This article over at RCP by Robert Tracinski appears to be making the rounds out there. It’s entitled, To Win In Baghdad, Strike At Tehran.
Needless to say, Mr. Tracinski gets it. I’ll just pull one sentence from the article; one that slams the nail of reality home:
In this context, to try to win the war just by sending more troops to Baghdad is like trying to save a patient by removing a tumor in his lung–when the cancer has already metastasized through his entire body.
There can be no victory in Iraq without eliminating - or drastically reducing - the threat emanating from Iran, and to a lesser extent, Syria. For some unknown reason, the Ruling Classes in this country are running away from this stark, unpleasant truth. You see, it’s not a matter of going to war with Iran. We’re already at war with Iran. This is not, and should not have been about Iraq alone. The cancer of Islamofascism is regional, and should be approached as such. If James Baker, et.al., would get their heads out of their collective asses, they just might be able see the mullahs just long enough before their swords hit home.
This article is definitely worth a read. Go check it out.
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what a ridiculous proposal. a war with iran would be an unmitigated disaster. like it or not, the iranians can effectively cause the global oil market to collapse by mining the straits of hormuz. anything that get’s iran to do that will probably result in a complete collapse of the u.s. economy and the paralysis of all u.s. forces in iraq as they run out of fuel.
also, it’s a sure sign that i am roving around right blogistan when i see things like “You see, it’s not a matter of going to war with Iran. We’re already at war with Iran.”
if only you guys could read arabic. the big conspiracy theory over there is that the u.s. is in cahoots with iran to oppress the sunnis. after all, the u.s. strongly backs the iraqi government and that government is now an iranian ally. sure the iran-u.s. alliance vs. the sunnis looks like madness to us. but it’s no nuttier than the right wing’s conspiracy theory claiming that sunni extremists like al-qaeda, who advocate genocide against the shia, are somehow cooperating with shia-dominated iran.
it seems that you guys learned about middle eastern politics by reading the back of a froot loops box.
m’a salaama
I’m busy, folks. Have at it, if you think it’s worth the bother.
Sigh. It’s my post. Guess I should respond.
No they can’t. Your statement assumes that the Iranians would have enough naval assets to complete the task, and their base atBandar e Abbas wasn’t smoking rubble. Sure, there would be an increase in prices, but within 72 hours, but with the US Navy ensuring transshipment through the Straits, all would be back to normal. There just wouldn’t be any Iranian oil on the market. Now, who’s that going to hurt more? Oil supply is fungible; the rest of the suppliers will fill the vacuum. No way would they miss profiting from such an opportunity.
The Iranians might have some small capability for harassment at that point, but I doubt it, because in the meantime, the US would have taken out Iran’s import terminals, which would mean that everything in Iran would come to a grinding halt. That’s because Iran has no refinement capability for all that oil it sits on.
It simply amazes me that idiots like you think that the US would strike at Iran without taking the Straits into consideration, and that the US Navy is more than capable of keeping them open. Iran does not have much of a navy. It would have even less of one within 15 minutes of a US strike against Iran.
Once again, you assume we would invade Iran. Why bother? Air strikes and cruise missiles would do the job that needs to be done, which is to make the Iranians pay a very high price for interference in Iraq. If the mullahs are too busy trying to put their country back together, they might find they have less time to screw around in another country’s business.
As for the rest of your typically incoherent comment, who gives a rat’s ass what the latest rumor du jour is in the Middle East? It’s all the same in the end. Since your culture (I’m assuming that from your point of view and your use of “m’a salaama,” a phrase that rarely means what the speaker says, within this context.) is shame based, you can never admit that you are the ones at fault for your lot. Instead of fueling rumors and coming up with crackpot conspiracy theories to explain your cultural inadequacies, you should perhaps learn to look in the mirror and admit the truth; you are part of a culture bereft of any semblance of civilized mores and anything of value to your society has to be imported - usually over the objections of your primitive religious fanatics - after being developed by those far more advanced than you. Guess what? Many of those things were invented by Jews! Chew on that, pal. Hell, you can’t even pump oil without technology that we invented and operate.
