Which country is this, and how is it that the public of your country knows what your intelligence services are doing?
Oh, it was a sincere question? Sorry, I was misled by the tone of mockery and breezy contempt. Like this:
Beg forgiveness? No, if for no other reasons than we simply wouldn’t do it. We should, in my estimation, at least acknowledge the gravity of our error. Upwards of one hundred thousand dead innocent people is beyond a “whatever”. We ought at least pretend we think their lives were precious and worthy.
If you want to parse out the seperate levels of responsibility between the US and Gabon, I won’t try to stop you, however much it seems a pointless exercise. But you mean no such thing, do you, that’s just plain snark, isn’t it? And if I was so dense as to miss the tone of that…“mean ol’ USA” should have erased all doubt.
No, John, that wasn’t a question, that was a sneer. I know I’m probably not as smart as I think I am, but thank the Lord I’m not as dumb as you seem to think I am.
How is it that the public of my country knows what our intelligence services are doing?
Ah! This we know thanks to an Australian and two of the greatest Americans of all time! Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden! 
What does 100,000 unjustified Iraqi deaths have to do with us groveling to Iran?
We all know why the war in Iraq happened: because Bush pulled out all the stops to make it happen, and in the end, the coalition of the willing was what, like four countries that went with us?
For the hundredth time: the Iran nuclear issue isn’t about US unilateralism. Ask the P5+1. Ask the UN Secretary General. Ask the rotating members of the Security Council who have voted nearly unanimously to pressure Iran into doing the right thing.
Iran is not Iraq, just like it isn’t Vietnam, Korea, Bosnia, Sudan, the Falklands, Syria, or anything else in US foreign policy. Iran is Iran. Iraq is Iraq. This insistence to see everything that happens through the lens of Iraq is simply facile, and in the same line of defective polarized thinking that has led to dozens of predictions about the US war on Iran being just weeks away.
Wake up, smell the coffee, and deal with reality on reality’s terms. Iran is a much different situation in Iraq in 2003, and we have got to deal with real foreign policy problems rather than pretending that everything is a repeat of the Bush/Cheney/Wolfowitz debacle.
For one thing, we now have a president who promised to get out of Iraq, and we did. Another thing, we now have a president who can run a foreign policy on a major issue that involves the US sitting side by side with France, Germany, Russia, and many other countries to achieve goals that are common to all those countries. That’s a very good thing, and the way most of our foreign policy should be run.
Besides, Iran seems reasonably content with their position in the world following the Iraq war: they have lost a major enemy, they have a friendly government in Baghdad, and they are using that to their full advantage.
This interesting … :dubious:
Uh-oh, it’s big font time! That’ll convince the masses!
My interest in finding a peaceful detente with Tehran is, so far as you are concerned, “groveling”? I fear we have no reasonable basis for conversation.
Well, groveling isn’t necessary (or useful, I expect) in improving relations with Iran. Just don’t forget what you’re dealing with.
:dubious: That makes no sense at all. They have more to lose so they should be trusting? On the contrary; that’s a reason to be less trusting.
Make them a peace offer they can’t refuse.
Put a camel’s head in their bed!
Oh, so now you’re pulling the sensitivity card. Physician, heal thyself.
The US is responsible for 100,000 dead in Iran? If you mean Iraq, then there is nothing to apologize to Iran about. As I noted above, we did them the biggest favor with Bush’s little war adventure. But since you admit that we aren’t going to apologize, then harping that we should do so doesn’t seem like much of an interesting debate.
Oh, please. You are now going to complain about snark? YOU??? The New Year isn’t far away. Perhaps a certain Resolution would be in order? And really, what is this… the nth time you’ve insisted I think you’re not smart? Best to stick to what I write. None of us is a mind reader, so let’s not pretend we are.
The U.S. literacy rate is 99%, the same as Japan, the UK, Canada, Denmark, Australia, and Germany.
I’m sorry you got an email with poor spelling. I can relate, I once heard a Swedish song I didn’t like, so I know all Swedes are terrible musicians.
For someone who writes at such length about the U.S., you sure don’t seem to know much about it.
It isn’t like we we discussing substance anyway. I make a long post with substantive points, and you zero in on one word that you don’t like.
Sounds like the people in your country are no better or worse informed than Americans. So much for your criticism of Americans being uninformed!
For the record, we have movies here, too.
So your intelligence services control what you know about the world, in addition to what you know about its own secrets??? Really???
Well, that explains why the people in your country know as little about what goes on in the world as it knows about its own patch of earth. I’d say that your censorship is COMPLETE.
Since Iran isn’t going to cease its nuclear endeavours, then harping that it should do so doesn’t seem like much of an interesting debate.
You claim that your country is better informed, and yet you say you’re getting your information on this topic from the same sources that Americans are. It seems that transitive properties are not well understood in your country: if a = b, and b = c, then a = c.
Are you accusing Iran of negotiating in bad faith, then?
They have more to lose if no deal is struck. Do you disagree?