Naw, first they will blindfold it and parade it through the streets. Then after a brutal interogation they will try and force it to write out a confession denouncing the imperilist Yankees before their high court hands down a death sentence. They need all the propoganda the can get.

Don't forget, it will claim it has been treated very well, and denounce the U.S. interference and aggressions in the Middle East. Demanding we stay out of foreign affairs, lift sanctions, and allow the Iranians to continue to develop nuclear power. If we don't, it will sacrifice itself and donate its body to science. So others may learn and progress from the evils attempts of the U.S. to spy on Iran with brain washed helpless technology.

Or else,if the Iranians are smart, and they will try to clone these make traps. If we were smart we would make a special bomb trigger in these which goes off when someone without the proper tools tries to open a certain interior compartment. Preventing cloning the technology. Or they could explode if crashing.

The last drone they captured had a self destruct device on it but guess who ordered it not to be activated for fear of killing or maiming someone innocent? HUH? Like anyone who is handeling the drone is innocent after it was captured? I say "Push the button Max"

BTW, the qoute of "Push the Button Max" is from Jack Lemmon as Professor Fate talking to his assistant Maximilian Meen played by Peter Falk in the movie The Great Race. Love that movie.

Dave, you should have let hang it out there and see who recognized it, if anyone...more fun that way.

@DAVE, the reason the destruct button wasn't pushed was because the drone was full of mis-information, which it seems you should be familar with. Think of all the time spent by the ragheads over all that info that doesn't do anything.

Just people running the show is smarter than Dave and a few others who can't see the tree because of the forest of hate they have.

The drone might belong to Israel or CIA and that is why Navy says that all their drones are accounted for.

@Max,

You nailed it. Most drones flown over Iran are operated by the CIA just as the RQ-170 that Iran captured. I woiuld tell the Navy to check again, it is probably not accurate to say "all drones are accounted for" when the Iranians are showing an intact ScanEagle on Iranian TV.

It is unlikely to be Israeli. Israel is simply too far away for a ScanEagle.

The problem seems to be that the capture of the RQ-170 has provided Iran with considerable information that can now be used to create their own drones, to make their own drones impervious to such counter-measures, and to use commonality to go after other types of drones. If the Navy is wise it will keep its new UCAV far away from Iran.

Iran declared war on much of the world in 1979 when the Islamic terrorists took over the government.Since then, there have been repeated terrorist atacks on 6 continents.Of course several countries are watching Iran VERY closely with satellites,drones and other tactic including Iranian exiles who have infiltrated into Iran..When the shooting war begin against Iran there will be several countries involved in the military actions.The war might begin sometime in the first 6 months of next year.By that time most of the world will either silently approve or join in to finish off the Islamic Revolution in Iran.These military actions against Iran are long overdue.When they happen they will be massive.The combined military force plus the intelligence and planning will finsh them off.They are trying to stall ,but each day they resemble more a mouse that is trapped by a cat and has nowhere to go.The evidence of the Atomic inspectors.and chiefs.many of them no great friends of the U.S is overwhelming.Let´s hope that China and Russia change their mind so the security council can approve a vote of "all necessary force" . But even without this, almost all the world will shout" 3 cheers" when the attacks begin.33 years of the world being held hostage by Iran will be coming to an end.!!

Meanwhile, over in Syria, Assad is celebrating Mr. Obama's stern warning by mixing up some cocktails.

by AWR HAWKINS 3 Dec 2012

Reports are now circulating that Syria is mixing the chemicals necessary to make Sarin gas. This news comes on top of earlier reports that Syria was movingchemical weapons components into place for what many think will be a strike on the Syrian opposition.

Sarin gas is a nerve agent most recently witnessed when used in terror attacks in Japan during the 1990s. One of those attacks was the infamous Sarin attack on the Tokyo subway.

This gas can cause convulsions, respiratory failure, and death.

