The Killing Spiels

From The Washington Post (9/6/2007):
Nuking Iran: The Republican Agenda?

At the Republican debate last night, almost all the candidates said that they would not rule out a nuclear attack on Iran as a means to prevent it from getting its own nuclear weapons. Only one of these knuckleheads would say that attacking Iran — indeed even threatening to nuke Iran — is not the right strategy.

Original DVD cover.

Duncan Hunter:

I would authorize the use of tactical nuclear weapons if there was no other way to preempt those particular centrifuges

Rudy Giuliani:

the job “could be done with conventional weapons,” but he added that “you can’t rule out anything and you shouldn’t take any option off the table.”

Mitt Romney:

I wouldn’t take any options off the table.

(Bet’cha the table is butcherblock!)

Only Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, the “Dennis the Menace” of his party, said he opposed a nuclear strike on moral grounds and because he believed Iran “has done no harm to us directly and is no threat to our national security.”

From Fox News (oooh, I just threw up a little in my mouth! ):

THOMPSON: Iran is becoming more and more obvious, a major, major problem for the United States of America. They are killing our people. They are killing our people as we speak, and they’re putting a little shield that you can see through from a mile away to try to defend themselves in the court of public opinion.

We cannot allow this to go on forever. The backdrop of all this, of course, is the fact they claim they’ve got 3,000 centrifuges now and basically reprocessing that uranium enough to get fissile material within the next few years and most experts think well on their way to making a nuclear weapon and, of course, they’ve threatened Israel.

I don’t know how much more stark the situation can be. They perceive us as being weak. They perceive us as being divided, and they think they can get away with anything. They are perhaps getting closer to a revolution in Iran. That economy is so bad, the civil oppression is so bad against their own people, we’ve got some friends among those people there, there are some good things that can happen.

The military or nuclear option or whatever certainly should be the last thing to be considered. There are an awful lot of good things that can happen between now and then, but there are no options that can be taken off the table of a country that’s intent on becoming dangerous to us and the rest of the world forever.

HANNITY: So that means that America must have a plan and prepare for possible military action if they’re on the verge of getting nuclear weapons?

THOMPSON: Yes.

Let’s check in with John McCain:

You know that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran? Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.

Tom Tancredo (from Rightwing News (oy, i feel sick! :

John Hawkins: Let me ask you another question, it’s Iran related. I heard that you support the National Council of Resistance (NCR), a political arm of the Mujahedin-e Kalq (MEK)…

Tom Tancredo: Yes, I do.

John Hawkins: While they are certainly an anti-Iranian group, the State Department says they are also terrorists. Do you believe that to be the case and…

Tom Tancredo: Well, if you’re a mullah in Iran, you definitely view them as a terrorist. They’re not a terrorist threat to the United States. They pose absolutely no threat. In fact, they are a great asset. They are the ones who have brought to light almost everything we know about the nuclear capabilities…

John Hawkins: Now I’m just asking, have they made any sort of attacks on civilians or US troops?

Tom Tancredo: Back in the 1970s, right around the time of the takeover of our embassy and that sort of thing, they were accused of launching attacks against Americans. They deny it, but whether it’s true or not, it was more than twenty years ago and they metamorphosed into the most significant threat to the present regime in Iran that exists today. The head of the organization is a woman who is very charismatic, she believes in women’s rights, she believes in Democracy in Iran…I do support their efforts. I understand that the US characterizes them as a terrorist organization, but what you have to understand is that they were identified as such only after the Clinton administration agreed to mollify the regime in Iran. They wanted to reach some kind of detente with Iran, with the mullahs. The mullahs had only one demand, and that was that we put the Mujahedin-e Kalq on the terrorist list and so it was done for political reasons, not because they posed any threat to the United States.

John Hawkins: And they don’t kill Iranian civilians or that sort of thing either?

Tom Tancredo: Well, they attack and do assassinate members of the Iranian government, yeah. That part of the world, it’s not a Sunday school picnic over there.

John Hawkins: I understand. A lot of people seem to think Iran is going to fall in a revolution at some point. How long do you think they have or do you think that’s the case necessarily?

Tom Tancredo: No idea. Believe me, these things are much too hard to predict. We’re talking about so many variables. I can tell you, it would come quicker if we supported the Mujahedin-e Kalq.

John Hawkins: Should we be giving them a push…

Tom Tancredo: Absolutely, we should be aiding them instead of restricting their activities…

John Hawkins: As far as our Iranian policy goes, should we use troops, should we funnel arms to them…

Tom Tancredo: No, no, no, absolutely not. We can use the Mujahedin-e Kalq, they are in fact warriors. Where we need to use that kind of force, we can use them. Where we need to apply other kinds of force, we can do it. Economically, surreptitiously…we can do it.

This is brought to you by Republicans, the pro-life party! 😀