Quote Originally Posted by pgil
do you really think that the US could do to Iran what it did to Iraq?? you must be dreaming. sure they could bomb the shit out of it, but that wont do much without being followed by a ground force. and Iran is a hell of a lot larger than iraq, has double the population, has a strong economy, a highly educated (comparatively) populace and a military. plus it still has an ally in russia. there is just no way in hell that the U.S. could go after iran in the same way they did iraq. and that is why they are attempting to negotiate with iran which they did not do with iraq. that is also why they try to negotiate with north korea. they do not want to attack a country that can fight back.
Comparing the two is an exercise in futility. They aren't remotely the same, for the exact reasons you pointed out. But, if you think our presence on their border doesnt scare them a little bit, you're nuts.

If it came to it, I have no doubt that we could take over Iran, but thats just pointless warmongering - we don't want to take over iran, we have no reason to take over iran, we just want iran to play nice in the sandbox.

I have absolutely no doubt that if Iran suddenly does make good on their nuke plan, that we'd put a missle through the construction site in a heartbeat. Yes, its a double standard. Yes, I'd prefer no one had nukes. Yes, if I had to choose between Iran and the US having nukes, I'd rather the US have them. Yes, I think us saying "You can't have nukes" while we have hundreds of nukes is rediculous. So goes being a world economic and military power.