Time to withdraw?

[seer]

As I said before, you have no moral compass at all. Your lust for killing also incompatible with any meaningful definition of Christianity.

I don't have a lust for killing, but his death was just (as the links I referenced for you show). And really Star I'm going to be lectured by someone who supports infanticide.

This assassination could lead to the deaths of 20,000 American troops or more (if the Iraq war is any measure), strikes at US civilians at home and abroad. Their blood will be on Trump's hands, and people like you who supported this insane action that will predictably lead to those deaths.

Well that depends on Iran's next move. But we are not going to lose 20,000 American troops. We have no desire for a land war, but we can pretty much destroy Iran from off shore platforms and by air.

[seanD]

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/joe-...draw-from-iraq

Should we withdraw from Iraq to lessen the probability of an Iranian retaliation? If we do, then one result was to give Iran one of it goals that it wanted - America out of Iraq.

Should we stay? Public support for the war is fading, and support will probably fade faster if the body count spikes up. One possibility is to turn the military mission over to private contractors and withdraw the military.

It might be a catch-22 now. In that sense, war just might be inevitable.

[Leonhard]

turn the military mission over to private contractors

Gross, and immoral.

[Cow Poke]

I'm a little surprised by all the fear mongering. Yeah, this is serious, but it's nothing new.

Iran has been in a proxy war with us for DECADES. Nobody remembers the Iranian "speedboat" incidents of the Reagan years?

[seanD]

I'm a little surprised by all the fear mongering. Yeah, this is serious, but it's nothing new.

Iran has been in a proxy war with us for DECADES. Nobody remembers the Iranian "speedboat" incidents of the Reagan years?

What makes the situation different is that the Senate war hawks now have Trump by the gonads and can force his hand, lest that little impeachment thing doesn't work in his favor.

[Charles]

I'm a little surprised by all the fear mongering. Yeah, this is serious, but it's nothing new.

What is fear mongering is that we are finding ourselves in a situation that could very easily escalate and in which we have very good reason to doubt the American presidents ability to handle the situation properly.

[seer]

What makes the situation different is that the Senate war hawks now have Trump by the gonads and can force his hand, lest that little impeachment thing doesn't work in his favor.

Sean that is a stretch. Besides the ball is pretty much in Iran's court.

[seanD]

Sean that is a stretch. Besides the ball is pretty much in Iran's court.

It depends on Trump's resiliency to pull out. I don't see Trump doing that because then the House (both parities) and the media will howl about it, similar to what we saw when he tried to pull out of Syria. In fact, I see Trump sending in more troops. The fact of the matter is, if we stay, now that we have both Iran and Iraq in contention about this, it would be nothing short of a miracle if it didn't escalate.

[Cow Poke]

What is fear mongering is that we are finding ourselves in a situation that could very easily escalate and in which we have very good reason to doubt the American presidents ability to handle the situation properly.

Charles, have you been reading the news at all? Iran has been escalating this on a weekly basis, and Trump has demonstrated restraint. And this wonderful diplomat of a "high ranking officer of the Iranian government" whose butt the liberals are kissing wasn't in town to sell girl scout cookies.

[Cow Poke]

What makes the situation different is that the Senate war hawks now have Trump by the gonads and can force his hand, lest that little impeachment thing doesn't work in his favor.

meh

[Cow Poke]

Sean that is a stretch. Besides the ball is pretty much in Iran's court.

Just like it was back in Reagan's day when they were sending out speedboats to harass our Navy and disrupt oil shipments.

[seanD]

First, I do not want a war. Second we would not invade Iran. We would simply destroy their infrastructure and oil producing abilities by air...

This wouldn't work anymore than it did with Iraq because of Iranian insurgency, and Iran is much bigger than Iraq. If it came to that, we'd attack via remote strikes. Next thing you know, we'd hear about how the country is now unstable and even more dangerous and thus we need to send in the ground troops to clean it up. Typical protocol of past conflicts.

[lilpixieofterror]

Just like it was back in Reagan's day when they were sending out speedboats to harass our Navy and disrupt oil shipments.

As I recall, that ended with half their navy at the bottom of the ocean or in a flaming wreck with the US losing one helicopter.

[Cow Poke]

As I recall, that ended with half their navy at the bottom of the ocean or in a flaming wreck with the US losing one helicopter.

Yeah, I remember there was the joke --- How does the Ayatollah Khomeini view his Navy? Through the window of a glass bottom boat.

Actually, the speedboats were often too fast for our Navy to engage them, so Reagan told our Navy to broadcast a message to the oil platforms from which they were launching that within 15 minutes (or whatever time limit) that oil platform would go up in smoke. The speedboat problem ended pretty quickly thereafter.

[JimL]

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/joe-...draw-from-iraq

Should we withdraw from Iraq to lessen the probability of an Iranian retaliation? If we do, then one result was to give Iran one of it goals that it wanted - America out of Iraq.

Should we stay? Public support for the war is fading, and support will probably fade faster if the body count spikes up. One possibility is to turn the military mission over to private contractors and withdraw the military.

Seems the U.S. won't have a choice now that the Iraqi Parliment, due to the assassination of Soleimani on their soil, voted on Sunday to boot the U.S. military out of Iraq.