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Gunning for Iran
Sunday Times ^ | April 9, 2006 | Sarah Baxter

Posted on 04/09/2006 12:19:55 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative

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To: West Coast Conservative
"What is going on at the White House? Is Bush really contemplating a strike against Iran or might his officials simply be talking up the possibility to strengthen their negotiating hand with Iran?"

Well I certainly would not want this chick to have the answers.

"UNTIL Ahmadinejad won the Iranian presidency on a tide of popular support that caught the West by surprise last June, Iran had been seen by many commentators as being on the mend."

Well that is open to honest debate.

"Such considerations have failed to sway Bush and Cheney before. If their approval ratings remain in the doldrums, there may be an upside to a strike on Iran. “Regardless of how bad Bush’s poll numbers are, Americans love a display of firepower,” said Pike."

IMHO, that is not a responsible position to take. This president is not poll driven, he is not up for relelection. He has to decide when and if the military option has to be implemented. And for heaven sakes. These parrots always make it sound like our military is not planning things will in advance.
As for a display of fire power. If Iran where to attempt to change it's view points on the nuclear issue and supporting long term terrorism, no Americans would even think about bombing them. They have brought the current conditions upon themselves since the 1979 coop.
And least we not pussy foot around. Let us bear in mind how many ME Arab states in private would like to see us take out these nuclear facilities. They don't want an Iranian nuclear threat hanging over them. They pretend for the masses to fear Israel's nuclear deterent, yet understand Israel has no intentions of ever attacking any Arab country. It has no reason to do so.
But they do know, a wild man in Iran is much to be feared. I bet they fear Iran would consider disrupting the flow of oil through the gulf, which in essense effects the Saudis and associated Arab states who depend on selling oil and gas to the world.
21 posted on 04/09/2006 1:05:24 PM PDT by Marine_Uncle (Honor must be earned)
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To: zot; The Shrew

Ping.


22 posted on 04/09/2006 1:09:19 PM PDT by Interesting Times (ABCNNBCBS -- yesterday's news.)
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To: 4U2OUI

To paraphrase that miserable Jedi Master, "Don't display. There is no display. Just do!"


23 posted on 04/09/2006 1:50:56 PM PDT by PzLdr ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am" - Darth Vader)
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To: West Coast Conservative
“The attack would be over before anybody knew what had happened. The only question would be what the Iranians might do in retaliation.”


24 posted on 04/09/2006 2:26:13 PM PDT by Travis McGee (--- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com ---)
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To: Travis McGee

Hopefully, the initial attack by the US will cut the head off the command and control elements of the Iranian forces. I would hope the US has learned from "shock and awe", and has refined it.

I'm voting for the use of tactical nukes. The world needs to be afraid of us. They need to know that we will use the "Big Fire" without hesitation. Fear, my friends, is the only guarantor of civility in this world.


25 posted on 04/09/2006 2:51:09 PM PDT by 4U2OUI (losing what I thought was sanity...and liking it.)
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To: SittinYonder

Regime change or military action are the only options.

Unless there is a *very* orderly and transparent conversion to a *very* western-friendly democracy (which I don't see happening before 2008), then neutralizing Iran's nuclear sites is the only thing we can do.


26 posted on 04/09/2006 3:02:35 PM PDT by PLMerite ("Unarmed, one can only flee from Evil. But Evil isn't overcome by fleeing from it." Jeff Cooper)
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To: SittinYonder

may i propose somehtign very bold:

Bomb not only IRans nuke facilities but all their oil facilties...yes oil could well go to $100 per barrel, but it wont stay there. There could be a recession, but it wouldnt last as long as the 1979-82 recession.

Iran pumps 4m barrels of oil today, 6m in 1979. Iran needs to sell oil more than consumers need to buy it. bomb irans oil facilites and that will be the end of Iran as a problem for at least 25 years.


27 posted on 04/09/2006 4:26:18 PM PDT by georgia2006
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To: 4U2OUI

The Iranians are not stupid, they've seen Desert Storm and OIF. They will use "standing orders" and will not need a C&C structure. Each hidden missile battery will be manned by the most dedicated fanatics, think Japanese 1945. They will be told "In the event of attack, and disruption of comms, open your standing orders packet." This will say, "MIssle battery 49F: wait until day 33 after the American attack, then attack any shipping seen in the Hormuz Strait." The idea will be to choke of the Hormuz for as long as possible. They don't need an intact C&C structure for this.


28 posted on 04/09/2006 6:06:11 PM PDT by Travis McGee (--- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com ---)
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Who cares about regime change here? It's too dangerous a country. We have to finish Iraq first. We could introduce democracy in maybe in 2 years or so, but right now we should just bomb this place into a sea of glass. That way we ensure that Iran has suffered a decapitation strike and has also lost their major industry and modes of production! Also, there is a strong democratic student movement in Iran. With the ensuing chaos from a pulverizing bombing campaign, these students could seize control without foreign assistance.


