Posted on 01/08/2008 10:34:23 AM PST by america4vr
Explain the significance of Mars not being in prograde until 1 Feb. I know they are big in astronomy, just not this particular bit. Does this have to do with the Mahdi and spring or something?
It would have served no purpose to do so -- and most likely it would have done more harm than good.
As it turns out, the Iranians probably hurt themselves by doing this, and having our guys not respond.
Then they would have been destroyed. Simple as that -- the USN's guns were already locked and targeted.
LOL
The mahdi already showed up, in 1960 but it was the Maadi Yacht Club. As to Mars, Iran invented the science.
It’s why theocracies are the worst, you get a cult like Islam where they convert or kill you then civility and world peace goes right out the window.
The Ol’Gipper. I smile just thinking about him. Then i look at New Hampshire and want to cry :-(
Of course, but I don’t think we should wait until fired upon.
A friend of mine has worked on the issue of close defense against little boats. The Phalanx doesn't work so well for that.
Targeting is a big problem because little boats keep disappearing behind waves. So automation is very difficult. Also, I'm not sure the phalanx even depresses enough to serve in that role. It's an air defense system.
They wouldn't have been allowed to fire first -- and even so, those little boats couldn't have carried anything big enough to do more than chip the paint.
The "fire" order would have been based on distance, speed, and direction. The Iranians apparently got close enough to almost be obliterated.
Religion, I've always said, it's just another form of politics, a more intensely manipulating vehicle for controlling the populace, for eliminating dissent, political opposition.
What better way to defeat your enemies than by chopping block?
The Block 1B Phalanx update includes a "Surface Mode" for protection against these sort of threats. The mounting position was changed to allow the gun assembly to depress further when in surface mode.
Reading articles today that discuss the foolish (and IMO treasonous) approach of the Dumbocrat presidential candidates towards Iraq and our forces in Iraq—they would withdraw them immediately—reminded me that the worst president in US history, Jimmy Carter, took the same approach with the Shah of Iran. That led Iran to be taken over by Shiite fundamentalist zealots, something that would happen to Iraq if we pulled out precipitously.
There’s even a land-based version of R2D2 that’s been deployed in Iraq. I’m not sure, but I think it can shoot down falling mortar shells.
I think Iran WANTS a military confrontation with the USA.
They see the possibility of a Rat president becoming more likely so they are trying to step up the pace a bit. After all, they only have 1 year left to cause a shooting war with certainty.
But the only folks with anyone named Will are on our team.
Can we fire at Muhammad instead ?
Of course they were.
They also were hoping our guys did fire on them and then they would claim we were bullying them in their own waters (ignoring Internationally agreed on territorial limits.)
They were also hoping that the media uproar would spill over into the Presidential primary campaign race.
They probably just wanted an incident to get enough people riled up to support their Hezbo buddies in advance of the Mideast meetings.
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.