Reply #41: Uh, the OP is NOT advocating bombing. He's asking about the Columbia/Ground Zero business.

[MADem]

No one in this thread is saying, "Come ON, guys, let's bomb those fuckers into the Stone Age!!!" You're suggesting that, and that's just not true.

The OP wants to know how that situation might have been handled. You're reading shit into comments that simply is not there. You are also accusing my fellow DUers of being "Republics" or at least GOPish in their viewpoints. And THAT's not true, either.

And you know damn well that's the case, unless you have a reading comprehension problem, and I doubt that you do--if you actually take the time to READ what people actually have written.

You need to look at the world in a more NUANCED fashion, there, friend. You can dislike the actions of a leader of a nation, and still not want to BOMB them. Your suggesting that is just not on.

I don't have a with/against mentality--I speak from personal knowledge. Let me share a little something about myself with you. I used to live in Iran. I lived there under Shah, AND under Khomeini. Both regimes were repressive, but at least under Shah you could buy beer and wine, go down to the Armenian section and get some Canadian bacon and a Christmas tree, go to BARS (yes, bars), say hi to your Jewish neighbors who would actually, cheerfully ADMIT they were Jewish, and the ladies could wander the streets in NORMAL LOOKING clothing--nothing TOO outrageous (one would be criticized for the halter top and hot pants look, for example) but a tee shirt and jeans, no problem; a dress above the knee, so what? Short sleeves, sure, why not? Now, women are wrapped in black bedsheets or absurd scarf/raincoat getups, in 90 degree heat, to prevent "lustful urges" by a few ignorant fucksticks who lurk amongst the stalls in the southern bazaar.

That's not MY Iran. That's not the Iran of any of my friends. They're sick of the repressive heel of the Ulema on their necks, they're sick of inflation, they're sick of crumbling infrastructure, having to wait seven years to get a phone, sick of GAS RATIONING in an OPEC country.

It's WORSE than the Shah. At least with the Shah, Johnny Walker Red could be had in the local kuchi store. There was full employment, even if a lot of it was subsidized by the government (lawn waterers, street sweepers--now, the large cities are AWASH with litter). You've got the same shitty, brutal, repressive government, only now, instead of smartass, snooty, Western educated Persian elites being in charge, smartass, madrasa and Islamic university -miseducated assholes in black turbans are calling the shots. Same assholes, only STUPIDER. Hell, at least Shah kept them out of war--they got a decade-long war and millions dead and wounded thanks to the fucking Ayatullah. No, neither government was good. But this isn't the best Iran can do. They're too smart a nation to put up with this shit for much longer. I hope they do it on their own, without any help from America. I'd like to go back before I croak.

And that's the truth.

If you are constantly being excoriated or 'snubbed/treated like an asshole' here, you might want to do a bit of introspection. That 'playing the victim card' business simply doesn't roll. It just MIGHT be you.