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Maybe we should just show them our peaceful intentions and nuke 'em now, bendito?

Bendito, have you enlisted in the Army or Marines yet?

Lack of evidence will not stop Bush from attacking Iran. He'll find or manufacture enough cover, or just go because it pleases him. Mounting any kind of ground attack from Iraq/Afganistan or both would be brutally turned back by massive Iranian forces, well armed. US warships in the region would be targeted as well. None of that would bother Bush either, as he gets his instructions from God and therefore would bear no direct responsibility for the consequences.

Enough with the "when are you going to enlist" crap already.

We do not have compulsory military service.

There is no draft.

Those in the military joined willingly and should have understood that they would have no say in where or when they were asked to fight.

The fact that they enlisted does not give them any more or less of a right to support or criticize government policy than a private citizen who has not chosen to serve in the military.

Would you contend that anyone who wants the government to help the poor must first divest themselves of all their worldly possessions before supporting government welfare programs.

I'm as opposed to the fact that we rushed into war in Iraq as anyone but to make such comments is one step removed from saying something like "My dad could beat up your dad!"

As they chant a twenty-five year aria of "Death to the Great Satan", we should just shrug and rely on their peaceable intentions.

yeah, that's what they were chanting on 9/12. and of course, iran is a monolitihic society, so there's no point in seeking reformers to support.

don't go to iraq, bendito. just stick your head in the oven; we''ll all feel better.

Steve, why is it that the anti-Bush Left are the ones most loudly calling for an attack on Iran? Or, if y'all aren't actually calling for it, then everything that comes out of your mouths anticipates an attack. Why? What's with the big rush into the deep?

Once again, the anti-democratic nature of your ideology exposes itself. If you people were actually interested in the advance of human and civil rights, you'd find some way to champion the cause of democratic reform in places like Iran and Lebanon. But, no. That's not what we're getting. Instead, we get a lot of nonsense about how Bu$hitler, Inc. is spoiling for a fight. What the fuck?

Does it ever occur to you that standing with the youth of Iran would be the natural posture of those who claim to support human liberties?

I think it's time to recognize that the liberal elements in our society have a great amount of political power that they have willfully chosen to bury because it gets in the way of their blind partisanship. And that power is their consent to the great changes going on in the Middle East. Just imagine how easily you might reclaim your influence with the nascent democratic reformers in that part of the world if you would simply learn to compartmentalize your ideological opposition to this President. Go ahead and give Bush hell for messing with Social Security or Medicaid or anything else you can think of domestically. But on the question of whether the people of the Middle East should be free to determine their own fates? Why the fuck is that even a question? That's why I say your side is ideologically incoherent: because you don't actually stand up for women's rights or homosexual rights or anything else in the Middle East. Where's the universal principle? Buried. Because it's more important to take a shit all over this Administration than it is to have a vision or any kind of optimism for the potential of free societies.

What a bunch of sell-outs.

the anti-Bush Left are the ones most loudly calling for an attack on Iran

huh?

well, at least bush is standing up to hezbollah and pro-syrian forces in Lebanon. did i say "standing up to"? i meant "quietly accepting the presence of"