Originally Posted By fkurucz >>I suggest you look at an atlas. Iran extends beyond the boundaries of the Arabian Gulf and could feasibly ship oil from a number of ports in the North Arabian Sea, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.<< It would probably take years to get the infrastructure into place (if it doesn't exist already). And if it does exist, channces are it would be neutralized very quickly in the case a war breaks out. I wonder has Bush plans to pay for a war with Iran?
Originally Posted By friendofdd >>>I wonder has Bush plans to pay for a war with Iran?<<< The same way government always pays for what it can't afford. They will use the interest off the deficit.
Originally Posted By DAR <<I thought I might hear more about this on the news, but they were busy telling me what dancers got dumped.>> Well that but more importantly, Anne Nicole is still dead.
Originally Posted By DlandDug Anna Nicole is still dead, which dancers got dumped, and how is Sanjaya wearing his hair this week. THOSE are the top news stories.
Originally Posted By DAR ^^^ Which why I don't watch the news anymore, nothing of substance. Plus the whole Anna Nicole thing reminds of the early days of SNL. You know Generalismo Franco is still dead.
Originally Posted By mrichmondj << I wonder has Bush plans to pay for a war with Iran? >> Well, we all know Iran is happy right now that this tension is keeping the price of oil artificially inflated. More money for them, less money in your pocketbook.
Originally Posted By tiggertoo <<We don't have the specific weapons to defeat some of their more unconventional assets.>> I agree with you that we would not be able to manage a war in Iran; however, not because we don’t have the weaponry, but because we do not that the wherewithal to actually employ the “total war†policies required to win unconventional, guerilla warfare. I’m certainly not advocating it per se, but the gritty, un-PC truth there really is no other way to win using western brand of warfare. And that is why we aren’t going to win in Iraq or Afghanistan—nor would we win in Iran. Essentially, the will of the people to fight must be utterly crushed like Japan in WWII, or like some gruesome Whack-a-Mole game, they will continue to pop-up everywhere we aren’t. <<Well, we all know Iran is happy right now that this tension is keeping the price of oil artificially inflated. More money for them, less money in your pocketbook.>> Yes; but they must be able to ship the commodities to their costumers in order to reap the rewards of those inflating profits. The U.S. real power wouldn’t be in conventional warfare, but by besieging the Iranian economy.
Originally Posted By tiggertoo <<I wonder has Bush plans to pay for a war with Iran?>> He would just shift funds from operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is, after all, all one big Global War on Terror, right? It kind of gives him license to do or attack whomever the hell he likes if he ties it to the WoT.
Originally Posted By jonvn "Essentially, the will of the people to fight must be utterly crushed like Japan in WWII" What I've been saying all along. Anything short of that, and we're just destroying our own resources.
Originally Posted By Mr X So, HAS America fought a war in this way since WWII? If not...what is the point of all this? The government must have some reason to keep going into these places and looking bad. Is it financial?
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<If not...what is the point of all this?>> The point is that America keeps getting involved in wars where the other side has done us no harm. Whether Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, or countless "policing actions"; the U.S. has spent the last 50 years taking military action against governments that posed us no threat. It wouldn't play very well, either with the U.S. public or the world, if we were to kill 100's of thousands of civilians (like we did in Japan) in a country that had never killed one U.S. civilian. If the U.S. goes to war we need to be totally willing to crush the enemy, regardless of loss of civilian life. If we are not willing to do that, we shouldn’t fight the war.
Originally Posted By jonvn Yes. That's what is what is wrong now. We're not willing to do what it takes to win, and the other side is. So we will lose. It's a very simple formula.
