Posted on 01/18/2006 6:08:43 AM PST by RKV
Although Iran is a dictatorship by definition and there are severe punishments for not adhering to Valeyat e-Faqhee, Supreme Religious Leadership, authority in Iran is diffuse enough to make decapitation difficult if not impossible. It has been tried before and the consequences were not favorable. A point to consider is that the demographics have changed since that attempt. However, right now the most loyal of Iran's IRGC (Revolutionary Guard Corp) are sitting in power. Maybe decapitation would have worked in July of 1999 when the streets were packed with student demonstrators, but the regime has clinched its fist on the Iranian populace since then. Remove the head and I estimate the body will squeeze the people hard until another head grows, one even more militant and vile than the last.
I believe we should target sanctions to isolate the regime as much as possible in combination with efforts help facilitate the growth of democratic Iranian leaders both inside and outside of Iran. Americans should also prepare for war with Iran. If war comes in spite of our best efforts to avoid it, the United States must be ready. It looks like the regime is trying its best to start one.
Ahhh, thanks. I did not know that. Wow.
Yeah, the French and Italians (our allies along with the Brits and Russians) blocked his attempts to transit their countries to get to Russia. It figures that the Germans would use him to take Russia out of the war. Wish could find his equivalent now.
That is the problem (for me) - the mullahs want a war. We know about Brier Rabbit and the tar pit. If we have to give them what they want, we should be sure to do so in a way that they won't appreciate. Fomenting internal rebellion (via the Kurds and other minorities?) might be one way. Deep politics.
Tribal Unrest in the Provinces(C) Nationalist groups, who were active underground until the downfall of the Shah, are now openly demanding full autonomy for their ethnic groups. This includes the Kurds in the west, the Baluchis in the southwest and the Azeris in the northwest. The most recent open expression of hostility occurred in Khorramshar on May 30, 1979 following an incident in which a Revolutionary Guards-man killed two Arabs in the course of a labor dispute at the port. The Arab community attacked the port in public…
HUMINT: Not much has changed in terms of ethnic unrest.
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