Would America attack Iran ?

[Shahed]

What do you think? Do you think America could attack Iran in the near future for terrorist support, nuclear program, supporting the Iraqi Shias and so on.

This is just a poll, but feel free to post your comments.

[Al Khalifah]

Well...
If Iran doesn't already have nuclear weapons then yes.
If Iran does already have nuclear weapons then no.

[Duke Malcolm]

I should damn well hope so, and that the UK joins in. In the Army, I want to command a company in at least one war, and I'm hoping that it is against half the Persian Army, and in a nice little pass like Thermopylae.

[Sjakihata]

Never heard of 'Thermoylae'.

I don't think the US would. Not alone anyway. If the UN says so, maybe.

[Kagemusha]

Its too late for US to attack on Iran.The Shiias would revolt against US troops in Iraq,Also Western Afghan warlords backed by Iran would fight also and Iran has the biggest conventional army among muslims.At the time US would have concentrated enough troops around Iran there would be too big risk that Iran could Nuke them.It is a sad fact that we just have to admit that Iran will have her Nuclear weapons and we cant do a thing about it.UN trade embargo is something that we could but i think we need Iranian oil too much.It also seems as if they arent agressive towards anybody as a state this time and so there is no legimate reason for Invasion.US havent even brought the whole thing up at the UN security council.

[Stefan the Berserker]

What do you think? Do you think America could attack Iran in the near future for terrorist support, nuclear program, supporting the Iraqi Shias and so on.

This is just a poll, but feel free to post your comments.

Generally yes. The current Gouverment won't care about the consequences of such an action, the "Hawks" Faction of Rumsfeld-Cheney would want to do it anyway.

Those policies anyway led Powell to leave the Administration.

I should damn well hope so, adn that the UK joins in. In the Army, I want to command a company in at least one war, and I'm hoping that it is against half the Persian Army, and in a nice little pass, like Thermoylae.

Well, which Academy you belonged to Malcolm?

In your age (16) I don't think you finished the Grammar School, rather than Sandhurst anyway.

If you really want to command a Company:

- More attention in school
- No more attention in cheese and chocolade
- Reduce Videogameing
- Join the Army when you got a really good exam
- Apply for Academy

If you made it to be at Sandhurst - http://www.atra.mod.uk/atra/rmas/ - you will get your Company.

But don't tell them you would love to fight the half of the Persian Army with one Company at the Thermopylae, then they would certainly not put in place as an Officer.

[Divinus Arma]

It makes no sense to "invade" Iran.

We may conduct a pinpoint strike against nuclear facilities or support an Israeli strike, but a full-scale invasion is pointless.

This is because Iran has a large-scale reform movement and wants closer ties to the U.S.

Also, the Shiites in Iraq will serve as an example to Iranian Shiites. Hopefully the democracy in Iraq will inspire others in Iran and elsewhere.

I think Iran will probably end up as a nuclear power. As long as they do not support terrorism, I don't care. Everyone is going to have the bomb sooner or later. Maybe this is for the better. Then everybody has permanent country insurance. good old mutually assured destruction prevents things like pre-emptive invasions. If Iraq had a nuke, we never would have invaded.

[Duke Malcolm]

Well, which Academy you belonged to Malcolm?

In your age (16) I don't think you finished the Grammar School, rather than Sandhurst anyway.

If you really want to command a Company:

- More attention in school
- No more attention in cheese and chocolade
- Reduce Videogameing
- Join the Army when you got a really good exam
- Apply for Academy

If you made it to be at Sandhurst - http://www.atra.mod.uk/atra/rmas/ - you will get your Company.

But don't tell them you would love to fight the half of the Persian Army with one Company at the Thermopylae, then they would certainly not put in place as an Officer.

Currently, I belong to Harris Academy, a secondary school, and I am 15, not 16 till a week today...

