http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57369416/intel-chief-pressured-iran-might-strike-in-u.s/?tag=cbsContent;cbsCarousel
They would be fools.
Hell hath no fury like Uncle Sam scorned.
Quote from: Centurion40 on February 01, 2012, 12:27:17 PM
They would be fools.
Hell hath no fury like Uncle Sam scorned.
Yeah, stuff is starting to bubble up about how the Iranians tried monkeying with the straights back (I think) in the 80s. They got bitch slapped pretty good.
Nobody here *wants* to monkey with them, but you're correct, they'd be fools to think we wouldn't and couldn't occupy any piece of real estate around there in order keep it open.
And keeping that area open is probably one of the few things we could get both the Russians and Chinese to agree on.
Quote from: MIGMaster on February 01, 2012, 12:01:09 PM
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57369416/intel-chief-pressured-iran-might-strike-in-u.s/?tag=cbsContent;cbsCarousel
I just read the link.
If they think things are bad now (with us bumping off inconvenient scientists) just wait until they try something stupid on our soil.
Probably the best reason for going into Iraq is that it gives us easy access to Iran to cause whatever mischief we might desire. (and pulling out seems pretty dumb, but that's our leadership these days).
Anyway, given Iraq on the west and A'stan on the east, those guys have no idea how much trouble they'd be biting off if we decided to give them a decent level of attention.
Someone is turning up the heat, with more of the same:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/03/world/meast/iran-warning/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Quote
Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- The supreme leader of Iran issued a blunt warning Friday that war would be detrimental to the United States -- and that Iran is ready to help anyone who confronts "cancerous" Israel.
"You see every now and then in this way they say that all options are on the table. That means even the option of war," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said during Friday prayers in Tehran. "This is how they make these threats against us.
"Well, these kinds of threats are detrimental to the U.S.," he said. "The war itself will be 10 times as detrimental to the U.S."
He said Iran will support any nation or group that fights against Israel. "The Zionist regime is really the cancerous tumor of this region and it needs to be removed and will be removed," Khamenei said to a cheering crowd.
http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/02/panetta-believes-israel-could-strike-iran-this-spring/?hpt=hp_t2
the link says it all.
I'll game the whole thing out in Harpoon this weekend and let you guys know what happened. Then we can just forward the results to CNN and move on to important stuff like who's boinking Katy Perry now !
Quote from: MIGMaster on February 03, 2012, 11:55:07 AM
Then we can just forward the results to CNN and move on to important stuff like who's boinking Katy Perry now !
You mean I have competition?
Quote from: LongBlade on February 03, 2012, 12:05:11 PM
Quote from: MIGMaster on February 03, 2012, 11:55:07 AM
Then we can just forward the results to CNN and move on to important stuff like who's boinking Katy Perry now !
You mean I have competition?
I believe that there is a queue.
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^Yes please.
Iran's regime has painted itself into a corner. I was really hoping it would implode back when their people were rising up. No such luck.
40Cent, I don't know where you've been hiding those but you'd better get to work. Cosplay is fun and all, but those rock.
40 told me the one in the kitchen was taken in his own kitchen!
Quote from: Gusington on February 03, 2012, 12:16:51 PM
40 told me the one in the kitchen was taken in his own kitchen!
He lies. Everyone knows they can't grow lemons in Canada.
Quote from: Gusington on February 03, 2012, 12:16:51 PM
40 told me the one in the kitchen was taken in his own kitchen!
Yes, I am able to operate a camera with one hand.
Quote from: LongBlade on February 03, 2012, 12:14:17 PM
40Cent, I don't know where you've been hiding those but you'd better get to work. Cosplay is fun and all, but those rock.
Hey now! I can't do it all by myself. Well, ok... I
can do it all by myself, but I'd rather not.
I was looking at the melons not the lemons.
If 40 cent took those in his kitchen he'd be DEAD right now ! Believe me !!! But whatta way to go 8)
Quote from: MIGMaster on February 03, 2012, 02:06:11 PM
If 40 cent took those in his kitchen he'd be DEAD right now ! Believe me !!! But whatta way to go 8)
From your mouth to God's ears....
Back on topic, the drums of war are being beaten. News reports are that Israel is considering taking action, and for some reason folks are announcing that "the weather" makes a strike in Spring most favorable. Whatever that means. Maybe dust storms ease up? With GPS you'd think weather wouldn't be a decisive factor, but what do I know?
