Posted on 07/13/2007 9:29:02 PM PDT by Rembrandt
The U.S. was a late and reluctant entrant into WWII. As FDR measured the plight of Europe and recognized its best hope, he came up with a plan to re-inforce Britain's armaments without directly involving the U.S. That was the Lend Lease Program, a barely disguised funneling of military weaponry from one country to another, sort of like what is happening between Iran and Syria as the U.S. stands with Iraq against the insurgent forces.
The U.S. can now go for the head of the snake by establishing a new Lend Lease Program that would involve the U.S. lending one, maybe two, USN carriers and some a/c to Israel. They are already positioned strategically next to Iran and Syria isn't far away.
Such a plan could pay rather quick dividends, especially if the U.S. made clear that all decisions are Israel's to make and carry out.
The air groups on a carrier require specialized training to take off and land on the carrier.
The Israelis have no crews to man the ships and while the Israelis may have pilots capable of learning to take off and land on a flight deck, they do not possess that expertise today. The training issues would probably take close to 10 years to fix if they started right now. And that assumes Israel could divert sufficient qualified personnel from the rest of their armed forces.
And just running down the Stars and Stripes on a few carriers and running up the Israeli Naval Ensign, and painting Israeli stars on some Navy planes, while American sailors and aviators continue to actually man the carriers and the planes, will fool no one.
Nice idea in theory, but it would take Israel a couple of years to learn how to operate such a complicated platform in a tight and hostile environment such as the Gulf.
Israel has a great Air Force and good Army, but Super Carrier operations are something unique to the great-old USA.
We should definitely give them all the precision guided weapons and bunker busters they want.
Any attack on Iran should be a joint U.S/Israel operation. It would be nice if at least England was involved as well. The best chance for success will be to hit hundreds of targets in two nights.
Ten years eh? Well, whatever time it normally takes, I bet israel could do it in half.
But I don’t really think israel needs aircraft carriers right away. They could get by with cruise missles and drone planes on naval vessels for now.
But by all means, start the carrier training today.
A lend-lease of two B-2’s would be more than sufficient given Israel’s nuclear arsenal, and would also be completely deniable for the U.S.. I would be amazed if Israel wasn’t already in possession our decommissioned F-117’s.
adding to your shopping list, throw in a few MOABs and the planes to carry them over the Becca valley to keep the Syrians busy and I think we can sit back and watch for a couple of days.
Why would the U.S. even bother with a "lend-lease" program? We did it before World War II because we felt a need to maintain some sort of official stance of "neutrality," but that hasn't been the case in decades.
The U.S. is on the ground in Iraq right now, and has been propping up Israel for years. So what do we gain by lending them military equipment that we're already using over there?
To be clear I’m saying no chance any of this will ever happen. Because the Israelis aren't that stupid.
Well, maybe Olmert is. But the idea of actually attacking Iranian nuclear sites would probably cause him to try to suck both thumbs simultaneously. Which points out another flaw in this whole scenario.
Not to mention that your proposal - even if feasible - would result in mass rioting in the USA. 'Ally' or not the US ain't gonna get in a Nuclear, or world wide war with every Muslim alive over Israel.
In addition, I put 'ally' in quotes, as allies DON'T spy on each other nor sell 'secret' electronic technology to the suppliers 'antagonist', like Israel did with China. Which is exactly why there are US sanctions on Israel at this time.
The fact is, Israel is on it's own with it's Muslim problem when it comes to war.
How about letting Taiwanese commandos “steal” a few nukes? That would raise the ante against any shooting war in that part of the world.
C51,
Were you asleep during the Klintoon years?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.