So who's bullshitting? Iran or UK... The Poll!

[AnnO'Neemus]

...One can only surmise why the BBC felt the need to air this footage but it all contributes to the narrative put out by the MoD and others that the Iranians are inherently evil and hell-bent on our destruction.

Too true.

Anyone placing bets on an imminent invasion of Iran now?

A few weeks ago, and I'd have said that Blair would want to back Bush, but wouldn't dare try and ride roughshod over the will of the British people a second time in taking this country into war against Iran.

But now?

With the media firing everyone up about how terrible it is that they made her wear a scarf, that they are paraded on telly and forced to 'confess'... [the hypocrisy of that really gets to me, they don't think it's violating people's rights when they show prisoners in Guantanamo, and I'm sure the way these navy peeps had their 'confessions' 'forced' out of them was slightly different to the way the prisoners in Guantanamo had confessions forced out of them.]

Now, I reckon this is the reason why Blair has been clinging on to power, why he didn't go sooner (amongst other things), he needed to be in power this summer to back Bush's invasion of Iran.

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Invasion, except for a bit of coastal stuff to go after their missile batteries or Khuzestan to nick their oil fields, is out of the question.

The US Army is already way overstretched just dealing with the horrible mess they've made of Iraq. Iran would be many times worse.

What they're no doubt keen to do though is bomb the shit out of Iran and apply tighter sanctions.

 

[nino_savatte]

Too true.

Anyone placing bets on an imminent invasion of Iran now?

A few weeks ago, and I'd have said that Blair would want to back Bush, but wouldn't dare try and ride roughshod over the will of the British people a second time in taking this country into war against Iran.

But now?

With the media firing everyone up about how terrible it is that they made her wear a scarf, that they are paraded on telly and forced to 'confess'... [the hypocrisy of that really gets to me, they don't think it's violating people's rights when they show prisoners in Guantanamo, and I'm sure the way these navy peeps had their 'confessions' 'forced' out of them was slightly different to the way the prisoners in Guantanamo had confessions forced out of them.]

Now, I reckon this is the reason why Blair has been clinging on to power, why he didn't go sooner (amongst other things), he needed to be in power this summer to back Bush's invasion of Iran.

This incident reminds me of the infamous USS Pueblo incident of 1968; where the North Koreans boarded and captured what it called an American "spy ship". The US maintained that the Pueblo was in international waters at the time, the North Koreans said otherwise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo_incident

 

[rekil]

Invasion, except for a bit of coastal stuff to go after their missile batteries or Khuzestan to nick their oil fields, is out of the question.

The US Army is already way overstretched just dealing with the horrible mess they've made of Iraq. Iran would be many times worse.

What they're no doubt keen to do though is bomb the shit out of Iran and apply tighter sanctions.

What do you reckon Iran would do in response? Pour weapons and gizmos into Iraq?

 

[Bernie Gunther]

What do you reckon Iran would do in response? Pour weapons and gizmos into Iraq?

Well, if actually invaded, Iran offers excellent terrain in which to resist. Mountainous rural areas for the most part, not flat terrain (at least not where most people live) of the sort you get in most of Iraq south of the Kurdish bit, and in which US heavy forces and air power proved so successful (at least at first)

To put it in perspective, the insurgency in Iraq is reckoned (last time I looked) to consist of about 20,000 people and the entire US army is struggling to cope.

Hezbollah allegedly consists of about 1000 full-timers and about ten times that many part timers and managed to make a right mess of the IDF last year, fighting on its own terms and in similar terrain to much of Iran.

The regular Iranian military would probably get vapourised by US super-weapons if they tried to fight conventionally, so they probably won't. The Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guards), who trained Hezbollah in the first place, have according to most accounts some hundreds of thousands of full time fighters and can call upon a militia running into the millions to assist them.

So given that the US is evidently unable to cope with the insurgency it already has in Iraq, it seems very unlikely that it could begin to cope in Iran, dealing with an insurgency orders of magnitude larger and probably a lot more together in terms of having been provided for in advance, rather than at the last minute if at all like the Iraqi one.

 

[London_Calling]

Invasion of Iran is simply not an option at all ever. Never has been, never will be.

Has any politician spoken of a land attack ever ? If they did, they should be locked up for gratuitous grandstanding. Simply not possible.

 

[bluestreak]

perhaps then we should encourage war with iran. from an undermining-our-own-government POV.

 

[rekil]

Invasion of Iran is simply not an option at all ever. Never has been, never will be.

Has any politician spoken of a land attack ever ? If they did, they should be locked up for gratuitous grandstanding. Simply not possible.

A land invasion is out of the question but a punitive bombing campaign is still possible given how irrational the bush admin is. I'm wondering how Iran would react to that. I'm guessing that they'd train and supply insurgents in Iraq with loads of low and hi-tech gear and have a go at fucking up shipping.And then what.

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Here you go.

Iran: Consequences of War

 

[MikeMcc]

A land invasion is out of the question but a punitive bombing campaign is still possible given how irrational the bush admin is. I'm wondering how Iran would react to that. I'm guessing that they'd train and supply insurgents in Iraq with loads of low and hi-tech gear and have a go at fucking up shipping.And then what.

We did have a did of a chat about the possible consequences of an attack on Iran in this thead:

http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=199829

 

[ska invita]

The Long history of British and American covert provocation and action in Iran
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/04/366950.html