2009-12-21
Casus Belli
Wow, what a gift. Tired of waiting for America to find the balls to simply up and invade Iran without specific military provocation, Iran decided to up and invade Iraq by itself, creating a casus belli.
Like wow, man. Those old canards said against Iraq re "has invaded its neighbours" now get to be used against Iran. Speaking of which - Tony Blair has admitted the Iraq war wasn't about WMD in particular. Same as it was with me. Sure I thought Saddam had WMD - I was fooled by his cagey attitude. And sure I wanted them - whatever nastiness the man had available, I preferred him to hit us with it now rather than have future generations being hit with something worse. But as Blair said - even if both of us knew for sure that there were no WMD there, we would still have gone to war. Toppling dictatorships is its own reward. At least in the case where you think the replacement won't be any worse (both in terms of what it will do to its own people, as well as what it will do to the existing free world).
Obama should take the opportunity to get rid of the Iranian dictatorship immediately. It also has the seizure of the British soldiers to use, but the kidnapping they claim (ie lie) was done in Iranian waters. This is an actual border dispute where they have gone on to what Iraq claims as its own territory.
The Iraq war is long over. It has long ago reached the point where the indigenous Iraqi forces were stronger than all challengers and would eventually prevail. Actually that point was reached immediately after some semblance of Iraqi government (the Iraqi Governing Council) was created with sufficient Iraqi security forces to man the Iraqi tanks and air force, and the ability to sell oil to get more of everything. Hell, it could even hire mercenaries, but they really are unnecessary.
US troops do not need to remain there. And nor do they need to go to Afghanistan. Afghanistan needs minimal troops to hold it. Fighting the insurgency can wait for another day (as it has to date). The ANA should be the one doing raids on territory nominally controlled by the Taliban. If they don't have the ability to do that yet, so be it. That's their problem to deal with in their own time.
Iran is the target of opportunity and it should be seized. I am really really interested in hearing what the Iranians have to say about their "Islamic State". Zoroastrianism here we come!
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Like wow, man. Those old canards said against Iraq re "has invaded its neighbours" now get to be used against Iran. Speaking of which - Tony Blair has admitted the Iraq war wasn't about WMD in particular. Same as it was with me. Sure I thought Saddam had WMD - I was fooled by his cagey attitude. And sure I wanted them - whatever nastiness the man had available, I preferred him to hit us with it now rather than have future generations being hit with something worse. But as Blair said - even if both of us knew for sure that there were no WMD there, we would still have gone to war. Toppling dictatorships is its own reward. At least in the case where you think the replacement won't be any worse (both in terms of what it will do to its own people, as well as what it will do to the existing free world).
Obama should take the opportunity to get rid of the Iranian dictatorship immediately. It also has the seizure of the British soldiers to use, but the kidnapping they claim (ie lie) was done in Iranian waters. This is an actual border dispute where they have gone on to what Iraq claims as its own territory.
The Iraq war is long over. It has long ago reached the point where the indigenous Iraqi forces were stronger than all challengers and would eventually prevail. Actually that point was reached immediately after some semblance of Iraqi government (the Iraqi Governing Council) was created with sufficient Iraqi security forces to man the Iraqi tanks and air force, and the ability to sell oil to get more of everything. Hell, it could even hire mercenaries, but they really are unnecessary.
US troops do not need to remain there. And nor do they need to go to Afghanistan. Afghanistan needs minimal troops to hold it. Fighting the insurgency can wait for another day (as it has to date). The ANA should be the one doing raids on territory nominally controlled by the Taliban. If they don't have the ability to do that yet, so be it. That's their problem to deal with in their own time.
Iran is the target of opportunity and it should be seized. I am really really interested in hearing what the Iranians have to say about their "Islamic State". Zoroastrianism here we come!
# posted by Paul Edwards @ 21:27 
