Reply #10: My theory (based on what I have read)

[Sir Jeffrey]

Iran is developing nuclear material for electrical power, much like France. They have allowed the IAEA to inspect them thoroughly, but the US is still trying to stop them from creating anything that will better their population. After a while, a country that we have messed with for decades, like Iran, will eventually realize that no matter what they do the US is going to find fault with it.

The US is weakened right now, the Bushies are unpopular everywhere, and the economy is in the tank. Iran perceives that what they are doing is what the non-aligned movement did during the Cold War i.e. play the situation to their advantage. They are driving the Bushies to choose between three outcomes:

1. The US backs off, lets Iran develop peaceful nuclear material, and Iran begins trading oil in Euros which undermines the Petrodollar standard and ruins the US economy

2. The US launches full scale war complete with nukes, completely disrupts the world's oil supply thereby ruining the global economy, and unleashes a human rights catastrophe worthy of NAZI Germany

3. The US stays "vigilant", gets sanctions imposed on Iran, then everyone (including US corporations) goes behind the UN's back to trade illegally with Iran in whatever currency Iran dictates (probably Euros) and ruins the US economy

As you can probably guess, Iran is banking on #1 or #3 based on the fact that other countries will eventually realize that it is no longer in their interest to tow the line with Washington if it bankrupts entire nations.

The Bushies are banking on #2. Why? Because they think that by eliminating the population en masse through large numbers of nuclear missiles, they can avoid the "pitfalls" of Iraq that spawned the insurgency. Send in the troops to clean up the fallout and man the oil rigs, everyone takes a bath in oil to wash off the blood and the world can thank our savior Bush for saving us from a nuclear holocaust.

They are maniacs.