Will U.S. force Iran war?
That's what happened the last time the US waged a successful oil boycott against an aggressive, rising nation
Will U.S. force Iran war?
Joseph N. DiStefano
The U.S. stopped importing oil from Iran in 1987. But only recently, with European banks more dependent than usual on U.S. support, have we pushed for an effective world boycott of Iran.
Not surprisingly, the Shiite Muslim holymen who run Iran are angry and their military is talking about shutting off all oil from what the Iranians call the Persian Gulf. The threat has already helped drive U,S. gasoline prices back north from $3 a gallon. The idea is to get Iran to stop developing nuclear weapons, which threaten Israel, the Arab Gulf states, and our other friends and interests in that part of the world.
When has a boycott like this worked? By contrast, the successful effort by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to deny aggressive Japan oil helped provoke the desperate, murderous Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor that dragged us into World War II.
If that's the kind of thing our policymakers are risking again, why aren't our Presidential candidates talking more about the likely human and economic cost of an Iran war, especially as budget-cutters, obeying Obama and Congress, reduce our military forces?
I generally agree that the strategy never works, but there are not a lot of good options. The best option is to hope for and encourage an internal revolution.— daveb618
Oh, please! Has Joseph watched the debates? Newt, Santorum, Romney and Bachmann all spoke about Iran. Let Israel handle this themselves if they feel Iran is such a threat. We secretly provided them nuclear weapons decades ago.
The recent drumbeat for war in the mainstream media is eerily reminiscent to the laser-like focus the media concentrated on Iraq post-9/11. Let the chickenhawks send their own kids to war if they want it so badly.— wokmaster- Yes, the belligerence coming from Iran is all the Israelis fault. It was the Israelis who caused the hostage crisis during the Carter administration too. — corpo
- @davevb618
As a nation we have probably spent hundreds of millions(maybe billions) of dollars encouraging revolt. That's just the tip of the iceberg though. You may have heard a nuclear scientist was killed in Iran today (or yesterday when you consider their time zone), the fourth assassination in two years. An Iranian nuclear facility was recently and mysteriously leveled(you can google all of this btw). Iran was recently hit with incredibly sophisticated computer viruses, for the second time. Of course not everything goes as planned. Everyone knows a US drone was lost. You may or may not know that CIA spies were captured and killed in Iran in November. Another was sentenced to execution this week.
It is clear the leaders in our country(W. Bush, Obama or Romney and friends) want war with Iran. The only reason we haven't invaded already is because it cannot be justified to the American public.
@Joseph N. DiStefan
Our presidential candidates talk about this non-stop. (One thing should be totally clear. Iran is not a threat to this country or any of our allies in the middle east.) Republicans are lambasting Obama over his handling of Iran even though he is conducting a not so covert war against that country.
As for Obama cutting the military- LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL. Obama isn't cutting spending. He's just increasing spending more slowly. Even that's deceiving, because it gives you the illusion of a weakened military. But Obama, like Bush before him, wants the Armed Forces stream lined, fewer soldiers with much much bigger toys.
— JoeinSouthPhilly 
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I'm sure none of this has to do with keeping the price of oil sky high despite falling demand. Keep provoking Iran, and maybe something stupid will happen. After all, the chances of success against the US military are great, just ask Momar Qadafi or Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Ladin, they will tell you that engaging the US in war was the best thing that ever happened to them. You hawks are a joke, everyone in the world knows not to go into open conflict with the US, unless you are insane. Cold war, low level intensity, is all any country can hope to get away with and only with intermediaries. No one in their right mind will attack the US Navy or US Air Force off of their coasts unless they want to end up like Iraq or Afghanistan, loaded with dead bodies that our soldiers urinate on.
