Posted on 01/09/2020 1:44:47 AM PST by familyop
“I believe based on what I saw and what I know is that they were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft and to kill personnel," Milley said. U.S. military officials were warned about Iran's pending ballistic missile strike "when the air defense systems went active," he said...Milley said that between 1,000- to 2,000-pound warheads were sitting on top of the Iranian missiles fired into Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I never believed the whole "they purposefully missed" line. It goes against character. I agree that they were attempting to kill Americans the other night. Here's a more likely trail of events. The iranians launched their missiles with the intent to kill, except they suck at doing anything other than asymmetric terrorist attacks that kill more innocents than enemy combatants. They expected retaliation, and some trigger happy AD jock lit up a Ukrainian airliner, thinking it was a US jet. Boy was Achmed surprised when he found out he wasn't the savior of the Republic! The killing of valuable personnel, the completely ineffective retaliation strikes, and the oopsie with the Ukrainian airliner made them look like the keystone cops on the world stage. Mullahs realizing that pulled a Pee-Wee Herman and said "We meant to do that" in regards to the missile attacks.
President Trump, who is always looking for leverage on a deal saw all this and responded with a wink "OK, sure ya did, we'll go with that" and gave them a way to save face and opened up an new avenue to pursue peace in the region that has never been available before. He can do this because everyone involved, the mullahs, Russia, China, and all the other bit players in the region now understand that the rules have changed and there is a new sheriff in town. In a rare moment of clear self reflection and fear of what the bad Orange Man would do next, the mullahs decided to stand down, for now. Proof of this lies in the recent reports that militia leaders and terrorists are un-a$$ing the AO, and iran has directed their proxies to stand down, out of fear of further US readjustments to the iranian command structure.
If you are correct, and I am not trying to contradict you, Trump is preternaturally lucky.
—Trump is preternaturally lucky.
“When preparation meets opportunity”. Likely he is preternaturally prepared.
Two words for FNC: Nice try.
No, no. The military of the Great Satan is only allowed its continued existence due to the mercy and valor of the mighty Iranians. /msm
Luck is nothing more than the intersection of opportunity and preparation. Trump has been maneuvering for a viable exit strategy in the ME for going on 3 years now. Nothing worthwhile has presented itself, and all the actors within our government and in the region have been doing nothing but trying to draw us deeper in. Trump saw the trajectory that the iranians wanted to take and finally decided enough was enough and Zotted QS. I am certain he expected the iranians to behave like the iranians and had military contingency plans ready even before the aforementioned Zotting. Those plans most likely involved more Zotting of high value personnel with extreme prejudice. At this point, I think the Zottings would have continued until the mullahs backed down either on their own or from lack of willing terrorist leaders to run the indiscriminate killings and mayhem. It was probably a pleasant surprise when it became obvious that we had gotten so far inside their OODA loop that they were literally falling all over themselves in response. Trump capitalized on the opportunity this afforded in an effort to move his initiative forward and ultimately realign US focus towards Asia and away from the ME.
Well I don’t know much about weaponry, but it does seem like Lebanon sends a billion rockets a year into Israel without killing a soul the vast majority of the time (Thank God).
How accurate are missiles lobbed from less than cutting edge tech countries?
Again, I have NO IDEA.
Can they just suck at being accurate?
Yes, unguided ballistic missiles are that inaccruate. They are area weapons; meaning you are aiming them at a point on the map and they will land within a somewhat-predictable area. Hitting a specific point target is either a matter of coincidence or saturation. When the US introduced modern guided munitions during the First Gulf War it was a complete game changer, and we've led the way in their development since.
Well, a dozen missiles isn’t saturation, is it?
I dunno. It doesn’t sound like a lot if they’re unguided and that would maybe explain the lack of casualties?
Again, I know nothing of these things.
Thanks.
Can’t have it both ways. Either their a major threat or they are not. Someone who has 15 chances to hit you and misses everyone of them should not be considered a major concern. Their ballistic missile capability isnt as far along as you’ve been telling the world if this is the case. They just aren’t happy of Trump’s non response and are trying to put pressure on him.
Perhaps - but it would be extreme stupidity for them to pull the tail of the junkyard dog and they had no doubt of the response if any Americans had been killed...gonna be lots of little tidbits coming out - some saying they “really really tried” (to allow them a modicum of face-saving)and others stating they had to save face and also avoid getting sent back to pre-stone-age conditions...while President Trump continues to speak plainly, he’s not so insecure he needs to squash their face-saving maneuvers.
Hence my assertion that it was out of character for them. They've been pulling the dogs tail for decades with little to no repercussions. Bullies only need th be punched once to get their attention. Stupid bullies sometimes need to be punched twice before they get the message. The mullahs in Iran are stupid bullies, and it's my contention that they started down the same path they always take, threw their little tantrum, before finally someone's said, "Woah, hold on a sec..."
If you want to use dumb missiles then you launch them in vast quantities. In hundreds or thousands, like the Russians did in WW2. The Iranians have thousands. It does appear that the recent launchings were face-saving because a handful of dumb rockets achieve next to nothing. Just my take.
The German V-2 had a ballistic accuracy of about 10 miles. A 200 mile range with an error of 5%. Launched from France, it might hit London. They fired dozens at the Remagen Bridge, without effect.
The Iranian ballistic missile could actually be that ineffective.
Trump is lucky in his adversaries. Schiff, Nadler, Mueller, Pelosi, Iran. He makes them look like fools.
Iran did manage, however, to shoot down an airliner, putting them in Russian rebel militia incompetence league.
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