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2019-09-20 Home Front: WoT
US military presenting range of options to Trump on Iran
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Posted by trailing wife 2019-09-20 00:37|| || Front Page|| [4 views ]  Top
 File under: Govt of Iran 

#1 Oh boy, thousands of dead American soldiers and a trillion dollar bill which we get to pay.

How's this in the best interest of the American people again?
Posted by Herb McCoy  2019-09-20 06:59||   2019-09-20 06:59|| Front Page Top

#2 I see no reason why the US has to hit Iran right now. They didn't hit us. I know they have in the past and so we have sanctions but currently, if the Saudis wanna smack Iran, they can. Doesn't need our help.
Posted by Silentbrick 2019-09-20 07:21||   2019-09-20 07:21|| Front Page Top

#3 um. What happened to NYC when they stopped "broken windows" policing?
Posted by Betty Peacock9670 2019-09-20 07:40||   2019-09-20 07:40|| Front Page Top

#4 They are obviously expecting some sort of attack. Destroy the evil SOB's wen they are NOT expecting it. Say nothing, admit nothing, smile and be polite.
Posted by Besoeker 2019-09-20 07:44||   2019-09-20 07:44|| Front Page Top

#5 It's like a spoiled child, escalating tantrum to get attention. We got them in a no win situation and they're trying everything but invade another sovereign country to get us to back off. Meanwhile the Euros have nothing but throw themselves at the feet of the Mullahs because they've sold their souls to the devil*. I like how the masks are coming off.

* how are those 'work arounds' doing for you?
Posted by Procopius2k 2019-09-20 08:10||   2019-09-20 08:10|| Front Page Top

#6 There would seem to be some good arguments for inaction. On the one hand, they initiated an attack which under past circumstances would have had global repercussions, seemingly with the intent to equally initiate armed conflict.

Further, this is costing the Chi-coms nearly $100 Million per day while not really upsetting our national markets so there is a dual benefit to our inaction.

As I think Glenn Reynolds observed, the value of the Damocletian sword is that it hangs, not that it falls. Their economy is on the ropes, the ayatollah is older than dirt, what's the rush?
Posted by Cesare 2019-09-20 09:18||   2019-09-20 09:18|| Front Page Top

#7 Trump just announced "maximum sanctions" on Iran's National Bank, cutting off funds
Posted by Frank G 2019-09-20 11:05||   2019-09-20 11:05|| Front Page Top

#8 Some people can be coerced by the threat of military strikes and some can't.
Bombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War(1986) by Robert Pape argued that once coercion loses most of its effect when the bombs fall because the other side thinks "So what more can you do to me?"

But more importantly: some regimes just can't be seen to back down. Losing a war usually causes the ruling faction to be replaced. In many nations they do this more or less gracefully because they know that in a decade or so they will be back on top again. In some regimes feel that there is no tomorrow and they have every incentive to fight to the last.

Can the Ayatollahs be coerced, and if so to what extent?
Posted by magpie 2019-09-20 11:29||   2019-09-20 11:29|| Front Page Top

#9 See also "The Limits of Air Power"
Posted by g(r)omgoru 2019-09-20 11:32||   2019-09-20 11:32|| Front Page Top

#10 Now, the air option assumes you aren't going the Curtis LeMay Option....cause after that, they no longer exist and well, it doesn't matter what the vapors think because Vapors Don't Shoot Back.
Posted by Silentbrick 2019-09-20 12:05||   2019-09-20 12:05|| Front Page Top

#11 They've been at war with us for 40 years, Herb. We didn't start it, and our failure to end it means more death and misery around the globe.

You're neither a pacifist not an isolationist -- you're a quisling.
Posted by Rob Crawford 2019-09-20 12:45||   2019-09-20 12:45|| Front Page Top

#12 president to go to Congress

That'd be portrayed as a Trumpian Trick to delay the long-awaited, much anticipated impeachment.
Posted by Bobby 2019-09-20 16:14||   2019-09-20 16:14|| Front Page Top

#13 Were they at war with us in 1979 when we engineered the overthrow of the Shah?
Posted by Herb McCoy 2019-09-20 21:46||   2019-09-20 21:46|| Front Page Top

#14  Were they at war with us in 1979 when we engineered the overthrow of the Shah?

We weren't at war with the Germans until they bombed Pearl Harbor.
Posted by SteveS 2019-09-20 22:07||   2019-09-20 22:07|| Front Page Top

#15 Carter - a pusillanimous puke(like someone we know) engineered that. No America-First agent, either, like you.
Posted by Frank G 2019-09-20 22:30||   2019-09-20 22:30|| Front Page Top

23:42 Dron66046
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