I've got another 5 or 6 years till I wish to apply to Sandhurst. 2 years of school, and 3 or 4 of University. Promotion is however no longer based on the officer's skill, but the length of service, so promotion to Major (commander of a company) is between 11 and 16 years. I'm hoping that as lieutenant, my COs will be killed, and I be left in command of the company.

So let's not invade Iran for about 10 years, and I'll be happy.

On my 16th birthday, and thence every other day, I shall go to the gym and get fitter.

[Productivity]

So let's not invade Iran for about 10 years, and I'll be happy.

Military members, feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but my general impression is that all of you would have prefered not to have had to have done what you did/it haunts you.

Be careful what you wish for, hoping for a war or invasion simply so you can be involved seems borderline psycopathic to me.

[Sjakihata]

borderline?

[Aenlic]

According to Pat Buchanan's ultra-conservative magazine, American Conservative, the U.S. has drawn up contingency plans to attack Iran if there is a second 9/11 type attack on the U.S. in the future. In the Deep Background column of that mag, they suggest that the plan includes both nuclear and conventional strikes against Iran. http://www.amconmag.com/2005_08_01/article3.html

[Duke Malcolm]

Military members, feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but my general impression is that all of you would have prefered not to have had to have done what you did/it haunts you.

Be careful what you wish for, hoping for a war or invasion simply so you can be involved seems borderline psycopathic to me.

I just wish to serve Queen and Country, God and the Empire. I also just wish to be honoured as a national hero who fought valiantly for those afore mentioned.

[_Martyr_]

Jesus, didnt World War One wipe out that sort of nonsense?

Dulce et decorum est - Wilfred Owen, 1917

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in.
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

[Viking]

I hope not, the US has built up enough hate among muslims as it is, and if Iran would build any nuclear weapons it close to 0 chance for that they`ll use them.

[Divinus Arma]

I just wish to serve Queen and Country, God and the Empire. I also just wish to be honoured as a national hero who fought valiantly for those afore mentioned.

Do not seek to be honored by your country as a hero. Seek instead the humility and sacrifice of service to your country. True heros don't see themselves as heros. They see themselves as survivors.

Those who seek heroic recognition find death instead.

[King Henry V]

I should damn well hope so, and that the UK joins in. In the Army, I want to command a company in at least one war, and I'm hoping that it is against half the Persian Army, and in a nice little pass like Thermopylae.

And why, pray, should we send in our lads to fight in somebody else's wars? America has the most technologically advanced, powerful army in the globe and I do not think it really needs the small, albeit excellent, army that Britain has. If you fight, it will not be for the Glory of God, Queen (or King perhaps) and Country, but Oil, Politics and "Freedom".

[Seamus Fermanagh]

RE: Poll

I hope not, though I can conceive of the necessity depending upon circumstance. I would be far happier if the Iranian reformists can de-couple the government from the clerical hierarchy. Ultimately, any real change has to come because the Iranians themselves wish change. Jump-starting such change, as we are doing in Iraq, is a harder task.


RE: our soon-to-be-16 idealist soldier.

Don't be so harsh on him. Dreams of glory and adding GKB, VC, DSO after your name are perfectly normal for a teenager -- if they didn't have that spirit and willingness to reform the world we would lose something as a species. Remember, also, that a newlie officer's command in the UK usually comes complete with a sergeant with more than a hash mark or two (or however our brit allies indicate service time). It's her or his job to bring the newlie into reality. So I say go for it (But listen to the sarge's suggestions)! More than one roman scion went back to Rome with phalerae because they listened to a centurio.

But: REALLY hammer it on the physical side. Military academies will wash you out if you can't absorb the physical stresses. Preference reps over weight for the most part -- the ability to crack out another 3 reps when everyone else folds up is the ticket.

Seamus

[Stefan the Berserker]

I just wish to serve Queen and Country, God and the Empire. I also just wish to be honoured as a national hero who fought valiantly for those afore mentioned.

I suppose you should read Hagakure, it'll help you on your path.

