Bombing Iran Could Be A Disastrous Mistake!
This post is for all of the Americans out there, including our “War” President, who appear to think that bombing Iran is a good idea. First off let me get this off my chest; are you out of your minds?! What planet are you people from? Seriously though, if I wasn’t seeing it with my own eyes, in the blogosphere and various articles, I don’t think I’d believe that there are really Americans who sincerely think that the best direction for our country to take at this point is to expand our aggression in the Middle East to yet another country.
I’ll grant you that Iran; with all of its crazy rhetoric, lies, nuclear ambitions and interference in Iraq, deserves a major comeuppance, but how smart a move would it be for the United States to involve itself in further hostilities when our military is already overstretched and the current war in Iraq is going anything but well? Some American neocons seem to believe that despite the strain our military is under, we can just drop a few rounds of precision bombs on Irans’ nuclear sites and walk away unscathed and triumphant (Of course, these are the same people who thought starting a preemptive war in Iraq was a great idea!). I would hope that if nothing else good has come out of the Iraq disaster, that we as Americans would have at least learned that war is messy and unpredictable and as such it should never be rushed into under the arrogant guise that it will be a simple solution to our problems. I’m hoping that the recent decision by President Bush to participate in talks with Iran, albeit only over Iraq, is a sign that he has learned this lesson, though I’m still doubtful of that.
If he hasn’t learned that lesson and he does bomb Iran, I believe that the outcome of that decision will make the current Iraq situation look like child’s play. Iran is no Iraq, and by that I mean Iran (formally known as Persia, until 1935) is a nation that has existed for over 2000 years. Iranians are an extremely proud people, who have managed to not only survive, but thrive throughout history. I do not believe that if attacked they will just sit there and take it and with most of America's ground forces directly across their border, they would not have far to go to retaliate. Iran’s military consists of approximately 545,000 active troops and 350,000 reserve forces. They also have a volunteer militia force called the Basij which includes about 90,000 full-time active duty members and a further 11 million men and women who could be mobilized. This is the largest number of troop mobilization in the world.
So for any Americans who are thinking that a bombing campaign is the best solution to the Iranian issue, I hope you are prepared for a full fledged ground war with a country well over twice the size of Iraq, whose military was not devastated in an earlier gulf war (plus years of sanctions) and whose people would most assuredly be completely behind their government. God knows we probably have the worlds best equipped and best trained military, but then so did the Germans going into World War II, and they found out the hard way that trying to fight a two front war was not the easiest of tasks and in fact proved their undoing. I pray that Americas leaders base their future decisions on logic, reason and an understanding of possible consequences, not on an arrogant sense of superiority and pride; for we all know what pride goeth before.
I’ll grant you that Iran; with all of its crazy rhetoric, lies, nuclear ambitions and interference in Iraq, deserves a major comeuppance, but how smart a move would it be for the United States to involve itself in further hostilities when our military is already overstretched and the current war in Iraq is going anything but well? Some American neocons seem to believe that despite the strain our military is under, we can just drop a few rounds of precision bombs on Irans’ nuclear sites and walk away unscathed and triumphant (Of course, these are the same people who thought starting a preemptive war in Iraq was a great idea!). I would hope that if nothing else good has come out of the Iraq disaster, that we as Americans would have at least learned that war is messy and unpredictable and as such it should never be rushed into under the arrogant guise that it will be a simple solution to our problems. I’m hoping that the recent decision by President Bush to participate in talks with Iran, albeit only over Iraq, is a sign that he has learned this lesson, though I’m still doubtful of that.
