Posted on 06/20/2019 1:35:54 AM PDT by Drago
A U.S. high-altitude drone was shot down Thursday by an Iranian surface-to-air missile over the Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions in the region after last week’s attacks on two oil tankers, a source told Fox News.
A commander for Iran's Revolutionary Guard said the shooting sends `a clear message' to the U.S. He said while Iran has no intention of war with anyone, it's "ready for war."... (MQ-4C drone).
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Your memory is correct.
While Carter did try, which is better than anything Obama did in Libya, Carters incompetence and neglect of the military post Vietnam bit him in the butt when he tried to micro-manage what we did have at hand, like cutting the number of aircraft available for the mission.
I’m just trying to figure what we could do with the drone. Persia is amazing at tying up the hands of their enemies and creating a serious divisive response. I wonder if somehow portions of Sun Tzu’s art of War might have been early conflicts with Persia( Elam).
If we actually retaliate ending up in a shooting war( Yemen is hot as is Syria) it spreads our soldiers and navy thin. If we do nothing Iran just keeps playing with the dragons tail. It would be best to have other countries most affected by this. Our history since 1979 has been pretty brutal with war in Lebanon, Iran/Iraq( playing both sides?) the Oil Tanker war, then all the mines and weapons since the Gulf war through 9/11 to Soetero’s pallets of money( Iran is a thorn no matter what we do) just doesn’t stop these people.
Not a tactician but if I could I’d avoid it.
I wont even try to table top the options. But I can tell you that all options, all resources, everything, is being considered. That’s the job of CENTCOM right now, and they didn’t start it last night. Planning is a continual process that has been going on forever. Best strategies for given situations are proposed, war gamed, and evaluated. New situations are looked at with current plans and evaluated for necessary plan changes. I have heard estimates of up to 2000 targets to respond to along the Iranian west and southern coast lines. I don’t know the actual number. That’s a lot, but in some since not too many that they couldn’t be addressed in a few days if enough assets are positioned to go. But anything like that will shut down the gulf for safe commercial traffic for a bit.
What would a conflict do to shipping in the area? What would a conflict mean to the Iraqi government, or the other countries in the region. Where are the Russians on this? All these questions and more are being asked. Many here have been saying that certain Arab states want us to have a war with Iran. Hmmm, maybe some do, but that would cost them an awful lot in lost income from exports amongst other things. So I am not so sure the Saud’s or the Emirates are really excited about missiles inbound on places like Dubai or their oil fields.
Every option will have a cost. Even doing nothing will have a cost as you point out. And the longer we delay something that is inevitable, the fewer options we have. If Iran goes nuclear, that’s fewer options still.
The president is asking CENTCOM right now, what are our options? CENTCOM is briefing those, telling POTUS what its going to take, and what the risks and unknowns are. I am not part of this process, but its the process so I know its taking place.
There are a lot of posters here that want to remove a necessary and critical option, the threat of force, from Trumps hand. That would be a mistake and its hyperventilation to assume it will lead to another Iraq. There are many options that don’t involve boots on the ground. I am sure that, given his record and actions so far, Trump is sincere in that use of force/war is a last resort. I will trust him to make the call.
How about a picture like Mine from within the last six months not years ago.
Should take only a minute.
Something without hiding behind shades too.
Mic Drop.
You nailed it.
Not interested.
Or maybe landing a bomb on their centrifuges or some internal in country troubles I'm sure the Mossad can nail. But then trying to keep it in context as you stated without say Russia joining in or maybe China or North Korea pulls off the table might have ramifications.
You offer some really serious questions. I've no answers. War gaming is fun to read but I can't offer any solution. Again, as you stated, we can merely pray the right decision is made. I'd hate to see another 1979 fiasco or more of our soldiers dying for some lame protracted war of attrition.
Don't know. It's interesting and fearful at the same time. One false move and BAM you have a cluster*** and a half and the Strait of Hormuz looks like Iraq when Saddam burned the oil fields. Never been in those rooms but they have to be stressful
I was more concerned about the pathetic response of Jimmy Carter, and Desert1 by our neglected military, at the time.
