quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
land several C130s in remote areas with the cargo hold full of M16A2/A4 rifles (i.e. former main battle rifles the Army still has in storage), man portable anti-tank equipment, and ammo/loads for all of it.

Sort of like leaving countless weapons in Afghanistan when we tucked our tail in and left?

Nice false equivalence logical fallacy. Other than US equipment being involved, intentionally arming the Crown Prince's followers with two specific man carried weapon categories is not even remotely similar to Biden's Afghanistan disaster of an exit which involved armor, aircraft, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

land several C130s in remote areas with the cargo hold full of M16A2/A4 rifles (i.e. former main battle rifles the Army still has in storage), man portable anti-tank equipment, and ammo/loads for all of it.

The Iranian men have training but don't have arms. The reason I say this is since 1925 Iran has had mandatory conscription and every adult male must have served 21 months to 24 months prior to their 21st birthday. 2 months of basic and 19 to 22 months in regular army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), or the police command. IRGC is usually for people with political connections so arm the men who formerly were forced to serve in the regular army or police command, but didn't make a career out of it.

Yeah no, tossing out a bunch of weapons without knowing who's getting it is a recipe for disaster. The IRGC is lever of power but the stain that is amongst the Iranian people is the Basij.

Uh no, I clearly said coordinate with the Crown Prince and arm his followers. Being armed will let the Crown Prince's followers fight their oppressors (e.g. the basij whoa are the regime's riot control force and morality police) and take away the IRGC's internal control force.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
Nice ....

Thank you, but I cannot accept the compliment because it was not false at all. I could have included our fleeing Vietnam and abandoning countless weapons there as another example, but the North Vietnamese were never the threat to the US that the fanatics in the Middle East have been and will continue to be regardless of who a leader du jour may be. The only difference between Afghanistan and your proposal is that one was a feckless surrender and the other an admittedly well-meaning idea, but the results would be no different: the arming of a people who want everyone else to be converted, enslaved, or—preferably—dead.

Trump clearly said that we have another two maybe three weeks of work to do. That's fine with me and I get a feeling he's planing on getting really serious with the bombing.

Like, really serious.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Tk3j6qtMT/

https://www.facebook.com/10006...60706389996/?app=fbl

Remember the fallen

quote:

Originally posted by coyotedude:
Perhaps, but Iran has unexpectedly become the cockroach that is proving more adversarial than anticipated. Some of which is due to their fortuitous geographical location.

In any case, appreciate your input and advice.

Many of us prefer a cockroach over a mushroom cloud. The latter is what you may not appreciate enough, nor the NATO problem, nor the bigger picture others have described. All the complaining and moaning utterly pales in comparison.

I'm paying a Benjamin now to fill up my commuter. I don't like it but it's SMALL matter compared to the current situation. I think people who are willing to let Israel or the USA to get continuously attacked, murdered, and eventually Nuked, aren't all there, and that bothers me to think Americans have become that soft and ignorant.

quote:

Many of us prefer a cockroach over a mushroom cloud. The latter is what you may not appreciate enough, nor the NATO problem, nor the bigger picture others have described. All the complaining and moaning utterly pales in comparison.

I'm paying a Benjamin now to fill up my commuter. I don't like it but it's SMALL matter compared to the current situation. I think people who are willing to let Israel or the USA to get continuously attacked, murdered, and eventually Nuked, aren't all there, and that bothers me to think Americans have become that soft and ignorant.

You and I may not be feel the heat of rising costs, however there are a lot of others that struggle daily for the basics, and are are affected by what you characterize as a SMALL matter.

And they will vote for those that say the magic words.
Free shit.



I’ve now seen videos of Iranian citizens gunning down IRGC and Iranian enforcers.
Finally. They’re more of a nuisance right now but their numbers are growing.
As more are trained…

quote:

Originally posted by coyotedude:

quote:

Many of us prefer a cockroach over a mushroom cloud. The latter is what you may not appreciate enough, nor the NATO problem, nor the bigger picture others have described. All the complaining and moaning utterly pales in comparison.

I'm paying a Benjamin now to fill up my commuter. I don't like it but it's SMALL matter compared to the current situation. I think people who are willing to let Israel or the USA to get continuously attacked, murdered, and eventually Nuked, aren't all there, and that bothers me to think Americans have become that soft and ignorant.

You and I may not be feel the heat of rising costs, however there are a lot of others that struggle daily for the basics, and are are affected by what you characterize as a SMALL matter.

I feel the heat. I'm supporting a family of 6 on one income. It's not easy. But sometimes in life you have to do hard things to accomplish the right thing. And as a constitutional republic, we as the electorate are responsible for the actions of our government.

Right or wrong, if our nation goes to war then we all need to bear some part of that cost. And the cost that we are bearing is absolutely microscopic compared to what the people in Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Bahrain, Iraq, and Iran are bearing right now. Spending over $100 to fill up my truck sucks. Watching my planned vacation to Europe in the fall climb out of my ability to afford it sucks. But it sucks a whole lot less than having my family get grabbed by Hamas terrorists, my house blown up by a drone or rocket, or my kids' school get levelled by a Tomahawk. And it definitely sucks less than getting nuked.

I wish we weren't over there doing this. I'll admit I have my misgivings about the justification, but I'm also not privy to any of the intelligence and it's not my decision to make. I do know the IRGC are horrible people, and every one we eliminate makes the world a better place. And if doing what we're doing is truly preventing them from getting a bomb, then it's absolutely worth it. At this point I'm just very grateful that it looking like we've neutered their nuclear program and we're not going to commit boots on the ground to another prolonged regime change commitment that will last for years.

To summarize:

https://x.com/HarmlessHQ/status/2039265506935402809

Trump is doing business and you think he's losing the war.

