# If We Elect Romney President, Does War With Iran Become Very, Very Likely? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 22, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040 "2012-07-22T14:10:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/1 "2012-07-22T14:10:03Z")
As we all know there has been a [steady drumbeat toward starting a war with Iran](http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/02/13/why-conservative-media-are-wrong-about-attackin/184066)on the right over the past several months. Furthermore, the guys likely to be tapped as foreign policy staff by Romney are the same neocon hawks that led Dubya and the American people in to war with Iraq: [Mitt Romney’s war cabinet](http://www.thenation.com/article/167683/mitt-romneys-neocon-war-cabinet) It’s evident that if we elect Romney President, the chances that we will be mired down in yet ANOTHER pointless and stupid Middle Eastern war go WAAAAAAY up, at a time when jobs are rare, pay for those employed is stagnant, and the rich are just plain buying our government. The prospect of war with Iran good for defense contractors and their Republican buddies whose SuperPACS get their money, bad for everyone else. Yet I don’t see this being used as a talking point by the Dems. Repubicans are idiot warhawks. The American people are stupid and can easily be scared into war (see: Iraq) but tend not to like it once the bills (in human lives, in money) come due. Why the hell not call Romney “the warhawk candidate who will drive us all to bankruptcy”? Does the Democratic leadership think Americans can be sold another Middle East war? ---
**Author:** ![nogravity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9d8465/32.png) [@nogravity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nogravity)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/2 "2012-07-22T14:18:10Z")
I don’t know about a war in Iran but it wouldn’t surprise me especially if Congress goes all Republican. But I know he definitely has a hard on about the [Soviet Union](http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/04/romney-campaign-brackets-biden-foreign-policy-speech-by-warning-of-soviet-threat.php).😕 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/3 "2012-07-22T14:20:56Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Yet I don’t see this being used as a talking point by the Dems. Repubicans are idiot warhawks. The American people are stupid and can easily be scared into war . . . **That’s** why. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/4 "2012-07-22T14:33:49Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > **That’s** why. Yeah, but are they stupid enough to be herded into a war with Iran so soon after the debacle in Iraq? I mean ALL of the American people, not just the conservatives. ---
**Author:** ![nogravity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9d8465/32.png) [@nogravity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nogravity)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/5 "2012-07-22T14:41:37Z")
I read somewhere (I’ll have to try to find it) but one of the reasons why Afghanistan and Iraq dragged out so long was because Americans for the most part were not directly impacted by the wars. There was no rationing, no draft, no loose lips sink ships sort of mindset going on. So unless you knew someone personally who was either killed or injured over there the war didn’t seem real and was just some sort of ethereal, nebulous event. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/6 "2012-07-22T14:55:29Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > As we all know there has been a [steady drumbeat toward starting a war with Iran](http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/02/13/why-conservative-media-are-wrong-about-attackin/184066)on the right over the past several months. The last several months? People have been predicting war with Iran for several years now. The fact that it hasn’t come close to happening hasn’t stopped anybody from continuing to make predictions. Notice the dates on these articles. > **[The Iran Plans](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/04/17/the-iran-plans)** > > Would President Bush go to war to stop Tehran from getting the bomb? > **[The March to War: Iran Preparing for US Air Attacks - Global Research](https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-march-to-war-iran-preparing-for-us-air-attacks/3299)** > > An attack on Iran would engulf the entire Middle East and Central Asian region into an extensive confrontation. > **[The Next Phase of the Middle East War. Pentagon "Guidelines" for "Preemptive"...](https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-next-phase-of-the-middle-east-war/3147)** > > The war on Lebanon is "a stage" in a sequence of carefully planned military operations ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/7 "2012-07-22T15:14:33Z")