On Sunday, a senior U.S. official expressed concern that Syria may be getting ready to use the gas against the opposition. But today, Syrian State TV carried a message from the Syrian Foreign Minister saying Syria "would never use chemical weapons on its own people."

Nonetheless, they are mixing the chemicals for some reason.

BTW, the "on its own people" quote is meaningless because Assad has repeatedly said that the opposition forces consist of foreign radicals and not Syrian citizens.

Your "history" is missing some facts. The U.S. "government" overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran in 1953, and installed a dictator in Iran which lasted until 1979, an act of "terrorism", many people died.

Since then, after no one was killed in the so-called hostage situation, the "government" supported Iraq in a Crime Against Peace against Iran, using wmd's chemical weapons in which 1,000,000 people died, an atrocity of huge scale.

Vietnam was attacked with a series of propaganda and lies, 2 million Vietnamese died, Iraq was attacked in a Crime Against Peace, hundreds of thousands died, were maimed or were injured. The infrastructure was destroyed and thousands and thousands were displaced.

The insanity of false "logic" is more than apparent, more "military" operations would be another Crime Against Peace, an atrocity, more war crimes, and more fascist, imperialistic killing of innocents.

@bart martin,

Or you could say that in 1979 the US declared war on Iran because it threw out the Shah, who was put in place by Britain and the US and sypported by the brutal and evil SAVAK which was Israeli-trained. Or you could mention deGaulle's manipulation of the Ayatollahs to put a burr under Britain's saddle.

And let's not forget the US support of Sadaam (including providing him with trailers to make nerve gas to be used against the Iranians.) The US backed Sadaam when he attacked Iran and killed hundreds of thousands of Iranians.

Or Ronnie Reagan's deal to hold the hostages until after the election in return for selling Iran (illegally) military aircraft parts (including engines and evionics for fighters) and entire HAWK missile batteries and upgrades. The money was then used to give to the Nicaraguan Contras to buy cocaine to be sold in the US to raise money to fight the Sandinistas. That was sure to make the Iranians trust us.

There is a whole lot less support for a war with Iran than you seem to think. But maybe thge reason is that since WWII, we have lost every war with any country larger than Grenada. We lost in Korea, Lebanon, Vietnam, Iraq and are losing in Afghanistan. Why would anyone want to add Iran to that list along with another couple of trillion dollars on the old credit card? But we can pay for it by simply aboli8shing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, right?

So Obama threatens to do something if Assad uses chemical weapons. So Assad says ok, in the meantime I will just position the weapons to make it very difficult to take them out if Obama tries to interfere in any way. At the same time he is mixing the components to get ready to use them. End result, Assad uses weapons and Obama issues stern rebuke with promises to bring Assad to justice (as if he was some gangster) and business carries on as usual. And the 1000s of innocent civilians being slaughtered, daily, by all means and manner of weapons continue to be slaughtered. Good job Mr. Obama!
Obama policy, using jets, bombs, mortars, rockets, tanks, helicopters, troops with all types of military hardware = acceptable. Using chemical or biological weapons = not acceptable, but don't worry if you do, because nothing will really happen to you and we really won't even do anything to stop you before you use them., And once you kill off your enemies by doing so the war will end and Mr. Obama will forget about the whole thing. Or maybe even help you by blaming it on a video or some other lame excuse you can concoct for him to latch onto.

@Chris a big part of the stealthiness of the captured drone was the coatings on it which will be hard to reverse engineer. Same with the software. My guess is that a lot of the secret work with drones revolves around smaller undetectable drones (small like a fly) that can eavsdrop in meetings etc. The public always finds out what the military really has 20 years later. There is are 3 great youtube videos of work done at UPenn of drones working together on their own (not controlled by a human) to accomplish tasks. Think building forward operating bases in hostile environs. Search "aggressive quadrotor" and you should find it.

