The U.S. Just Removed Iran, Hezbollah From Its List of Terrorists. Is This Too Far To Go For A Nuke Deal?

CPT Aaron Kletzing, Aaron, I am afraid we are so far down a dark and perilous rabbit hole on this nuke deal, I wouldn't be surprised if Hezbollah hasn't been replaced by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews as a condition of the "agreement."

BLUF: not completely accurate header. I have a more detailed post in the thread. They're still on naughty list.

SFC-

I will put it to you like this. Its highly prudent to separate Iran, the country and Persian culture, from the maniacs in charge for the last 30 years and the terrorist groups they fund. Iran as a geo-strategic player has always been either neutral to favorable for US interests, right up till the overthrow of the Shah in 1979. How we see Iran acting today is highly reflective of the thought process of the clique that rose to power in that time. Its how any organization will act when only a few toxic leaders control the whole operation. This clique hasn't been in charge for a long time, and there's no telling when their business operation will go belly up. But separating the 'country' from the clique that controls it is crucial, because it actually helps us see who the real enemies are, in this context. Because there's a difference between the two, actual trust of any government official or anyone who's bargaining anything on Iran's behalf is FOOLISH and DANGEROUS. Absolutely 0% should be given to anyone we are conversing with there. Whoever we speak too as a country that tells us they are speaking on behalf of that country lacks any hard legitimacy with its own people, and its only a matter of time before the Iranians rise up again and decapitate the Ayatollahs and their Basij loons. This is another reason to be careful, because right now, revolution is rampant in all the Middle East and who knows what sort of new buffoon is going to be in charge, and the next idiot could be worse. This is a problem with the Middle East, every time they rise up, the next guy is always worse. Its almost as if they only see their countries as cookie jars to dip into at their own convenience.

Zero leniency should be given to the Iranian regime or its proxies, at all. You wouldn't pet a dog with a known propensity to bite people at the slightest provocation, you treat the dog with a healthy sense of respect and respect the dog's boundaries. If you want to show a humane attitude, just treat a dangerous animal with dignity, respect, but keep a distance and watch out for yourself.

Now why to keep a healthy distance with the government of Iran but not its people:
1. They torched our embassy, imprisoned diplomats, appropriated and in some cases out right stole US Military technology (but to be fair, even the french have done that), they are known to come down hard on dissents and have repeatedly thrown Americans that have unwisely ventured there in jail.
2. They funded proxy groups and militias that have attacked and killed our guys. That right there is NOT the sign of friendship.
3. They should have been happy that we torched Saddam and his regime, but funding Shiite militias is not the way to do it.
4. Out right prosecution of the Baha'is, Sunni Arabs, Kurdish tribes, and pretty much anyone the Ayatollah and his President don't like, at the moment. But this changes with the weather though.
5. A state claim to wipe out Israel Israel is a small country and all it takes is one direct nuclear strike. While we can argue that they may not really do it, threatening people is not a sign of respect.

The Iranians themselves though, you are right, have a long historical record of respecting their neighbors, by and large they have never been antithetical to Western Powers. What we see here is just recent. If and when the clowns go away, Iran can be safely regarded again.

It was Iran that provided IED's to insurgents to use against American troops in Iraq.
That's enough for me to keep them on the terrorist watch list.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/10/world/middleeast/10weapons.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

SPC Angel Guma and SSG Gerhard S. that's good info. Thanks for sharing. I don't much put much value in groups that pound their chest and sound off with lip service threats. The question is rather these threats are creditable.
The funding of militias to kill our troops is as SPC Guma said "....
NOT a sign of friendship". Willfully and intentionally taking any part in the deaths of U.S. troops is enough for me to consider the party an enemy

SFC Michael Jackson, MBA Being the Man, and NCO your profile suggests, I had little doubt you would feel that way, given creditable sources.

LTC (Join to see), the primary source for this story was Newsweek, but that edition would not upload. Clapper may not write the list, but like everything else with this Admin (of which he is a part), the decision has been made to no longer regard Iran or Hezbollah as terror threats as a matter of U.S. policy.  Shame on you indeed, this is actual news!

Calm down. I'm not saying it can't happen, nor am I saying that it wouldn't be a mistake if Iran/Hezbollah were removed from the terrorist threat list. I'm just saying it hasn't happened yet, and if it hasn't happened yet, it isn't "news."

Thanks SFC (Join to see). Straight from the link you provided: "The [Clapper] report fails to mention that Hezbollah is labelled as a terrorist organisation by both the U.S. and the European Union."

Again, I'm not saying that it won't happen, and I'm not saying that removing them from the list would be a good idea. I'm simply saying that it hasn't happened yet, and that means it isn't news. It is alarmism, hype, and conjecture.