OK. I'll say it. Yes, I'd rather risk Iran having nukes than

[fifthoffive]

12. This.

I've been wondering why no one in the media says this.

The people of Iran, not the government, are educated and moderate by comparison to some other ME countries. They do not generally support the radical desire to eliminate the state of Israel that seems to be on Ahmadinejad's wishlist. However, if attacked, they will fight for their country. An attack would serve to harden the Iranians against the West, not to move them toward a more moderate government.

I do not blame Israel for being nervous, even scared, of a nuclear-armed Iran. However, I do not think that we are ready to commit ground troops in Iran. Don't kid yourself that surgical bombing will take care of this problem. Such a tactic would radicalize the populace and could lead to a groundswell of support to attack Israel. This could spread to other ME countries, giving them a rallying cry. We could be drawn into a war of huge proportions. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars lack the one thing that would make this conflict with Iran more dangerous - the involvement of Israel.

I may very well be naive, but many countries have nuclear weapons, but none has been used since 1945. I doubt that Iran would actually use them unless they want to start a world war. Even North Korea hasn't been that stupid.