ISBN 4-7700-1106-7

Tsunetomo Yamamoto will help you to realise that beeing at war is nothing, beeing an wheel in the Machine is all the soldier is dedicted to be. And with age, you'll soon enough realise that combat is not that great as it is supposed to be.

When I was in your age I was the same way an awesome idealistic bastard, however... I still am.

[Shahed]

Thanks for your answers all, intersting to hear your opinions and views. The paragraph on the Consrvative site was pretty unsurprising to me though I had not read that in black and white before.

About the young man, well go ahead and join the armed forces but remember not to fail the generations of soldiers before you by lusting for fame. Seek instead to be a good soldier and a good leader. If you focus on that, your time shall surely come, and fame should follow too.

But what is fame in war worth anyway ?
Can you really kill another man without killing part of yourself ?

If you can part of you is already dead, or never lived.

[Stefan the Berserker]

Thanks for your answers all, intersting to hear your opinions and views. The paragraph on the Consrvative site was pretty unsurprising to me though I had not read that in black and white before.

About the young man, well go ahead and join the armed forces but remember not to fail the generations of soldiers before you by lusting for fame. Seek instead to be a good soldier and a good leader. If you focus on that, your time shall surely come, and fame should follow too.

But what is fame in war worth anyway ?
Can you really kill another man without killing part of yourself ?

If you can part of you is already dead, or never lived.

Sinan, someone who follows an Ideology by extreme will could kill and say it was done for a greater purpose.

Malcolm is a British Nationalist, with some really hard touch (eg. celtic language / Imperialist Club). It is impossible to confince him on something diffrent, he'll need to make his own experiance. And I'm sure he will.

Giving him the hind with the Hagakure as a Book to read is the most proper solution: After it he will either be boosted in wanting to be a Soldier, or he'll drop it as once. It is his decsision and he'll never accept our intellectual tips, if they are against his ideals.

[Kagemusha]

It is good to see that there are youths like Malcolm still i think that tough training and life experience will smoothen the rough edges of this young man.

[bmolsson]

US will attack Iran in a near future, and it is a bad idea. The next nuclear weapons used will be from US against China in a not as near future........

[Soulforged]

To me USA lives and breeds from the war making. So yes wheter it's the exucuse of democracy of terrorism they'll attack any country that goes against their interest. There was elsewhere another thread "Nation of Warriors" where everybody believed that USA could not be qualified as a militarized nation but i'll say this: they've probably the greatest militiry force of all, the most advanced and the one with the greates capacity of response in all the world. If that doesn't make a nation militarized then i don't know what does. So this is a definitive yes.

[Azi Tohak]

I do not believe that the USA will attack Iran. Lousy tank country. I believe an unhappy detente is the best we can hope for. Too many soldiers would be required, too much money and equipment.

Diplomacy will be tried... and fail, as it always does. But without an enormous amount of support by the rest of the West, and some really really dumb actions by Iran, I do not think the USA will attack Iran.

To me USA lives and breeds from the war making.

What did you mean by this?

Azi

[Del Arroyo]

The US will not attack Iran.

We simply don't have the ability.

All of our military force is already being used.

It's also good to note that Iran would be a much harder nut to crack than Iraq ever was. If we can't attack and occupy Iraq without over-using our military power to the point of delapidation, then we sure as hell won't try the same with Iran.

DA

[Soulforged]

What did you mean by this?

Azi

Well when you go to war like it always has been you can take resources on the territory and force the occupating population to pay a debt to you, or replace the government allied to your policies. Also you can just sell your weapons to both sides of the conflict. And more important you can justify expenditures and size of the army. Even so I think that i really don't need to explain what that means.

I'm curious. What is the nation that has participated the most in armed conflicts (if not the non-armed too) since the begining of contemporary age? (it's not sarcastic i really don't know). This will clearify some of my views.

