Unannounced? Ha. My own SBD's arrive unannounced.
The fact that one carrier group was going to be replacing another on-station, was broadcast long beforehand, by no less than the U.S. Government, itself. So the group there previously , hung around for a while after their relief group arrived. Like we thought they wouldn't???
The Iranians have a fair idea of what we have, and what we're capable of, at least more of a 'fair idea' than Saddam did, in his infantile fantasies of what would happen to his military.
I think they're betting that if we don't actually put boots on the ground [which would be hell for THEM, and for us most likely, too] we wouldn't be able to stop them (from gaining nuclear weapon capabilities), for very long.
If we bombed the crap out of them, and didn't follow through, and make it REALLY stick...how long would it take them to come roaring back? Five years? Ten? Maybe twenty? Even twenty, aint 'very' long, in the wider span of historical perspective, now is it?
This present predicament the world has worked itself into, has no easy solution that I can see.
Until we see some sort of way towards how we are going to be able to deal with the repurcussions, then I just caN'T get in the mood to 'paar-tAY(!)' regardless of how many here, seem to think this would all be such great fun.
Actually, the Nimitz strike group relieved the Eisenhower group which left the Gulf region at the beginning of May. The USS Stennis and the USS Bonhomme Richard are still operating in the Gulf. The three ships are flagships for three different strike groups.
If we bombed the crap out of them, and didn't follow through, and make it REALLY stick...how long would it take them to come roaring back? Five years? Ten? Maybe twenty? Even twenty, aint 'very' long, in the wider span of historical perspective, now is it?
The idea is detterence; repercussions, today. The Iranian government has publicly threatened both the United States and Israel. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the current Iranian government has been extensively profiled by myriad articles from numerous sources, posted at FREE REPUBLIC. Iran with a nuclear weapons program is intolerable. Five, ten, and twenty years down the road, if we fail to act, could reveal a world living under the tyranny of a nuclear armed Islamist regime with the ability to wreak havoc. It could reveal a world with the current regime in Iran overthrown and living productively among the community of nations.
This present predicament the world has worked itself into, has no easy solution that I can see. Bomb bomb Bomb bombbom-Iran might be a catchy tune, but what happens after the band stops playing? Who cleans up all the spilled drinks, the overturned tables, and the discarded party hats? Who sets things right, so that the next day can be productive, and peaceful? Until we see some sort of way towards how we are going to be able to deal with the repurcussions, then I just caN'T get in the mood to 'paar-tAY(!)' regardless of how many here, seem to think this would all be such great fun.
America has been this way before. Germany and Japan are still there. We're still there. America and the West shouldered the repercussions and prevailed.