Given the nature of Middle Eastern politics, learning about it from the back of a Fruit Loops box is just as good a place as any. Fortunately, and unlike you, I choose to do my studies elsewhere.
I don’t think it’s worth the bother either, Bill. Anyone that would seriously assert that shutting down the Strait of Hormuz would cause US forces to paralyzed by lack of oil is clearly out of touch.
I was also amused by the his recommendation that we ought to subject ourselves to long-term blackmail over the Iranians willingness to use the oil weapon. I’m sure they would would just love that. It would establish a pattern that would work even better after they acquire nuclear weapons.
Do you no how mines get laid? Do you think we will sit still and watch? Do you really believe the U.S. Forces will run out of fuel? Do you use hallucinogenic drugs?
The Iranians have been at war with us since 1979. Perhaps you remember the 241 Marines murdered in 1983? There are numerous other examples of the war being waged against us by Iran. That we don’t fight back does not indicate a lack of war making by the Iranians.
Can you? I cannot, but I know where to read translations of Arabic materials.
I suppose the some 100 al - qaeda, including bin laden’s son, harbored in Iran don’t count.
The back of the fruit loops box has more intelligence than you’ve shown here, or at your crappy little blog.
Roses and a nice dinner out?
Could. Not. Resist.
I just had a chance to read Tracinski’s piece. I have to say it’s gratifying to see more and more commentators begin to acknowledge the truth (and its implications) of the policies Daily Pundit has been advocating for, literally, years.
Works for me, well, it used to.
When I wrote that, I was wondering whose mind would pick up on it. Mojo Wins…
Not sure if everyone has seen these videos of the US military in Iraq or not, but they are pretty amazing: Hopefully our ’surge’ will not include too many of these types…
http://minor-ripper.blogspot.com/2006/12/winning-hearts-and-minds-part-three.html
I see absolutely nothing wrong with this vid. In fact, it’s funny as hell. These guys are having some fun, and not even at the kids expense. They obviously don’t have a clue as to what they’re saying.You can bet, however, if those soldiers belonged, to, say, Iran, and this scene was played out, it would play out very differently and far more brutally.
Think about this for a moment. I doubt those kids were rounded up to make this vid. They came out on their own. Why is that, you might ask? Maybe it’s because they have no reason to fear brutality at the hands of US soldiers and Marines. Brutality is the exception to the rule.
Once again, you simply prove you’re a tool.
Attack Iran vis a vis Iraq…ha! If we really had enough wisdom to weild out power we would be bombing even bigger and riskier foes…like China. After all, the war with China really never ended via Korea. This country is much more target rich, employs much heavier arsenals, is just as foreign and hard to understand as the Iranians, contains a heck of a lot more people and has done much more to wield its growing influence economically and militarily around the world (some of them even hate Jews).
Don’t think we have enough troops? Ha! We could recruit from the third world with the promise of passports and or pay Americans double what they pay contractors in a month in Iraq. That way we could still have a certain (not zero) level of support for a future war with China-since a draft would not be instated. Even better, we could count out the military all together and pay any soul hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to fight in this campaign (contractors would still make millions, unlike the ‘good’ war our forefathers fought where anti-capitalist Truman wouldn’t allow contracters to drive trucks around Berlin.) Worried about anti-American backlash? Not to worry, China holds a large percentage of the world’s population that would surely die anyways. Not to mention the fact that we wouldn’t have to sell China precious oil when we could just horde it for ourselves.
What to do with pesky anti-American Americans who act unAmerican that try to stop us the way pesky hippies stoped our escalation of the soon-to-be nuclear war in the 60’s in Indochina or liberal JFK sissies who wouldn’t bomb Cuba and then the Russias? Easy, we can train (choo choo type) dissidents (non southern Chirstians) and undesirables to ‘camps’ where we can simply have them make weapons for free for our coming war. Grant it, the more revenue the better, since everything is about making money and “the bottom line” (thank god we have less taxes in our time of war and thank god there’s no ‘war tax’ either, even though i do sacrifice enough by putting down my Nintendo Wi Wi to watch Fox & friends every morning) So, join me now you all you neoconians! And…if this idea doesn’t work we can always bomb doctors in Granada and show the Carribean we still mean business.
