is the trouble between USA and Iran just psyops?

Great Debates
1

much of it seams to be psyops to me. such things as nuclear strike aganist Iran, 40.000 suicide bomber in Iran etc

what do you think?

2

I think it’s both real and “psyops”. There are plenty of loons and idiots on both sides ( the sort who want a war ), and plenty of manipulative bastards as well.

I lean more towards the “real” however; I think Bush and friends are just itching to repeat Iraq in Iran.

3

Personally my impression is that we are back again in 2002.

The Iranian and US administration both seem to be interested in not defusing the conflict:

Ahmadinejad

  • external threat forces disaffected population to rally behind its government
  • chance to go into the history books as a heroic, Churchillian leader rather than an average one
  • war fears drive oil market price up, increasing state revenue

Bush

  • external threat forces disaffected population to rally behind its government
  • chance to hide a pile of bodies under a larger pile of bodies.

Win-win. Only their countries stand to lose.

4

Ah, for the good old days of the P-3 forced landing on Hainan, when the “enemy” the administration chose to drum up fear about was merely China … Heard anything more about that lately?

5

I think a big part of this is the 2006 midterm elections – with Bush’s ratings in free-fall pulling down the rest of the GOP, there are probably some folks in the White House who feel that having a “war President” aura will help staunch the bleeding in November.

6

Isn’t that “aura” the exact thing they’re running full speed away from right now?

7

I think it’s a little from column A, a little from column B. I think the real challenge is separating the truth from the fiction, and then among the fiction separating the propaganda from the sensationalist journalism. I mean, really, I can’t see CNN or Fox News reporting, “Things in Iran are ‘meh’; not a lot is going on here right now. Back to you, Bob.”

Honestly, though, I’d think that the Bush administration would be more careful now about making claims about other countries. It can be argued that a certain disregard for measured reports has been a factor in his recent decline in popularity; why on Earth would he want to make the same mistake twice?

8

I have full faith and confidence that – like cowardly rodents everywhere – Republican politicians will gladly jump back on GWB’s coattails if his numbers start to rise again.

9

Because he’s Bush. Learning from your mistakes is for the little people.