KingK: "Using chemical or biological weapons = not acceptable"

is not an "Obama" thing - almost every country in the world has signed the treaty (Chemical Weapons Convention). (Syria is one of only 6 countries not to have signed it.)

Agreed, though - the warnings against their use could carry more weight if it came from all of the parties that ratified it, rather than just Obama.

@Mike,

While the coatings mighe seen difficult to reverse-engineer, all you have to do is a little scraping and some gas chromotography and you have the makeup of the coatings. Besides the radar-absorbent coatings are similar to the submarine coatings that Iran already uses to defeat sonar of its advanced Kilo-class diesel-electric subs. So they're most of the way there before they got the RQ-170. The coatings account for perhaps 5% of the "stealth" at best. The major part of the stealth is in the shape. This would be the hardest thjing for the Iranians to create without a working model. This is because of the computer simulation that is necessary to find all the right angles and shapes. But if you have a working model, this becomes moot. And the shape is about 80% of the stealthy characteristics.

Software requires virtually no reverse-engineering. It is right onboard the drone and only needs to be dumped and read. Any reasonable high school computer nerd could do that part. Ditto for the GPS guidance and the "encrypted" datalink. Much harder to reverse engineer would be the very low noise and low infrared signature of the RQ-170 and its engines. But, again, now that they have a working model, the question is moot.

All this junk about spy drones that look like hummingbirds and such has extremely limited application in the real world. Their range and capabilities are so limited as to be close to useless. Most of the "secret work" is on robust stealthy drones and UCAVs that are close in size to the RQ-170. What intelligence needs is not a hummingbird to monitor conversations in a room somewhere, but ones like the ScanEagle that can take photography, monitor all cell phone comminications, locate radars and similar worthwhile tasks. Drones that look like canaries are not really useful and are a waste of money except for what DARPA considers as proof-of-concept.

But the loss of the RQ-170 was a major intelligence setback that is still obviously having its consequences. I would guess that the reason that the Navy is saying that all its drones are accounted for is that they have logged this one as "On extended loan to Iran." If you look closely at the Iranian footage of the drone, you will see that it is a SeaScan --- the ship-launched naval variant --- and that it is completely intact.

@ stopbs post 1.12,

Are you living in the United States? Why?

time to bring back the sr71?

It would be pretty stupid to believe anything Iran says.

Mifo- I hate to follow you and KingK off topic but,

President Obama said on 20 Aug 2012-

“We cannot have a situation where chemical or biological weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people,” he said. “We’ve been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is if we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilised.”

Assad has just called his bluff. Not sure what the response should be as I am not the President but I do hope that when he made that statement and when he makes ones like it he has a backup plan. Many have forgotten that he already drew a red line but Assad hasn't I am sure.

Now, back to topic! Iran and drones...

Ha! This is probably the same drone that the Iranians "captured" after it "Accidentally" crashed last year (or was it the year before?). If anyone actually thinks this that these guys are telling the truth, then they need to have their head examined.

The drone they say they captured has no useful technology. This certain drone is used to watch tuna fisherman to keep them honest. These are used by different countries. I tend to believe this was not one of ours.

down south...crickets in the background...the neighbor calls his dog...here fido...get ya ass in here...ya infido...

EMP transmitter with a massive amplifier hidden in the guts of the drone. They might need to make the drones a little bigger, but just think of the havoc it would cause as soon as they start taking it apart in one of their super secret labs.

"Eyesandveils.com has been down for a week now", says abu al ajayachbar amed. "This tragedy is the final straw for the infidels."

@Military Man,

Truly the dumb idea of the day. First of all, a non-nuclear EMP generator would cost more than any drone. Next, njon-nuclear EMP generators are notoriously short range --- just a hundred yards or so. EMP generators are notoriously easy to defeat --- grounding is the easiest method. And last but not least, you would have given the Iranians both a high-payload drone and an EMP generator that could then be used against us. Try thinking a little.

