Imagine me with nukes, I do
I think about it day and night, it’s only right
To dream about the means you need, kafir to smite
The weapon I’d treasure
I called up AQ Khan, but at the time
The guy was under house arrest, it crossed my mind
To send the boys to rescue him, it would be fine
To take such a measure
Just think of the interesting things I could do
With such a bomb
Who needs to shape charges when you can kablooey
New York, with megatons?
Me and nukes, and nukes and me
You know the I would roll the dice, if it could be
To hit them from this cave I’m in, indignity
Would turn into pleasure
Just think of the interesting things I could do
With such a bomb
Who needs to shape charges when you can kablooey
London, with megatons?
Me and nukes, and nukes and me
I’d love to kill a lot of them, incessantly
I think of how to murder them, atrocity
Perform at my leisure
Ali-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba
Ali-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba
Me and nukes, and nukes and me
You know that it would sure be nice, if it could be
To hit them from this cave I’m in, indignity
Would turn into pleasure
So happy together
How is the weather
So happy together
We’re happy together
So happy together
Happy together
So happy together
So happy together (Ali-ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba)
Helluva an album cover.
Nice scary picture of Osama. But the link was about Iran, which doesn’t get along with the Sunnis very well. In case you haven’t been paying attention, there’s been some religious rifts displayed in a place called Iraq. Look it up. And aside from a mutual interest in keeping us engaged in Iraq, Iran and Al Queda have little in common. I could argue that they’d be as likely to use a nuke on each other as on New York or Tel Aviv.
Yes, it’s damn scary that Iran wants a nuclear weapons program. But Iran wants it as much for the prestige and strength as the stability. They won’t go tossing warheads willy nilly just because they can. Kim Jong Il is a fucking nut, but Hyundais and Kias and those damn twitch-inducing incomprehendable cartoons are still being made in South Korea. Iran just wants to feel big and important (as they unfortunately are in their region and in the oil markets.)
And if you’re worried about Al Queda getting a nuke, it will come to pass when and if they take over Pakistan. Our friend the Shah of Pakistan has that place firmly under control, however. Nothing to worry about there.
Sorry, jon. Not buying it. If Iran can use Sunni radicals to destabilize Western-friendly and socially liberal governments, they will. They reckon, quite logically, they’ve got more in common with Islamist Sunnis than they do with us.
With nukes? That part I don’t buy.
Oh, so much safer to employ them at a remove.
The link was about al Qaeda, the chief philosopher of which, and nominal leader of which, is OBL; and it was about al Qaeda In Iraq, which makes its raison d’etre OBL’s teachings.
Your point is a distinction without a difference.
But if you could meet their price, they’d sell.
I’m willing to believe a lot about Iran. But I don’t think they’ll invest billions in a risky and secret program to build nukes, then trust some yahoos of a different Islamist sect to set them off somewhere. Sure, if they wanted to do some damage to us or other Westerners they’d want some degrees of separation between them and the other thems, but this scenario doesn’t seem likely. The enemy of my enemy may make a decent enough friend, but that doesn’t mean all my enemies are in cahoots.
And of course they want to destabilize Iraq. It’s in their interest just as destabilizing Saddam was in ours. I see Iran and nukes as a separate thing from this. Nukes and Iran are about stabilizing their regime and keeping their elites in power, which is why I think it’s unlikely that Iran would do anything with their nukes other than wave them around a bit like some frat boy who thinks he has a big cock. The Iranian elites, like most elites in most places, care about their power much more than anything else. Having nukes would solidify that power while using them would risk everything. I’m not saying it would be a good thing for Iran to have nukes, since it definitely isn’t. But I will say that a nuclear Iran isn’t as scary as presented. Or at least it isn’t scary as presented.
What do you mean “if?”
Jon, The Iranians DO pay and support SUNNI insurgents in Iraq, so the religious issues are far from insurmountable.
I agree they might have some qualms about giving away their Nukes, but the thing is, the Iranian gov is not entirely rational. They are not using the standard cost-benefit analysis. They already said that getting nuked in for nuking Israel would be an acceptable loss, as they would survive and Israel wouldn’t. Folks that think like that might well think giving away Nukes to someone that can use them would be worth the cost.
The biggest mistake left-liberals make is believing our enemies in the mideast think the same way liberals do.
They don’t.
They can, conceivably, throw away the billions because they can pump more billions out of the ground. If they can get rid of Israel and bring the Great Satan to heel, it’s worth it.
I love that more every time I hear it. They sooooo totally want us there. Al Quaeda is absolutely giddy when we kill their boys and take their toys. Iran simply adores being virtually surrounded by American troops, and their proxies, such as Sadr couldn’t be any happier unless we were to send another 100K troops in there.
Uh huh.
Oh, and the other end of that?
Little thing called Islam, jon. Jihad style.
