With Iraq easing down and Afghanistan due to in a year or two, the next ducks have to be lined up to maintain the budgets and get those contractors to oil the political processes.
Time then to upgrade Iran and Korea, and to begin agitation elsewhere.
Dude, we have plans to attack Canada if needed. Of course we have plans to attack Iran. It’s much better than going in without plans, like we did to Iraq.
(Technically, we did have plans: they were ignored or understaffed so badly they could not be carried out.)
And how’s that whole saber-rattley, muscle-flexy thing workin’ out for us?
It’s made a lot of money for a lot of people, which is the main point of it all.
Best chance to ‘invade’ Iran is from the inside. Gen-Y there want I’m-in-a-jam dead more than the West does and many ex and current Revolutionary Guard members don’t like the Hitler-esque cut of his jib either.
Bombing them would be asinine given reasons touched upon here and elsewhere. Not to mention the F22s are still a ways off! You’d be better of setting the ‘Jews Of War’ slip on them instead. “Send in the Irish”, as it were! 
The F-22 has been in service for some time.
Oh! In that case:
I didn’t say it was a good idea to go and bomb Iran. I was just pointing out that the F-22 is not a long way off.
Any hypothetical strike would be conducted using sea-launched cruise missiles anyway. No point in sending in manned aircraft.
For the record, it looks like diplomatic negotiations with Iran are set to resume in September (members would be Iran + US, France, China, Russia, GB, Germany). These will obviously have to play out before any military options are considered, and there is a better (but not great) chance of success since the sanctions have now been in effect since the last talks.
OTOH, there are still a lot of Iranians who still believe fervently in the Islamic Republic and the mullahcracy, and are willing to fight for it. Not a majority, but a very fiercely committed plurality. It’s hard to see how the regime could be brought down without causing a genuine, prolonged, to-the-knife civil war – I’m talking Spanish-Civil-War level brutality and casualties. During which pumping and exporting the country’s oil would just have to wait.
I was more pointing out that the op was nothing new and the same ol tit for tat ‘news’ isnt particularly interesting at the mo.
I pretty much ignore any comments from either Iran or NK regarding the USA, and vice-versa. Its just low grade realpolitik.
Iran’s Ahmadinejad calls for TV debate with Obama
excerpt.
(Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday to face him in a televised one-on-one debate to see who has the best solutions for the world’s problems.
The provocative proposal comes as Iran deals with a new wave of international sanctions – driven by Washington – aimed at putting pressure on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.
article continues.
Curious automatically dismiss his appeal for face to face talks as ‘Provocative’
what are we? scared of shadows? that haunt us, honest one on one dialog? where hopefully honest objectives would be laid plainly bare, for all to see, ?
IE, wars we create, for not much else but greed,
So, what are we afraid of?
ourselves i think, mostly…
that we might have to fess up,
The Drumbeats of War with Iran are getting Louder
Interesting read, including the comments section.
While it appears this topic bears little interest to the posters of this board, here’s yet another good article on same.
Not saying this is a certainty or not, but I’m afraid I can’t forget what a certain official from the Bush WH said way back when – before striking Iraq:
Must admit, I’m taking all of this quite seriously. While obviously hoping I’m completely wrong as most of you seem so sure of.
The trouble, Red, is that you and others have been crying wolf about Iran for years now. Still no attack. Still no real indications of an attack. In fact, from the perspective of an actual invasion, we are less ready for such an attack than ever before, considering that one of the things being touted by the ‘we are poised to attack Iran any second now’ crowd was our increasing troop strength in Iraq (never mind that those troops were already doing something, or that the logistics for an invasion was the one thing we weren’t sending over there), since we’ve reduced our forces there by a large amount. True, we have been sending those troops to Afghanistan, and true, you COULD invade Iran from Afghanistan (wouldn’t be easy, mind), but, again, where is the evidence?
The thing is, eventually if you cry wolf long enough, you will probably be vindicated. At some point (probably not during an Obama presidency), the Iranian’s will probably piss us (or Israel, or the Euro’s) off enough to eat a few cruise missiles or maybe an air strike or two. You may even live long enough to be there when it happens, and then you can cry out ‘I TOLD you so!’.
But that we are going to be sold a new war in Iran after the summer when we are back from our collective vacations? :dubious: And that we are going to be sold this by Obama and Congress and Senate controlled by Democrats?
Let’s just say I wouldn’t put any large wagers on any of this happening, if I were you…
-XT
Well, “tocayo*”, as I said I certainly hope your ‘faction’ is right and all of this is simply saber rattling – but even though not given to conspiracy theories, I fear “Bibi” Netanyahu and the enormous amount of sway the Israeli Right holds over the US. And if you read any number of statements coming out from them, Iran is enemy #1 on their list; and and prime target to boot. Now, if you’ll give me that much, it doesn’t exactly warm the cockles of my heart the fact that the US has been giving Israel an increasing amount of weapons – read the articles for cites aplenty – to be ready to do just so: strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Not only that but quite a few US reps have openly said that if Israel did so, it wouldn’t only be the right to do, but that the US should stand firmly behind such an action. In fact, you’ll see that when Obama spoke in Israel he “momentarily lapsed” between ‘us’ (US & Israel as one) and the two different nations – and interests – altogether. Point being, Israel gets a Green from the US and it’s on. No way you (or what I fear even more ) other powers are going to stay away from the conflict. And I think if that happens it’ll make “The Mother Of All Wars” appear like chicken little.
Finally, yes, I acknowledge that the US is hardly in the position to open such an unpredictable Third Front. But when has rationality stopped bellicosity on a grand scale? The US/USSR Cuban standoff is the last one I remember.
So yes, again, I hope I’m the spoiler and not the truth bearer. And no, I don’t wish to be alive to say “I told you so.” Simply can’t imagine what such an event would imply.
Take care.
*Yup, me llamo Javier tambien. Kewl name. 