Al-Jazeera Ask It's Readers " Will The U.S. Attack Iran?"

     From even the United States did this question get some answers!

       Below are some of the comments/answers

    Al-Jazeera

Will the US attack Iran? Are you in Iran or the US and, if so, what do you think?

Added: Sunday, 11 February 2007, 07:55 AM

I am proud to be an American, as all people are proud of their country. But my government is totally out of control. It's not even an elected dictatorship. Our votes don't count. Some voting districts have one voting machine for over 3,000 people. Some folks stand in line for up to 8 hours. Electronic voting machines were manipulated. Our government lies to us. Most Americans are not truly aware of what goes on in the world because the news that comes in here is so filtered. Bush is absolutely planning on attacking Iran. That's what the troop build up is really about. We bombed Somalia but there was little mention about it on the news here. We're in trouble.

treehugger, Washington State, USA

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Added: Saturday, 10 February 2007, 11:49 AM

Until all UN states are nuclear-free, the UN doesn't have the right to demand other countries quit their nuclear programs. No country in possession of a nuclear arsenal should speak out against other potentially nuclear nations, whether they aim for nuclear weapons or peaceful technology. And given this point, I still haven't seen any conclusive proof from Iran's accuser that it seeks nuclear weapons. Then again, until Israel dismantles its arsenal, Iran is entitled to defend itself.

Andreq, Cluj Napoca, Romania

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  Added: Sunday, 11 February 2007, 07:50 AM

The US will attack Iran's nuclear development sites if Iran doesn't cease uranium enrichment and stop the provocations. It's no more complicated than that. The ultimate answer to the question lies entirely with Iranian leadership. Some point to the new weapons Iran has ostensibly test-fired this past week as a deterrent for the US, but the weapons are only new to Iran, and it's a major mistake to think they will provide insulation from the ultimate result, which is that Iran will not be permitted the capability of creating or deploying nukes under any circumstances. Iran stands virtually alone in the world, even (or should I say particularly) in the Middle East, thinking otherwise. Seattle-WA/US.

Steeley, Seattle, USA

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Added: Saturday, 10 February 2007, 01:50 AM

To Andreq, Shafiq, no2wo: India and Pakistan have nuclear arsenals and in the same area and no one made fuss about them. This is because they never threaten other countries. On the other hand, Iran under Ahmadinejad and North Korea has threatened to destroy other countries. They keep having one military maneuvere after the other. These and other irresponsible actions lead the world to believe they will use their nuclear arsenal once it is in hand. It is responsible to keep their hands away from any WMD.

mishmish, , Egypt

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Added: Saturday, 10 February 2007, 01:04 AM

I am convinced that the US or its 'allies' in the Middle East,namely Israel,will make surgical strikes on Iran. They will not attempt to destroy the whole country as they did with Iraq but will content themselves with destroying the atomic research facilities, airbases and other military installations thus leaving Iran unprotected. This sudden transformation will, they hope, bring about demands for swift and far-reaching change in the political structure in Iran. Their intelligemce services will provide Bush et al with the 'evidence' that Iran is planning a global war whereas we all know that only America is allowed to unleash a holocaust. Before the Iranians become too belligerent they should study aerial photographs of Germany after May 1945. They,the Germans,paid a terrible price for their 'liberation' then, just as the poor Iraqis have. I foresee chaos and destruction for Iran.

captain, Edgware middx, United Kingdom

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Added: Saturday, 10 February 2007, 11:49 AM

I share the sentiments expressed by Koorosh, London and would add that even if Iran yearns for nuclear capabilities, it should be understandable as Iran is surrounded by countries with nuclear weapons, namely India, Pakistan, Russia and Israel. Iran has never invaded any country or involved in any wars except in self-defence but is sandwiched between two countries under hostile occupation by USA and in the throes of civil wars that would inevitably spill onto its territories. Nuclear weapons may be over the top but it sure needs a strong deterrent.

shaikanwar, Norfolk, United Kingdom

 

Technorati tags: Al-Jazeera, U.S., Attack, Iran

 

Blowup? America's Hidden War With Iran

    Iran and the United States had a half way decent relationship beginning after the 9/11 attacks as the Iranians sought to help the U.S. in Afghanistan.Things went sour after agreement was reached on how the Iranians would provide money and help to rebuild parts of Afghanistan and especially after Bush lumped Iran into his " axis of evil " group. But wait, there’s more!

Crossposted from TruthOut and edited for space.

