http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/midd...story.html

Iran's feelings on Israel are out in the open. If Israel is inching closer to an overt act of war, is the US obligated to back them up?

Quote:Iranian security forces inspect the site where a magnetic bomb attached to a car by a motorcyclist exploded outside a university in Tehran on Wednesday,

Cripes, it's just like the freakin' movies.

If the US goes to war with Iran, I want it to be because WE decided to for our own interests, not because we got pulled into it by another nation.

No. They are capable of handling this without our help. From the look of this...they already are. We are going to wake up one morning and hear that the Israelis have bombed the sh!t out of Iran into dust.

(01-11-2012 01:44 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  No. They are capable of handling this without our help. From the look of this...they already are. We are going to wake up one morning and hear that the Israelis have bombed the sh!t out of Iran into dust.

If they break it, they buy it. I just doubt we'll keep our hands out of it.

(01-11-2012 01:44 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  No. They are capable of handling this without our help. From the look of this...they already are. We are going to wake up one morning and hear that the Israelis have bombed the sh!t out of Iran into dust.

while receiving overt assistance from Iraq and the USA, and covert assistance from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman.

And I would be OK with this....

The fact that it appears Mousaad is stepping up these kinds of things makes me think Iran is closer to getting a nuke than we might think.

If we could get the sanctions put on banks that do business with Iran and banks that do business with thsoe banks, I think it could tip Iran enough to get a revolution going.

(01-11-2012 01:45 PM)AtlanticLeague Wrote:  

(01-11-2012 01:44 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  No. They are capable of handling this without our help. From the look of this...they already are. We are going to wake up one morning and hear that the Israelis have bombed the sh!t out of Iran into dust.

If they break it, they buy it. I just doubt we'll keep our hands out of it.

I don't see Israel in the business of nation-building. They'll break the sh*t out of it and leave it to the Iranians to fix. No problems here.

(01-11-2012 02:51 PM)Rebel Wrote:  

(01-11-2012 01:45 PM)AtlanticLeague Wrote:  

(01-11-2012 01:44 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  No. They are capable of handling this without our help. From the look of this...they already are. We are going to wake up one morning and hear that the Israelis have bombed the sh!t out of Iran into dust.

If they break it, they buy it. I just doubt we'll keep our hands out of it.

I don't see Israel in the business of nation-building. They'll break the sh*t out of it and leave it to the Iranians to fix. No problems here.

Agreed!

(01-11-2012 01:44 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  No. They are capable of handling this without our help. From the look of this...they already are. We are going to wake up one morning and hear that the Israelis have bombed the sh!t out of Iran into dust.

They are about 8 hours or so ahead of us so it will probably happen around dinner time here.

Do you all really feel that Israel could so easily take out Iran? And are you implying they would use nukes...or would they by other means?

It would be conventional. Nuclear would only be a defensive weapon or a response to an Iranian WMD attack of sufficient size.

Yes, the US will definitely be roped into war, and we'll be pulling the weight. Welcome home from Iraq, boys! I hope you've rested up good because we have another war to fight for Israel, errr, I mean Freedom!

Sanctions turn Iranian public opinion against us, not their government. It helps the regime by allowing them to point to an external threat as the source of their problems, and promote solidarity. Remember how united we were after the 9/11 attacks? Most Iranians believe they have a right to nuclear advancement and don't see why Israel has a right to it and they don't.

Our involvement will have little if any to do with our national interest. This is all about Israel's insistence on Middle East hegemony and being the region's lone nuclear power. Syria was feeding us intelligence on al Qaeda and let the CIA interrogate their 9/11 recruiter for chrissake, and the Israel lobby still forced through the Syria Accountability Act. America will never be able to advance its own interests effectively so long as we have groups like the Israel lobby arguing the ridiculous proposition that America's and Israel's interests are aligned.

boots on the ground?

Israel can't attack Iran with boots on the ground. They can't take out Iran's nuclear program in one fell swoop like they did Saddam's, because it's decentralized and underground. Eventually, they need us to do their dirty work for them. (Or, they take the genie out of the bottle).

(01-11-2012 05:39 PM)Max Power Wrote:  Israel can't attack Iran with boots on the ground. They can't take out Iran's nuclear program in one fell swoop like they did Saddam's, because it's decentralized and underground. Eventually, they need us to do their dirty work for them. (Or, they take the genie out of the bottle).

They can come closer than you think. They will be allowed to operate out of bases in eastern Saudi. With their sortie rate, they can get a large number of air strikes in a hurry. Their Dolphin-class SS's can launch cruise missiles (including Jerichos) from fairly close in. Depending on how good their intel is, they can take down the program without hitting every site, just the choke points. They won't put boots on the ground, they will simply eradicate the key positions.

Unless they just assassinate everyone first.

Just temporary setbacks. They simply can't take down the program from the air. Plus if such attacks happen you can forget about any revolution.

(01-11-2012 06:10 PM)Max Power Wrote:  Just temporary setbacks. They simply can't take down the program from the air. Plus if such attacks happen you can forget about any revolution.

They took down Saddam's from the air. Granted Iran's is bigger and more spread out and better protected. But they might get enough of it to put things on hold for a while. And for now, they seem to have figured out how to kill the key personnel, and that may slow things quite a bit.

Be interested in hearing why you think the attack would forestall a revolution.

My opinion is if you're going to sponser terrorist attacks outside your country, then when one of your guys vaporizes you shouldn't be so shocked. Just so happens this wasn't a random killing of an innocent person we normally see when bombs go off over there. And when you threaten another country and a guy who helps back up that threat vaporizes, the ones left standing should be shitting bricks.

(01-11-2012 05:35 PM)Max Power Wrote:  Most Iranians believe they have a right to nuclear advancement and don't see why Israel has a right to it and they don't.

Now that's completely disingenuous; Israel wouldn't be (as) concerned if the Iranian leadership hasn't threated Israel with all manner of destruction.