General Discussion

I wish that we had instead just allocated a third of the money and spent it on a massive, intensive clandestine (and not so clandestine) help for the internal Iranian opposition. Just given them anything they wanted, and let them do their thing. Electronics, phones, clandestine internet networks, weapon smuggling networks, clandestine printing facilities, training, just everything and anything. The people, especially the younger ones, for the most part, hate the religious regime. But they do NOT want to be dominated from the outside, and certainly not by us. After two Trump presidencies, they weren't born yesterday. They see Russian and Chinese infiltration of our internal politics to the point where the last thing they'll accept is American dominance of their opposition movement(s), risking their innermost secrets landing of the desks of Putin and Xi half a day later.