Obama: "I'm ready to negotiate with you, Iran." Iran: "Fuck you."

[classicman]

zacalactly...

[classicman]

Here's another article on it.

the angriest reactions came from progressive bloggers, who widely denounced Reynolds as “contemptible” for suggesting this; one progressive writer, Lindsay Beyerstein, was horrified that one could even suggest such a thing, explaining that she ”despair[s] for our society when it’s necessary to supply a rigorous analytical exposition of why our government shouldn’t have scientists and religious leaders whacked.” Scott Lemieux railed against what he called Reynolds’ “kooky scheme for illegal death squads” as “crackpot,” “dumb” and “nuttier than a Planters factory.” And Kevin Drum, then of Washington Monthly, went the furthest of all — in a post he entitled “Terrorism” — branding the killing of Iran’s scientists as “Terrorism”:

I imagine a lot of people agree with [Reynolds], but his recommendation really demonstrates the moral knot caused by George Bush’s insistence that we’re fighting a “war on terror.” After all, killing civilian scientists and civilian leaders, even if you do it quietly, is unquestionably terrorism. That’s certainly what we’d consider it if Hezbollah fighters tried to kill cabinet undersecretaries and planted bombs at the homes of Los Alamos engineers.

If you think Iran is a mortal enemy that needs to be dealt with via military force, you can certainly make that case. But if you’re going to claim that terrorism is a barbaric tactic that has to be stamped out, you can hardly endorse its use by the United States just because it’s convenient in this particular case.

What is most amazing about all this is that, a mere three years later, some combination of Israel and the U.S. are doing exactly that which Reynolds recommended. Numerous Iranian nuclear scientists are indeed being murdered.

Its Bush's fau... wai what?
link

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by classicman

Its Bush's fau... wai what?

Don't be silly. Nothing is Bush's fault.

[classicman]

I vow to kill you, but this gun I'm buying is merely for target shooting.

[glatt]

We really don't know who is behind this. Yes, it's in our interests to cripple Iran's nuke program, so we have motive. But it's also in Iran's interests to make us look bad. Perhaps this person is not really a nuke scientist. May it was just some guy who worked in the program and was not essential. And Iran killed him to blame it on us.

Maybe we did it.
Maybe Israel did it.
Maybe Iran did it.

Maybe some other Western nation did it.

Who knows?

[Clodfobble]

I'm going for the plausible deniability scenario: Israel did it, but we eagerly looked the other way, and maybe even accidentally left some magnetic bombs in a cabinet with the door unlocked.

[Pico and ME]

And it's all very effective at getting the gas prices up again.

[infinite monkey]

Which hurts the workers who have less to spend which affects the economy and this is the house that Bush...I mean Jack... built.

[Pete Zicato]

if you’re going to claim that terrorism is a barbaric tactic that has to be stamped out, you can hardly endorse its use by the United States just because it’s convenient in this particular case.

This. And the same thing applies to torture.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

I'm going for the plausible deniability scenario: Israel did it, but we eagerly looked the other way, and maybe even accidentally left some magnetic bombs in a cabinet with the door unlocked.

I think this is the most likely as well. In fact we are probably denying it with a wink.

[classicman]

Coincidentally, on Tuesday, Israeli military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz told a closed-door parliamentary panel that, "for Iran, 2012 is a critical year" in the effort to enrich uranium to bomb-grade quality. Pressure will grow from the international community, he warned, and Iran can expect events similar to 2011 acts of sabotage and other "unnatural" occurrences.

Hmmm.

[ZenGum]

I assumed it was Israelis, or a stunt by the Iranians.

The style is a bit too hands-on / man-on-the-ground for the US. Just my perception.

Israelis, with a wink from the US, is quite possible.

Next time you guys hand Iranian sailors back, give one of them SARS first.

[Griff]

Probably Israel but no it can't be terrorism™ cuz that is only for bad guys.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

I'm going for the plausible deniability scenario: Israel did it, but we eagerly looked the other way, and maybe even accidentally left some magnetic bombs in a cabinet with the door unlocked.

My guess as well. But I bet they have their own magnetic bomb department.

[TheMercenary]

The U.S. military said on Wednesday that a new aircraft carrier strike group had arrived in the Arabian Sea and that another was on its way to the region, but denied any link to recent tensions with Iran and portrayed the movements as routine.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...80A29L20120111