Tuesday, October 07, 2008
The Deadly Dreadfully Dull Second Debate
Who won? Not us, we all lost about 84 minutes of irretrievable time to recycled stump speeches. I'm going to talk about just one or two things Obama said. If our ally Pakistan (and they have been our ally, they lost about as many guys fighting al Qaeda/Taliban types in the ungovernable border provinces as we did in Iraq) cannot or will not attack Osama bin Laden, when located (I'm almost sure he's dead but no matter), then President Obama will attack him in Pakistan, borders be damned. "Of course you know," to paraphrase Buggs Bunny, echoing Groucho in Duck Soup, "that would mean war." A new one. With our former ally, nuclear weapon armed Pakistan. If we believed Obama for a second, this position, alone, would be sufficient to disqualify him for the Presidency. He wasn't finished being butch.
We can't allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. OK, how are you going to stop them? To paraphrase Frost in Aliens, "What do you want us to use, harsh language?"
I actually don't endorse an airstrike on Iran, not just now at least. Nor should we help Israel do it, just yet. For an oil rich nation, Iran is ridiculously vulnerable to attack on its oil refining industry, which is bunched up and creaky. Indeed, a single cellulose housed bomb could bring the whole house of cards down with only a remote chance of detection. But my point is getting away from me. Israel, if it has the nerve (a very big question lately) will have to concentrate eventually on another part of the Iranian energy industry and not just bomb, but occupy the sites and search, like they did with the 'whatever it was' in Syria a few months ago. That will be difficult and very risky. We ought to think about helping them when the time, eventually, comes. Just not now.
McCain's point about not telegraphing your punch was good, sound and lost on the great majority, I fear.
We can't allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. OK, how are you going to stop them? To paraphrase Frost in Aliens, "What do you want us to use, harsh language?"
I actually don't endorse an airstrike on Iran, not just now at least. Nor should we help Israel do it, just yet. For an oil rich nation, Iran is ridiculously vulnerable to attack on its oil refining industry, which is bunched up and creaky. Indeed, a single cellulose housed bomb could bring the whole house of cards down with only a remote chance of detection. But my point is getting away from me. Israel, if it has the nerve (a very big question lately) will have to concentrate eventually on another part of the Iranian energy industry and not just bomb, but occupy the sites and search, like they did with the 'whatever it was' in Syria a few months ago. That will be difficult and very risky. We ought to think about helping them when the time, eventually, comes. Just not now.
McCain's point about not telegraphing your punch was good, sound and lost on the great majority, I fear.
Labels: 2008 Presidential Race, Second Debate