We actually have CHAMP cruise missiles with non-nuclear EMP generators that would be used against things like power substations in tactical situations where, for example, we want to disable a power substation, but later revive it for use by ourselves. It's not much of a threat.

The threat is that the cowboys at the CIA have allowed at least two of our most sophisticated drones to fall into the hands of Iran. These will now be reverse-engineered and effectively billions in taxpayer funded military research will be all over the Middle East, Russia, China, North Korea, etc. Now that's "havoc."

@ Chris- Bwahahaaaaa....You do realize that military weapons and technology that are part of public knowledge are at least 50 years old right? The invention of the THOR 2 electromagnetic displacement cannon in the 1970s completely changed the game for non-nuclear EMPs (I have personally been threatened by military members for acknowledging the existence of this weapon). Imagine a device that can suck the energy right out of the air and release it in a concentrated and directed pulse. Now imagine 40-something years of being refined and made smaller.

Current military officials would have you believe that hand held laser weapons are not possible, yet John Hutchison (self taught scientist contracted by the US gov't to work on the STAR WARS project, and discoverer of the "Hutchison effect") has displayed on national tv that he has built a relatively cheap and low power version of the laser weapons that the military already possesses.

These "billions" spent by the military to create the drones that you cite are laughable at best. Similar products are made by a toy company named Airhogz that are smaller with much less range. I will gaurantee you that they already have all of these things in preproduction from basic reverse engeneering of R/C toys.

Question everything that you are told by those who write the script for the play that is the US gov't and media.

Hopefully Iran f--ks off and dies to the last; they're nothing but trouble.

My only regret from my time over there eradicating towlies is that I only got to kill 1154 of them, not counting those of Saddam's so-called elite guard I roasted with a microwave transmitter.

There isn't enough brain-power in all of Iran to build a virus to give a camel a runny nose, let alone immobilize a drone.

I see the perversions of good are out. It is disgusting there are so many "killers" on this website. Disgusting racists who pretend to be on the side of some "killing" "maiming" "goodness", but couldn't be more of a devil if they were running hell.

@Indigo - lol solid south park reference.

And our airspace as well looking at us.

And me being a law abiding citizen... that should concern me why? Drones are the future. Your paranoia isn't.

But the technology gained by Iran, could be useful to them, Russia, China and North Korea.

MCR, and the technology they might get is outdated by our new stuff. Let Russia, China and N. Korea, plus the rag-heads work on it. They will still be behind, and with some of the mis-information put into the software, well there goes a lot of money for nothing.

But you should realize that MCR. Why haven't you?

Because I don't care. I just made a suggestion.

Omegaton

And me being a law abiding citizen... that should concern me why? Drones are the future. Your paranoia isn't.

The burgeoning police state in this country should concern you. It's not impossible that something you legally participate in now, one day becomes illegal. Given this and previous administrations' disregard for the constitution, I'd say that it's not only impossible, but not unlikely either.

The one thing none of you realize is that the US has figured out all that. At some point any unmanned drone will be captured. That is why all the technology in them is OOOOOOOOLD. Their engine, for instance, is a rolls royce from 1960's.

@nolan,

I would suggest that you look at the specs for the stealth RQ-170 drone that the Iranians captured completely intact. This thing came out of the Skunk Works in 2007. Sooooo OOOOOOOOOOLD would not be correct. The ScanEagle (actually the one that Iranians are showing is a SeaEagle, the naval variant) is onlky a couple of years older. The particular 2-stroke 1.9hp engine that you reference was actually only on the commercial variant that is used to help commercial fishermen look for fish. The engine on the later variants is a 1.4hp 2-stroke that is even more fuel-efficient.

