National Geographic on Iran

This month's National Geographic has an informative piece on Iran, including an handy detailed map of the country that will undoubtedly prove useful if there's a war.

While studiously non-political, the article does manage to bring up some interesting points. One thing that I think that most of those that are pushing for war and demonizing the Iranians ignore is the bad feeling that Iranians still feel over the coup that brought the Shah to power. Certainly this kind of thing ought to be thought about before glibly advocating a strike. Now what kind of self-respecting country is not going to be enraged by such an act? Remember Pearl Harbor?

The Iranians are proud heirs to an ancient civilization, so we know they are self-respecting. It's really insane to even think about starting a war that we know we can't finish.