Starting a war with Iran?

[Red Arrow]

I am 58 years old and the United States as been at war my entire life.

Fortunately, some of the intensity levels have been lower than presently.

[DolfanBob]

Help me out here guy's. I have alway's wondered why we have all these Military bases all over the World but yet I havent driven by one Foreign Military base here in the U.S.

Where is that Russian Military base in Montana ? That German base in Colorado ?
Hmm, Just makes me wonder why the World views us as a bully.

[Townsend]

Help me out here guy's. I have alway's wondered why we have all these Military bases all over the World but yet I havent driven by one Foreign Military base here in the U.S.

Where is that Russian Military base in Montana ? That German base in Colorado ?
Hmm, Just makes me wonder why the World views us as a bully.

NORAD is half Canadian.

Germany has air training in the South West US.

All I've got.

[DolfanBob]

NORAD is half Canadian.

Germany has air training in the South West US.

All I've got.

You gotta watch them dangerous Canucks.

[RecycleMichael]

The U.S. has 57 Military installations in Germany alone...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Army_installations_in_Germany

[DolfanBob]

The U.S. has 57 Military installations in Germany alone...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Army_installations_in_Germany

Still not trusted after all these years.

[Ronnie Lowe]

Help me out here guy's. I have alway's wondered why we have all these Military bases all over the World but yet I havent driven by one Foreign Military base here in the U.S.

Where is that Russian Military base in Montana ? That German base in Colorado ?
Hmm, Just makes me wonder why the World views us as a bully.

We're probably going to live long enough to see a world dominated by the Chinese.  Hope they aren't heavy handed.

[Ed W]

NORAD is half Canadian.

Germany has air training in the South West US.

All I've got.

We still have the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly School of the Americas) where we teach various third world dictators freedom loving regimes in law enforcement and military techniques that they can use to torture and suppress dissidents engage in counter-terrorism.

[Teatownclown]

We're probably going to live long enough to see a world dominated by the Chinese.  Hope they aren't heavy handed.

Nah.....Bernake bought us 50 years...the Chinese will have their own growth issues with the ruling class of Singapore. We just will have %50 below the poverty line....that's how it will be measured, which country has the smallest ruling class oligarchy by percentage (Nate )

[Townsend]

U.S. rescues Iranian hostages, with good timing

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/us-picks-up-iranian-hostages-with-good-timing/2012/01/06/gIQAI56YfP_blog.html

For the U.S. Navy, it was like hitting the public-relations jackpot: An aircraft carrier strike group that just left the Persian Gulf stumbles across an Iranian fishing vessel in distress, hijacked by pirates.

Forces from the U.S.S. John C. Stennis carrier strike group, whose presence in the region had provoked a rhetorical outburst from Tehran that spooked global oil markets, swiftly made the most of the moment. They seized 15 Somali pirates without firing a shot and rescued 13 hungry Iranian fishermen who had been held hostage for several weeks.

After giving the Iranians fresh provisions and fuel, the Americans bade the crew a happy farewell Friday, along with a parting gift: U.S. Navy ballcaps for the grateful Iranians to wear as they posed for pictures.

"It was a great outcome for some innocent Iranian fisherman and it's an indication of who we are as Americans," Rear Adm. Craig Faller, commander of the Stennis strike group, told reporters in a conference call from his position in the North Arabian Sea. "We'd do that for any country in the world."

Of course, only one country in recent days has threatened to close access to the Strait of Hormuz — the Persian Gulf bottleneck through which almost one-fifth of the world's oil supply flows. And only one country issued a hostile warning to the United States not to send an aircraft carrier back to the Gulf after the Stennis sailed away last week.

There was no official response, much less a thank you, from the Iranian government after the Navy released details of the rescue mission Friday.

U.S. officials, in contrast, bent over backward to publicize the Navy's good deed.

The Navy released plenty of photographs and video of the rescue. The Pentagon distributed a picture of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta phoning Faller — who broke away from his chat with journalists to take the call — to say congratulations and thank you.

The State Department gushed.

"This is an incredible story. This is a great story," spokesman Victoria Nuland told reporters. "The very same ships and set of vessels that the Iranians protested on its last voyage through Hormuz, the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group, just rescued this Iranian dhow from pirates."

Despite the tensions between Tehran and Washington, their navies maintain open channels of communication on a tactical level, said Micah Zenko, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He said that the U.S. Navy has repeatedly rescued Iranian nationals in the region and handed them over to the Iranian Navy, with little fanfare. Fishermen and other seafarers, after all, routinely find themselves in need of rescue – whether because of bad weather, or because they've simply become stranded at sea.

What was unusual about Friday's incident, Zenko said, was how quickly U.S. officials in Washington were to publicly describe the operation.

"To have it queued up and released midafternoon is a strategic communications coup," he said.

U.S. officials, Zenko said, seemed eager to convey that a U.S. naval presence in the region can benefit even Iran, and that Tehran should cannot and should not move to shut down the Strait of Hormuz.

[Teatownclown]

We built 2 drone bases on the Seychelles Islands..and have been bombing pirates with drones, killing most of them for several months now..thats why up until today, nobody heard much of anything from the Somali pirates in about 18 months...OBAMA pretty much shut the piracy down...

yet another Obama success story. He's a killah!

[Conan71]

We built 2 drone bases on the Seychelles Islands..and have been bombing pirates with drones, killing most of them for several months now..thats why up until today, nobody heard much of anything from the Somali pirates in about 18 months...OBAMA pretty much shut the piracy down...

yet another Obama success story. He's a killah!

My my.  Such a violent man.  Don't let the peaceniks know!

[nathanm]

My my.  Such a violent man.  Don't let the peaceniks know!

Which Republican nitwit frontrunner was it that said he'd be tougher on defense than Obama? Say what you will about the rest of Obama's politics, but he's pretty much foreclosed that avenue of attack, at least for the reality based community.

[heironymouspasparagus]

M

[heironymouspasparagus]

I am 58 years old and the United States as been at war my entire life.

Militarization - absolutely!!  When you only have a hammer for a tool, every problem looks like a nail.  And our economic policy of choice is military!  Easiest, biggest-bang-for-the-buck choice (double entendre moment), and so simple to sell to the American public it is laughable.  Just bring up the idea of Muslim/Chinese/Russian hordes landing just east of Denver.

Seriously, every single job I have been at since 1984 has had a group of otherwise serious minded individuals who have serious discussions about the invasion of the center of the country.  Always a variation of coming up through Mexico.  Not sure why they wouldn't try to come down from Canada - that would be a much easier path, I would think...

Why 1984?  Well, in addition to being Orwell's chosen year, it was the year "Red Dawn" came out.  I think that resonated with a lot of people.  Just made us even crazier war mongers than ever.... and we do it with glittering white teeth, the little sparkley gleam in our eye and the admonitions/exhortations about God being on our side!!  (To the detriment of every other side, of course!)