The value in compromising a drone is not so much in the drone itself (though coating materials and design shapes in the RQ-170 belie that) but in compromising both the guidance and datalink systems. Knowledge of these systems allows drones to be easily neutralized. The RQ-170 was captured by the Iranians figuring out the datalink signals and effectively changing the pre-planned emergency landing instructions while the drone was in-flight. Then they just jammed the datalink signal and the drone automatically went to its pre-planned emergency airfield and landed. Ooooops, the airfield was in Iran. But my guess is that the Iranians now know enough about the basic datalink functions of most of our drones that they can take them over and land them through a variety of means. Recently an old Soviet ground attack figher was firing at an US Navy drone that was inexplicably in an "uncontrolled circular flight path." The fighter missed, mainly because he was shooting at it with a huge 30mm ground-attack cannon and the drone was recovered from the sea once it ran out of fuel. So that's three different drones that the Iranians seem to be pretty good with.

The first rule of Sun Tze is "Never underestimate your enemy."

And for the anti-Obama spewers. There NEVER was a "self-destrct capability" in any of our drones. There was NEVER an anti-tamper switch that could be turned off. These sorts of things simply make drone operations too dangerous. Ask anyone who works on aircraft ejection seats how dangerous. The allegations that Obama ordered all such switched turned off or removed to protect innocent Muslims is simply more Karl Rove propaganda and Fox lies. Such explosives would be absolutely unnecessary because it would be much easier to install the same sort of circuit-board frying software that crypto equipment uses. No danger of killing mechanics and just as effective. Unfortunately the CIA is full of invulnerable cowboys who don't need to take such precautions.

Yeah, that one was definitely designed not supposed to be. The normal, standard predator drone uses really old materials so that when they're found it's not a big deal. The communications link on them is even remarkably unsecured. I suppose they work though. They're much cheaper than a full on manned fighter jet.

They don't need them. The gov't specifically builds them with decades old technologies so that they don't have to worry about them.

They may have been loaded up with disinformation and "allowed" to be captured. Just a thought.

The best way to stop the drones, is tell the 47%ers they can get more free stuff if USA stops purchasing drones. The politicians will listen, because the 47%ers votes will no longer be for sale if the drone purchases don't stop.

zheng

The best way to stop the drones, is tell the 47%ers they can get more free stuff if USA stops purchasing drones.

So you want the military to tell the politicians to stop getting drones for them? Remember, half of that 47% is in the military.

Allen ....They cost a lot less than dead or captured spy pilots....... so don't sweat the small stuff

PValdez, most sensible comment so far!

PValdes, most sensible comment so far!

Sorry for the duplication. keys on the board sticking.

Zheng He

The best way to stop the drones, is tell the 47%ers they can get more free stuff if USA stops purchasing drones. The politicians will listen, because the 47%ers votes will no longer be for sale if the drone purchases don't stop.

What free stuff are you talking about? You mean, the 12% (elderly) of the 47% are getting back what they paid into SS and Medicare? Yes, that must be free. Or how about the 9% that are college students who make less than 20K a year. Yes, they must be collecting for free. Maybe the 47% should stop paying state income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes, property taxes, school taxes... Oh wait, that is "FREE stuff".

P.S. Since Romney paid no taxes from 97 to 2007... he got to drive on our roads for free.. Is that the free stuff? Or how about when Ryan used his fathers SS to go to college, that must be the free stuff to right?

Hmm, I think someone was exposed to too much Agent Orange...

Gumps,
Not Agent Orange, just a little PTSD...though they didn't have that back then. I think they just called it, "Brain Trauma". That mixed with a little Hashish imported from Thailand.

I think they are doing that already!

This is Obama's policy reality- everyone go to http://www.egyptindependent.com and read and think.

@Bill, thanks for proving to everyone you are full of manure. If it's a secret Presidential Directive, then you would never know about it. So that right there proves you're full of it. Again, thanks for proving it.

Ha Ha ....That's pretty damn funny!

Welcome to chain emails from 10 years ago.

Ranman87, either way it is still relevant and funny today so what's the problem with it? Got no sense of humor or just dislike the military?

Well, after you've read the joke over 200 times, as it's been re-posted over and over and over, it kind of loses any humor it had.

