kstills wrote:One should be careful not to conflate the rhetoric of the ruling party in Iran with the feelings of the people of Iran.
They are at odds with each other.
Iran is a great case for moving slowly and behind to scenes to allow the natural human tendency to rebel against oppression to run it's course. Becoming overly belligerent could turn an otherwise friendly populace into a nationalistic force that would willingly carry out the admittedly warlike policies of the ruling party.
I'm not advocating a do nothing approach, however the target of our retaliation should be a part of their government that the people hate.
And a target like that should be easy to find.
Good advice. One tends to forget that Iran is a country that was once more free and open. Women had upward mobility. People had more freedom of all kinds. It was almost like the west. There were many people who loved the shah for westernizing and secularizing their culture, but like most monarchies, they can be brutal to the opposition. Cultural forces drove the Shah out. It was unusual that a modernized country was replaced by a theocracy. Many educated people who enjoyed the classical liberal freedoms under the Shah are disenchanted under theocratic rule while the common Islamic man is happy to have the secular and political influence of the west gone. The country is still divided.
