Comments on: Meanwhile, in Iran

By: Richard Aubrey

Richard Aubrey — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 17:49:02 +0000

Brian. Thanks for the ref.
The answer is, “They’d never do that!! It would be crazy!” IOW, now they think like we do,, after generations of different-cultures-think-differently-and-who-are-we-to-judge?

By: Brian E

Brian E — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 17:37:26 +0000

Bill, I have to agree with sdferr that you are simplifying the positions here to the level of caricature that makes a discussion difficult.

I had a Palestinian co-worker with whom I had extensive discussion during the Iraq War. Bottom line: he thought we invaded Iraq for the oil, though he was happy that Saddam and his regime had been taken out.

As to the civilian deaths in Iran, here is an estimate that I found surprising. Given the level of bombing, I would have expected it to be higher.
Let’s compare those numbers up against the 30-40,000 protestors that were gunned down over a two day period by the Islamic regime.

HRANA (US-based Human Rights Activists in Iran) — one of the more detailed independent trackers (as of ~April 7):

Total deaths: 3,636
Civilians: 1,701 (including at least 254 children)
Military personnel: 1,221
Unclassified: 714

It looks like we’re doing everything possible to minimize civilian deaths. But it does create a moral quandary.

Richard Aubrey posed a question that I hope you answer.

“…what we do when terrorists, who don’t mind destroying themselves in their quest to destroy….Israel, the West, the US, or in pursuit of universal Islam, get nukes. What do we do?”

By: Richard Aubrey

Richard Aubrey — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 15:04:32 +0000

Some years back, on the Belmont Club, Richard Fernanez posed The The Three Conjectures. It’s now a pamphlet on Kindle, I think, for a couple of bucks. Detailed, maybe kind of talky.
But he asks what we do when terrorists, who don’t mind destroying themselves in their quest to destroy….Israel, the West, the US, or in pursuit of universal Islam, get nukes. What do we do?
Needs to be answered.

By: sdferr

sdferr — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:21:28 +0000

Oh Bill, I’m not going anywhere, just opting out of your appeal to “Maybe we could just talk?”. Yeah, not so long as blather remains your aim. Fix that, and we’ll see.

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:14:52 +0000

@sdferr, don’t leave.

I’ll leave. All good.

By: om

om — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:09:18 +0000

Bill is emoting, can’t conceive that IRGC really does want to destroy this country, Christians, and Jews.

Untold bouncing bodies Bill.

Explosively Formed Projectiles made in Iran killed more than just puppies Billie.

By: sdferr

sdferr — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:07:21 +0000

” . . . we have credible evidence that if we didn’t launch this attack we would be nuked and b) we’re at war, so let’s bomb them into the stone age and get this over with quick.”

This is straight up sophistic garbage and hence, in my view at least, frankly stupid. Of a piece with Bill’s initial sally in the “I wonder . . . ” thread. Discourse on such a level will, I believe, be fruitless, timewasting, of little use at all. So. Out.

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 13:45:42 +0000

Ending the Iranian regime and sparing/freeing the Iranian people is the goal. That would be good.

This is in some conflict with the “bomb baby bomb, then make the rubble bounce” contingent on this thread, which might achieve the ending of the regime (and hopefully not just open the way for another more radical wing to fill the gap) but would also kill untold numbers of innocent people.

By: Chases Eagles

Chases Eagles — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 13:32:41 +0000

Monsters using their own people as human shields. They must be destroyed. Again the monsters have been very, very clear. They want to end the world. Millions if not billions of humans dead. For the sake of humanity, kill these bastards and free the Irani people.

Our military is the most humane in the history of the world BTW.

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 13:30:25 +0000

Actually, I am opposed to killing puppies.

I didn’t realize that was controversial.

I’m even more opposed to killing humans, especially civilians, though I understand that in warfare things happen.