Originally Posted by
26 Inf
Well, you asked....
I don't think we should have backed out of the nuclear deal with them. Not saying that it was a great deal, but we kind of left a bad taste in the mouth of the other signatories, several of whom are allies, rapidly becoming former allies under this administration. Most knowledgeable sources apparently believed that Iran was in compliance. I think President Trump's administration was too focused on how Iran was acting in other areas such as Syria and Hezbollah.
At this point, we are on the road from being a trusted partner, to being a partner of necessity for many of our Nation's allies.
Nonetheless, we have come to this point, and here is what I believe should happen regarding Iran and the Middle-East in general:
If we get involved in a shooting conflict with Iran, that will play right into the hands of the Russians, and the Chinese. Guarantee you the problem in Venezuela will grow by leaps and bounds. And who else in the middle-east would we be battling?
Quite frankly, everyone in the world who keeps an eye on such things knows our military is getting frayed. We have solid troops, but they are too few and too worn to take on anything else right now. The other elements of force projection 1) transport to get the troops deployed and then keep them supplied is already stretched; 3) the Navy is facing a material and personnel readiness crisis because of the op-tempo; 4) likewise the Air Force. If I know that from reading open source material so does anyone else who cares to look. Russia and China would love to see somethin cook off with Iran to get us further in the hole readiness wise so that it will take us even longer to recover.
If I were given a free hand, I would begin building the armed forces back to 1990-91 levels. That would mean an across the board tax increase. The times we are living in have become near as, if not more volitale, than they were at the height of the Cold War in my opinion.
This will take time, and we need to calm things in order to get breathing room.
To signal that our build-up was not predatory, if I was given the keys to our foreign policy, I would realign our middle-eastern commitments. Countries would have to make a choice whther they want to remain our allies or go it on their own without our aide other than for basic humanitarian needs.
To that end, Israel would have to accept the stationing of U.S. troops in sufficient numbers to maintain order in the disputed areas (until a two-state agreement is brokered) and provide a credible deterent to any Nations set on Israel's destruction. Under my doctrine, to attack Israel would be to attack the U.S. and result in full scale war. As a result, Israel could begin to play nicer with it's neighbors and, hopefully in a decade, we would be able to reduce our footprint.
I would go to Iran and say we had a good thing going for you, and we need to reestablish that path.
Now, I'm not a complete fool, that is pie-in-the sky dreaming.
If we need to go into Iran, we need to do it with full force and effect, no half-steps. That means that we will likely be fighting other Nation's and taking and holding ground. That means emergency mobilization - the draft. It will be messy, it probably will expand. Otherwise, we are just going to be marching in place with no real progress for another 18 years.
The question is, do the America people have the guts for that, or will they allow the leaders to squander the lives of our youth for another decade? You can bet President Trump nor Bolton will be doing any fighting. (I won't either for that matter.)
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks