Posted on 01/17/2007 8:53:52 AM PST by maquiladora
WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has signaled to Gulf Arab allies that an attack on Iran could take place in 2007.
Diplomatic sources said the Bush administration has raised the prospect of a U.S. strike on Iran over the next few months. The sources said the discussions with Gulf Cooperation Council states have also been conducted by U.S. Central Command as well as the U.S. intelligence community.
"There has not been a U.S. commitment, but the discussions have been interpreted as an expression of intent," the source said. "Right now, the U.S. message is that the GCC must get ready for any contingency."
On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets foreign ministers from the GCC states as well as Egypt and Jordan. The sources said Ms. Rice intends to brief the foreign ministers on U.S. strategy toward Iraq and Iran in a meeting scheduled to take place in Kuwait.
Got that right, by the time we could pinpoint them in those waters, they could take out a lot of ships...besides, they would probably look at it as a sub full of martyrs...
Then there was this dream last night...
Those are our friends down there...
I am sure we have a war plan to invade Iran. Our military has all sorts of plans to cover all sorts of contingencies. Ya think that an actual decision to do this would leak to a reporter? Bloody unlikely. Might our guys USE someone like this to twist Iran's tail? Yep. As far as finishing the job in Iraq, well, it would be nice to finish there first, but the reality is that you deal with the world as it is, not as you want it to be. Iran is sponsoring terror in Iraq militarily and financially. Iran is near to creating a nuclear bomb. Iran has threatened its neighbors. We may need to do something sooner rather than later. If we don't support our friends and cause our enemies to fear, then we aren't good for much. And remember, we can leave the ME, the Kuwaitis, Saudis, Jordanians, and others are going to stay there. We have to look at it from their perspective.
The options are 1) we go there or, 2) they come here!
Option 2 means that Iran successfully develops nukes and dominates the weak regional oil rich regimes (and thus the world oil economy) and threatens the US through proxies like Hezbollah and al Qaeda. And... takes out Israel.
Take your pick!
If they have guns, they're enemy combatants. End of story
I think the force deployment is not a prelude to any kind of generalized air assault or invasion of Iran. Rather, its a blunt message to the mullahs that if they do not stop their direct meddling in Iraq, they may have to pay a large price. We will see more tactical moves on the ground against the Iranian and Syrian agents in country (of which there are plenty).
Oh no! How can we fight a war in Iraq and in Iran also? The military is so stretched out now, so demoralized by the loss in Iraq. We don’t have the equipment to support and protect our young men who this ‘chicken hawk” in the White House is about to put in harms way. Oh, the terrorism of our troops will continue until we in congress cut off all military funding and use the money for research on AIDS. Sarcasm off:
If a true leader such as Abraham Lincoln took such things into consideration, the Union would have dissolved over 140 years ago.
Not very far across the gulf. An electric boat could sit on the IO side of the straits on batteries, just waiting...and it would be extremely hard to tell if they didn't move much.
With any luck Israel will beat us to it.
Hope it's true. If it is, Bush has even more spine then I thought.
Bush is rather busy right now. I think pressure needs to be put on the house and senate. They're not doing anything anyway. Heck, they don't even show up for work two days a week.
I don't really give the Iranian navy (surface or sub) a very long life expectancy vs the USN. My suspicion is we have the Persian Gulf pretty well surveilled by now - think a shallow water version of SOSUS.
"The fly over country average American has been waiting for this showdown with Iran since 1979"
Not true, the "fly over country average American" doesn't give a $hit one way or another....
Lincoln may have been a Republican, but he was liberal to the core. He was actually proud of his liberalism and rarely made decisions without a concensus of public opinion.
Eek., not really. Diesels, IMO, have the advantage in the gulf. Smaller for the shallower waters and quieter. I'm not going to pretend to know what sort of ugrades their Kilos have gotten over the years.
The other threat would be suicide boats by the IRGCN.
The only thing is have they kept up w/ training and maintenance. That would be the key.
Pinging the mullet man.
I'm A Nut Job has been meeting with the leaders other radical oil rich nations. He just got back from giving Chavez a Monica. He's up to something no good.
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