This is not Nam.

And we just went through a reduction, too.

Time to roll out the propaganda! Glorify war! Glorify service! Glorify murder!

So, war with Iran some time after November, I'm guessing. I have no doubt that those Revolutionary Guards attack craft will, between now and then, provide a casus belli as rock-solid as the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

dudemanbro: Go ahead and do it, Iran. It will be good for the world if you do.

And we might end up in another 10 year shiatfest war as a result.Times are getting shiattier by the day, Thank god for beer, maybe if the Iranian government drank some they'd mellow the fark out.

Wrathborne: And we might end up in another 10 year shiatfest war as a result.

Russia is just going to sit idly by while we invade Iran? At best they just turn off the gas spigot to Europe. China will remain mute as we take out yet another solution to their need for oil?

Ain't gonna happen.

Too bad we just gave up Iraq. It would have made a great stepping stone into Iran.

Petit_Merdeux: Eight year olds engagement, Dude.

My money's on this NOT happening.

/ Please God please God please...

The US isn't going to do any thnig but a few cruise missiles and what drones Iran did not get already at them. The public won't take Iraq 2 electric boogaloo.

Relatively Obscure: Boy, does it almost seem to anyone else like someone is trying very goddamn hard to make this shiat happen?

I think we're seeing a lot of chatter because, although the national identities of each country bias toward behavior that WOULD make this happen... almost nobody (sane) actually WANTS it to.

The war profiteers who control the Pentagon want a war with Iran and they're going to get it, regardless of who the "Commander in Chief" is.

Frankly I am just betting its another lie from the moneyed powers who control our government. Iran likely has no intention of closing the straights but the ultra rich want us to believe they do to distract us from the real issues facing our nation. Sadly a good portion of America will fall for the lies nd accept the war that the rich want. The real foe is not the islamics, its the ultra rich in our own country.

I don't see any of this amounting to much.

U.S. Sends Top Iranian Leader a Letter Begging for Mercy

There's not going to be a war over this. It's been teasing for 8 years. The POTUS is not going to order the economy to commit suicide, especially in an election year. The only loose cannon is Israel, but they've had plenty of time to do a raid and they're pussing out. The only trend that seems to be changing is that the Iranian economy seems to be, eh well the polite way to put it is that it's completely falling apart. A European oil boycott would probably help Iran by raising the price for China. In fact the Iranian leadership is probably begging for an attack, because it would take the populace's mind off the economy.


SamFlagg
The Iranians? All kidding aside. Iran could you know defuse all of this by not building nuclear weapons.

They're not, so problem solved.

Kurland
the ultra rich want us to believe they do to distract us from the real issues facing our nation.

"When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader." -Plato

I'm perfectly calm, Dude.

/calmer than you are
//calmer than you are

Europeans already backing off from proposed sanctions, will maybe 'think about' increased oil embargo in 6 months. Nobody wants this except Israel and US industrial military complex. Well, there's probably a few teabagger chickenhawks that ain't a gonna wait around until Iran nukes Bryant-Denny Stadium or Dollywood. Saber rattling and a pissing contest. Stop the oil in Hormuz and you stop food imports into Iran. Cargill and stock piling ultimately decides grain price volatility. shiat's gonna hit the fan at some point, but not right now... there's profits to be had. Enjoy those prices at the pump.

Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!

SamFlagg: The Iranians? All kidding aside. Iran could you know defuse all of this by not building nuclear weapons.

Per the Monday link, Leon Pannetta said they were not. (though the Fark headline said the opposite for trolling purposes)

SamFlagg: Relatively Obscure: Boy, does it almost seem to anyone else like someone is trying very goddamn hard to make this shiat happen?

The Iranians? All kidding aside. Iran could you know defuse all of this by not building nuclear weapons.

Do other countries have nuclear weapons? Yes.
Do we generally care about those countries? No, because with the exception of Pakistan they fall into the "Don't plan on getting mutually destructed, or aren't going to drop nukes on us category.

(Which is the reason that the US is anti nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea, Iran the threat it actually uses one, and North Korea because they're just itching to sell those things to anyone and everyone, its kind of what they do.)

Look up a map of the middle east. Mark down where Iran is, and where US forces are based out of or operating. Now search Google News to briefly summarize what this (and even moreso the last) US administration said/did regarding Iran. Now, why could Iran's leaders possibly want to develop a nuclear weapon?

Confabulat: Why is it so hard for countries to build nuclear weapons? Is it just a lack of the raw materials required? Cause the technology is soon approaching a century old, you'd think they could have figured that part out by now.

Designing a simple nuclear explosive is something a fairly bright engineering undergrad might undertake today (thanks to all those guys in the 40s having written down the answers to the actual quantum mechanics problems). Actually separating out enough highly enriched uranium (or synthesizing enough plutonium) to make the boom-stick work can only be done in a very few ways, and the US and Israel are doing just about everything short of outright dropping bunker-busters on Iran to stop them, to hell with legality: From trade embargos on applicable technology and mechanical parts, cyber attacks, and carbombing scientists working in the program.

Confabulat: Why is it so hard for countries to build nuclear weapons? Is it just a lack of the raw materials required? Cause the technology is soon approaching a century old, you'd think they could have figured that part out by now.

It's been a while since I read Tom Clancy's 'The Sum of All Fears', but it takes a very high level of precision to do it correctly.