Urban Legend, not true

Ain't self-destruct a wonderful thing?

They may be expendable, that doesn't mean they should be allowed to take it apart and try to reproduce it...though, I would be curious to see how well they could.

That's right, "People are NOT", that includes everyone in Iran.

There's no propaganda here, no lying, no deception, no oligarchy, no destruction of the middle class, no greed for the "wealthy", no criminal benefits for the government "employees", called "public servants", if you think that's not a bs propaganda, you're deluded.

The average "government" "employee" makes in some areas for an average four times in pension per month than the average social security check, which is $1,200, and people pay for medicare, many "government" "employees' get free lifetime medical, and this "government" especially the repukables, who once paid 90% taxes are calling for "cuts" in medicare and social security, and there are so many "government" "employees" in some cities, the 3 top employers are local, federal and state, so it goes on while the taxpayer, taxed to the max, goes broke or to poverty, and then gets on a meager public assistance which breaks us all.

The "trickle down" bs is just that. The "rich" have kept the outrageous amounts and more real jobs are overseas or have been eliminated.

No lying or propaganda here alright.

Gee stopbs, you were on a roll until I realized your post is so far off topic I realized I had no idea what you were talking about.

I guess it could be a cruise missile that didn't go off, maybe they'll take it to Amadinijhad's living room...who knows, maybe all the Ayatollahs will be having dinner with him when it shows up.

We can dream a little, right?

Funny, Obi-Wan is an Air Force Pilot

"I am NOT your father...Luke, I've never even met your mother. Prove it you winey little b!tch, show me the DNA."

If Darth were truly evil, he would never have admitted it.

I think your comment was meant as a comedic sarcasm but I thik it came out more like gibberish. Sorry dont mean to sound mean but it is like your mom calling you in for dinner and you saying "I cant, the president is a balloon." Aside from just the Star Wars reference, that is.

Endrust,
I agree with your assessment, but would like to change one thing, my interpretation, "Strength is Peace", though you have to be willing to use it for it to have any worth. "Walk softly and carry a big stick" has always been another quote I particularly like. As with "Strength is Peace" there will always be that one idiot who thinks he can intimidate everyone around him, that is what Iran is.

WE need to look at quick response, short duration options. WE need to swat the fly, before he grows big enough to actually cause serious damage. I think a quick in and out like we did in Iraq in 1992 would be just what the doctor ordered. Targetting specific, strategic locations. The bunkers in the north where they are developing the Nuclear technology, the locations of the most influential Ayatollahs, and Amadinijhad. We could knock out the majority of Iran's weapon arsinals, without breaking a significant sweat. Their only real deterent is the fact that they actually have an air force. It would be quick, clean and it would put Iran back in it's place. Hopefully, in the process we can free, or empower, those in Iran who have been fighting for change.

Military Man,

Good points, each and every one.

First, the fundamental lesson of history is that a military force is useful only when it is not being used.

Peace is victory.

You can take any military leader in history, and say that when _____— crossed the _____— frontier there were unintended consequences and the defeat of ______— followed ______— years later.

Napoleon crosses the Russian frontier. Three years later Russian troops march in to Paris.

Hitler crosses the Russian frontier. Four years later Russian troops march into Berlin.

Rommel crosses the Tunisian frontier. Seven months later what's left of the Afrika Corps walks back across the frontier. The didn't drive because all of the vehicles were gone, and they didn't have any gasoline anyway.

The US won the Cold War by never "crossing the frontier". We had the MX Missiles (The Peacekeeper - I love the name!) and we had the B1-B and we had the Pershing Missiles in Europe BUT WE NEVER USED THEM. I worked on the MX and The B1-B, but not the Pershing.

A country loses a war as soon as their army crosses the frontier and goes into action.

