Subject: Re: Old Related Story
Well zipadee do dah... one of my childhood faves.
But wasn't Brer Rabbit's gambit pleading that he NOT be thrown into the briar patch....knowing that if they could be fooled into fulfilling Brer Rabbit's worst fear, they'd throw him into the briar patch from where he could escape?

"Do anything you want with me – roas' me, hang me, skin me, drown me – but please, Br'er Fox, don't fling me in dat brier-patch"

In which case, maybe Iran is Brer Rabbit, absorbing our worst, knowing it would, in the long run, hurt the US more than them?