Yet we still will not work on alternative energy because it is too expensive, right? How much is this military action going to cost us so we can continue to export thousands of gallons of refined gasoline a day on the open market?

eraser8: Alphax: Confabulat: Why is it so hard for countries to build nuclear weapons? Is it just a lack of the raw materials required? Cause the technology is soon approaching a century old, you'd think they could have figured that part out by now.

It's been a while since I read Tom Clancy's 'The Sum of All Fears', but it takes a very high level of precision to do it correctly.

That depends on the kind of bomb you wanna make.

Uranium bombs (like Little Boy dropped on Hiroshima) are of such a simple design that the United States didn't even test a uranium device beforehand. Plutonium bombs are far more difficult to engineer.

Yeah, I think there was mention of shaped charges used for just the right kind of precision explosion. A milimeter off anywhere, and you might just knock down one building.. and make the area full of radioactive dust.

Wrathborne: dudemanbro: Go ahead and do it, Iran. It will be good for the world if you do.

And we might end up in another 10 year shiatfest war as a result.Times are getting shiattier by the day, Thank god for beer, maybe if the Iranian government drank some they'd mellow the fark out.

God Allah, does not allow consumption of alcohol.

dudemanbro: Go ahead and do it, Iran. It will be good for the world if you do.

Seriously, if Iran does it, I'm re mortgaging and investing everything.

Cool, another war. I was starting to worry that the rich were the bad guys, I'm glad that poor brown people are the enemy again.

The end of the the article:

In 2002, a classified, $250 million Defense Department war game concluded that small, agile speedboats swarming a naval convoy could inflict devastating damage on more powerful warships. In that game, the Blue Team navy, representing the United States, lost 16 major warships - an aircraft carrier, cruisers and amphibious vessels - when they were sunk to the bottom of the Persian Gulf in an attack that included swarming tactics by enemy speedboats.

"The sheer numbers involved overloaded their ability, both mentally and electronically, to handle the attack," Lt. Gen. Paul K. Van Riper, a retired Marine Corps officer who served in the war game as commander of a Red Team force representing an unnamed Persian Gulf military, said in 2008, when the results of the war game were assessed again in light of Iranian naval actions at the time. "The whole thing was over in 5, maybe 10 minutes."

I'm pretty sure by now that the Navy has learned its lesson. Apache helicopters escorting the ships in combination with UAVs will utterly destroy their little boats. And they can fit Apaches on that aircraft carrier just as well as they can fit those MH's

Lost_in_Korea: The end of the the article:

In 2002, a classified, $250 million Defense Department war game concluded that small, agile speedboats swarming a naval convoy could inflict devastating damage on more powerful warships. In that game, the Blue Team navy, representing the United States, lost 16 major warships - an aircraft carrier, cruisers and amphibious vessels - when they were sunk to the bottom of the Persian Gulf in an attack that included swarming tactics by enemy speedboats.

"The sheer numbers involved overloaded their ability, both mentally and electronically, to handle the attack," Lt. Gen. Paul K. Van Riper, a retired Marine Corps officer who served in the war game as commander of a Red Team force representing an unnamed Persian Gulf military, said in 2008, when the results of the war game were assessed again in light of Iranian naval actions at the time. "The whole thing was over in 5, maybe 10 minutes."

I'm pretty sure by now that the Navy has learned its lesson. Apache helicopters escorting the ships in combination with UAVs will utterly destroy their little boats. And they can fit Apaches on that aircraft carrier just as well as they can fit those MH's

Which is still not a lesson worth learning since the only way it was possible was for Riper to be a munchkin, and ignore about 7 rules of reality.

Lost_in_Korea: I'm pretty sure by now that the Navy has learned its lesson. Apache helicopters escorting the ships in combination with UAVs will utterly destroy their little boats. And they can fit Apaches on that aircraft carrier just as well as they can fit those MH's

Yeah but they have to keep them away from the quad cannons or they're toast.

Lost_in_Korea: The end of the the article:

In 2002, a classified, $250 million Defense Department war game concluded that small, agile speedboats swarming a naval convoy could inflict devastating damage on more powerful warships. In that game, the Blue Team navy, representing the United States, lost 16 major warships - an aircraft carrier, cruisers and amphibious vessels - when they were sunk to the bottom of the Persian Gulf in an attack that included swarming tactics by enemy speedboats.

"The sheer numbers involved overloaded their ability, both mentally and electronically, to handle the attack," Lt. Gen. Paul K. Van Riper, a retired Marine Corps officer who served in the war game as commander of a Red Team force representing an unnamed Persian Gulf military, said in 2008, when the results of the war game were assessed again in light of Iranian naval actions at the time. "The whole thing was over in 5, maybe 10 minutes."

I'm pretty sure by now that the Navy has learned its lesson. Apache helicopters escorting the ships in combination with UAVs will utterly destroy their little boats. And they can fit Apaches on that aircraft carrier just as well as they can fit those MH's

IIRC, it turned out that way because Red team exploited the rules of the game more than because of a speedboats chances of wading through miles of flack with no cover, armor, or stealth.
A short range fleet also needs nearby supplies and fuel. So while everyone is focused on scoring a hit against the US Navy, its the Air force that will be scoring the real damage on Iran's shoreline.

If Iran kicks something off, its unlikely to last for more than a day or two.