US government intimidation actions in Persian Gulf

[fastpat]

More Bush'ist saber rattling, this time off the Iranian coast.

WMD intercept exercise set to begin in the Gulf

By Guy Dinmore in Washington, Roula Khalaf in London and Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran

Published: October 29 2006 20:37 | Last updated: October 29 2006 20:37

War games designed to intercept ships carrying weapons of mass destruction will take place for the first time today in the Gulf opposite Iran.

The naval exercise – organised under the US’s 2003 Proliferation Security Initiative – will include Bahrain, one of the regional states and host to a US naval base.

Although the US says the move is not specifically aimed at Iran, the PSI exercise comes amid heightened concerns over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

The US and European states are pushing for a United Nations Security Council resolution that would restrict, through sanctions, Tehran’s ability to procure material for its ballistic missile and nuclear programmes. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/8b0a05b8-678b-11db-8ea5-0000779e2340.html

Anyone wonder what the response would be among Americans if the Iranians, Venezuelans, and Chinese did likewise in concert off the coast of Virginia?

[Jim Richards]

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

[Superman]

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!

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Superman
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.

[kach22i]

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.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by kach22i
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.

Nuclear hovercraft? Wow, who'da thunk it.

[Chocaholic]

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".

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Chocaholic
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.

[Chocaholic]

Why didn't I think of that???

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Chocaholic
Why didn't I think of that???

Apparently you're too frightened to think.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
- H. L. Mencken

[stuartj]

Originally posted by Chocaholic
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".

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

[svandamme]

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

[Lothar]

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?

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Lothar
Pat,

Anyone who thinks that either the U.S. or Israel would use nuclear weapons against Iran without nuclear provocation is an idiot.

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

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.

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.

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.

[Lothar]

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


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.




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.

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.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Lothar
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.

[svandamme]

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"

[Flatbutt1]

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

1) angry
2) delighted
3) both

[svandamme]

Originally posted by flatbutt
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

[Flatbutt1]

Originally posted by svandamme
4) giggling like a schoolgirl

forgot that one, thanks