> [@nogravity](#): > > I read somewhere (I’ll have to try to find it) but one of the reasons why Afghanistan and Iraq dragged out so long was because Americans for the most part were not directly impacted by the wars. There was no rationing, no draft, no loose lips sink ships sort of mindset going on. So unless you knew someone personally who was either killed or injured over there the war didn’t seem real and was just some sort of ethereal, nebulous event. I’ve thought this as well. If there’s no inconvenience to the average citizen, then they really don’t think about the fact that there’s a war going on, and are unlikely to care enough to do anything about it. If wars actually inconvenienced the citizenry, I bet politicians would be less likely to beat the war drums. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/8 "2012-07-22T15:48:27Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Furthermore, the guys likely to be tapped as foreign policy staff by Romney are the same neocon hawks that led Dubya and the American people in to war with Iraq: [Mitt Romney’s war cabinet](http://www.thenation.com/article/167683/mitt-romneys-neocon-war-cabinet) The Iraq War was supposed to pay for itself, remember? With Romney’s business acumen, they might be able to pull it off this time. He’ll probably get India to do it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/9 "2012-07-22T16:04:58Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > The last several months? People have been predicting war with Iran for several years now. The fact that it hasn’t come close to happening hasn’t stopped anybody from continuing to make predictions. > > Notice the dates on these articles. > > [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/04/17/060417fa\_fact](http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/04/17/060417fa_fact) > > [The March to War: Iran Preparing for US Air Attacks - Global ResearchGlobal Research - Centre for Research on Globalization](http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=3299) > > [http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=3147](http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=3147) Iran is a four letter word, so I’m not going to search, but folks around here have been predicting war with Iran for at least 8 years. Usually accompanied by claims of “drumbeats”. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/10 "2012-07-22T16:09:00Z")
I’m not sure how we can know the liklihood, but I am concerned that Mitt seems to ‘run’ by others to an inordinate degree, and that does remind me of Dubya. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/11 "2012-07-22T16:53:10Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > The Iraq War was supposed to pay for itself, remember? [It was only supposed to cost $2 billion](http://www.fas.org/sgp/temp/natsios042303.html). ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/12 "2012-07-22T17:11:29Z")
I dont see how war with Iran could ever do anything but sink us economically. I’m afraid voters are not really evaluating the election’s true downside accurately. Just how bad do you have to buttfuck a middle aged white American male before he feels it? ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/13 "2012-07-22T17:20:30Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Yeah, but are they stupid enough to be herded into a war with Iran so soon after the debacle in Iraq? I mean ALL of the American people, not just the conservatives. Why are you under impression that it takes ALL of the American people? President, cabinet, key Senate committees, media handling team, CIA leadership and ambitious defence heads. Not more than 200 people. War with Iran hangs on a similar thread. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/14 "2012-07-22T17:21:21Z")
> [@Truman\_Burbank](#): > > I’m not sure how we can know the liklihood, but I am concerned that Mitt seems to ‘run’ by others to an inordinate degree, and that does remind me of Dubya. By Wall Streeters and corporate interests, I should think, and not by neocon warhawks. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/15 "2012-07-22T17:23:24Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > The Iraq War was supposed to pay for itself, remember? With Romney’s business acumen, they might be able to pull it off this time. > > He’ll probably get India to do it. India invade Iran? They’d have to march across Pakistan to get there, and that would present a problem. Unless they invade by sea, but India isn’t much of a sea power, is it? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/16 "2012-07-22T17:34:02Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Unless they invade by sea, but India isn’t much of a sea power, is it? For India, outsourcing their shipborne invasion would probably be cheaper than maintaining a full naval department in-house. They might be able to hire contractors from Somalia. They’re independent, and appear to have enough excess capacity to get up to speed quickly on a new project like this. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/17 "2012-07-22T17:39:26Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Yeah, but are they stupid enough to be herded into a war with Iran so soon after the debacle in Iraq? For some, the “debacle in Iraq” was a monumental and successful holy war. “Mission accomplished,” and all that. It’s about time for more of that magnificent posturing so we can raise taxes. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/18 "2012-07-22T17:40:03Z")
There’s not going to be a war with Iran unless things change radically. If things do change that radically then it won’t matter who’s in office. Yeah, I know. If you start there, then there’s no place for discussion. So back to war with Iran hanging on a thread. Fun, fun, fun. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/19 "2012-07-22T17:49:43Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > For some, the “debacle in Iraq” was a monumental and successful holy war. “Mission accomplished,” and all that. It’s about time for more of that magnificent posturing so we can raise taxes. Where have you been? War is the one of the two best times to cut taxes. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040/20 "2012-07-22T18:04:45Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > There’s not going to be a war with Iran unless things change radically. Here, or there? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-elect-romney-president-does-war-with-iran-become-very-very-likely/629040.md?page=2)