموضوع بكل شفافية ولكن خلف ابواب موصدة في جلسة سرية خشية الفضيحة طبعاً وليس لسرية الامر، ولو افترضنا جدلاً ان كلفة السيارة المصفحة الواحدة 50.000$ دولار امريكي فان المجلس سيقتني مجمل السيارات بمبلغ 16.250.000$ مليون دولار وهو ما يعادل 18.281.250.000مليار دينار عراقي.
أقول لمن اراسلهم من عيون السلطة الرابعة حان دوركم الان، واقول للبرلمانيين: اذا لم تستحوا فاصنعوا ما شئتم
الناشطون وصفوا الأسد بأنه حريص ويلغي ما يكتبه من صندوق الإرسال بشكل مستمر (وكالة الأنباء الأوروبية )
نشرت صحيفة ذي غارديان لائحة بأهم الشخصيات التي ورد ذكرها في ثلاثة آلاف رسالة إلكترونية حصلت عليها، والتي تقول الصحيفة إن جزءا كبيرا منها نسخ من البريد الإلكتروني للرئيس السوري بشار الأسد sam@alshahba.com. وتصف الصحيفة الشخصيات التي تبادلت الرسائل أو لها علاقة بهذا العنوان البريدي بأنها مجموعة صغيرة ولكنها متنفذة وهم كالتالي:
بشار الأسد: يقول الناشطون إن الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد يستخدم اسم "سام" (Sam) كاسم حركي في مراسلاته عبر الإنترنت. وقد لاحظ الناشطون -الذين راقبوا هذا العنوان لشهور عديدة- أن صاحبه شديد الحذر ويتمتع بحس أمني عال، ويقوم بمسح الرسائل الصادرة سريعا.
أسماء الأسد: زوجة الرئيس السوري، وتستخدم بريدا إلكترونيا تحت عنوان ak@alshahba.com للمراسلة مع العنوان المذكور والحرفان الأولان يرمزان إلى عالية كيالي معلوف. وغالبا ما خاطب sam@alshahba.comصاحبة الحرفين AوK بعبارة "عزيزتي أسماء".
ويعتقد الناشطون أن عالية كيالي الحقيقية ليس لديها حق الدخول إلى العنوان، ولكنهم لاحظوا أيضا أن صاحب هذا الحساب لا يتخذ إجراءات أمنية عالية مثل صاحب الحساب "سام". وتصف الصحيفة المراسلات بين العنوانين البريديين أعلاه، بأنها تنم عن شخصين يرتبطان بعلاقة زواج، ولكن علاقتهما ترزح تحت وطأة ضغط العمل الشديد، ولكن على أي حال فإن المراسلات بين الطرفين لا تنم عن اكتراث بالعنف الدموي الذي يجتاح سوريا.
شهرزاد الجعفري: ابنة السفير السوري لدى الأمم المتحدة، وهي في بداية العشرينيات من عمرها. ويعتقد أن الجعفري وبعد تخرجها من الجامعة في الولايات المتحدة، عملت متدربة في مؤسسة براون لويد للعلاقات العامة في نيويورك بالولايات المتحدة. وبعد عودة الجعفري إلى دمشق، سرعان ما أصبحت من المقربين من الأسد وأعلى مستشاريه الإعلاميين.
ويقول زملاؤها في مؤسسة براون إنها استمرت في التواصل معهم، واستخدمت علاقاتها مع المؤسسة لتحصل على ثقة الأسد كشخصية لها خبرة في مجال العلاقات العامة. إلا أن إحدى الرسائل التي تبادلتها الجعفري مع مسؤول رفيع المستوى في المؤسسة أظهرت دعمه للجعفري والأسد، ولكن المؤسسة بررت ذلك بأن كلمات المسؤول لم تكن سوى كلمات تشجيع لمتدربة سابقة في المؤسسة، وهي لا تعني دعما للأسد.
هديل العلي: مستشارة صحفية إلى جانب الجعفري، وتتمتع بحظوة لدى الأسد وتأخذ على عاتقها كتابة تقارير عن الصحف اليومية وطريقة تعاملها مع الشأن السوري، ووقع خطابات الأسد على المناصرين، بالإضافة الى تأمين إيصال طلبات مقابلة الأسد من صحفيين يعتبرون مقبولين لدى النظام.
لونة الشبل: مذيعة سابقة في قناة الجزيرة. تقدم دعما قويا للأسد وقد تكون من أشد المطالبين بانتهاج أسلوب متشدد إلى أكثر حد مع المعارضين السوريين. كما تقدم المشورة بشأن كيفية إبقاء الانتفاضة تحت السيطرة.
خالد أحمد: أحد اللاعبين الأساسيين في المراسلات، ويقوم بتقديم تقييمات منتظمة عن الوضع المتردي في حمص. وهو مكلف بمهام إشرافية بوصفه مسؤولا سابقا في المنطقة التي تضم حمص. ويعتقد أن لأحمد صلات بالحزب القومي الاشتراكي السوري الذي ظل ومليشياته لمدة أربعين عاما من أشد المناصرين للنظام السوري. ويردد خالد رواية النظام أن هناك إرهابيين إسلاميين مدعومين من الخارج يحركون الانتفاضة السورية.
حسين مرتضى: رئيس قناة العالم التلفزيونية الإيرانية، ويتمتع مرتضى بصلات قوية بإيران وحزب الله ويقدم النصائح والمشورة للأسد بشكل مستمر، ويدعي في مراسلاته مع "سام" بأن ما يقوله يمثل وجهة نظر إيران وحزب الله. ويعتبر مرتضى عنصرا رئيسيا في تسويق رواية النظام عن ما يجري في سوريا.
What we deterred the Soviet Union from doing with our nuclear weapons was invading Western Europe or any other primary ally that we had during the Cold War. What we did not deter the Soviets from doing, however, was meddling in the affairs of its neighbors and other countries around the world.
The danger of Iran getting nuclear weapons isn't just that they would use the nukes or invade another country, it's also that they would feel emboldened by their new found defensive position to unleash more disruptive policies on their neighbors in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Perhaps the reason why Pakistan has been responsible for so many more acts of terrorism than Iran has been is that the Pakistanis have nukes and the Iranians do not. Maybe if the Iranians get nukes, they will become just like the Pakistanis, or maybe even worse.