Bush news conference. War with Iran immenent?

[JAMES77257]

Anyone watching this? A reporter asked Bush if he is trying to make a case for war with Iran, as he did with Iraq concearning WMD. Bush said " As comander in chief, I will do whatever is necessary to protect our country. "

This conflict with Iran has been condemned by Russia. Does this worry anyone but me?

 

[Biker]

Yes, I believe that the old familiar drums are once again being beaten.
Israel is commited to attacking Iran, so we will follow.

Biker

 

[USMC - Retired]

And exactly what are we supposed to do, stand by and let Iran supply the insurgents with advanced weapons, training and even manpower? That really would turn this into another Vietnam! We need to attack threats to our troops no matter where they are comming from!

 

[El Tejon]

:banghead:

I really don't like where this is going.

 

[JAMES77257]

I agree USMC. My question was, does it worry anyone that Russia condemns this action. I fear that any action with Iran will involve Russia.

BTW, the second Vietnam war is already playing out.

 

[MechAg94]

I think Bush has to assume Iran is in the audience with questions like that. All depends on what they are trying to do at the time.

 

[Sindawe]

And exactly what are we supposed to do, stand by and let Iran supply the insurgents with advanced weapons, training and even manpower?

Well, following the appropriate protocol of the nation and having CONGRESS issue a declaration of war would be a good start, rather than letting The Decider decide where to put American lives in harms way.

Pick fights abroad, ignore the fight brewing at home. :banghead:

 

[MechAg94]

Russia has always condemned our actions in the Middle East haven't they?

 

[JAMES77257]

Yes, but Russia is getting progressively demanding, and outspoken.

 

[Biker]

USMC - Retired...

Proxy wars have been fought since God was a boy. We do it, they do it, everyone does it. There's nothing we can do to Iran right now that wouldn't cost us much more than we'd gain. 'Course, Israel doesn't care about that.

Biker

 

[xd45gaper]

wasnt russia blaming us a couple weeks ago for arming Iran with nuclear products and technology?

i dont know why russia would want to side with Iran (not saying they are) but could it possibly be that GW told puntin to take a hike when he tried to join the WTO last year?? then turned around an gave Vietnam a free pass right into the WTO.......

somewhat off topic (MHO) i think Iran would topple just like Iraq did in the 90s

 

[Kim]

HILARIOUSS________ I am watching the same press conference and did not get the same hysterical idea as most on this thread. He said nothing of attacking IRAN. I guess we should just let Iran sentd in weapons and if they do just watch them walk by and let them cross the border and do nothing. That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Maybe those who think that is a good idea just need to pick out which military personal and Iraqi citizens they want killed. Come on put a bulls eye on them and pull the trigger yourselfs. I would rather than all the hysterical reactions for you just to say. I believe we have lost and well lets just take our bat and ball and go home. We will close our eyes to what happens next. We all know this is Vietnam ( as that is what has determined the whole outlook of our lives). We will never blame ourselves but the President yea that is the ticket he did this whole thing all by himself. I am innocent do not look at me. Just admit your true intentions instead of yelling chicken little. And when we get hit next I want you on here pronto telling us what you want to do about it then.

 

[shooter503]

Here is the unfortunate situation.

The US has a group of dolts running foreign policy. Their interest is their own fantasy agenda rather than realpolitiks.

The people we are having problems with in Russia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Israel and other countries are experts in playing international chess. They are "taking us to the cleaners".

Take Russia. There is no bad outcome for them in this mess. They can sell weapons, gain influence, gain warm-water port access and gain reputation by carefully supporting our enemies. The worst thing that can happen to them is that nothing changes. A war with Iran will strengthen Russia because it will draw the US even deeper into the Middle-East quagmire further weakening the US economically and militarily. Surely you have not missed the reports that 40% of US army military equipment is now in Iraq. The Russians know how stretched the US military is - they want to see it stretched further.

