Report: U.S. 'preparing the battlefield' in Iran

[Bob Hubbard]

From CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/29/us.iran/index.html

Report: U.S. 'preparing the battlefield' in Iran

• Story Highlights
• New Yorker article says Congress authorized up to $400 million for covert ops in Iran
• Journalist Seymour Hersh says program is being staged from Afghanistan
• U.S. officials decline comment, deny the U.S. is launching raids from Iraq
• Iranian general says troops are building graves for invaders in the event of war

 

[CoryKS]

Is this different from the battlefield preparation they were supposedly doing in 2007, 2006, and 2005? Because I'm starting to think they're just messing with the reporters and/or Iran.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Good question.

 

[tellner]

It would be a lot easier to tell if we all had security clearances a level or two above "Q"

We seem to be doing the same things, but there is more money being allocated to it out where everyone can see. Stories have been leaked in the last couple months about how Cheney tried to get bombing started only to be stopped by the generals. Israel ran some very public training maneuvers where were, once again, leaked to be practice runs for action against Iran.

The US may or may not be planning on an invasion or some other form of overt military action. But it certainly seems to be trying very hard to give that impression.

Some of it is due to US electoral politics. The only issues the pollsters find where the Republicans consistently lead the Democrats is terrorism and the prosecution of wars. A reminder of war - a nice shiny new one as opposed to the quagmires the people are generally unhappy with - may serve the Party's interests this close to an election. Former Democratic Senator and current McCain campaign aide Lieberman announced that there will be a terrorist attack on US soil early in the next Administration and that that was a reason to vote for the GOP. Some of it may be the current occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They are increasingly marginalized, unpopular and losing headline ink to their probable replacements. I have no proof, just a suspicion that it may be a way of staying relevant.

A similar situation holds in Israel. The Olmert government is losing coalition members. It's unpopular. The Prime Minister - who was a well known for corruption and ineptitude as mayor - is facing criminal charges. That is always a good time to focus attention outwards at an enemy who wants to kill you. And while President Ahwannajihad doesn't have much real power in Iran he is certainly a visible enemy who represents the future biggest power in the region.

 

[Twin Fist]

"The US may or may not be planning on an invasion or some other form of overt military action. But it certainly seems to be trying very hard to give that impression."

Tellner is, in this sentence, most likely correct. If the bad guys BELIEVE you are ready to fight, they are less likely to start something.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

"The US may or may not be planning on an invasion or some other form of overt military action. But it certainly seems to be trying very hard to give that impression."

Tellner is, in this sentence, most likely correct. If the bad guys BELIEVE you are ready to fight, they are less likely to start something.

Sun Tzu - Art of War.

 

[tellner]

If the bad guys BELIEVE you are ready to fight, they are less likely to start something.

Why in the world would Iran want to "start something"? All they have to do is sit back and let us do their job for them. The Arab governments are variously weak, corrupt, bickering and ineffectual. The US Occupation of Iraq - it ceased being a war years ago - has pushed the Shia in that country closer to Iran. It turned Al-Sadr from a strongly nationalistic Iraqi who wanted all the foreigners out to a grudging friend of Tehran. Hezbollah is firmly entrenched in the Lebanese government, a fact on which the US finally declared defeat. Hamas runs Gaza, and Fatah is viewed with increasing contempt in the West Bank. We're already losing the international propaganda war on this one.

Besides, what would Iran do? They aren't likely to invade anyone. They are in the ascendancy in the Middle East. They aren't going to invade Iraq to drive out the Americans. Other people are willing to fire the rifles and serve as human bombs. If they do develop nuclear weapons nobody will do anything about it. Consider the examples of North Korea, Pakistan and India. After a few face-saving words those countries were all rewarded.

This is much more about US internal politics than anything in Asia.

 

[Hopeful Tomorrow]

This has nothing to do with our charity, but it's a slow day at work and this post caught my interest. The media has been slowly pushing this story forward over the past year or so. Iran should have been the country we went to war with in the first place if we really got into this war for the reasons they say we did. They actually do have terrorist organizations there and are actually a threat to the U.S.

The idea of more war is absolutely disgusting to me. We can't even win the one we're involved in now but we're talking about invading another country? I don't get it. The profiteering by the Bush administration has got to stop. This is ridiculous. Our soldiers die and a select few get extremely rich. Hopefully with a new administration we can avoid further war in the middle east but I fear that this nation's future was bought and sold a long time ago. I don't for one second buy the line "We are going to offer stability to the region" by invading it? Look at Iraq! It's pure chaos with no end in sight.

 

[Twin Fist]

Look at Iraq! It's pure chaos with no end in sight.

