From: Adam <""4thwormcastfromthemolehill\"{at}the field.near
the bridge">

Phil Payne wrote:
>> In part that's because now the FCO realise that the US admin is deeply
>> incompetent & in part coz Iran ain't Iraq.
>
> And in part because everyone in the FCO is terrified that Shrub doesn't
> appreciate the difference.
>
> Now if you REALLY want to find WMD (apart from the world's largest stocks -
> in the USA) Iran would be one place you might look.
>

Nah it's not that. My suspicion is that they don't given their experiences
in the Iran-Iraq war etc i.e. if they had then then they'd have used them
then.

What does scare the sh*t out of the FCO is Iran's "local reach". Imagine
 hormuz shut to traffic & places like bahrain, Saudi's eastern provinces
(inc where their oil is) in turmoil, the red sea coast experiencing lots of
explosions etc in the oil facilities there.

Now start working out where else you can get oil from & how much it will cost.

> This could be fun.  In the attack on Iraq, the Adminstration sent in troops
> against a theoretical WMD danger, but did they know it was a chimera?
>
> Against Iran, there is a real threat.  Iran has not been subject to
> sanctions, UN inspection or UN disarmament teams.  It's their country - they
> can defend it how they like.
>

& they will & others may well play the role the US does wrt Israel i.e.
any criticism of Iran must be fully balanced by also including a similar
criticism of Israel etc or it will be vetoed etc.

> And US forces are holding the tail of a tiger in Iraq.  A move on Iran would
> be a signal.
>
>

They would have to leave the area. Bahrain could not continue to host the
US fleet & the UAE would find it very hard.

Adam

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5