War on Ignorance

Any takers for my $100 bet that we invade Iran? I’ve been asking this for some time now to no avail. Hell, at this point I’ll even go out on a limb and give it a timeframe. Hmm, let’s say by the end of this year. The bigger question is who do we have left to send over there at this point? The government is doing its best to grab bodies. The military has raised the age limit for enlisting. The Reserves and the National Guard went from 34 up to 39. Now the Pentagon wants to raise the Military enlistee age limit from 35 to 42. Women in the military are being put on the front lines. Not that I’m necessarily against this, but why all of the sudden now? Bush even proposed an increase to the current “death-gratuity” that is paid out to the families of service members killed in combat. The payment would increase from the current $12,420 to $100,000. Life insurance benefits would also increase. The proposal is written to be retroactive to the beginning of the invasion of Afghanistan. Even with all of this, enlistment is substantially down. Hmm, I wonder why. How long is it going to take until we finally wake up and accept the fact that this is not going to end, we are not going to be victors and at least the next couple of generations, assuming we last that long, will reap the hostility of the rest of the world all due to our passion for ignorance? Our entire country at this very moment should be shaking in its boots over the bullshit propaganda we’re now being fed. Either you’re afraid that Iran is going to use all their miraculous, and yet somehow just conveniently recently discovered, weaponry to reek havoc on all of us OR you’re not a fool and are just scared shitless because you see the writing on the wall: Onward Troops! To the next oil producing land! There’s a great BBC article today on the EU Iranian Trade Agreement that Iran is reviewing. Here’s an excerpt: Although there is plenty of unease, there is no clear proof of Iran's military intentions or of the danger they might represent. A recent US intelligence assessment backed away from a previous estimate of five years and now guesses it might take 10 years for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. And then there is the question of consistency. Iran repeatedly asks why the US is prepared to improve relations with other countries, such as India and Pakistan, that have acquired nuclear weapons in flagrant disregard for international safeguards, while Iran, which it claims has abided by its obligations, is treated like a pariah. Well, that seems like a logical question to me! For the entire article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4125624.stm. If we take this one step further, what the hell ever happened to North Korea? I’ll tell you what happened. No, better yet, let me show you: Get the picture now? So the question remains… who wants to take my bet?