The US has a right to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

The bases in Bahrain and Turkey are valuable yes, but you didn't address my point that Iran doesn't have the guts. Are you seriously saying that Iran has the guts to attack U.S. personnel directly and publicly, knowing that the American public would demand a response the likes of which would make Iraq seem like a skirmish action. Also, to your number of 14,000,000 million allied troops killed, I would point out that about 12 million of those were Russian, and that was the result of poor generalship and a bad overall supply system. The numbers are not exactly comparable, considering that was a declared war, this is an ideological war. And where do you get the guts to say I'm blaming us for 9/11? All I said was that in the 6 years since 9/11, we;ve invaded 2 Arab nations, one with cause and one without. But the Arab population of the world DOESN'T see it like we do. They see United States Marines kicking down people's doors and shooting people. What are they supposed to think? So they don't buy the line "We are defending our country by invading another." I barely buy that line. Grass roots anti-American movement? Try a grass roots anti-imperialism movement. You can't go around invading sovereign nations AND THEN BLAMING THE CITIZENS FOR DEFENDING THEIR CITIES. That's lunacy and its doubletalk. Thucydides, one of the greatest Athenian admirals of the Peloponessian war, said the sinews of war are infinite money. We've spent hundreds of billions, if not trillions, on the war against terror, and you have the gall to say it's not a major war? We still have armor and air forces in an area where both do nothing but create collateral damage. To say this isn't a major war is willful blindness. In YOUR last paragraph, you said and I quote, "I am advocating that we play offense with terrorists, and nip the problem in the bud before it gets out of hand. We dont need to wait until we or an ally have been nuked until we step in. We made that mistake in the past, and it bit us badly on 9/11. Don't forget that." Play offense? What is this, a game? The offense you're talking about is people's lives. Nip the problem in the bud? WHAT PROBLEM? I trust Iran with nukes because they have no reason to use the bomb. What will they gain? Answer me that! Until you can tell me what Iran will gain by nuking anything flying the American, Turkish, or Israeli flag, there really isn't anywhere else for this to. And by the way, that link you gave me in your last post turned up one very interesting thing - F-16's can shoot down ballistic missiles now. The Israelis have more than 4 squadrons of current generation F-16's, and I'm sure that the DoD is already providing them with a way to recreat the technology. There is NO WAY the Iranians will EVER use the bomb. Do you know why? Because I don't think their entire nation wants to be wiped off the face of the earth. Israel WILL return in kind. That's a guarantee. Here's why you're wrong- Iran can't use the bomb. Period. They use it on anyone, the country turns into a parking lot. The Security Council would allow any measure the United States proposes, no questions asked. We have 27,000 nukes spread across our entire nation. Israel has near 200, maybe more by now. And Turkey might not even be a U.S. ally for long, so Iran won't nuke a country they might be able to turn. That's logic. Cliches like "nip in the bud" and "play offense" don't help here. We have to be intelligent about this. If the United States wants to live in a world of peace and openness, we have to allow other countries to progress. We are not allowed to dominate nations anymore, not in a community of equals. The people of Iran have a right to nuclear power in all its forms, and you do not have the right to tell them no. America is not the world's proverbial Big Brother, and it's no use trying to be when we're already so unpopular. Influence is as useful a weapon as nukes, and it's high time people recognized that and stopped thinking that guns and bombs are the only way to power. Might does not make right.