[Taurus]

I don't think that they would because of what happened last time regarding the WMD's etc. I don't think that they would gain enough support, but then again why should that be an obstacle.

[Aenlic]

Maybe, since the contingency plans mentioned in the American Conservative article originated at a request from Dick Cheney's office, this is really all about ol' Dick.

Maybe he's still feeling the stinging embarrassment of stating on national TV during the height of the invasion that he knew "exactly where the WMDs are" in Iraq. That really made him look like a fool; since it's clear that no one else knew where they were and none were ever found. And clearly, just from looking at him, he's either severely constipated or he doesn't enjoy looking like a fool. One or the other, maybe both.

So, maybe, what we're seeing is an attempt to make ol' Dick feel better about himself as a person, which is a little known driving force behind the insane politics of right-wing conservative nut jobs. If we invade and nuke Iran, then 'ol Dick can go back on national TV and restate his premise, claiming that he mispoke and that he meant to say that he knows exactly where the WMDs are in Iran. And with a few cleverly placed nukes, he can say "well, that's where they were! But the evidence was vaporized, you know!" Then everything will be OK, and ol' Dick can have a normal bowel movement and begin looking human again.

[Azi Tohak]

Well when you go to war like it always has been you can take resources on the territory and force the occupating population to pay a debt to you, or replace the government allied to your policies. Also you can just sell your weapons to both sides of the conflict. And more important you can justify expenditures and size of the army. Even so I think that i really don't need to explain what that means.

I'm curious. What is the nation that has participated the most in armed conflicts (if not the non-armed too) since the begining of contemporary age? (it's not sarcastic i really don't know). This will clearify some of my views.

A. I do not go to war. Blaming me for the actions of the US government is as accurate as me blaming you for Leopoldo Galtieri and his Falklands war and his dirty war.

B. Yes, you do need to explain. Living and breeding from war? Do you understand what that means in English? The US is not Sparta, not the Mongols. I do not live for war. Nor does my family or anyone else in this country. Most soldiers hate warfare as much as the rest of us, because they know what it can mean to them. But they do their job. The defense industry is only a small part of our economy. But, it is a private industry. The government does have a little say in who the industry can not sell to, and what is up for sale, but beyond that, it is capitalism at work. Has your anti-US bent so warped your perception that you actually believe the US government promotes wars?

The goal of wars should be to have a more perfect peace. Is that goal always the actual objective of those in charge? Of course not. I don't know if that has happened with Iraq (too early to tell).

After WWII, did the US take resources from Germany? Japan? Italy? Did we actually force Britain, France, the USSR to pay for all the goods and equipment that had been given? If you think the answers to those questions are yes, I daresay someone should do at least a modicum of research before claiming the US is no different than Rome, Sparta, the Mongols, the USSR.

Yes, the US did replace the government of Germany. According to your logic Goebbels should have been left, correct? Can't mess with another nations government can you? No matter how evil it is? Or were the Nazis just misunderstood? Afterall, how many emigrated to Argentina after WWII?

C. What in the hell is the 'contemporary age'? Since 1453? 1066? 1789? 1865? 1918? 1945? 1AD?

Since its inception, the US has been involved in ~25 wars, of which the Quasi war, First Barbary war, War of 1812, Mexican-American war, Philipine-American war, WWI & WW II, Korea, Iraq I, and the War on Terrorism were all started 'by the other guys'. Eight more were peace-keeping missions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militar..._United_States

Azi

[Duke Malcolm]

And why, pray, should we send in our lads to fight in somebody else's wars? America has the most technologically advanced, powerful army in the globe and I do not think it really needs the small, albeit excellent, army that Britain has. If you fight, it will not be for the Glory of God, Queen (or King perhaps) and Country, but Oil, Politics and "Freedom".

Don't worry, Henry, I would claim as much of Iran as I can for Her Majesty.

And it is not fame I am seeking, but to have my name written in some unread tome as a man who fought for his country and won a great victory, and lots of random letters after my name.