I'm not sure what any of the Arab countries can do about Israel. More than likely Israel would crush any combination of Syria/Egypt/Saudi Arabia/Jordan, just as they have done in every conflict since 1948. So it seems to me they are somewhat of a 'paper tiger.'
So Hayes, since your military analysis is that Israel can crush the Arabs, you see no downside for the United States in aligning ourselves with Israel in an attack against several Arab countries.? Hayes, are you also in favor of immediately invading other evil axis members, North Korea and Iran since they, too, are trying to develop the type of weapons we invented and have no quarrel with as long as we like the country that has them?
I am saying that I don't understand how this conflict could 'enlarge' or 'bring in the whole Middle East.' Are any of the Arab countries going to attack US forces? I think the possibility of that is as close to zero as you can get. So are they going to attack Israel? Maybe, I guess. Although that doesn't make much sense. But if they do, Israel will put the beat down on them. So I don't see the conflict escalating. I think its just rhetoric with no backing. I am not a Bush speechwriter so spare me the 'evil' references. I believe it is easy to justify taking out Saddam on many grounds, the fact that he is 'evil' is not one I believe I've ever written. No, I think Iran does some bad things, like most countries. But I think not only their people but also a lot of their governing elites are relatively moderate. They are part of the 'axis' I believe, for their sponsership of terrorism, not for their drive for nukes. North Korea has shown a willingness to give up their drive for nukes in return for assistance. I don't have a problem with that. I do believe we should do what we can to prevent proliferation. Cold War deterrence and things like the NPT have not worked. If Iran and N Korea insisted on acquiring nukes then I would not rule out military strikes. Probably in N Korea before Iran.
Iran is one of the few Muslim nations slowly moving towards democracy. Saber rattling now could spark up more fundamentalist extremists to try to take control.
Anytime between mid-November and late February. I like Mango's prediction... We've already quietly gone from a "normal" regional troop strength of 30,000-35,000 to 100,000+ (not including operations in Afghanistan - just directed towards Iraq). And no one's even really noticed. We've got triple the available armor in the area that we had there one year ago, and more is on the way. In a few weeks' time all the Prez will have to do is say the word "Go", and US planes and troops will be bombing and overrunning Iraqi positions within 48 hours. We've quietly massed so much armor, artillery, aircraft, etc in the area that... Well, all we have to do is fly in a few thousand more troops on commercial flights, and it's on. Given a little more publicity risk, we could ratchet it up even more and ship another two divisions or so in just a couple of weeks' time. Everyone is ready to go... With a couple weeks' warning to Saddam, we could really lay it on. Which would be wise, IMO. Because Iran, Syria, and Hizbollah (Lebanon) are next. We will need the troops in theater to deal with them effectively after the Iraqi Baathists are gone. Although Iran and Syria will probably not actually require military operations - just the threat of it... Let their people choose their fate. BTW, the PAC-3 Patriot actually *can* shoot down SCUDs without the debris raining down nearby; those were PAC-1s in the Gulf War - and they really were a failure at that (they were designed to knock down airplanes, not ballistic missiles; the new Patriots are designed precisely for that). And the Arrow (Israeli) can knock them down even further away. Just to address earlier concerns...
We will not go to War with IRAQ. Ther's no evidence why we should be there, except "moral". what **** is the problem with Fundementalist gov'ts? Or North Korea? They are trying to advance? Guess the big dog and little dogs should supress their growth for say another 20 years...
Just imagine the rapid decline in importance of this part of the world. Where would they be? They'd have to resort to tourism. That would clean up the terror cells and training camps...
Are you serious? This is the same guy that used Biological weapons on his people and the Iranian forces in the 1980's and possibly on US forces in the Gulf War. So if he gets nukes, you wouldn't mind that?? Why are you always so biased towards the middle east? Open your eyes.
That will be so nice when we could care less about oil, sooner or later it will be all gone anyways, what will they do for income then?
Since Sadam used weapons of biological nature on Iran, a country that they were at war with, they should be punished 2o years later even though the US helped furnish that war. If he got nukes, sure he might use them on a country like Israel or give them to Hamas. I guess we should go to war with Iraq so Israel doesn't get hurt.
Saudia Arabia has an impressive military also including 315 U.S. made M1 tanks just curious, but does anyone happen to know what sort of air power the Saudies have?
Well considering that Israel is an ally of the US, yes. I am more concerned about him taking this bomb to a US embassy, a docked US ship, an Army/Navy/Air Force base overseas. Then the ultimate concern would be him smuggling it into the US, guess that doesn't worry you does it? I am sorry you are so anti-Israel, what did they ever do to you? Don't believe everything you read, or read something from a different point of view every once in a while.
They seem to be pretty strong also for that region. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+sa0122) they are also buying new f-15c's from Boeing http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2001/q2/news_release_010529n.htm The USAF also put in a Piece Shield system for them, to protect their oil in 1996. http://www.mitre.org/news/archives/peace_shield.shtml
100 billion is a bargain if it prevents mass casualties from that moron ultimately finding some way to build a WMD, and finding some way to deliver it on US soil. If we haven't learned prevention after 9/11, then we desrve every bit of a beating we get down the road. And if the rest of ME wants to jump in the war, they can come get some. There aggression in my mind is open territory for doing what we should have down after every war, seizing land and their oil. If they want to take up for that maniac becuase they want to make it a muslim vs US issue, then live with the destruction along with sadaam. Don't feel insecure becuase were on ME soil, feel insecure becuase your region isn't man enough to clean up it own garbage.
