...or harder to argue for regime change of a country that has been drummed out of the UN?

For those slow on the uptake, I'm asking whether it's a good idea to toss Iran, given the circumstances.

Have any of the newly elected freedom loving Iraqi leaders come out in public to condemn the Iranian bluster about crushing Israel?

I would be pleased to see a link showing that they have, but thus far I've not seen it.

= = =

For the record =IF= we could surgically remove Iranian nuclear weapons capabilities (special ops & relatively clean bombing) I'd be in favor of it.

Making the attempt and failing, however, would be worse than not trying. If we pull that trigger then we'd better not miss.

= = =

The Iranians are saying nothing that the Saudis don't harbor in their hearts. Getting off oil is the only way to win the "Global War on Terror" in the long run. Montana coal gasification and nuclear powered hydrogen production.

Let the Chinese be dependent on oil and thus responsible for dealing with the Islamo-fascist nut-jobs.

Bill, how would you know if they came out? The US Media is not even covering the comments today, much less any condemnation. The primary reason for the lack of coverage is that "THIS ISN'T NEWS". As one article, from India, pointed out, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad comments were a reiteration of the same comments made by Ayatollah Khomeni 25 years ago.

The rest of your isolationist, head-in-the-sand, comments seem naive at best.

Bill, how would you know if they came out? The US Media is not even covering the comments today, much less any condemnation.

Google News is global. I don't read / watch the MSM anymore.

IF the Iraqi leaders have condemned the Iranian "stomp Israel" message THEN our State Department should at least issue a press release.

Once we are off Persian Gulf oil, we can neutralize the Saudi royal family without fear of destroying our own economy. So much for isolationism.

Saudi nationals destroyed the World Trade Center, not Iraqis.

Bill: "Saudi nationals destroyed the World Trade Center, not Iraqis."

So, how exactly is this relevant to the post again?

The Iranians are saying what many Saudis believe in their hearts. Cleaning out Iran and not Saudi Arabia leaves the job only partially complete.

Bill,

Funny you mention Google News. I checked them out this morning before responding to you. As of 10am CST today, Google News didn't rate the Iranian President's comments about Israel significant enough to be on its "frontpage"... not just the frontpage of regular news, but it wasn't even a top story in the "world" section. So again, I stand by my comment that the media is not covering the story.

If you went so far as search for Ahmadinejad, then you might find some stories from the BBC and India. Interesting that one article notes the PLO as condemning the comments.

UPDATE: If you go to World section of Google News now (3pm CST 10/31), and then scroll to the bottom there are 664 related articles (which ranks it below "Conservative Take Power in Poland" at 67 related and "Bomb kills 20 in Iraq" at 65?) Still, no reporter has left the Palestinian Hotel to find some Baghdad politician and get their opinion of the rants of the Iranian President. Probably because they already know that most Iraqis condemn Iranians, regardless of the latest comments. Again, what's the news there?

Additional... Iraq the Model blog speaks out against the comments by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Finally, if we get out of the Middle East (supposedly by reverting to local/renewable sources of energy), what exactly would be our rational for "neutralizing" the Saudi Royal Family. Seems like you are proposing the US protect itself strategically before committing an international crime. Less you forget, Saddam Hussein declared war against the US, lost that war and sued for a ceasefire, and then proceded to violate the ceasefire. There was never a peace treaty, thus the simple violation of the ceasefire was sufficient authority to attack Saddam's leadership. Alas, that is why, regardless of rhetoric, Congress had not impeached Bush for going to war.