The US has enough oil and as a matter of fact, the US daily oil production is the highest globally.

Trump went ahead and secured Venezuela's oil.

But France, China, India and other EU members are buying from the middle east.

Iran threatened world peace and Trump intervened.

Iran went ahead and closed the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump called on NATO and other middle east oil customers to assist with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

They ignored him.

Now Trump is thinking of ending the escalation with the Strait of Hormuz still closed.

Leaving two options on the table.
* Come and buy your oil from the US.
OR
* Go to the middle east and open the Strait of Hormuz by yourself.

A win-win situation for Donald Trump and the US.



To wit, this twit:

https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2039312309525364854

quote:

Yeah no, tossing out a bunch of weapons without knowing who's getting it is a recipe for disaster. The IRGC is lever of power but the stain that is amongst the Iranian people is the Basij.

Uh no, I clearly said coordinate with the Crown Prince and arm his followers. Being armed will let the Crown Prince's followers fight their oppressors (e.g. the basij whoa are the regime's riot control force and morality police) and take away the IRGC's internal control force.

Coordinating who gets weapons and who doesn't sounds like an impossible task when we aren't there, on the ground.

Israel does have better on the ground intelligence within Iran. Perhaps a small shipment could be coordinated and delivered successfully, but not a huge amount.

The following is from a newsletter from a Spectator.co.uk correspondent. The link below casts more nuance, since those of us not aboard, and likely even most of them, don't know what actually happened, if anything.

Andrew Cockburn
Far from highlighting American military prowess, the USS Gerald R. Ford, years late, vastly over budget and replete with new and untested technologies, epitomizes much that is wrong with the US military. Three weeks into the Iran war, the huge vessel limped into a bay in Crete, driven from the battle by what appeared to be acts of sabotage by a mutinous crew exhausted and demoralized after nine months at sea and possibly eager to force a return to home by disabling key components.

A poorly designed sewage system had largely broken down thanks to T-shirts, mops and other pipe-clogging items inserted – apparently deliberately – down many of the ship’s 650 toilets. The consequent shortage of working facilities has meant that crew members frequently face a 45-minute wait in line to relieve themselves.

More in depth weblink - yahoo.

quote:

Originally posted by ChuckFinley:
The following is from a newsletter from a Spectator.co.uk correspondent. The link below casts more nuance, since those of us not aboard, and likely even most of them, don't know what actually happened, if anything.

If this is true, it sounds a lot like a crew infested with Biden era crossdressers; a worse level of morale than that inherited by Ronald Reagan.


.

quote:

Originally posted by coyotedude:

quote:

Many of us prefer a cockroach over a mushroom cloud. The latter is what you may not appreciate enough, nor the NATO problem, nor the bigger picture others have described. All the complaining and moaning utterly pales in comparison.

I'm paying a Benjamin now to fill up my commuter. I don't like it but it's SMALL matter compared to the current situation. I think people who are willing to let Israel or the USA to get continuously attacked, murdered, and eventually Nuked, aren't all there, and that bothers me to think Americans have become that soft and ignorant.

You and I may not be feel the heat of rising costs, however there are a lot of others that struggle daily for the basics, and are are affected by what you characterize as a SMALL matter.

I think you're missing the intended context of wrightd's comment. What I believe he's saying is it's certainly a small matter relative to the alternative path Iran was on which easily could have made it an issue orders of magnitude worse on a global scale for everyone regardless of their economic status. That's the reason for the war, is it not?

quote:

Originally posted by TigerDore:

If this is true, it sounds a lot like a crew infested with Biden era crossdressers; a worse level of morale than that inherited by Ronald Reagan.

.

If it is true, it sounds a lot like treason!

Lest we forget or never knew, during World War II Americans put up with gasoline and food rationing. And no, I’m not saying this war is equivalent to the seriousness of that one. It’s also easy for someone isn’t living paycheck to paycheck to say, “Just suck it up,” but there are times when difficulties must be endured for good reasons—or even not-so-good reasons. Failing to understand and accept that is one of the greatest dangers a nation can face.

I often think of this quotation in a book I first read in my youth:
“Without its tough spearmen, Hellenic culture would have had nothing to give the world. It would not have lasted long enough. When Greek culture became so sophisticated that its common men would no longer fight to the death, as at Thermopylae, but became devious and clever, a horde of Roman farm boys overran them.”*
— T. R. Fehrenbach, This Kind of War

* When I posted this before a member here objected to its characterization of Greek society and culture. Specifically accurate or not, though, the point it makes about nations in general is what matters.

quote:

Without its tough spearmen, Hellenic culture would have had nothing to give the world. It would not have lasted long enough. When Greek culture became so sophisticated that its common men would no longer fight to the death, as at Thermopylae, but became devious and clever, a horde of Roman farm boys overran them.”*
— T. R. Fehrenbach, This Kind of War

I don’t think that’s accurate at all.

It wasn’t Greek culture that allowed Rome to conquer, it was demographics and military flexibility. Philip V of Macedonia had tough enough spearment that they drove back the Roman legion, but tactical flexibility meant they were outflanked and annihilated.

The Romans also had a significant demographic edge that the Greeks couldn’t match. Numbers have a quality of their own!

quote:

Originally posted by coyotedude:
You and I may not be feel the heat of rising costs, however there are a lot of others that struggle daily for the basics, and are are affected by what you characterize as a SMALL matter.

Do you think that if we ignored Iran, the threat of them becoming a nuclear power would go away? Do you believe that if we play nice, their present government will join us in a first-world utopia?



.


.

^^^^^
And if they ever used a nuke, costs would be dozens of times higher.
That would be a much larger 'price' issue.

Yes, we are on the same page, WB.



.