Jim,
Though I agree with your assessment, I do think that attacking Iran would be quite an interesting study in ’shaking the global ant farm’. I mean, I would love to see the Saudi royals fall and finally get their’s for their logistical support and financing of the 9-11 hijackers by a populous that is already fed up with them anyways. It would also be interesting to see quite Western forms of governments in Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, EAU, Dubai fall in the hands of soon to be radicals. I never liked Musharif’s mustache and would like to see what the Islamic bomb can really do. It would also be fun to see the Frenchees, Krauts, Spanishees and other EU countries fall to their knees from radical Islamic youth gone mad (might give us a good reason to invade Europe all over again.) Also, we’ll be able to see if Iran’s scuds could actually work and hit Isreal, Iraq bases and other forward targets or if Russian technology is really a bunch of crap. Think of the record profits Wall Street will have by then (licking my lips already). Let’s bomb Iran first before we we aim for all of Eurasia.
Bomb S.F., bomb LA, bomb France, bomb China, bomb middle east, and we all fall down…
Gosh, Jim. You managed to roll out every boneheaded, liberal cliché at your disposal, and still managed to write a catechism so incredibly unclever and naive that my cats are fighting over who gets to shit on it first after I print it out and put it through the shredder.
My hat is off to you, Jim. They haven’t acted like that since the fabled Tony Foresta graced this site with his presence. You give me a tingly longing for Young Goodman Brown, as a matter of fact.
I am in awe.
Trancinski and his collegues at the Ayn Rand Institute have been arguing for years — even well before 9/11/2001 — for a strong military response to totalitarian middle eastern states (Here are their articles; click at right for sub topics.)
Chef,
How bout it though? You, me and the rest of the Reagan Youth can take aim at some real adversaries besides leechy well fare moms (of course that’s after we watch a few John Wayne movies, have Dixie Chick CD bonfires and after you change your flying monkey’s cage (oops I mean your cats litterbox)? When you’re done having them urinate all over my diatribes you can slide in a copy of the Pentagon’s assessments of an Iranian strike on Iran and an old and outdated document called “The Constitution” as some fresh litter?
Though I thank you for your intellectual (even though it’s easier if we give the audience an anti-intelluctial and non-wordy) assessment, I do think that attacking Iran would be quite an interesting study in ’shaking our global ant farm’. I mean, I would love to see the Saudi royals fall to an already shaky populous. It would also be interesting to see quite Western forms of governments in Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, EAU, Jakarta, Dubai, etc fall to the hands of soon-to-be radicals. It would also be neat to watch tankers exit the gulf without any kinks. I never liked Musharif’s mustache either and would like to see what the Islamic bomb can really do besides face Mecca. It would also be fun to see the Frenchees, Krauts, Spanishees and other EU countries fall to their knees from radical Islamic youth gone mad and madd (god knows the Frenchees can’t even stop a two month riot over some shot towl-heads)..might also give us a good reason to invade Europe all over again.
Also, we’ll be able to see if Iran’s short and long range scuds could actually work and hit Isreal, Iraq and other forward-facing bases. Chef, that’s fine…let’s bomb Iran first before we we aim for all of Eurasia…I’ll even let you lob a Tomahak or two while I wire the controls in from your living room HDTV.
Joe, thanks very much for that link!
Yeah, Bill. In retrospect, it wasn’t worth the bother. I seemed to have turned over a few rocks today. See ‘em wriggle!
Freddy, I liked you better when you were proud, gay and singing your heart out. And alive, for that matter. Death seems to have subdued your wit somewhat. Ah, well.
But keep on keeping on with the riveting commentary!
I think we’re today’s public enemy number one on some crappy little lefty blog. It isn’t an important one, or we’d be seeing a lot of inspired moonbattery instead of this trickle of drivel. Probably that minor (how apt!) character.
Bill: no prob. I also wanted to say it was great discovering your blog — its great to see someone speaking out against the appeasement and evasion characterising the administration’s non-war against terror.