BTW, Theodore Roosevelt was criminally insane. American imperialism off of the scale. The poster child of the Spanish American war, which was the first war created by propaganda. William Randolph Hearst got his war (Hearst invented Yellow Journalism), he sold a ton of newspapers creating it and reporting on it. and he regretted it after he saw war up close. The Maine was a coal explosion, not an act of terrorism. The Spanish did not want a war. We forced them into it. The unintended consequence was the counterinsurgency in the Philippines was long and bloody. The US Army committed war crimes in the Philippines. After the Filipino Freedom Fighters ambushed the US Army forces the US Army Forces liquidated the population of the village where the men came from. Exactly like the SS in World War II. Remember, Hitler observed the American Genocide and applied the same techniques to Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, Hungary, etc.

""The U.S. Army's retaliation measures included actions that resulted in the courts-martial of two field commanders, Brig. Gen. Jacob "Howling Jake" Smith and Marine Maj. Littleton Waller.

After the massacre at Balangiga, General Smith issued his infamous Circular No. 6, which stated his plans for crushing all resistance on the island of Samar.

He ordered his command thus:

"I want no prisoners" and "I wish you to kill and burn; and the more you burn and kill, the better it will please me.""

You HAVE to love these guys.

Iran would be an extremely tough nut to crack. The mountainous terrain makes any kind of armoured offense completely impossible.

If we go in with a surgical strike (or if the Israelis do it for us) there will be large scale unpredictable consequences. Of course it can be done. The problem is the unpredictability of the outcome.

If the US loses the moral high ground with Iran we have a problem. We know it. The Israelis know it. And the Iranians know it.

The Iranians would not mind a surgical strike, since it would open up the floodgates for "peaceful assistance" from China and Russia. The damaged hardware repairs would take only a few days if the Russians were so inclined.

Iran has to collapse from within. The collapse is near. The only question is, will Iran collapse and put in a new government (that is not completely insane) or will the religious fanatics get their hands on a nuclear weapon first. The current leadership is not at all afraid of dying, since they get the 72 virgins and the hashish. They look forward to taking as many infidels with them as they can when they go. If they have a nuclear armed continental ballistic missile and the rebels are at the gates of the last redoubt, they will not hesitate to push the button right before the go and vaporize Tel Aviv. An Iron fist would create a dirty bomb, which is not as bad, but it would definitely cause problems.

The bottom line is:

Do not poke Iran in the eye with a stick. Let them die of their own accord. They are a cancer, and one way to kill a cancer is to starve it to death. It is the preferred method for cancer, since unlike chemo the side effects are modest, and unlike radiation it does not turn your skin into leather. Surgery does not kill cancer. It removes the tumor, but it is the cancer cells in your lymph system that will eventually kill you - unless you starve them to death. Same thing with Iran. We are starving them to death with economic sanctions and hardball economics. Iran does not have access to cash, and they cannot sell oil. The current regime is doomed.

As in goodbye to Israel bad.

And that's bad because why, exactly?

Let's just play a little game here... If Israel were to disappear from the face of the earth, what would REALLY happen?

Would their God himself come down from the heavens and go on a rampaging bloodbath across the world? Probably not.

Would all the world's Christians and Jews suddenly vanish? No.

Would the religion be abandoned for all time? No.

Would ANYTHING actually happen? Yeah, some sad news stories, some ancient stone buildings would be bulldozed, and then what?

A bunch of nothing. Suddenly the Islamic nut jobs would have no one to hate in their part of the world, so they'd go back to the other thing they do best - killing each other over secular differences. And then what?

In 5, maybe 10 years, the region would stabilize, as they'd have nothing else to do.

Maybe a few rag-tag bands might feel ballsy enough to try f--king with the rest of the civilized world, then they'd find themselves on the receiving end of something that they couldn't have nightmares about - imagine a unified NATO and Warsaw Pact coalition - Russian, Chinese, American, Brits, Aussies, even Canadians, all turning their attention on these $hitheads. They wouldn't survive through the end of the first month.