US government intimidation actions in Persian Gulf
 

More Bush'ist saber rattling, this time off the Iranian coast.
Anyone wonder what the response would be among Americans if the Iranians, Venezuelans, and Chinese did likewise in concert off the coast of Virginia?

Personally, I'd be amazed by how the Iranians and Venezualans could manage it. The Chinese, less so.

If a very wealthy foreign country with lots of ships and planes and guns, which has a tendency to use that military supremacy around the world.....came sailing into my harbor for muscle-flexing exercises every several months, I know how I'd feel about that country. When they chose to invade my country, I'd welcome them as "liberators" and I'd want to adopt their culture.

Sheesh!

Immediately, if not sooner. Yeah, me too.:mad:

They have fast hovercraft and experimental under the radar WIG's, we all better be careful when we play. We are the larger target at sea.

Now lets' kick some non-nuke arse.:D

Nuclear hovercraft? Wow, who'da thunk it.

Makes more sense to let radical fundamentalist Islamists have free access to all the nuke toys they want. Especially considering the political and miliatary climate in the middle-east today.

It's easy to be judgemental when you're not distracted by the concept of "context".

The people in the mideast wouldn't want nuke weapons if Israel and the US government didn't threaten them constantly with theirs.

Why didn't I think of that??? :rolleyes:

Apparently you're too frightened to think.

Why would they want nukes? Its not like they will get invaded anytime soon.

so are they gonna shoot another civilian airliner if given the chance??
sort of like making a point?

Pat,

Anyone who thinks that either the U.S. or Israel would use nuclear weapons against Iran without nuclear provocation is an idiot. An attempt to minimize the damage from the failed Clinton era policy regarding N. Korea, by preventing the possible transfer of such weapons to Iran, also does not seem like any real threat to Iran. It just mucks up their plans to overtake most of the Middle East.

Pat, get real. The rendezvous of a few ships on the water and a little game of tag does not pose a serious threat to the well being of Iran.

Read this NYT article that Bill Verburg posted a link to. It puts the Nuclear Iran issue into some perspective.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/magazine/29islam.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Oh, by the way, are you a Shiite?

Bush II has not ruled out the first use of nuclear weapons against Iran, "all is on the table."

Quote:

An attempt to minimize the damage from the failed Clinton era policy regarding N. Korea, by preventing the possible transfer of such weapons to Iran, also does not seem like any real threat to Iran. It just mucks up their plans to overtake most of the Middle East.

Interference with shipments of any goods to Iran is piracy on the high seas. There are no legitimate UN sanctions in place against Iran. While I do not expect the US government to abey the law today, they will tomorrow.

Quote:

Pat, get real. The rendezvous of a few ships on the water and a little game of tag does not pose a serious threat to the well being of Iran.

No, you get real. If training were the issue, it'd be held in the Carribean or Gulf of Mexico, in the middle of the Atlantic, or between the West Coast and Hawaii. It's being held to foment a reaction from Iran. Another childish act by America's most childish president since Teddy Roosevelt.

Quote:

Read this NYT article that Bill Verburg posted a link to. It puts the Nuclear Iran issue into some perspective. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/magazine/29islam.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Oh, by the way, are you a Shiite?

No, I'm unReconstructed Southron.

Response 1: Hyperbole Alert...Hyperbole Alert!!! "all is on the table" simply left the possibility of any military action at all. Let's not be rediculous.

Response 2: Bla bla bla... No shipments to Iran were interfered with in the exercise, so there was no piracy. It was a multi-national task force including, of all countries, France.

Response 3: Did it violate Iranian territorial waters according to International law? No. The exercise was done in conjunction with other naval forces and bases in the Middle East. That's a good enough reason not to conduct them half way around the world. And yes, it was meant to send a message that nuclear proliferation to a rogue state like Iran is not likely to be tolerated by even those wimps in the U.N.

The largest and most vicious rogue state in the mideast is the US government.

That's the biggest reason for the US government to be forced out of that area.

and the net result is that the Iranians are now too holding 10 days of wargames... well done on the provocation job...excellent diplomacy
truly a textbook case of "defusing a powderkeg situation"

and if during this exercise there were a repeat of the USS Cole disaster Bush would be:

1) angry
2) delighted
3) both

4) giggling like a schoolgirl

forgot that one, thanks