Thread: IRAN 1, USA 0

IRAN 1, USA 0

NAVAL ERROR IN THE GULF

January 8, 2008 -- EARLY Sunday morning, the US Navy lost its nerve and guaranteed that American sailors will die at Iranian hands in the future.

As three of our warships passed through the Straits of Hormuz, five small Iranian patrol craft rushed them. As the Revolutionary Guard boats neared our vessels, an Iranian officer broadcast a threat to our ships, claiming they'd soon explode.

The Iranians tossed boxes into the water. Mines? Just in case, our ships took evasive action.

The Iranians kept on coming, closing to a distance of 200 meters - about two football fields. Supposedly, our Navy was ready to open fire but didn't shoot because the Iranians turned away at the moment the order was given.

We should've sunk every one of them.

Not because we're warmongers. But because the Iranians had made threats, verbal and physical, that amounted to acts of war. When will we learn that resolute action taken early saves vast amounts of blood and treasure later?

Oh, from Washington's perspective we did the right thing by "exercising restraint." But Washington's perspective doesn't amount to a gum wrapper in a gutter. What matters is what the Iranians think.

They now believe that the Bush administration, our military and the entire United States are afraid of them.

It goes back to the politicized and irresponsible recent National Intelligence Estimate that insisted the Iranians had abandoned their nuclear-weapons program years ago.

They didn't. They're pursuing enriched uranium as fast as they can. That's what you need for bombs. At most, Tehran ordered its weaponeering efforts to parade rest - until it has the ingredients it needs, after which building bombs won't take long at all.

Forget Washington's trust-fund-twit view of all this: Here's how the train of thought rolled down the tracks in Tehran:

"The Americans have told the world we don't want nuclear weapons, even though they know we do want them. That can only mean that America is afraid to confront us, that their weak, defeated president needs an excuse to back down.

"We can push these cowardly Americans now. They've had enough in Iraq. Their spirits are broken. Their next president will run away like a gazelle pursued by a lion.

"Even their military is frightened of us. On Sunday, America's might bowed down to us. They are frightened and godless, and the time has come to push them."

Sunday's incident wasn't a one-off event improvised by the local yokels after a long Saturday night at the hookah bar. It was blessed and carefully planned in Tehran and had practical as well as political goals.

At the tactical level, the Revolutionary Guards' naval arm was testing our responses: How soon do the American weapons radars activate? At what range do the lasers begin to track targets? How close can a small vessel get to a major American warship? How do the Americans respond to possible mines? Can we use phony mines to steer them into real ones? How long does it take an American commander to make a decision?

Above all: Does an American commander have the courage to make a decision on his own? When he doesn't have time to deflect responsibility onto his superiors?

And it wasn't just some madrassa dropout with salt spray on his glasses scribbling notes on the lead Iranian boat. On shore, the Iranians would've had all their intelligence facilities tuned in to map our electronic profile as our ships prepared to defend themselves. Rent-a-Russian military experts would've been onhand to assist with the newest gear purchased from Moscow.

The Iranians may even have had an escalation plan, in case we opened fire. President Ahmedinejad and his posse may seem contemptible to Washington, but the Iranians think several moves ahead of us: We play checkers, they play chess.

On Sunday, the Iranians tested us. We failed. They'll probe us again. And every time we fail to react decisively, we raise the number of future US casualties.

Remember the USS Cole? You bet the Iranians do. They plan to better that attack by an order of magnitude.

For almost 70 years, we've deployed the finest navy in the history of the world. But it looks increasingly as if we've gone from "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" to "Will this interfere with my next promotion?"

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01082008/po ... 380577.htm

It took a real IDIOT to write this article.

Retaliation is EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANTED. Then they could make fools out of us in front of the world. Thank God, the person on that U.S. ship making the decisions, MADE THE RIGHT ONE!

We need to get off foreign oil as soon as possible so that goons like ahmadinejad and chavez don't continue to have lots of dough to play with. This is something that everyone in this country, left and right, should be able to agree upon.

I just read an article that claims the US has eight times the known petroleum reserves of Suadi Arabia, and its on public land in the Rocky's. We should have hybrid cars that get 80 mpg. We should be developing alternative electrical power instead of continuing our reliance on natural gas.

I agree CitizenJustice and besides a part of me wonders if it really was Iranians or a group wanting us to go to war with Iran.

Remember how the media was partly to blame for getting us in the war with Iraq by reporting lies instead of facts which they were being fed by our government.

Afghanistan is another story and I think that is where we should have concentrated our troops since that is where the Taliban was and is and Bin Laden.

Originally Posted by Captainron

We need to get off foreign oil as soon as possible so that goons like ahmadinejad and chavez don't continue to have lots of dough to play with. This is something that everyone in this country, left and right, should be able to agree upon.

I just read an article that claims the US has eight times the known petroleum reserves of Suadi Arabia, and its on public land in the Rocky's. We should have hybrid cars that get 80 mpg. We should be developing alternative electrical power instead of continuing our reliance on natural gas.

Lots of oil wells were dug on the front range in Co. years ago and they're still capped. Canada alone has enough oil to keep us going for hundereds of years.

The article I saw was on oil shale, which until recently was too expensive to recover. They claim that new technology and the high prices have changed this. It could have just been the BS of a stock analyst, too.

They now believe that the Bush administration, our military and the entire United States are afraid of them

What an overstatement and it's rigged with bait!

I do believe we have enough oil in this country.

Even if we didn't, we have spent enough - and are still spending - on the war in Iraq to put solar panels on every house where it would do any good, put up more wind generators, institute all manner of energy saving methods - real ones - not ethanol.

They could have given tax breaks for research and development for energy efficient autos, etc.

We haven't stopped spending and if we stopped the spending tomorrow - the interest will go on for years.

If that money had been spent to develop what oil we have, make some real changes in our energy consumption, all this would be immaterial.

It more than likely has little to do with oil - that's just icing on the cake for oil companies, and profit takers on Wall Street. If they keep us scared to death we have no oil, no chance, are totally dependent - they can charge whatever they like for oil and we're happy to get it. Also, we might not think too hard about the war - and look at it realistically.

Then our government keeps wars going here, there and yonder, under the guise of 'protecting our interests' and the war material producers are getting very wealthy providing weapons for both sides. Halliburton gets paid $100 for a bag of laundry that the soldier said he could do for $3, at the laundromat there.

Isn't the Pres. going to the ME - or has he been. When I saw the headline he was going - then read the bogus 'WMD found in the desert' thread, I wondered if one had anything to do with the other. Are they trying to, once again, trot out the idea that the war in Iraq and our presence is justified because 'there were WMD - well not really' and now this altercation with Iran. There are no coincidences in this - just look for the real reasons.

Well, if it was actually Iranian forces that were taunting us, with no provocation, and if they continue to do so I think it would make an Obama presidency much less likely.