If he hasn’t learned that lesson and he does bomb Iran, I believe that the outcome of that decision will make the current Iraq situation look like child’s play. Iran is no Iraq, and by that I mean Iran (formally known as Persia, until 1935) is a nation that has existed for over 2000 years. Iranians are an extremely proud people, who have managed to not only survive, but thrive throughout history. I do not believe that if attacked they will just sit there and take it and with most of America's ground forces directly across their border, they would not have far to go to retaliate. Iran’s military consists of approximately 545,000 active troops and 350,000 reserve forces. They also have a volunteer militia force called the Basij which includes about 90,000 full-time active duty members and a further 11 million men and women who could be mobilized. This is the largest number of troop mobilization in the world.
So for any Americans who are thinking that a bombing campaign is the best solution to the Iranian issue, I hope you are prepared for a full fledged ground war with a country well over twice the size of Iraq, whose military was not devastated in an earlier gulf war (plus years of sanctions) and whose people would most assuredly be completely behind their government. God knows we probably have the worlds best equipped and best trained military, but then so did the Germans going into World War II, and they found out the hard way that trying to fight a two front war was not the easiest of tasks and in fact proved their undoing. I pray that Americas leaders base their future decisions on logic, reason and an understanding of possible consequences, not on an arrogant sense of superiority and pride; for we all know what pride goeth before.
posted by Leo at 3:10 AM
7 Comments:
I am terrified that the Village Idiot in Cheif will decide to bomb Iran, but I really don't think he's learned his lesson. Nor do I think we as Americans have learned our lesson considering Congress just handed Bush another blank check to fund the Iraq war.
Hope you don't mind, but I borrowed your Roosevelt quote and put it on my blog. I also added you to my blog list, if you don't mind.
Laters!
Jane
Jane, thanks a lot for the comment and for the link. I will link to you as well. You're more than welcome to the Roosevelt quote, enjoy!
Jane, sorry just me again, I tried to add you as a link on my page, but blogger is evidently having problems as it won't let me save/update my template. I will add you as soon as the problem's resolved.
Leo, I guess this proves our President has an ear open to what the neoconservative think-tank, Project for the New American Century (PNAC), has to say. If you care to read Case in Point PartI, you could see what these folks have been up to since they got one of their own running this country.
In reference to your post, It's sad but maybe true, this President with the help of Israel just might start bombing Iran and I guess this President will call up the draft because there's no way Israel can join in this type of aggression, in that part of the world.
Good way to secure his office as President and enact the National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive he recently signed.
"NSPD-51/ HSPD-20" which appears to supersede the National Emergency Act by creating a new position of National Continuity Coordinator without any specific act of Congress authorizing the position... you know, the one where he takes control of America and leaves out the Congress input.
He becomes not President but "dictator" and there's nothing anyone can do about it.
Let's Talk you make some interesting points. If Bush does bomb Iran, with or without Israel we will definitely need a draft in my opinion. Thanks for the further info. and the comment.
If it wasn't for the nuclear part then I would agree with you, about Iran. However, maybe more so as a European, I really do not want an Iran with nukes. If the US, Israel, or NATO, or all three can take out those plants, then I can't say I will be too upset. An Islamic Theocracy is as bad and dangerous as a National Socialist (ie Nazi) regime or dare I say, worse.
Iraq was a big mistake but Iran, I believe, is genuinely a massive threat.
Best Wishes
Beaman, I definitely can understand your fears when it comes to Iran having nukes, but I just don't think bombing them is the answer to the nuke problem. Iran's economy is very dependent on the outside world, it's people are already none to happy with their leadership pushing the nuke agenda at the expense of that economy and I believe some stronger economic sanctions will effectively make Iran reevaluate it's position on how much it's willing to sacrifice to have a nuclear weapon. The other thing is, that according to many of our military experts it is likely that we do not even know about all of the nuclear sites in Iran (in other words, where they are located) and even if we did a bombing campaign would not necessarily neutralize them. So if we bomb and do not successfully eliminate their nuclear program, where are we then? If Nato or some nation other then the U.S. wants to take a stab at it, I say more power to them, but the U.S. is in no position militarily at the moment to take that risk. Thanks for your comment and for bringing a european viewpoint to the discussion.
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