Flynt Leverett Debates Michael Ledeen on Iran Policy 3-3-10

The Atlantic Council hosted a debate on Iran policy between Race for Iran Publisher and New America Foundation/Iran Initiative Director Flynt Leverett and Foundation for Defense of Democracies Freedom Scholar Michael Ledeen. Washington Post columnist David Ignatius moderated the debate.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Iran
• Diplomacy
• Grand
• Bargain
• Engagement
• Foreign
• Policy
• United
• States
• Leverett
• Ledeen

[andreipurel]

and the 'bald speaker' was right after all...leftists and their propaganda, with its warmish wankerish ideas, will let islamists to rape their girls and after that they will thank them for so much kindness. in Egypt the arab spring ended in the killing of the copts, islam is not a religion of peace. go in Turkey and find out on your own skin

[trufiend138]

THAT FIRST BALD SPEAKER, IS clueless

[iraaus]

Is that why 62% of Iranian women graduate from universities?? More than that of yours!

You are a Neo Con Ideologue con artist!

Your boys are there fighting an illegal war and it is people like you who have sent them to harms way!

[CCostenjo]

Michael Ledeen is such a nauseating fool, with the mind of a child! Leverett absolutley mopped the floor with him! To say such unbelievable things as 'Iranians see themselves as part of the West' shows just how much of an ignoramus he is!

[exenrontexas]

Like many followers of Rand, Ken Lay the Enron CEO, hoped and promoted so-called free markets and laissez faire government. He knew like many corporate criminals that his crimes would be exposed eventually and relied upon plausible deniability to avoid prosecution. It almost worked. His only defense was that he was stupid. His pride would never allow for confession. In the end there are many who believe he faked his death to avoid prison.

[DJAR1E]

@exenrontexas Good points. Did you see Randianism while working for Enron?

[exenrontexas]

@DJAR1E Simply because I have personally observed and experienced the process and effects of Rands ideas at work and thought about them for a very long time. Also I have thought about the hypocrisy of those who consider themselves to be righteously, Christian conservatives and the actual word of God. Consider Mark 3 where Jesus healed the cripple on the Sabbath and says that it is God's will to heal the sick and then the Herodians and Pharisses plot his death.

[DJAR1E]

@exenrontexas It's uberbasic logic, i.e. kinda the opposite of sophistry. I hope you're just trolling. You're right of course, boo Ayn Rand and conservatives, etc. But, um... you have yet to explain *why*. Like I basically said in the first response, you may very well believe the right thing, but if you justify it with the wrong reasons, it actually hurts your cause when you're making the case to other people. Admittedly, *that* part has more to do with rhetoric.

[exenrontexas]

@DJAR1E I reject your criticism as inaccurate and motivated by sophistry but I WILL take the invitation to provide examples of the damage and lies of conservatives. Conservatives are generally dedicated to the beliefs of Ayn Rand whose ideas ONLY work in fiction. Her foremost accolite was Alan Greenspan, appointed to Chair the Fed by Reagan. Greenspan, after the economic collapse admitted before Congress that following Rand was the WRONG course for America and caused the collapse.

[DJAR1E]

@exenrontexas Yet another red herring. I fully agree that full disclosure is necessary and that conservative interlopers are a threat to democracy. However, that has absolutely nothing to do with my criticism. You are using disingenuous tactics to efface the flaws in your arguments. If you want to form powerful, honest critiques of conservatives, point out the inconsistencies in their claims and their practices, as well as explicit examples of how their practices are damaging.