Russia is supplying advanced ground to air missiles to Iran. I bet that is the only equipment we are SEEING. I will bet you Russia is providing training to the Iranians. Russia will not directly confront the US, that would be dangerous but if Israel attacks Iranian nuclear power plants all bets are off.

Russia is now actually following the same foreign policy aims it adopted under the Tsars only now the opponent is the US instead of Britain.

 

[USMC - Retired]

Biker,
Your serious? You really want congress to decide how we fight a war? That is exactly what caused all of our problems with Korea and Vietnam, letting the politicians decide how and where the military should fight! Th commanders on the ground know where the threats are and know how to take them out yet we continue to hamstring our fighting forces by giving control of the battlespace to politicians who have no idea of what they are doing. The politicians will just turn this into a big game of PC bingo and the looser is the Marine on the ground that gets his @$$ shot off while congress takes a break to vote themselves another raise! So the answer is pull out? Sure, great idea, show the rest of the worlds religous fanatics that if they just keep blowing up markets and shooting inocents and military alike, the US will get tired of it and go home leaving them to right back where they were before we got there! We have lost fewer troops since the start of this war to hostilities than we have lost stateside in the same amount of time to car wrecks yet no one says lets abandon our cars and walk to work! The problem with keeping the peace in Iraq is not the damage the isurgents are doing it's the damage the press is doing! We had the same type things happen in occupied Japan following WWII but there was no CNN to tell the world about it and after some time it just went away on it's own. Maybe if the US people would stop fighting amongst ourselfs and present a unified front like we did in the days after 9/11 the bad guys might think twice about this kind of thing, but as long as we have folks spouting off and giving them encouragement that aint gonna happen.

 

[Thin Black Line]

This conflict with Iran has been condemned by Russia. Does this worry anyone but me?

Yep.

And exactly what are we supposed to do, stand by and let Iran supply the insurgents with advanced weapons, training and even manpower? That really would turn this into another Vietnam! We need to attack threats to our troops no matter where they are comming from!

If that was really the goal of the US government, we should bomb Austria
for supplying Sniper Rifles to Iran and bomb Russia for supplying nuclear
know-how to them. While we're going after current-assisters-to-the-axis-
of-friggin-evil, how much help has China given Iran? Let's bomb them, too.

Nope. Won't do any of that. We'll continue to see nice pics of Bush given
Putin hugs, so-called America's Wal-Mart buying Chinese goods, and the
masters from all these countries going to Austria on their ski trips.

Wake up, ppl. The NWO took full control while we were sleeping.

 

[longeyes]

With what at least used to be the strongest economy in the world we ought to be savvier at "war by other means."

We also ought to be savvier about covert action.

 

[Biker]

USMC - Retired...

We're a dog with no teeth at this point. We *can't* attack Iran. Sure, we can drop some bombs, launch some cruise missiles, but the mission likely would not be accomplished and we would once again end up losing face.
A Pyhric (sp) victory is the last thing we need at this point.

Biker

 

[Thin Black Line]

The people we are having problems with in Russia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Israel and other countries are experts in playing international chess. They are "taking us to the cleaners".

THEY also consist of so-called Americans.

We have lost fewer troops since the start of this war to hostilities than we have lost stateside in the same amount of time to car wrecks yet no one says lets abandon our cars and walk to work! The problem with keeping the peace in Iraq is not the damage the isurgents are doing it's the damage the press is doing!

Higher losses on our side do not somehow equate in any way to a more sure
victory for us. I don't know how many times I've had to explain to ppl on THR
that we have things such as body armor and far better medical care than any
other country in any other war in history. If you'd like, we could drop the armor
and have some stupid silver-spoon generals march line after line into some
sustained machine gun fire? If our losses were time and technology adjusted
to be 30,000 KIA and 60,000 WIA would that make people feel like we had
given Iraq our best effort and could come home (aka "cut and run" for the
people who have no skin in the game) or on the other hand would it somehow
justify a draft and an escalation which would make the current so-called
escalation "debate" pale by comparison?