29 posted on 04/09/2006 6:54:05 PM PDT by General Pershing ("Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to kill a fly with a sledge-hammer!" - Major Holdredge)
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To: All
Does anyone have an email address for Sarah Baxter? I'm stunned at the one-sided viewpoint in this article and the complete lack of analysis of the consequences of a nuclear-armed Iran. Why do MSM writers never discuss the dire consequences of a nuclear-armed Iran? Are they unaware of these consequences or are they deliberately slanting their articles to try to keep the public calm to promote a diplomatic solution?

So far, I've been amazed at how weak the strategic analysis is in the MSM. Mainstream media people won't even touch the subject of the grave threat from a nuclear-armed Iran. Are they stupid, uninformed, or deliberately slanting their articles, or are they just trying to be PC to get along with their MSM friends? Except for Bill Buckley, who could be called mainstream, all the analysis of Iran that I've seen in the MSM is extremely weak and one-sided.

30 posted on 04/09/2006 7:23:50 PM PDT by carl in alaska ("You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed." - Mt 24:4)
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To: Travis McGee

OK. So, if they are willing and able to act independantly, then what is the solution? I'd imagine the US military planners have taken all this into consideration. I'm not buying a doom and gloom prognostication here. Sure they could cause some trouble, but they will lose. ME oil may get a bit pricey...but that will only spur on domestic/alernative solutions.

How hidden are these missile batteries? How many are there?

Anyway, if it were my decision, I'd be brutal as hell and strike so hard and so fast, that the populace would be immediately compliant. Again, I vote for tactical nukes. If ya wanna fight- fight to win. A fearful enemy is a defeated enemy. Let's scare the sh*t outta 'em.


31 posted on 04/09/2006 8:53:39 PM PDT by 4U2OUI (losing what I thought was sanity...and liking it.)
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To: West Coast Conservative; SJackson; yonif; Simcha7; American in Israel; Slings and Arrows; ...
"...A nuclear-armed Iran, they believe, is too dangerous to be left to a potential Democrat president."

Well, uh ... YEAH.





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32 posted on 04/09/2006 9:34:04 PM PDT by Salem (FREE REPUBLIC - Fighting to win within the Arena of the War of Ideas! So get in the fight!)
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To: Interesting Times

If we attack the Iranian nuclear facilities, our domestic enemies will use our "illegal" attack as the reason to take down the Bush administration. That is what the Iranians are counting on. We need to target the individuals who are our enemies, foreign and domestic, and aerial bombardment isn't the best way to do that.


33 posted on 04/09/2006 9:52:22 PM PDT by zot (GWB -- four more years!)
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To: West Coast Conservative
UNTIL Ahmadinejad won the Iranian presidency on a tide of popular support that caught the West by surprise last June

I quite reading at that sentence.

34 posted on 04/09/2006 11:21:13 PM PDT by sionnsar (†trad-anglican.faithweb.com† | Iran Azadi 2006 | 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t YOur5 (SONY))
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To: pierrem15

I don't know about Europe but for sure Isreal will play a supporting role if not an equal one. I would hope that Britian would step up to the plate but the British populace seems be "going wobbly" in these matters.

If it were up to Stephen Harper and most of the Conservative Party as a whole I believe Canada would lend a hand in the area of Naval assistance. But without a majority, it would be impossible. Besides most of the Canadian public live in a dream world.


35 posted on 04/11/2006 12:36:35 PM PDT by Canadian Outrage (Conservatism is to a country what a bandaid is to a cut!! - Healing)
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To: Canadian Outrage

It it weren't for Blair personally, the Brits would never have gone into Iraq with us. A majority of the British public, their minds clouded with Left-o-Babble multi-culti masochism and carefully cultivated infantilism joined the Euro-nihilists a long time ago.


36 posted on 04/11/2006 1:39:50 PM PDT by pierrem15
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To: sionnsar
Amazing, isn't it? No word of the boycott by Iranian moderates.

All a dictator needs is to be anti-American and anti-Israel, and he has instant democratic legitimacy in the eyes of the press.

These people work hard every day to give victory to thugs and to see the US defeated.

37 posted on 04/11/2006 1:42:08 PM PDT by pierrem15
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To: pierrem15

I agree. That would have never happened had the Globalists not gotten rid of Margaret Thatcher. Under the Iron Lady Britian wouldn't even have the Euro as their currency. I miss her.


38 posted on 04/11/2006 3:01:16 PM PDT by Canadian Outrage (Conservatism is to a country what a bandaid is to a cut!! - Healing)
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To: West Coast Conservative
The only question would be what the Iranians might do in retaliation.”

Not much if those in power don't sit on their hands in the meantime.

39 posted on 04/11/2006 3:23:13 PM PDT by EGPWS
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