Blowup? America’s Hidden War With Iran
    By Michael Hirsh and Maziar Bahari
    Newsweek

    Monday 19 February 2007 Issue

Jalal Sharafi was carrying a video game, a gift for his daughter, when he found himself surrounded. On that chilly Sunday morning, the second secretary at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad had driven himself to the commercial district of Arasat Hindi to checkout the site for a new Iranian bank. He had ducked into a nearby electronics store with his bodyguards, and as they emerged four armored cars roared up and disgorged at least 20 gunmen wearing bulletproof vests and Iraqi National Guard uniforms. They flashed official IDs, and manhandled Sharafi into one car. Iraqi police gave chase, guns blazing. They shot up one of the other vehicles, capturing four assailants who by late last week had yet to be publicly identified. Sharafi and the others disappeared.

    At the embassy, the diplomat’s colleagues were furious. "This was a group directly under American supervision," said one distraught Iranian official, who was not authorized to speak on the record. Abdul Karim Inizi, a former Iraqi Security minister close to the Iranians, pointed the finger at an Iraqi black-ops unit based out at the Baghdad airport, who answer to American Special Forces officers. "It’s plausible," says a senior Coalition adviser who is also not authorized to speak on the record. The unit does exist - and does specialize in snatch operations.

    The Iranians have reason to feel paranoid. In recent weeks senior American officers have condemned Tehran for providing training and deadly explosives to insurgents. In a predawn raid on Dec. 21, U.S. troops barged into the compound of the most powerful political party in the country, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and grabbed two men they claimed were officers in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Three weeks later U.S. troops stormed an Iranian diplomatic office in Irbil, arresting five more Iranians. The Americans have hinted that as part of an escalating tit-for-tat, Iranians may have had a hand in a spectacular raid in Karbala on Jan. 20, in which four American soldiers were kidnapped and later found shot, execution style, in the head. U.S. forces promised to defend themselves.

  Sometimes it seems as if a state of conflict is natural to the U.S.-Iranian relationship - troubled since the CIA-backed coup that restored the shah to power in 1953, tortured since Ayatollah Khomeini’s triumph in 1979. With the election of George W. Bush on the one hand, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the other, the two countries are now led by men who deeply mistrust the intentions and indeed doubt the sanity of the other. Tehran insists that U.S. policy is aimed at toppling the regime and subjugating Iran. The White House charges that Iran is violently sabotaging U.S. efforts to stabilize the Middle East while not so secretly developing nuclear weapons. As the raids and skirmishes in Iraq underscore, a hidden war is already unfolding.

    Yet a NEWSWEEK investigation has also found periods of marked cooperation and even tentative steps toward possible reconciliation in recent years - far more than is commonly realized. After September 11 in particular, relations grew warmer than at any time since the fall of the shah. America wanted Iran’s help in Afghanistan, and Iran gave it, partly out of fear of an angry superpower and partly in order to be rid of its troublesome Taliban neighbors. In time, hard-liners on both sides were able to undo the efforts of diplomats to build on that foundation. The damage only worsened as those hawks became intoxicated with their own success. The secret history of the Bush administration’s dealings with Iran is one of arrogance, mistrust and failure. But it is also a history that offers some hope.

    For Iran’s reformists, 9/11 was a blessing in disguise. Previous attempts to reach out to America had been stymied by conservative mullahs. But the fear that an enraged superpower would blindly lash out focused minds in Tehran. Mohammad Hossein Adeli was one of only two deputies on duty at the Foreign Ministry when the attacks took place, late on a sweltering summer afternoon. He immediately began contacting top officials, insisting that Iran respond quickly. "We wanted to truly condemn the attacks but we also wished to offer an olive branch to the United States, showing we were interested in peace," says Adeli. To his relief, Iran’s top official, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, quickly agreed. "The Supreme Leader was deeply suspicious of the American government," says a Khameini aide whose position does not allow him to be named. "But [he] was repulsed by these terrorist acts and was truly sad about the loss of the civilian lives in America." For two weeks worshipers at Friday prayers even stopped chanting "Death to America."

    The fear dissipated after Sept. 20, when the FBI announced that Al Qaeda was behind the attacks. But there was new reason for cooperation: for years Tehran had been backing the Afghan guerrillas fighting the Taliban, Osama bin Laden’s hosts. Suddenly, having U.S. troops next door in Afghanistan didn’t seem like a bad idea. American and Iranian officials met repeatedly in Geneva in the days before the Oct. 7 U.S. invasion. The Iranians were more than supportive. "In fact, they were impatient," says a U.S. official involved in the talks, who asked not to be named speaking about topics that remain sensitive. "They’d ask, ’When’s the military action going to start? Let’s get going!’ Entire Article

Technorati Tags: America, War, Iran, Bush