War with Iran? Your Opinion

[Venom_Cobra]

Well with all the things that have been going on lately in Iraq I figured I would ask this question. To give some background for some here is what is going on: Iran is supplying the weapons, cash, and training insurgents in Iraq. Also there is proof that an Iranian Elite military force know as the Quads helped kill 5 U.S. soldiers in Iraq in an attempt to capture them. Also there is the constant fight over Iran becoming a nuclear power and their threats to wipe Israel off the Earth.

I know this is futile but I'm going to ask anyway, Pls try and keep this thread from going to smackdown!

 

[ScareCrow]

Im hoping that as a group of world powers we will try to defuse the situation in Iran , and not just us doing everything ourselves.

 

[Lightningfr]

bomb first ask questions later

 

[Kysnake03]

Nuke-em!

 

[NO-BlkLightning2K]

this war shit is getting old. i want it to be over, and yet i know that it never will be. (iraq and iran, not all wars, i'm not a homo) i just want to know what the holdup is, why can't we 1-2 these retards and be done with it. i'm tired of all this pussy footing around, let's get it done already. keep in mind, i used to follow this pretty closely up until around 4 months ago, and then i got tired of all the bs.

 

[03kbredfire]

It will have to end and therefore the insurgents and Iran can claim victory. Then they (the Iranians) will feel compelled to pursue aggressive nuclear programs. They will use them against American interests and kill tens of thousands. The liberals will then want to talk while they continue there onslought. It is quite predictable. Nothing will happen until a lot of deaths occur and the strength of the cancer grows until it is nearly unstoppable.

 

[OCSnk]

http://www.upi.com/Security_Terrorism/Briefing/2007/07/02/hezbollah_iran_training_iraqi_cells/2816/

Hezbollah, Iran training Iraqi cells

Published: July 2, 2007 at 5:33 PM
WASHINGTON, July 2 (UPI) -- Lebanon's Hezbollah has been organizing and training multiple independent cells of fighters in Iraq to battle U.S. and Iraqi forces.

Behind it all is Iran's Revolutionary Guard, or Quds Force, which is using Hezbollah as their proxy, U.S. military spokesman Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner said Monday.

"Hezbollah brings a technical skill, a level of sophistication and some street credibility to their interaction with these special groups and secret cells," Bergner said. "Our intelligence reveals that senior leadership in Iran is aware of this activity."

This is not the first time the U.S. military has fingered the Quds force as a major destructive force in Iraq, but it is the first definitive description of its use of Hezbollah to carry out the effort. Bergner said the relationship has become clearer with the recent captures of 18 cell leaders trained by Hezbollah. Three others have been killed.

Bergner said the militia cells have been active for the last three years.

"The special groups have evolved over the past three years into what are largely rogue elements that use a cellular structure to operate independently," he said. "They played key roles in the planning and execution of bombings, kidnappings, extortion, sectarian murders, illegal arms trafficking and other attacks against the Iraqi people, the police, the Iraqi army and coalition forces. They also moved money into and around Iraq to fund their operations."

Militia cells, generally extremist Shiite groups, were blamed for most of the 36,000 Iraqis killed in 2006 in a wave of retributive sectarian murders undertaken after the Feb. 2006 bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra.

The murder rate inside Baghdad has dropped significantly since the surge began in January, but the overall civilian death rate has remained constant due to an increase in spectacular car and suicide bombings.

Bergner is the deputy chief of staff for strategic effects on the U.S.-led Multinational Force-Iraq staff.


******************************************************

The evidence and testimony being given to the public is certainly mounting, and it doesnt bode well for the talks with Iran on any issue...


A related op-ed piece...

http://www.upi.com/Security_Terrori...outside_view_afghan_problem_is_regional/5507/


Outside View: Afghan problem is regional
Published: July 4, 2007 at 4:59 AM
By SETH G. JONES
UPI Outside View Commentator

WASHINGTON, July 4 (UPI) -- There are growing signs that Iran may be providing support to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said on June 14 that the flow of weapons from Iran to the Taliban has reached such large quantities that it is difficult to believe it is taking place without the Iranian government's knowledge. U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns went even further, saying that there is "irrefutable evidence" that the shipments were "coming from the government of Iran."