The whole history of the U.S. involvement in Iran shouldn't be boiled down to the events of 1979. And the perception of the U.S. among the people in these countries is absolutely relevant because we cannot present ourselves as a force for "good" when we have a morally bankrupt situation here at home.
As I've said before ... I believe we'd be far better off if we just left these people alone. This was the essence of President Trump's magnificent speech in Poland last year, wasn't it?
I agree, but the military-industrial complex loves death and war. There's lots of money to be made in that.
Sorry but that's gay. No more pics for you.
I get it.
You are a pig eyed fool needing to hide behind shades.
Peace on sea law then. :) Lets agree on a few things (I hope anyway).
First, the middle east has been a messed up region since Biblical times. A bunch of nomadic tribes that pillaged and killed each other over plots of sand with poor knowledge of nationality until the British Empire arbitrarily imposed borders on them post WWI.
The US did pretty much avoid foreign affairs up until Pearl Harbor. We participated in earlier wars but nothing really significant, and we always pretty much wanted to be left alone. (Coincidently that’s how I feel about govt involvement in my life on all levels today, but I digress).
After WWII, with the world pretty much divided between eastern and western camps, it was no longer possible, with the Soviet threat, for us to shrink back into our own corner. We had to stare the bear down for some 45 years. That world bifurcation also kept all these current trouble spot under one thumb or the other. Turkey, Israel, Saudi, and Iran (under the Shah), amongst others, in our sphere of influence, and Egypt, Iraq, Syria, amongst others, in the Soviet camp. I am sure I am omitting or forgetting many details, but that was the general gist of things.
When the Soviet union fell, and the US under Clinton decided to reap the ‘peace dividend’, many of the third world countries found themselves ‘free’ to determine their own futures again, but being from a different culture than our Judeo-Christian one, they quickly reverted back to tribal instincts. In Islam force rules.
Of course in between, Iran was taken over by the Mullahs, and Israel fought off several invasions, and a whole lot of other crap as well. (I remember having a conversation back in the early eighties about the premise that you could count at least a dozen conflicts going on at any given time around the world if you really start to look at all of them. Its still true today.)
So here we are today, accused of being an evil empire, when we are really the world police at first out of necessity (Pre USSR collapse), and currently because we are the only nation with the capability and desire to prevent the types of instabilities that could lead back to WW types of events. That sounds a bit dramatic even to me, but there we are. Also, as was shown on 911, the world has gotten a lot smaller due to technology. We don’t have the warning time we once did. We have to contend with unconventional threats.
Misguided sometimes, full of ourselves sometimes, sure. But we never went in to a conflict with the intention of occupation or exterminating our enemy. Contrast this with the axis powers in WWII or USSR post WWII, or Islamic states today.
We have gone into conflict in our countries interests (broad as they may be, economic, political, whatever) and in many cases spent a lot of lives and treasure with the intent of helping the indigenous people. This occurred in Vietnam, it occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan. In retrospect in both cases, one could argue that this aspect was not successful and we shouldn’t bother with the ‘changing minds and hearts’ part of it. But that’s what also separates us from the monster.
It doesn’t come free in any case, and it wont be free if we shirk back into our corner and let the world go to crap. The hard part is picking the right battle to fight since we cant fight them all. You have to admit, when Iran starts poking us and our partners in the face, it makes choosing which battle to fight a lot clearer.
Nice shades and dew rag, Hollywood.
You still pushing in threads here for legalizing/decriminalizing marijuana while insulting older FReepers in general?
Very early morning, not enough coffee, in a rush to get to work, thought it was the one the Houthies shot down, apologies all.
Iranian Mine & Missile Warfare Explained By Former Navy SEAL (Me, in a ten minute segment on Infowars today.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXoQcGELgUE
Good video thanks
Terminated ???
I’m getting this account has been terminated according to boob-tube.
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.