I never said anything about going to war. There are many other options. Iran is suffering from the sanctions and tightening them even more I feel would work. Why do you think it is acceptable for these people to remain in an Iranian Prison while we are negotiating other deals.We have different priorities I guess...
The more I read your posts on this topic, the more I picture you stomping your feet and declaring "I want an oompa loompa, and I want it now." You don't always get to have everything you want. It is very obvious you have not listened to the entire speech. Else, you're incapable of understanding that there are more than two countries in the world involved in this deal. The sanctions are not simply US vs. Iran - they're world vs. Iran. Many other countries were willing to economically harm themselves to help support the sanctions. But, if the US walks away from negotiations - not Iran walking away, the US walking away, we are going to undermine the support of the other nations for those sanctions. Ask them to tighten the sanctions? "Hey all you other countries! We want your economies to miss out on billions of dollars because Iran won't release four Americans, one of whom is admittedly a former FBI employee and CIA contractor. We're the superior nation, so you guys have to give us 100% of what we want." They don't give a shit about a handful of Americans being held - they want Iran off the path to nuclear weapons, they don't give a shit about Iran using nuclear energy (because unlike California, Iran wants to use nuclear energy for desalination plants), and they want to stop harming their own economies by not trading with Iran.
And, quite frankly, your "tightening them even more I feel would work." Oh, like Cuba? We were the idiots of the world - US people couldn't go there, but friends in Canada were like, "wtf, eh? WE can go there on vacation." Perhaps this point needs a bit of clarification for you - you see, while the US had sanctions against Cuba, Cuba was ranked 60th by the World Bank, based on actual data (not estimations) for per capita GDP. It doesn't take much speculation to realize that Cubans were more prosperous than many of the countries we are on friendlier terms with - their leaders and general population were/are doing quite well compared to many countries we do trade with. Sanctions don't work without International cooperation. And there would be no reason for International cooperation should the US be the one to walk away from the negotiating table - over 4 Americans. While I also see it as important, 4 people is TRIVIAL compared to negotiating to get Iran off the path to nuclear weapons.
Iran has an elected president who was elected on the platform of helping their economy. He was ready to negotiate. The rest of the world wanted those negotiations. We walk away from the negotiating table over a handful of our citizens being held there destroys our credibility. Heck, how many times have we violated the Geneva Convention while executing foreign nationals in our country? A lot more than 4. How many innocent people do we hold in our prisons here in the US? Statistics point to a lot more than 4. Maybe 3 or 4 in Iran? The other countries don't give a shit - they wanted to negotiate with Iran, Iran wanted to negotiate, the world is a safer place in the long term by Iran not being on the path to nuclear weapons. Though, even Obama admitted (had you actually listened to the whole speech, rather than just clips that your news source played) that short term, it could cause more problems in the Middle East - but that is certainly of lesser importance than a non-nuclear Iran.
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