Iranian-backed opposition troops cross border into Iraq

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-02-18 11:43pm

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServe ... 2571727088

Thoughts?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-02-18 11:47pm

Sharks can smell blood from far away.

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2003-02-18 11:48pm

I see some fireworks.

EmperorMing · Post by **EmperorMing** » 2003-02-18 11:52pm

Just lovely!! As if things could not get more complicated...(and I'm sure they will)

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-02-18 11:54pm

Iran and Iraq exchanged fire quite a few times in the mid 1990's, and Iranian support for opposition groups in the 70's and in early 1980 was part of the reason why Saddam attacked.

This is not suprising at all. I'll be suprised if regualr Iranian troops dont seize any border positions before this war is over.

Enlightenment · Post by **Enlightenment** » 2003-02-19 12:46am

Shrubby is going to love this. Once the conquest has begun, Shrubby will now have a pretext to get into a war with Iran under the guise of protecting Iraq's territorial integrity.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-02-19 12:50am

Enlightenment wrote:Shrubby is going to love this. Once the conquest has begun, Shrubby will now have a pretext to get into a war with Iran under the guise of protecting Iraq's territorial integrity.

More likely four B-1B's will hit their positions with JDAM's and cluster bombs. Word will then arrive in Tehran that if those forces are not on the roads heading east in 12 hours, your nuclear power plant, air bases, navy and shore defenses are next.

Bush is not going to invade Iran out of hand, its more likely he'd let Iran keep what it can grab.

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-02-19 12:57am

Here's a strange scenario- what if Saddam is killed in the 11th hour before the invasion and the guy who takes over calls on Iran to come in and 'restore order' and aid the majority from the tyranny of the ruling minority (i.e. occupy/annex Iraq)- essentially creating a super state in the Middle East.

What would the US do then? I only ask because I read it in a bad Tom Clancy book.

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2003-02-19 01:02am

attack em anyway. we have the troops already there, why not?

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-02-19 01:11am

Vympel wrote:Here's a strange scenario- what if Saddam is killed in the 11th hour before the invasion and the guy who takes over calls on Iran to come in and 'restore order' and aid the majority from the tyranny of the ruling minority (i.e. occupy/annex Iraq)- essentially creating a super state in the Middle East.

What would the US do then? I only ask because I read it in a bad Tom Clancy book.

No idea, the US would likely grab a big chunk of the country anyway. That or ten brigades from three militaries kick there asses back to the boarder with one wing for air support.

However if one of those What if's which is so implausible anyone guess could easily be right.

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2003-02-19 01:13am

Yeah, we wouldn't recognize it as part of Iranian territory and would still invade.

Enlightenment · Post by **Enlightenment** » 2003-02-19 01:45am

Sea Skimmer wrote:Bush is not going to invade Iran out of hand, its more likely he'd let Iran keep what it can grab.

Unreasonable assumption. Like most petty thugs, Shrubby is in dire need of finding someone--anyone--to fight. Once Iraq's natural resources have been carved up to Shrubby's N closest friends in the Texas oilpatch, he'll need to find another country to target to keep the American sheeple mindlessly waving the flag rather than asking questions about economic mismanagement or just what exactly happened to the promises to find bin Laden, and bring 'freedom' to Afgranistan and Iraq. Iran would be the natural followup target given that Imperial troops would already been in the region.

If by some miracle the Middle East situation calms down well before the 2004 elections, Shrubby will probably move on to the DPRK in the hopes of beating the American sheeple into a flag-waving frenzy just in time for election day.

Remember, dear citizens, voting against the incumbants during wartime is unAmerican.

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-02-19 04:20am

Let's try a different tack- would the US not recognize it if a public referendum in Iraq was made that would annex Iraq to Iran, creating the previously mentioned 'super-state' in the Middle East?

Morning Star · Post by **Morning Star** » 2003-02-19 06:24am

Pesky Iranians, gettin ideas, looks like we're gonna have to arm...whoops, I mean trade with the Iraqis again, oh wait, aren't they the ones we wanna invade? I'm confused. Perhaps we should try to find another despotic puppet regime to influence the middle east...nope, the Saudis hate us, well why don't we try the Palestinians? What? Oh yeah...we gave that to the Israelis, well how 'bout Turkey? Oh, we've already got troops stationed there, well how 'bout Iraq..oh yeah, the te ones we wanna invade, what about Iran? Dammit, they're the ones we're worried about, or was that Iraq? Have we conquered Afghanistan yet?

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2003-02-19 06:28am

Vympel wrote:Here's a strange scenario- what if Saddam is killed in the 11th hour before the invasion and the guy who takes over calls on Iran to come in and 'restore order' and aid the majority from the tyranny of the ruling minority (i.e. occupy/annex Iraq)- essentially creating a super state in the Middle East.

What would the US do then? I only ask because I read it in a bad Tom Clancy book.

IIRC thats the book set just after the one with a mad crazy crashing a plane into Capitol Hill.....Executive Orders?

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2003-02-19 07:44am

First of yes that is the series of books covering the Ryan saga, the book is Excucitive orders

Now back to Enlightenment's usual trip about Shrubby

Unreasonable assumption. Like most petty thugs, Shrubby is in dire need of finding someone--anyone--to fight.

