WTAF are we doing in Syria?

[KalashniKEV]

Well, don't know about now but they did pretty well in the 50s, 60s, and 70s.

I do agree with you: if we cut off their welfare, they would gone in a day.

The second part of your post is your answer to the first- You could dance from DC to Tel Aviv on a bridge made out of taxpayer dollars and state of the art weapons during those conflicts, and propping them up was no minor effort.

The Boy Scouts of America could have taken as much terrain against the same foes so long as they had better weapons, superior intel, and unlimited re$ources.

[chuckman]

Who don't we subsidize in the Middle East? Britain would have lost to Germans without Lend-Lease. We would have lost to British without French help. The South lost mainly because the British didn't intervene more.

That, Sir, is no joke. I would love to tag a dollar bill in the ME and see where it travels.

[chuckman]

The second part of your post is your answer to the first- You could dance from DC to Tel Aviv on a bridge made out of taxpayer dollars and state of the art weapons during those conflicts, and propping them up was no minor effort.

The Boy Scouts of America could have taken as much terrain against the same foes so long as they had better weapons, superior intel, and unlimited re$ources.

We sure as hell did (give them supplies and weapons) during Operation Nickel Grass during the Yom Kippur war; the 6-days war, not so much. We had a tentative love affair with them from 1948 through the mid-70s; but what they did not get from us vis-a-vis high-tech military aid, they just got from other sources.

To be fair, I have no real indigestion with supporting Israel, as I have no real indigestion supporting any other country. But I do take issue with not only how and with what we do it but also as well as whatever reason du jour we conjure up at the time. I also think the US has been more hypocritical regarding our alliance with Israel than with most other countries; we have bitch slapped other countries for what Israel would do on a daily basis. I wish our government would just stop pretending to be all magnanimous and high-brow about it and say "hey, we know they violate civil rights, and we know they don't stand by international law, but we are going to support them anyway."

[KalashniKEV]

We had a tentative love affair with them from 1948 through the mid-70s;

Ummm... except for back in 1963 when we were incredibly close to bombing their reactor at Dimona.

How did they ever get out of that one? I don't remember...

[Dist. Expert 26]

There is a difference between SOF units and conventional forces.

If SOF units were the answer to everything, then we would only have SOF units.

Even low-intensity conflicts require more than just a SOF solution once things are on-and-poppin...

Also, blaming mission failure on situation/conditions is lame.

We all do our jobs within operating constraints.



Who says they won't fight with us in a glorious campaign to liberate their own sacred, holy land from the control of a bunch of takfirists with hookers, booze, slaves, drugs, and luxury cars?

Is there anything Islamic about the House of Saud?



The IDF will never take the field against a legitimate foe. They will just examine the odds and give up or kill themselves.

They went up against some Hezbollah rag-taggers a few years back, took a few casualties, and quit the fight.

How long do you think their army would last against an enemy that actually issues their fighters a complete basic load of ammunition before sending them into the fight, or has uniforms that match?

I guarantee that if we stopped sending money, the Israelis would start trying to evict people from apartments in every European capital. They fly that flag because we pay them to do so.

You'll notice I never suggested that SOF is the answer to everything, I was just trying to clarify what you were talking about in terms of a conflict. I'm fully aware of the necessity of having conventional infantry, it was my job after all.

There are a number of factors that led to failure at Tora Bora, not the least of which was tactical interference by the Bush administration. I would think you of all people would love to embrace that fact.

So your assertion is that Muslims the world over will join forces with nonbelievers to retake their holy land? Sorry, not buying it. Any invasion of Saudi Arabia would trigger a worldwide religious war.

You seem to forget that Israel has nuclear weapons. If push came to shove I believe that they would turn half the Middle East into a parking lot before they'd surrender. You know that whole "never again" thing.

[sundance435]

Sorry, necro'd the wrong post.

[26 Inf]

Sorry, necro'd the wrong post.

That's okay, Chuckman dropped a major truth bomb a couple posts up. Worth rereading.