While Iranian support for the Taliban would be disturbing, there is a serious danger of overreaction in the United States. The Taliban receive a negligible amount of support from Iran. Inflating the Iranian role risks the further destabilization of Afghanistan and could jettison a potential avenue for U.S.-Iranian dialogue.

The Iranian strategy in Afghanistan today may best be characterized as a "hedging strategy." The logic is that if Iran can demonstrate an ability to make life worse for the United States on a variety of fronts, including Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States may be deterred from conducting an attack against Iranian nuclear facilities. On top of an array of patron-client relationships with powerful Shiite groups in Lebanon and Iraq, Tehran may be building a new layer of relationships with partners among the Sunni jihadists, including the Taliban.

This is rather surprising since Iran's historical relationship with the Taliban has not been a good one. Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, viewed the rise of the Sunni Taliban in the 1990s with deep concern. In October 1998, some 200,000 regular Iranian troops massed along the border with Afghanistan, and the Taliban mobilized thousands of fighters to thwart an expected Iranian invasion. Only a last-minute effort by the United Nations prevented a war between the Taliban and Iran.

But the prospect of conflict with the United States appears to have temporarily changed Iran's strategic calculations. There are growing signs that Iran may have shipped some arms and other materials to the Taliban.

Gen. Dan McNeill, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, recently acknowledged that NATO forces have tracked supply convoys from Iran into Afghanistan. In one incident earlier this year, several vehicles were monitored crossing from Iran into western Afghanistan. After engaging the vehicles, NATO forces found that one contained small arms ammunition, mortar rounds and more than 660 pounds of C4 demolition charges. Other convoys from Iran have included rocket propelled grenades, 107mm rockets and improvised explosive devices.

These shipments may be coming from the Quds Force, a paramilitary arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. One of the most disturbing trends is the export of a handful of explosively formed penetrators. They are a special type of shaped charge designed to penetrate armor. The penetrators send a semi-molten copper slug that cuts through the armor on a Humvee, and then creates a deadly spray of hot metal inside the vehicle. Explosively formed penetrators have been used against Israeli forces in Lebanon and against U.S. forces in Iraq.

Support for the Taliban comes from three main sources.

One source is the international jihadi community. Al-Qaida has helped improve Taliban information operations, especially the use of the Internet and video. The Taliban have used al-Qaida's production company, al-Sahab Media, to make videos. Al-Qaida has also helped Afghan groups with suicide tactics and improvised explosive devices. In addition to al-Qaida, the Taliban and other Afghan insurgent groups have received funding from wealthy jihadi donors abroad, especially in the Persian Gulf.

A second source of support is from the drug trade. The Taliban and other insurgent groups have levied taxes on farmers in southern and western Afghanistan and secured bribes from drug-trafficking groups at checkpoints. A number of Taliban are also directly involved in the poppy harvest, and are not available to fight until after the harvest ends in the spring.

A final source of support for the Taliban is from outside states. The most significant is Pakistan. Numerous reports indicate that individuals within the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate and the Pakistan military have provided assistance to the Taliban and other insurgent groups. Examples include training at camps in Pakistan, ensuring that wounded insurgents receive medical aid, providing intelligence, delivering weapons and weapons components, and assisting insurgents cross the border.

Iran is a minor player in this broad network of support. The danger with the recent hype of a Taliban-Iranian axis is that U.S. policymakers may neglect pressuring the real sources of Taliban support in Pakistan and the broader Muslim world.

Perhaps more importantly, American officials may overlook a possible area of dialogue with Iran. Iran and the United States worked closely together to create an interim Afghan government after the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Today, Iran and Afghanistan share a number of common interests. They have participated in joint trade, energy, investment, cultural, and scientific projects.

Iran provides significant economic assistance to Afghanistan, and political support to the Hamid Karzai government. The Iranians have also cooperated to crack down on the rising Afghan drug trade by building border posts to catch or deter narcotics smugglers.

A strong Sunni Taliban will never be in Iran's long-term interest. And an Afghanistan that further deteriorates into lawlessness could trigger a range of spill-over effects -- from increased narcotics trafficking to terrorism -- that would negatively impact all countries in the region, including Iran.

Thus far, the U.S. approach to Afghanistan has failed to deal with the insurgency as a broader regional problem that involves Pakistan, India and Iran. Now is a good time to begin.

--

(Seth G. Jones is a political scientist at the RAND Corp., a non-profit research organization. He is also an adjunct professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University.)

 

[Johnsonboy]

Wether we believe it or not we have been at war with Iran for a while now. Seen it with my own eyes.

 

[05 Roush]

War with Iran will end up like the war with Iraq:

Short term statistical gain. Long term statistical,financial, and political loss.

We cannot win a war against this religious and political ideology, regardless of just how "wacky" it may seem. If you want to really discover this and see the parallels in history, do some research on King Richard of England.

 

[Cobrasvt43]

ugh, one thing at a time. we arent even close to having things straightened out in iraq. if you go spreading your focus, things get screwed up and thats when we end up losing. bad idea, at least for right now.

 

[taronis]

IF, AND ONLY IF, OUR LOSER CONGRESS ALOWS THE GENERALS TO DO THEIR JOB.:cuss:​

 

[Mario93]

IF, AND ONLY IF, OUR LOSER CONGRESS ALOWS THE GENERALS TO DO THEIR JOB.:cuss:​

+100000000000000000

 

[Mt Twigbert]

IF, AND ONLY IF, OUR LOSER CONGRESS ALOWS THE GENERALS TO DO THEIR JOB.:cuss:​

+2,000,000



How can we win a war when 'our elected officials' won't let us? Give our guys the tools and it will be accomplished.. Instead were taking away what they need (troops, machines, money) and cry that the war has not ended yet..

We CAN win the war over there and WIN the hearts and minds of the Arab community but CAN NOT whine about cost.. It's costing us $$$ right now but it will cost us American lives down the road if we don't do it THE RIGHT WAY today..

I say take away the SSI/welfare programs of the worthless Americans who refuse to work (I think you know whom I'm talking about) and use those monies to WIN US THE WAR in Iraq..

 

[Gringo185]

We need to kill them before they kill us. Same with the terrorists. I don't give a damn what has to be done to keep our shores safe. Torture all captives for info, kill all terrorists, kill all sympathizers. What people don't seem to realize is that these people do this stuff all the time without even thinking twice. We've tried to be civil. But now it's time to get serious.

Edit: And as far as Iran in particular is concerned, we're either going to go to war with them before they get a nuke or after the get a nuke. Either way, we're going to have to fight them. I vote for before they get it.

 

[wally9404]

i think isarel will do the job for us! they took out there nuclear capabilites once before. i am sure this will happen very soon.

 

[03DOHC]

i think isarel will do the job for us! they took out there nuclear capabilites once before. i am sure this will happen very soon.

It can't happen fast enough.

 

[9A Pilot]

War with Iran will end up like the war with Iraq:

Short term statistical gain. Long term statistical,financial, and political loss.

We cannot win a war against this religious and political ideology, regardless of just how "wacky" it may seem. If you want to really discover this and see the parallels in history, do some research on King Richard of England.

Yes we can!And we must!
You can thank Jimmy Carter for making all of this possible.
The Iranian Mullahs are directly responsible for nearly all that is wrong in that region.They fight proxy wars by funding ,equipping ,& training nearly every islamic terrorist orginazation.They,quite simply,are the head of the snake.
We will deal with them sooner or later.Weather we like it or not.
It's time to just yank off the band-aid.
I predict something is going to happen that we simply cannot ignore..The time is coming.

 

[BhavinB]

Why does everyone keep thinking Iran is mostly responsible for the insurgency?

Saudi Arabia (and its citizens) are thought to be the main supporters of Sunni insurgents.

 

[PSI87]

Hell no!

 

[9A Pilot]

Why does everyone keep thinking Iran is mostly responsible for the insurgency?

Saudi Arabia (and its citizens) are thought to be the main supporters of Sunni insurgents.

Because it's true."Insurgency" isn't' the correct term anyway..The word is TERRORIST..SAY IT,LEARN IT ,LIVE IT.Well wait,your Canadian.You dont have to worry about it..The Whahabi(sp) tribes are among the most hard core fundamental,but they don't have their hands in near as much as Iran.
Trust me,my sources are better than yours.