Scott

This is fairly new.


I always thought the US would never attack Iran because Russia and China would probably get involved. After watching the above video, I'm not so sure.

We have to look at the big picture when we talk about Iran. It was an American de facto colony for a long time.
Iran 1953 KH
http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/articles/l30iran.htm

The US would like to take control of Iran all right but not for the reasons they give us.

The Petro Dollar, Iraq, Oil and Bush

Some good info about Iran can be found here.
Enter "Iran" or "Savak" in this search engine.
ht://Dig WWW Search

Here's some stuff from there.
media, American ignorance, foreign policy Iraq, Iran, & the Vanishing Context in American News by Anthony DiMaggio
Oil, Geopolitics, and the Coming War with Iran by Michael T. Klare

It's hard to form an opinion in cases like this because it's hard to be sure if we're basing our opinions on the correct information.
I wouldn't take anything the American mainstream press says seriously.
Michel Chossudovsky: War Propaganda
Michel Chossudovsky: Fabricating an Enemy

Here's some good stuff in the alternative press about Iran.
http://www.zmag.org/iranwatch/Iranwatch.cfm

I've only had the opportunity to talk to one person from Iran lately. He told me that after the US lost Iran as a colony in 79 and lost all that free oil, it started planning a way to get it back. He told me that the war with Iraq was part of the long term plan to weaken Iran so that they could eventually take it back by force. According to this Iranian, the US was able to get Iraq to start the war with Iran. Iran lost a lot of men that would now be high level technicians in the military.
Of course I don't know if any of that reflects reality; it's just something to think about.
The threat of a US attack to get back the free oil it used to get is a very real thing from the Iranian perspective. They have very valid reasons for wanting to be capable of deterring a potential US attack. If the US only wanted to keep Iran from getting weapons to keep the world safe and nothing more, it would publicly apologize for having stolen it's oil from 1953 to 1979 and it would promise not to try to get control of Iran again--overtly or covertly. It doesn't even recognize that it used to steal Iran's oil or any of the other things it used to do to maintain the situation.

The Decade of Perpetual Crises, 1969 through the 1970s Part II excerpted from the book Confronting the Third World United States Foreign Policy 1945-1980
(excerpt)
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The Shah's word was law, and he repressed those who opposed him, not only through SAVAK, the umbrella security organization the CIA had created and Israelis trained, but by systematic control over the press, labor, universities, and any institution capable of undermining his absolute power. SAVAK operated a vast system of informers and agents and used torture routinely, and in 1974-75 had, at the least, some thousands in its prisons-although the opposition claimed twenty-five thousand to a hundred thousand. After 1971, when resistance to the Shah's policies from especially middle-class and educated constituencies began to increase, SAVAK was especially active and brutal, and its close relationship with the CIA further identified the United States with their oppressors in the minds of the population. This linkage actually involved a division of labor: SAVAK told the CIA about Iranian internal affairs, becoming its nearly exclusive source of information, while the CIA agents in Iran concentrated on gathering data on Russia and training SAVAK in a variety of techniques essential to its political work, including torture. The CIA also reported to SAVAK on politics among Iranian students in the United States. In early 1977, after the Carter Administration began proclaiming its adherence to "human rights" abroad, the Shah made cosmetic changes in SAVAK's work but nothing more, and its ties with the CIA continued until his fall.
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Irangate: The Israel Connection excerpted from the book The Iran Contra Connection Secret Teams and Covert Operations in the Reagan Era

U.S. Intervention in the Middle East: Blood for Oil by Paul D'Amato
(excerpt)
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American policy in this period was chiefly concerned that countries in the region did not come under the control of nationalist regimes. They had their first taste of that threat in Iran, when the democratically elected president Mohammed Mossadeq, with mass popular support, nationalized the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. In a coup engineered by CIA operative Kermit Roosevelt, Mossadeq was toppled and replaced by the Shah. The Shah's power was underwritten by massive infusions of American aid and upheld by the notoriously savage secret police, Savak.
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The Roots of the War on Terrorism: Washington's Policies in the Middle East excerpted from the book State Terrorism and the United States From Counterinsurgency to the War on Terrorism by Frederick H. Gareau
(excerpt)
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In 1957 Washington helped the Shah create SAVAK, the notorious security police force which silenced those who criticized the Shah or the regime. The Shah followed the trail of so many other dictators by creating a military intelligence agency. The repression was particularly brutal in the period from 1970 to 1976. He dropped any pretense of reform and adopted a policy of stifling police rule. The press was censored, people were arbitrarily arrested and harassed, and prisoners were systematically tortured.
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This is a sticky situation.
Iran might be a threat to Israel even if it weren't worried about the US trying to get back what it lost. I think it mainly doesn't want to go back to the old days though.
More than ten years ago I talked to some Iranians who were handing out anti-Khomeini pamphlets. They were anti-Khomeini and anti-Shah. They explained to me that if the US had never taken over Iran in 1953, Iran would never had ended up with a fanatical Moslem government. It's easy to understand why Iranians hate the US; it's responsible for a lot of misery there.

bhkad

Before I check out your info I feel it's important to point out a couple of things.

One, there is never any ONE reason for a nation to attack another.

From what I see in your post you are pointing to oil as a reason for attacking Iran. Well, what is wrong with making sure the lives and lifestyles we enjoy are maintained? If you criticize our going to war for oil, would you say that going to war for food or water was justified? Well, all three are vital to life and without any one our lives will be hurt, badly hurt.

Secondly, you casually dismiss the mainstream media as an information source. Well, it's not perfect but if you live in America it's important that you always keep an eye and an ear tuned to what the MSM has to say about a thing.

Thirdly, Iran IS the world's leading exporter of terrorism. Have you ever thought about why they do this? Here's a clue.

Those are the words of the Ayatollah Khomeini, the man who allowed our hostages to be held for 444 days. The man who presided over Iran becoming NOT just an Islamic state, but a JIHADIST STATE.

In the cited passage he is telling the faithful to overthrow the governments of every land unless it is Shariah ruled. And the current rulers of Iran subscribe to the exact same philosophy.

Iran intends to use nuclear weapons as a way to gain influence in the region to overthrow the moderate Islamic governments in the M.E. and to intimidate the USA into not attacking them and, if possible, to eliminate Israel completely.

Finally, the religion is inextricably interwoven in the daily lives of the people and is fused with the government. So, while there may ALSO be factors at play in Tehran's thinking which deal with the practical nuts and bolts and politics of governing and foreign affairs and such, there is also a religious element involved in their actions and strategies. You say that there is resentment at the US involvement in the overthrow of their government. No doubt. But that does not mean their revenge or hatred is the same as, let's say a Latin American's desire for revenge or their hatred at the CIA's past involvement in their domestic affairs.

Remember, the Ayatollah is the one who coined and popularized the phrase, "Death to America" which was chanted after Friday evening prayers.

The reasoning?

Ibid

There's nothing secular about that.

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But, when all is said and done, Senator McCain has not spent decades aiding and abetting people who hate America. http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell060508.php3

Sergeant Stinger1

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Well I think by now everyone knows that Bush invaded Iraq to get that bad man Saddam that put a price on his daddys head and also to help his buddies in Haliburton get BILLION $$$ NO BID contracts.
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See how easy it is to understand why Bushie boy invaded Iraq.

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I guess bush and the Repukes won cause Americans are totaly SCREWED!!!

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AMERICAN ARMED FORCES, THE BEST IN THE WORLD