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Honest question, how does Iran's support for Hezbollah and Hamas directly affect Americans? I'd argue that Saudi Arabia's support for ISIS and Al-Qaeda had more

Honest question, how does Iran's support for Hezbollah and Hamas directly affect Americans? I'd argue that Saudi Arabia's support for ISIS and Al-Qaeda had more/actual negative effects on Americans.

thebooktocome 9y ago
They affect Israel. For better or for worse, Israel has a special relationship with the US. Obama had tried to moderate it over the past eight years, but...
- davidf18 9y ago
  It was Israel that bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor. If it had not, Iraq would have had nuclear weapons making action against Iraq very difficult. It is Israel that tests US weapons systems in real world combat situations giving a tremendous amount of feedback to improve the weapons systems. The Tom Cruise movie "Top Gun": It was Israel that stole the MIG fighter jet that enabled our government to understand the operating characteristics so as to train US higher pilots to fight the MIGs. Israel serves as an "aircraft carrier" for the US where many, many weapons are stored. US troops train with Israelis. It is Israeli drone which protect NATO troops in Afghanistan including German troops. Israel is the 3rd largest exporter of weapons technology to India after US and Russia.
  - hexomancer 9y ago
    Are these supposed to make Israel sound good? Because to me, it sounds like Israel is doing the dirty, inhumane works for the US.
    - davidf18 9y ago
      Can you please be specific? What is inhumane about preventing Iraq from acquiring nuclear weapons? Or inhumane about saving the lives of American fighter pilots (eg. Top Gun), or Israeli drones protecting the lives of NATO troops, or helping Indians protect itself from attacks from Pakistan? For example, the Prime Minister visited Israel in July had Israel has a lot of support from the people of India.
      - DanBC 9y ago
        Please stop.
      - dang 9y ago
        Since you haven't stopped despite repeated requests, I've banned this account until we get a guarantee that it won't do political flamewars again. I suppose I need to add that this isn't any kind of position on Israel, Iran, the U.S., terrorism, 9/11, bombs, or wars. It's just a position about what sort of threads aren't ok on Hacker News. One could flip all the political bits in your comments and its status for HN purposes would be just the same. My colleagues and I have a lot of empathy for the feelings of loyalty and love that drive a person to fight these battles. The feelings are important and the issues are important—much more important than Hacker News. Nevertheless the moderation job here is to protect HN as (1) a community and (2) a web forum dedicated to what gratifies intellectual curiosity. Nothing threatens that more than political battle, so we have to be proactive about this.
davidf18 9y ago
I was miles away from 9/11 when it happened. I could see the smoke from the WTC buildings when looking south on Broadway Ave. Hezbollah and Hamas are terrorist organization according to the US, EU, and Israel. Iran is a state sponsoring terrorist groups. There must be zero tolerance for terrorism and terrorist organizations. There must be zero tolerance of state sponsorship of terrorist organizations.
- danso 9y ago
  Iran had nothing to do with 9/11. Perhaps you're thinking of Iraq, which also was not behind 9/11, but a similarly named country that we happened to go to war with shortly after 9/11.
  - davidf18 9y ago
    9/11 was a terrorist act. Iran is supporting Hamas and Hezbollah which are terrorist organization (US, EU, as well as Israel). Terrorism is terrorism. When Iran supports terrorism it supports terrorism. The only way to denounce terrorism is to universally denounce terrorism. Otherwise you are just supporting terrorism. Do you understand this?
    - danso 9y ago
      Boy I hope you never get in a position of power where you also have access to history books. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone
      - davidf18 9y ago
        Perhaps you enjoy movies with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts? If so, you might enjoy the movie (and there is a book on which it is based) "Charlie Wilson's War" which is Operation Cyclone. [1] It is very, very entertaining and based on fact. The Soviets were using armored helicopter gunships to slaughter Afghan citizens. Congressman Charlie Wilson worked with the CIA, and with Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia to supply arms to the Afghans so that they could defeat the Soviet invaders. This was the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. The arms used had to "look" as if they were Soviet weapons that were captured. To use American weapons would start a real war. Israel has the largest cache of Soviet weapons outside of the Soviet block. This they acquired from 1967 and 1973 Wars with Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. So, again, the US and Israel are the good guys defeating the Soviets. [1]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Wilson%27s_War_(film)#Plot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Wilson%27s_War_(film)#...