Reaaaaaaallly? Name me any situation where Shurrby has been "a petty thug", Can you? Ceritantly not the Iraq situation or since when did Petty thugs go get two Resoultions from Congress and the UN, Instead of say... Clinton esk, Attacking and getting a UN resoultion after the fact as was in Bosiona and Kosovo?
Keep in mind we have had justification to invade since 97 and Shurby has been pushing for settling the Iraq Resoultion since the first year he was in office....

Once Iraq's natural resources have been carved up to Shrubby's N closest friends in the Texas oilpatch

Outright Bullshit, Texas Oil is not Alaskan Oil, Nor is it Russia Oil, Or South American Oil, Clue in save Exxon(Which Bush is not affilated with nor ever owned any stock of theirs) there are no Texas Oil Companys that have an intrest in Middle East Oil, Infact the largest two Concerens are a FRENCE Company and a GERMAN ONE, number three being Exxon and number four and five being Brit Firms
Shurbby can't go giving Oil to his old Texas budys because frankly unless you want to suggest he would also give the twenty billion nessary to said companys
Because frankly your accuse him of War Proftering, Not only a crime that will get him ten to twenty but also an impeachble offense.... and you think he could get away with it if he acutal wanted? What the fuck have you been smoking?

he'll need to find another country to target to keep the American sheeple mindlessly waving the flag rather than asking questions about economic mismanagement

First how is a war mindless aginst a man willing to kill his own people, Use WMDs on them, Invade foregin Countrys, and activly pursing Nuclear weapons right next to aurgable one of the most vauable resources on the planet?

Second
The Economey is improving, there is no aurgment on that point except by those yanking numbers out of there ass. We are no longer in the ression started during the last year of Clinton's term, If by Econmic mismagement your refering to the huge increase in spending related to Defense, Heathcare and Education, Let me laugh in your face now

And one last point
We don't get Oil from Iraq, We do get it from Kuwait, SA, Quater and all the other little nations, Since Saddam already has missles that reach every single Oil field in the Middle East, Lets just say he gets Nukes, Slaps them on those missles
Now what can he do? Simple fuck over the US economey at the Push of a button, We could not stop him, Remeber the Hyperinflation of the 70s? The Gas lines? What was it caused by? A simple temporary 2% drop in Oil Production, Now you want to guess what might happen to the US Economey if we suddenly lost 12% of our overall Oil Imports? To say a Ression is putting it midley....

or just what exactly happened to the promises to find bin Laden, and bring 'freedom' to Afgranistan and Iraq. Iran would be the natural followup target given that Imperial troops would already been in the region.

Ahh so we are the evil Empire now are we? I wish we were, Then you would relise how much we are pussyfooting around, If we were the Empire, South America would have fallen weeks ago and we would have Seized Saudia Arabia and Kuwait's Oil Reserves because SURPISE we have Troops there and nothing with eight hundred miles could stop us

Remember, dear citizens, voting against the incumbants during wartime is unAmerican

Remeber folks, Bullshit is bad for you

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2003-02-19 02:44pm

Keevan_Colton wrote:
Vympel wrote:Here's a strange scenario- what if Saddam is killed in the 11th hour before the invasion and the guy who takes over calls on Iran to come in and 'restore order' and aid the majority from the tyranny of the ruling minority (i.e. occupy/annex Iraq)- essentially creating a super state in the Middle East.

What would the US do then? I only ask because I read it in a bad Tom Clancy book.
IIRC thats the book set just after the one with a mad crazy crashing a plane into Capitol Hill.....Executive Orders?

Interesting forshadowing of WTC and Pentagon, that book.

What's so bad about Tom Clancy books?

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2003-02-19 04:44pm

It's hardly surprising that Iran wants to do some border corrections.
The Turks started to intensify their troop density on the border, so they could "help" the Turmenian minority in the Kurdish governed part of northern Iraq, and to conveniently get rid of the Kurdish people in the region...

The whole region is a catastrophe waiting to happen...

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-02-20 01:16am

Pu-239 wrote:
What's so bad about Tom Clancy books?

He's full of shit and the pages of his books are sperm soaked techno wank.

Post by **Coyote** » 2003-02-20 01:32am

Actuall, one theory I have was that if the world was not willing to back a US or small-alliance invasion, then sooner or later there would be a coup attempt or uprising by anti-Saddam forces... it would go sour and so the US would go in to "stabilize" the region.

Regarding oil...

Number one, if we were after the oil all along, we'd have taken in in 1991 when the world saw us as heroes.

Number two, we don't get crap from Iraq as far as oil goes, we're securing Europe and Japan's oil.

And finally, even if it were nothing but 100% oil, big damn deal-- do you seriously, seriously think that Saddm "Chuckles" Hussein is going to use oil money to build schools, orphanages, libraries and public transportation systems? Do you really think that's where the money will go? I'd rather see that money in the hands of the US, another Western power, or best yet: a friendly and more stable/sane Iraqi leader (elected or placed in charge, who cares) than Saddam.

And, yes, I know all the prattle about how the evil ol' US supplied Hussein and helped him start his career with weapons, etc. Well, after years of going around the world and making messes without cleaning up after ourselves, now we have a responibility to put the brakes on a nut that we once encouraged. We're cleaning up an old mess; shoulda done it years ago.

Figures! Finally do what the accuseniks wanted all along and get hammered for it. Shoulda' swept it under the rug, like Pinochet-- that worked out, after all!