The Humble Libertarian original

As the rhetoric heats up against Iran, with a whopping 49% of American voters willing to use military force against the Middle Eastern country, I thought people might need to take a look at the political cartoon above and think about it. Would a nuclear Iran really threaten the United States an entire continent and ocean away? Is Iran pursuing nuclear power to threaten Americans, or for reasons more related to regional power and politics? Is a regional issue halfway around the world really a threat to America's safety? Does Washington really have a reason to go to war with Iran? Have we learned nothing from the last ten years of foreign policy experience? Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

Right-wing Hype Yesterday, The New York Times went viral with its article entitled, " Obama Limits When U.S. Would Use Nuclear Arms ." Predictably, a lot of people aren't happy with the decision at all. I can't say that I'm entirely happy with it, but I'm certainly not unhappy for the same reasons as some commentators . (More on my own thoughts in a minute...) With his classic "Oh Sh**!"-style headline shown above, Matt Drudge dramatically overstates the administration's new policy. Obama's nuclear policy does not restrict the use of nuclear weapons at all, ever, no matter what, even in self defense. Not by a long shot. What it does is modestly narrow potential U.S. nuclear targets. What Obama's Nuclear Policy Really Does Reports the Wall Street Journal (with my emphasis): "The Obama administration will release a new national nuclear-weapons strategy Tuesday that makes only modest changes to U.S. nuclear forces, leaving intact t...

By: Ryan Jaroncyk , T H L Contributor Once again, we're seeing a ratcheting up of tensions with Iran. Democrats and Republicans are threatening tough sanctions if Iran doesn't agree to greater transparency regarding its nuclear program. Many Republicans are calling for military strikes of suspicious facilities, and they're denouncing Obama for recognizing the dictatorial regime by conducting more direct negotiations. Before opening Pandora's Box, perhaps we should step back and take a deep breath. While Republicans are talking tough again, let's remember that the Bush administration did virtually nothing to halt Iran's nuclear program. There were no air strikes and no brutal sanctions. Refusing to speak with the anti-democratic regime did little to stem Iran's march toward nuclear power. On the Democratic side, there may be more direct discussion now, but the threat of punitive sanctions is growing stronger by the day, even if sanctions only serve to pun...