Iraq vs. Federation Earth

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

Vulcan becomes the 'seat' of the Federation because Earth is a nuclear wasteland.[/color]

Nuclear wasteland? WTF? At best, Iraq has a few mid range kiloton nukes with short range missles.


I mean, if all else fails, the E-D could simply pound Iraq into the ground.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

They've beamed up 400Tonnes of water (ST:IV) ok actually that was a Kling BoP, and though there is a major case for technological regression since then, I'd say that they probably still can. They can beam shuttles, Deja Q, ST:X

What technological regression? Do you believe in the "Cult of the Connie" nonsnse from Spacebattles? If so, you should note that the Enterprise was threatened by a 1960's nuke from an airplane, probably in the kilton range.

F-104 Starfighter wasn't equipped to carry nuclear missiles or rockets as part of its standard loadout. The largest air-to-air nuclear missile or rocket in terms of yield the USA fielded, however, was a mere 1.5 kT device, and six of them theoretically might have been carried by a Starfighter. Maybe.

So, six 1.5 kT nuclear warheads could threaten the Enterprise Zilch. Wow.

[seanrobertson]

Three letters: NBC! Whats the worst thing that has ever happened to Earth in Treks time? The Breen bombing maybe (even though the Feds saw them coming days in advance ), and that's just a sample of the stuff that'd be raining down on them IF they decided to go to war with Iraq.

Which has no intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities. They'd
be limited to striking only their immediate area. One starship could
easily destroy them all from orbit in a few minutes, at most.

And what's this about knowing the Breen were coming in
advance? The Breen have *cloaking devices*! I know
this is mentioned at least once on TNG (the episode with the
little kid that emulates Data might be the one I'm thinking of;
I'll hunt for a quote).

If they decided to go into negotiations, Iraq would bide their time, maybe secure this furture tech from the Roms, Klings, or just the Feds own black market (I'm assuming such a thing exsists). And then strike in full fury, a combo fo Trek modern day stuff, adn good 'ol fashioned chem/bio warfare.

Err...how are the Romulans going to sneak onto Earth to sell
them stuff? And why would the Klingons do such a thing? They're
rebuilding their fleet and have a Federation-friendly Chancellor.
Losing the Federation--which siding with the Iraqis would cause--would
open the Empire up to threats from the Breen and Romulans, both
of whom didn't suffer as much as did the Klingons from the Dominion
War. (Entering late and not being wreckless are sometimes good
things. On the former count, ask Stalin in his "campaign" against
Japan .)

What could they do with what they obtain, anyway? Say they
got a photorp. How are they going to launch it? If they manage
to arm it and even launch it, that's hardly a war-winning device,
even if you regarded the torpedo as a mid-ranged megaton
device.

Still, I'd give the Feds astounding complete ability to act in these situations a backseat. I'd say 50/50 on the outcome.

Since the Iraqis are free to act however they apparently like in this
scenario (which I would argue is unrealistic, though Hussein has
proven himself to be a royal son of a bitch in his Kurd massacre),
so, too, should the Federation. To treat one in a manner for
which we have precedent requires that we do the same for the
other side IMO.

That makes this incomprehensibly easy. One starship launches
a full spread of photon torpedoes on the Iraqis. End of story...
whoever's left will promptly surrender to Federation reporters and
camera crews like the bunch of pussies they are.

[Pcm979]

Vulcan becomes the 'seat' of the Federation because Earth is a nuclear wasteland.[/color]

Nuclear wasteland? WTF? At best, Iraq has a few mid range kiloton nukes with short range missles.


I mean, if all else fails, the E-D could simply pound Iraq into the ground.

It's a dream I have......

[The Dark]

F-104 Starfighter wasn't equipped to carry nuclear missiles or rockets as part of its standard loadout. The largest air-to-air nuclear missile or rocket in terms of yield the USA fielded, however, was a mere 1.5 kT device, and six of them theoretically might have been carried by a Starfighter. Maybe.

So, six 1.5 kT nuclear warheads could threaten the Enterprise Zilch. Wow.

True, it was the F-89 that fired the one and only live-fire AIR-2A Genie nuclear rocket. There's no way a Starfighter could carry them, though. Not enough carrying ability. F-100, OTOH, could probably replace its Bulldogs with Genies and carry 2. By the 1960s the USAF also had the F-106, designed to carry the Genie.

[Darth Wong]

No, silly, the Iraqis will weld electrical transformers to their tanks, preventing beam-up!

Actually, most internal-combustion engines already contain a transformer. Does it ever occur to you that you NEED a step-up transformer to go from a 12V battery to a 12000V potential across a spark plug? I'm still not seeing justification for the assumption that they can transport a tank, although I'll grant that I forgot about Scotty tweaking the system to beam up the whales in ST6.

[Howedar]

Again, nearly all tanks (and all of Iraq's) are powered by diesel engines, which lack ignition coils.