Iran, Iraq, and Korea

Just read some of the article in the New Yorker about the US government (and Bush, specifically) wanting to do something about Iran, and how they are in the preliminary stages of invasion. The knee-jerk reaction here is to say “Oh boy, here we go again.” With the horrible aftermath in Iraq, it’s an understandable feeling to have.

But as I read the article it hit me that Iran is much more scary to me than Iraq ever was. To be more precise, the Iranian president is scarier than Hussein ever was. He seems to have a bit of a Napoleon complex going and, along with the comments he’s made, makes me a little nervous.

Not that think we should go into Iran or anything, but guys like him and Kim Jong-il (KJ) in Korea are legitimate, scary guys. I always brought that up during the invasion of Iraq: we are going after a guy who is backing down, saying he doesn’t have anything, when the evidence was showing (and did show) that he didn’t have any WMDs. This was all going on while KJ was yelling at the top of his lungs how the US wouldn’t dare attack him and how he intended to go nuclear on his own.

It was always kind of a weird sensation: why go after this guy when the other guy is yelling and screaming that he’s going to get us?

And, even more importantly, the question that is getting some but not enough press and should really be at the forefront of all these discussions: what can be done to fix the underlying issues that have so many of these guys yelling and screaming that they’re going to come and get us?