The Problem Child Iran, thinking out of the box…yes we can!

Was visiting Captains Quarters tonight and came across a post where the Captain is worrying about reports that Vice President Cheney is going to convince President Bush to launch a war against Iran. Now first off worrying about reports emanating from the Guardian is a bit like worrying about reports from CBS. Not very likely that reality and those reports have much in common. But…

Its a damn fine idea. Consider that Iran has been killing US Soldiers and Marines for a lot longer than even those evil Wahhabists that everyone loves to blame for the worlds terror. Matter of fact Iran is responsible for killing more Marines in one day than anyone else going back to the Japanese. That is quite an achievement. Now exactly what are we going to accomplish by continuing to talk to folks that are capable of doing such things? Currently they are actively engaged in murdering our Marines and Soldiers and allies in Iraq. So the Captain counsels more talk…talk without even the possibility of force is called a conversation.

However, the Iranian response would likely come on the ground, against our troops in Iraq, and perhaps against the British in the south. We have our hands full in trying to secure Iraq against internal forces, let alone a full-blown invasion from Iran. (further down he repeats this particular point) We need to have Iraq stabilized and our forces greatly reduced before we could tackle the much larger nation of Iran

Internal forces that are largely being supplied with their most lethal weapons by Iran. Their training is being conducted by Iranians. We have proof. So exactly how the Captain expects to “secure Iraq against internal forces” without addressing the main source of funding, training and equipment in Iraq is left unsaid. I thought we learned in Vietnam how foolish it is to try and win a war without crushing the logistics of the enemy. War is about logistics, we need to defeat the logistics of those we intend to defeat in Iraq. Iran has to go.

Besides, our raison d’etre in Iraq is to stop a wider war from exploding in the Middle East. Not only would an attack prompt exactly what we hope to avoid, but it would likely radicalize the Iraqi Shi’ites, who would not appreciate the US using Iraq as a military base against their natural allies in Iran. We’d have to pull back to the west in Iraq, and we could lose the use of Iraqi ports on the Gulf as a result. Captain’s Quarters

Not sure about where Captain got the idea that the war was about stopping a wider war. If that would have been given as the reason I would have been against it. War was waged against Saddam’s Iraq because of his pursuit of WMD’s, which we may have lost because it took us so long to get there, and the deadly possibility that a dictator who had already used Terrorists for his dirty work, like Iran matter of fact, would combine his WMD program with his allies in the Terrorist network.

This is not some pipe dream of a deranged Neo Con attempting to bring Democracy to those who have not asked for it. No this is the sensible conclusion one arrives at when you consider Saddam’s previous efforts. The attempt to assassinate Former President Bush showed a distinct lack of fear and common sense, though Clinton lived up to Saddam’s low estimate of our balls. The efforts to blow up Radio Free Europe showed Saddam had a disdain for our willingness to challenge him. In both of these “adventures” he was using terrorists. He even had the temerity to let President George H Bush know of his intentions prior to the gulf war vis a vis using terrorists to attack us. Link

If you use pressure, we will deploy pressure and force. We know that you can harm us although we do not threaten you. But we too can harm you. Everyone can cause harm according to their ability and their size. We cannot come all the way to you in the United States, but individual Arabs may reach you.

So this idea that our raison d’etre in Iraq was to stop a wider war is incorrect. Besides which judging from the drubbing the Israelis took from Iran’s proxies in Lebanon even if that was the raison d’etre it has failed…and it has failed because of Iran. Now with Iran arming and training ”insurgents” in Iraq, arming and training “insurgents” in Afghanistan and with them perilously close to having a nuclear capability all the reasons we had for deposing Saddam are in place…with the evidence in front of our eyes. Not hidden away by incompetent CIA officials who have STILL not paid any price for their failures on 9/11. (just saying)

So then Jules Crittenden comes aboard the ship with these observations:

The program that should have been in play already, as Iran and its proxies launched attacks in Lebanon, Gaza and Iraq, as Iran thumbed its nose repeatedly at the international community on its nuclear weapons program, as Iran yet again seized American and British citizens and military personnel as pawns to humiliate and influence the West, is a program of demonstrating consequences for those kinds of actions.

Because we are civilized people, targets in any operations on Iran should be limited to military infrastructure and assets that support military and terrorist activities. Phased air and missile attacks on nuclear facilities and terrorist training camps. Oil production and port facilities that provide the income to support those activities. Key bridges and highways that provide access to those facilities. Make a list and start working on it. Couple it with strong action against any Shiite militia in Iraq that looks at us cross-eyed.

Hard to disagree with anything he says. Especially the bit where Jules points out that the Bush Administration blew it by not starting the rebuilding of the Armed Services prior to at least 2002. Someone else around here has been saying the same thing for quite a while now. It is especially grating that President Bush failed since he declared that he would rebuild the Armed Services in the Debates with Gore. Course he also promised not to engage the Armies of the Nation in Nation Building so I guess we should just throw all of his promises out the goddamn window.

But there may be a way out of all the problems both of these very intelligent gentlemen see as obstacles to our desire to be rid of the last great middle east terror state. Syria is not relevant.

A campaign modeled upon the Afghanistan campaign would not stretch our regular forces. As long as we do not accept the ridiculous notion of Former Sec of State Powell that if we break it we bought it. We can send in Special Forces to ally themselves with the significant forces ready to overthrow the mullahs and with our allies use the same tactics we used in Afghanistan to destroy the Mullahs. All we provide is the air cover for the forces ready to overthrow the Iranian government. We own the air. They simply will not be able to strike at the rebels with any sort of significant force with our Special Forces and a few carriers of airpower providing air cover. It is time…it is well past time to take the Mullahs out. They will use their nukes. We are the Great Satan…there are none greater. Exactly who do we think those death lovers(12th Imam is a death cult) will use them against?

Jawa responds to the threat. So does Allah…and yes I agree with the much that they say. The Bush administration is too weak to take on Iran without some out of the box thinking. Sadly there isn’t a lot of that going on inside of that dying Administration. But Bush is the comeback kid so its not too late, yet.

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