I have been on the ground in Iraq. This has absolutely nothing --let me be
loud and clear on this: NOTHING to do with the US as a nation or people with
winning a war in Iraq.

 

[txgho1911]

BushCO will not allow the US to follow Isreal. They will jump the gun when the time comes to screen Isreal from liabilities in starting the biggest middle east exchange in the last 100 years.
Do not think Iran/Iraq or Desert Storm will compare.
I can see the President taking the blame for nukes if Isreal launches.
IMO Iran is asking begging and pleading for this kind of attention. I do not see BushCo fighting to win. Out of character now.

 

[jcoiii]

I don't think anyone was advocating letting congress RUN the war, only DECLARE the war. I always thought that's what the Constitution permitted, until the congress abdicated its responsibility to the president so they wouldn't be the ones responsible.

 

[SoCalShooter]

I agree. There is an ominous aire about this latest news report. We have already upset the entire Muslim world...why dont we let things cool down a little? Get Iraq figured out finish up in Afghanistan and then move on to a new project. I believe however that this congress will not send our boys off to war in Iran atleast not through a declaration of war.

 

[longrifleman]

A war with Iran will strengthen Russia because it will draw the US even deeper into the Middle-East quagmire further weakening the US economically and militarily. Surely you have not missed the reports that 40% of US army military equipment is now in Iraq. The Russians know how stretched the US military is - they want to see it stretched further.

I'm always amazed at the way so-called experts refuse to learn from history. What we are doing to ourselves in Iraq is very similar to the way the USSR screwed up in Afghanistan. There, we were the ones supplying the insurgents with weapons. One of them was a guy named Osama Bin Ladin; you may have heard of him?

We are at least preparing for the possibility of war in the near future. Some of the announced deployments done as part of the "surge" made no sense in dealing with urban warfare, but would be necessary for attacking Iran. Another carrier battlegroup, Patriot missle batteries, and the new commander of Central Command is an Admiral. I realise some of the command appointments are as much political as not, but how stupid is it to play politics in the middle of a war. If you were worried about the Persian Gulf and attacking the Iranian's ability to interdict shipping, a naval commander doesn't look so stupid.

 

[bogie]

I'm guessing that Iran isn't going to take much prodding before they do something. They WANT war with us. They WANT to kill infidels.

And it'd be a good thing for us if they commence the festivities while we're still right next door, in strength, in a relatively secure position. Remember that a LOT of Iraqis do not like Iran... And they're not all that thrilled about the jihadists either.

 

[MacEntyre]

We aren't good at proxy wars, primarily because we have a history of denying that they exist.

 

[localFFL]

I don't think anyone was advocating letting congress RUN the war, only DECLARE the war. I always thought that's what the Constitution permitted, until the congress abdicated its responsibility to the president so they wouldn't be the ones responsible.

Thank you jcoiii. Why Mr "usmc retired" would distort that and say that congress was running vietnam just boggles the mind. I can't believe that he doesn't know that it was certain non congressional individuals influencing the EXECUTIVE BRANCH that kept us from obtaining full victory in Vietnam and Korea. Congress simply gave L.B.J. a free hand and that was part of the problem.

In my experience, ex military folks have a deeply embedded and highly distorted view of things. It's as if they're used to being forced in a group setting to see everything from the federal government's perspective and they just can't let go of that even after they're retired.

I doubt "usmc retired" totally fits this but I've also run into a lot of retired military guys who are rabidly anti gun (for citizens that is, not for government). If you bring up the 2nd amendment they literally start snickering at you like you're an ignorant child. I've met several who have this "just shut up and let us in the federal government who know what we're doing and know how to kick ass take care of you" attitude. They frequently have an attitude that regular citizens are clueless and that their former military unit could fix everything if given the chance.