Abizaid; Nuclear Iran is tolerable

Sometimes I wonder…I just wonder…how these people get their jobs as generals. Former General John Abizaid, former commander of CentCom made some really bizarre statements to the Center for Strategic and International Studies;

John Abizaid, the retired Army general who headed Central Command for nearly four years, said he was confident that if Iran gained nuclear arms, the United States could deter it from using them.

“Iran is not a suicide nation,” he said. “I mean, they may have some people in charge that don’t appear to be rational, but I doubt that the Iranians intend to attack us with a nuclear weapon.”

The Iranians are aware, he said, that the United States has a far superior military capability.

“I believe that we have the power to deter Iran, should it become nuclear,” he said, referring to the theory that Iran would not risk a catastrophic retaliatory strike by using a nuclear weapon against the United States.

Even Wesley Clark, whose Washington Post opinion “The Next War” went largely unnoticed yesterday, recognizes that Iran is our primary and most dangerous threat in the world – and that we’re already at war with them.

Kamangir reports that the Iranian leader Ahmadinejad is already hard at work dehumanizing the Jews and Americans to the Iranians, that Bush worships the Devil, what makes Abizaid think that they aren’t a suicide nation? We already know that the Iranian president believes in the 12th Imam and that by destroying the world, he’d hasten the arrival of the Imam from his secret magic well and bring Islamic paradise to the Earth. 

Claims like that from Abizaid are reminiscient of the chattering about containment policies toward Hussein of the 90s. Even though Hussein massed his forces on the Kuwait border twice, causing us to deploy troops and equipment, the generals claimed he was harmless – well, except to his own people, of course. 

Iran is already using everything in their power against us, why would they not use nuclear weapons? What could possible stop them? And if we should stop Iran from becoming nuclear like Abizaid says…why? Especially if they’re so benign, why expend the energy?  

Category: Foreign Policy, Terror War