Anyone can say what they’d do before the reality hits and they can actually do it. That’s quite often, even in seemingly-irrational people, when the thinking starts. Iran, like the rest of the Islamic world, has been saying they’d destroy Israel since 1948 and saying they’d destroy the Jews since, well, forever. Cost/benefit analysis is for the real world, but saying you’re gonna nuke Israel is easy when the consequences of such an action are nothing but a series of what-ifs and there’s an election to win.
And that the Iranians seem willing to support almost any insurgent in Iraq isn’t proof that they’d hand Osama a nuke and say, “Go git ‘em!” Iran giving insugents or terrorists in Iraq or elsewhere a nuke would be like if we gave the Mujahadeen a carrier group to get rid of the Soviets in Afghanistan. Some stuff’s just way too expensive to trust to someone else, no matter what the goals.
And isn’t Iran scary enough on its own without trying to link it to Osama? Bush made too much of some nebulous links between Iraq and Osama, and that hasn’t been helpful for the cause. I’d say it’s been downright counterproductive. Why is it so damn important to link everything to Osama? Even a liberal, Kerry-voting guy like myself is willing to believe that there is more than one bad guy in the world out to get us.
Pablo,
Yes, they’d love us to be on the other side of the planet. But we’re not. So they do what they can to make our stay as miserable as possible. And I see no reason why they wouldn’t want to do so, as it achieves many of their interests: cost us a hell of a lot of money, make us mistrust our government, undermine Iraq’s attempt to become a working state, and it makes oil more expensive. Iran is able to do what it is doing very cheaply, so why would they spend billions to do what they are able to do with millions? They may be nuts, but I think they can count.
Shorter jon: “Who are you going to believe, me or everything the Iranians have been saying for years?”
What’s kept the Pakistani bombs from destroying India and Israel? Did they suddenly have a change of heart? Or is it that they suddenly joined the grown-ups table and had to behave? I think it’s more of the latter, since mutually-assured destruction can make a lot of the crazy go away. Not all, but a lot.
The biggest mistake right-moderates make is believing the left-liberals think.
They don’t. They emote.
So you’re waiting on the proof then…good strategy.
That’ll be what? Losing Cleveland? Or is that just not a big enough city for definitive proof?
So then, they’re not really mutually interested in having us engaged there? What was that you just told us? I could have sworn I saw shades of a “We’re playing right into their hands” argument.
Who is playing into whose hands here? How do they make you do that?
So, now they do want us there? I’m so confused.
jon, has it occurred to you that Iran might might have it’s very own reasons for not wanting democracies on its borders? Do you think it’s a good thing, or even an acceptable thing to have them undermine these democracies by slaughtering civilians wholesale through their proxies?
Jon, I don’t think you really see what Iran gains from a Nuked Israel. The destruction of Israel is the only thing that almost all the Muslims in the Middle East, Sunni and Shi’i, Arab and Persian, agree on. Whoever pulls it off basically becomes the de facto ruler of the entire Middle East. That would be worth a few Nuked cities. Especially since there is reason to doubt anyone would Nuke them back, it would kill millions of innocents that had nothing to do with the decision to Nuke Israel. If Israel still has the capacity, it will retaliate, but the U.S. most likely wouldn’t, at least not nuclearly and not without PROOF it was Iran. And if Iran passes it off to another group, it has the deniability in needs on the international scene, while everyone in the Middle East will still know who was ultimately responsible. Seems like a fair trade to me.
Jon, that whole “sunnis don’t talk to shiite” meme is just soooo 1990’s. Get with the new millenia.
A coup by the relatively sane faction in Pakistan. That’s it.
The first country to have a nuke in the Mideast will be the big, swingin’ dick in a sea of failed states. The first one to use it on Israel will be the new seat of Saladin. You aching for the mullahs to have that kinda panache?
Here’s what I think happens if Israel gets nuked: First, no more Temple Mount. Gone. Kaput. Bye Bye! Hello Temple. And the neutron bomb would ensure that no one would be around to complain. Sure, the priests would need to wear lead-lined vestments for a century, but it would be a small price to pay. Second, bye bye to Riyadh, Cairo, Beirut, Ankara, Islamabad, Teheran, Qom, Mecca, Medina, and so on until Israel runs out of targets. And third, all the money in the Arab world gets held. Attack the civilized world in an uncivilized way, and the Islamic world would get fucked.
You want to talk about crazy regimes? Nuke Israel and you’ll see one. I won’t complain or criticize. Holocaust II would be a mutual affair.
You’re right, Jon. It’s official Israeli policy to want to have all the Palestinians removed to Alaska. Or barring the feasibility of such a thing, to make them all Mediterranean-swollen corpses.
But the Islamists have a few other Holy Cities that they can enjoy while they’re waiting for the radioactivity to dissipate; and we know how they REALLY care for those Lebanese, Jordanians, and Palestinians, when push comes to shove, as inevitibly it does in the Middle East.
Does he pluck? It looks like he plucks.
Does he pluck? He’s the Mother of All Pluckers.
Sorry, but the only way I can tell a plucker is if he’s holding a banjo.