So if Israel is saying the Spring, it'll probably happen soon - I base that conclusion on the fact they are probably the most pro-active, and PR aware military on the globe ! I really don't think they'd let Iran have any chance to prepare... but I may be wrong..........
Quote from: MIGMaster on February 03, 2012, 02:41:44 PM
So if Israel is saying the Spring, it'll probably happen soon - I base that conclusion on the fact they are probably the most pro-active, and PR aware military on the globe ! I really don't think they'd let Iran have any chance to prepare... but I may be wrong..........
I agree. If they're saying Spring, it probably means "next new moon."
The Israelis (most likely) are already knocking off every Iranian nuclear scientist they can get at, so how close is the Iranian nuke program to actually producing a bomb?
Quote from: Centurion40 on February 03, 2012, 03:03:28 PM
The Israelis (most likely) are already knocking off every Iranian nuclear scientist they can get at, so how close is the Iranian nuke program to actually producing a bomb?
I've started thinking about this and the more I think about it the more I'm convinced you have a point.
I seem to recall a cold war joke about how you could tell who was a Hungarian. In every other country in the world if the cops busted someone on a street car, everyone turned to look. Hungarians, however, would look in the opposite direction to see what you were trying to distract them from. ;)
So it may be here that with all this discussion of an Israeli strike, what folks are really looking for isn't a telegraphed airstrike, but rather were the Iranians will be shuffling air defenses. Remember - there is discussion of possibly allowing inspectors into Iran. If the Iranians beef up an area for protection, it's a fair bet they've got something to hide there.
And that sword is double edged - if the Iranians don't protect it and the air strike turns out not to be a bluff, then guess what? Israel has an easier time taking it out. The Iranians are in a lose-lose situation.
Well done.
The Israelis really have nothing to gain by going into hot war mode. They would be better off using spies and espionage as they (and the US) have been doing.
The first article said Israel can only wait 6-9 months.
Maybe that is why the US troops are being moved out of the nearby countries. They take a break then they are ready to go back in into Iran after any retaliation from Iran.
I say bomb the shit out of them like in GW1. Soften them up, actually make them look like that poor bastard that went through the jet engine before putting ground troops in. There is no point in leaving them with the ability to take out our soldiers with anything more sophisticated than the fuckers in Stan can cobble together.
Ive been expecting some hot war with Iran ever since amajad made the wipe Israel off the map speech. If their supreme leader is still saying the same thing then it will be a hot one.
Perhaps the wrong people are being knocked-off.
News Flash: Foxnews.com reports the US is closing its embassy and withdrawing all diplomats.
That cannot be good news for stability. It might also be an indication of a boost to covert activities, whether Israeli or otherwise.
Whoops - thought this was the Syria thread.
Pentagon orders a gaggle of bunker busters.
QuoteThe military's so-called Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30,000-pound bunker buster bomb, requires an "urgent" upgrade, according to Pentagon officials who are trying to ensure that 20 of the bombs are battle-ready
Any relation to this Iranian thread is purely coincidental.
QuotePublicly, the Air Force denies this weapon is being rushed for use in the Middle East. Air Force Chief General Norton Schwartz dismissed suggestions that the upgrades are tied to tensions with Iran.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/10/pentagon-calls-for-urgent-upgrade-bunker-busting-bombs-as-iranian-threat-looms/
I was trying to figure out which way to deliver the bunker busters. As a theoretical wargame of course. 8)
I think I would go in from an unexpected direction. Western Afganistan. Launch from an air base there with heavy ordinance trucked in. After they realize their nuke facilities are dust they will be on high alert in the south. An unfortunate clash shoots down everything they have. All air defences are brought down by cruise missiles. The strike group exits south through a corridor wiped of military assets. The jets would be Israeli camo'd as US until launch with Isreali pilots, US bunker busters. Any strong retaliation ends up with Iran carved up into smaller territories after their leadership is gibblets. Quds force become fodder for experimental bombs. Basically shut down their ability to shit disturb.
How would you game it?
Anyone here have HPS War over the Middle East? I'm curious if there are any scenarios covering an Israeli and/or American
strike on Iran's Nuke sites. Also curious how it plays since it looks a little dry. As an aside, does anyone here remember an
old Amiga game called Operation Spruance (also released in some countries as USS John Young 2) ? It was a sim where you
were the captain of a Spruance-class Destroyer and you were stationed in the Gulf just as Iran started to commence hostilities.
