Let’s take a look at a few key indicators of how dangerous the Islamic Republic of Iran is compared to more responsible, civilized, and democratic states in the world. We’ll take this back to 1979, as nobody seriously thinks the current Iranian regime bears any responsibility for anything the Shah did.
| Criterium | Canada | Iran | U.S.A. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lets women vote | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Invaded Grenada | No | No | Yes |
| Invaded Panama | No | No | Yes |
| Invaded Iraq | Yes | Yes* | Yes |
| Bombed Yugoslavia | Yes | No | Yes |
| Invaded Afghanistan | Yes | No | Yes |
| Invaded Iraq (again) | Yes | No | Yes |
| # of wars | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| Has nuclear weapons | No | Maybe | Oh hell yes |
I didn’t count United Nations peacekeeping missions as wars for this table. Iran’s invasion of Iraq gets an asterisk for what should be a fairly obvious reason: it was part of a war that started with Iran getting invaded, not the other way around. Compared to many of the more globally-influential powers in the world, Iran has pretty much kept it in their pants for the past thirty years.
But you forgot that in the United States, being a bellicose armchair pundit grants you a seat as a serious foreign policy thinker on cable news and prestigious syndicated op-ed pages.
But if you’re a bellicose (in rhetoric) Iranian politician, you’re considered an irrational madman who’ll destroy his own country in order to arbitrarily nuke the West.
I hope that clears things up.
Very effective manipulation of facts. Karl Rove would be proud!
@morte – Where there’s a demand, the market will supply. War-mongering has always been a lucrative trade.
@emawk – Sorry, did I miss or distort something there?
You forgot to include Canada’s Weapon X program as a weapon of mass destruction. Although I guess you were just counting nuclear weapons… sniktbub has an impressive body count.