You must have missed the news for the last six months. Violence is down, across the whole nation, the surge worked. Native opinion of the US is higher than ever, more Iraqi units are functional than ever before, and they are taking over patrolling areas the US used to control.


http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/23/iraq.security/

"All major indicators of violence in Iraq have dropped by between 40 and 80 percent since February 2007, when President Bush committed an additional 30,000 troops to the war there, the Pentagon reported Monday."

 

[Twin Fist]

Why in the world would Iran want to "start something"?

it doesnt have to make sense to US, it just has to make sense to them. And making noise, and making anti-israeli noise is something that improves one image in much of the middle east.

 

[shesulsa]

You must have missed the news for the last six months. Violence is down, across the whole nation, the surge worked. Native opinion of the US is higher than ever, more Iraqi units are functional than ever before, and they are taking over patrolling areas the US used to control.


http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/23/iraq.security/

"All major indicators of violence in Iraq have dropped by between 40 and 80 percent since February 2007, when President Bush committed an additional 30,000 troops to the war there, the Pentagon reported Monday."

A *very* abbreviated report on the status of Christianity in Iraq. The piece that aired last night was much longer and discussed the general military status there.

In the version that aired, the reporter noticed that the citizens there are generally old, infirm or infantile. Even children, if they admit they are Christian, disappear. The males have all been killed.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

There was something said about a US plan to take out Iraq, Syria and Iran. The big thing with the whole "attack Iran" thing now is I think just to cover up the fact that the "forgotten war" in Afghanistan is now heating up, with increasing US losses, and an enemy who has had plenty of time to regroup, reform, rearm, recruit and train. (Couldn't find another r word, sorry, lol) Of course, Iran is between Iraq and Afghanistan, and a 2 front war for them would be costly.

 

[Twin Fist]

Shesulsa,
While that is a terrible thing,t he same thing happens in pretty much every Islamic country in the Middle East.

Things are not perfect, no, but they are BETTER. And "chaos" isnt really accurateany more.

 

[MA-Caver]

Well we are either going to g'wan over dere and open up our brand of whoop-*** or we're just rattling our saber.
Bush did say "we are going to go where-ever Terror hides..."

 

[Big Don]

Saber rattling is only effective if you run a few louts through every now and then. We've all heard the story of "The Boy Who Cried "Wolf!" If a nation keeps saying "We're gonna make war on you" sooner or later you either have to make war or resign yourself to being known as a paper tiger.
The longer you give your enemy to prepare for war, the more blood you will shed...

 

[shesulsa]

Shesulsa,
While that is a terrible thing,t he same thing happens in pretty much every Islamic country in the Middle East.

Things are not perfect, no, but they are BETTER. And "chaos" isnt really accurateany more.

Well, I don't know about you, but I know that *I* haven't recently traveled there to see for myself. But the lack of male presence outside the US and Islam was ... remarkable ... at least in the video. I would think that if there's no one to fight ... fighting ceases. :idunno:

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Personally, I'm not inclined to head there to check it out myself.

 

[shesulsa]

Personally, I'm not inclined to head there to check it out myself.

Nor I.

 

[Empty Hands]

While that is a terrible thing,t he same thing happens in pretty much every Islamic country in the Middle East.

Prior to the invasion, Iraq was one of the most secular Middle Eastern countries, particularly in regards to the role of women. The invasion's aftermath has enabled the religious extremists to exert power who were previously suppressed by Saddam. In some particular parts of Iraq now, women must go about veiled, and are subject to roving bands of morality enforcers in a similar manner to Iran. Iraq's small but vital Jewish community has now vanished. This is an area of Iraqi life that has undeniably gotten and continues to be worse.

That said, perhaps this lull in violence will permit the establishment of a civil order that can curtail these abuses. I certainly hope so.

 

[MA-Caver]

Prior to the invasion, Iraq was one of the most secular Middle Eastern countries, particularly in regards to the role of women. The invasion's aftermath has enabled the religious extremists to exert power who were previously suppressed by Saddam. In some particular parts of Iraq now, women must go about veiled, and are subject to roving bands of morality enforcers in a similar manner to Iran.

Yes but who the hell are we to determine that way of life is WRONG!? It's how they want to live, it's how they were living before we got involved. Remember, we're just there to help get rid of a despot and restore order. With Iran well, they've been living that way since before the Shah (who was ousted because he wasn't living that way of the majority).

We say we are there for the right moral reasons but honestly deep down inside... how many of you can feel that we're not there (in Iraq and soon to be Iran-- which really wouldn't be surprising now would it??) for the potential oil?