It was inovative for the time because, even though it was released in 1990, it had an external view and you could actually dock
the vessel yourself and navigate through the shipping channels.
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Quote from: Staggerwing on February 11, 2012, 06:59:49 AM
Anyone here have HPS War over the Middle East? I'm curious if there are any scenarios covering an Israeli and/or American
strike on Iran's Nuke sites. Also curious how it plays since it looks a little dry.
I have it (somewhere around here). It's been a while since I played it. Rather than try to recall every detail, I'll simply direct you to the review I wrote: http://www.wargamer.com/article/2638/pc-game-review-war-over-the-mideast
There are a bunch of editors that come with the game so I'm sure it's possible to work up some kind of scenario to attack Iran. However, the game itself is not set up to model that well. The largest map only has a small portion of Iran on it. I think I even tried to do it once, but it's not made to be pushed that far without customizing a lot of stuff like the map, capabilities of the planes - and don't forget adding new ones. I don't believe drones were included in the game.
The best game to model something like this is probably Persian Incursion (boardgame). I believe Brant has the game. If he has a spare moment this weekend hopefully he can chime in with thoughts on it.
Iran is bragging that it will soon have a "major announcement" regarding it's nuke program.
Personally, I see this as a non-event. They put BB guns on pool rafts and claim they can shut down sea lanes - it's hardly likely they'll have anything interesting to say now.
However, we've got a thread dedicated to the topic, so it might as well get updated.
source: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/02/11/iran-to-make-major-nuclear-announcement-within-days-ahmadinejad-says/
Possibly the upcoming announcement is aimed at an internal audience? Just found this:
QuoteIranian news agencies reported that Ahmadinejad's palace prayer leader, Abbas Amirifar, faced charges of "sorcery" after producing a controversial film. Public criticism also focused on Ahmadinejad's brother-in-law and chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, whom Ahmadinejad appeared to have been grooming as a successor.
Sometimes I wish we could put Michael Moore on trial for sorcery, but that would probably make his crapola seem better than it really is.
Anyway, here's the article source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/08/world/meast/iran-president-summons/index.html?hpt=imi_c2
As much as we think that Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs are in a big circle jerk together chanting "Death to America" as they climax
the truth that they can't stand each other almost as much (or perhaps even more) as they 'hate' the Western Democracies. There is
a power struggle going on between the secular (if outwardly devout) party machine that Ahmadinejad is part of and the senior Clerical
network that has ultimate say over all that happens, even overturning election results if need be. Sooner or later there will be mass arrests and it will be interesting to see who ends up in the Pokey...(err, sound-proof basement).
Looks like the Iranians are trying to get even.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/13/world/israeli-embassy-devices/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
QuoteJerusalem (CNN) -- Four people were wounded when an explosive device attached to an Israeli Embassy van detonated near the Israeli mission in New Delhi, officials said Monday.
It was one of two explosives discovered on Israeli Embassy vehicles Monday. The other was found on an embassy car in Tblisi, Georgia, and that device was detonated in a controlled explosion with no injuries, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed both incidents on Iran, calling it "the biggest exporter of terror in the world."
Yeah.
Over the weekend I saw a headline that indicated AQ was calling for support of the rebels.
Looks like everybody and their dog is trying to get in on some Syrian action.
I suppose I should have seen this coming.
Iraq's regime has been replaced by one that is non-hostile to the US.
Egypt has a peace treaty with Israel. While there is some question whether the emergent government will honor it, the US gives them a billion dollars and that might buy the honor of even a few radicals.
Libya's Qa-daffy is gone. We're unclear what will emerge but it might be somewhat more pro-Western than the old regime.
Lastly we're now seeing Syria start to unravel.
While none of these developments will be overtly pro-western, the opportunity exists for a deft hand to shape things such that they might not hate us as much.
Syria is the last bastion of evil there. It's no wonder that every player in the region (and outside of it) is trying to get in on the action. Things are going to get interesting there.
Car bombs 'target Israel envoys' in India and Georgia
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17013987 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17013987)
QuoteThe Pentagon is beefing up U.S. sea- and land-based defenses in the Persian Gulf to counter any attempt by Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. military has notified Congress of plans to preposition new mine-detection and clearing equipment and expand surveillance capabilities in and around the strait, according to defense officials briefed on the requests, including one submitted earlier this month.
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/24/us-bulks-up-iran-defenses/
A wise precaution. I hope our bases in the region are on heigtened alert for terrorist attacks as well.