Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Yeah, that's the ticket!Via Kevin Drum, remarking on the potential of a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, there is a Telegraph article, which contains: The United States government is hopeful that the military operation will be a multinational mission, but defence chiefs believe that the Bush administration is prepared to launch the attack on its own or with the assistance of Israel, if there is little international support. The assistance of Israel will really play well in the Middle East. Who thinks up these things? If you read the entire article, you'll find that an attack on Iran could be launched from far-away British and U.S. bases. In military terms, what would Israel add to the picture?
posted by Quiddity at 4/04/2006 10:05:00 PM
6 comments
> If you read the entire article, you'll find that an attack on Iran could be launched from far-away British and U.S. bases. In military terms, what would Israel add to the picture?
You misread. It says the British role would be limited and probably to recon. It says the strike would be launched from the Gulf, and Diego Garcia. The far-away US bases would launch the B-2s, which would presumably drop the PGMs intended to destroy the nuclear program. What could Israel add, other than a huge politiical nightmare? How about a huge, highly-capable air force?
(IAHTBPSFC)
> How about a huge, highly-capable air force?
brainhell,
I have no doubt the Isreali air force is great, after all, it is pretty much paid for by the US. I am certain they would do an excellent job.
However, this planned strike will not be a "Coalition", simply because p.moron burned all that political capital in Gulf II.
Including Isreal would simply harden the rest of the world against Isreal/UK/US and if we are not already there in the eyes of the world, we would become the defacto "axis of evil".
'Anonymous,'
Yo, you think including Israel in the strike would be political disaster? Well, why ddn't I say so?
Quid was asking what Israel could bring to the table MILITARILY. I answered that.
Save your 'howevers' for when someone disagrees with you, word.
> Israel blew away quite a bit of Iraqi defense infrastructure during the first gulf war.
By the way, jeremy -- what!?
No they didn't, as far as I know. The whole point was to hope that they didn't strike back. They didn't, I'm personally certain.
In fact the Israelis practiced some uncommon restraint when Saddam lobbed a couple of scuds into (I think) Tel Aviv during GW1.
> ...Saddam lobbed a couple of scuds...
It was a lot of scuds, and that was a scary time for me. I recall the Patriots would intercept the scud and then pieces of the scud would hit the ground: BOOM! Everyone in the media said the Patriots were working, but it looked to me like the scuds were working, with maybe the Patriots helping make them more effective.
And thankfully Irael never struck back. Now the Boy Bush actually considers INVITING them to! (Shudder)!
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