Honest question, how does Iran's support for Hezbollah and Hamas directly affect Americans? I'd argue that Saudi Arabia's support for ISIS and Al-Qaeda had more/actual negative effects on Americans.

thebooktocome 9y ago

They affect Israel. For better or for worse, Israel has a special relationship with the US. Obama had tried to moderate it over the past eight years, but...

davidf18 9y ago
It was Israel that bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor. If it had not, Iraq would have had nuclear weapons making action against Iraq very difficult. It is Israel that tests US weapons systems in real world combat situations giving a tremendous amount of feedback to improve the weapons systems. The Tom Cruise movie "Top Gun": It was Israel that stole the MIG fighter jet that enabled our government to understand the operating characteristics so as to train US higher pilots to fight the MIGs. Israel serves as an "aircraft carrier" for the US where many, many weapons are stored. US troops train with Israelis. It is Israeli drone which protect NATO troops in Afghanistan including German troops. Israel is the 3rd largest exporter of weapons technology to India after US and Russia.
- hexomancer 9y ago
  Are these supposed to make Israel sound good? Because to me, it sounds like Israel is doing the dirty, inhumane works for the US.
  - davidf18 9y ago
    Can you please be specific? What is inhumane about preventing Iraq from acquiring nuclear weapons? Or inhumane about saving the lives of American fighter pilots (eg. Top Gun), or Israeli drones protecting the lives of NATO troops, or helping Indians protect itself from attacks from Pakistan? For example, the Prime Minister visited Israel in July had Israel has a lot of support from the people of India.
    - DanBC 9y ago
      Please stop.
    - dang 9y ago
      Since you haven't stopped despite repeated requests, I've banned this account until we get a guarantee that it won't do political flamewars again. I suppose I need to add that this isn't any kind of position on Israel, Iran, the U.S., terrorism, 9/11, bombs, or wars. It's just a position about what sort of threads aren't ok on Hacker News. One could flip all the political bits in your comments and its status for HN purposes would be just the same. My colleagues and I have a lot of empathy for the feelings of loyalty and love that drive a person to fight these battles. The feelings are important and the issues are important—much more important than Hacker News. Nevertheless the moderation job here is to protect HN as (1) a community and (2) a web forum dedicated to what gratifies intellectual curiosity. Nothing threatens that more than political battle, so we have to be proactive about this.

davidf18 9y ago

I was miles away from 9/11 when it happened. I could see the smoke from the WTC buildings when looking south on Broadway Ave. Hezbollah and Hamas are terrorist organization according to the US, EU, and Israel. Iran is a state sponsoring terrorist groups. There must be zero tolerance for terrorism and terrorist organizations. There must be zero tolerance of state sponsorship of terrorist organizations.

danso 9y ago
Iran had nothing to do with 9/11. Perhaps you're thinking of Iraq, which also was not behind 9/11, but a similarly named country that we happened to go to war with shortly after 9/11.
- davidf18 9y ago
  9/11 was a terrorist act. Iran is supporting Hamas and Hezbollah which are terrorist organization (US, EU, as well as Israel). Terrorism is terrorism. When Iran supports terrorism it supports terrorism. The only way to denounce terrorism is to universally denounce terrorism. Otherwise you are just supporting terrorism. Do you understand this?
  - danso 9y ago
    Boy I hope you never get in a position of power where you also have access to history books. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone
    - davidf18 9y ago
      Perhaps you enjoy movies with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts? If so, you might enjoy the movie (and there is a book on which it is based) "Charlie Wilson's War" which is Operation Cyclone. [1] It is very, very entertaining and based on fact. The Soviets were using armored helicopter gunships to slaughter Afghan citizens. Congressman Charlie Wilson worked with the CIA, and with Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia to supply arms to the Afghans so that they could defeat the Soviet invaders. This was the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. The arms used had to "look" as if they were Soviet weapons that were captured. To use American weapons would start a real war. Israel has the largest cache of Soviet weapons outside of the Soviet block. This they acquired from 1967 and 1973 Wars with Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. So, again, the US and Israel are the good guys defeating the Soviets. [1]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Wilson%27s_War_(film)#Plot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Wilson%27s_War_(film)#...