For a minute there I thought I had to get off my couch, when all the while the fact is we don't have to do anything much but keep things afloat for just a few decades more! In fact, we'd best shut up about PO, because if our offspring finds out we knew about it all along, they'll turn and wring our necks come 2036!
Joined: May 24, 2004 Posts: 3428 Location: California, USA
Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 9:30 pm Post subject:
Yes, overstretched, and this is a cause of concern for those of us who are hawkish on foreign policy. The most important role of the military is to deter aggression against us and our allies, and if we're tied up in a quagmire, our deterrent capability is compromised on two levels. One, by the fact that forces are engaged in one location, making them unavailable for other engagements. Two, by the fact that any situation meeting the criteria for "quagmire," e.g. Iraq, also diminishes the perceived ferocity and capability of our forces as a whole.
Re. draft: The simple factor of allowing gay people to serve *honestly* (rather than under the Clinton doctrine of "don't ask / don't tell the truth"), would increase enlistment by 5% to 10% overnight. And these new recruits, seeing themselves as the first wave to break segregation, would have a strong incentive to perform in an exemplary manner.
Re. economics: Allowing a recession to occur in order to obtain more volunteers, flies in the face of conservative principles. On the other hand, it may be acceptable to Neo Cons. Between fiscal irresponsibility and military recklessness, I have practically given up on trying to predict what kinds of perverse gyrations the Neo Cons will come up with next.
Re. camel spiders: That photo which appears to show spiders the size of dinner plates was taken from a screwy camera angle. Look at the size of the soldier's shirt sleeve cuff for comparison. Those spiders are, in reality, "only" about the size of your hand, and they are not seriously poisonous (though the bites, if left untreated, could become the site of nasty infections....)
Joined: Sep 30, 2004 Posts: 975 Location: On one of the blades of the fan
Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2004 9:39 am Post subject: To add
To add to Airstrip1's post:
The IRA were estimated to have only about 400 active fighters at any one time (compare this with estimates of 40,000 in Iraq); obviously supported by some of the nationalist community; that's only half the NI population - the rest are "loyalists/unionists"; because of cultural similarities intelligence forces were able to infiltrate.
And they still were able to fight for 30 years.
On the other subject, the draft, as usual the Bushcons don't think it through. It means you are training part of your nation to be an effective military force: many revolutions involve disaffected conscript armies - eg Russian revolution; generally professional armies more often side with the oligarchs, though they can still rebel.
All in all, I think this one will go down in history (if there is any history) with 1812 and Stalingrad - a strategic all-time goof. (NB Napoleon won every battle in 1812, it was the winter and the loss of his myth of invincibility that destroyed him).
Joined: Sep 30, 2004 Posts: 975 Location: On one of the blades of the fan
Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2004 9:41 am Post subject: To add
To add to Airstrip1's post:
The IRA were estimated to have only about 400 active fighters at any one time (compare this with estimates of 40,000 in Iraq); obviously supported by some of the nationalist community; that's only half the NI population - the rest are "loyalists/unionists"; because of cultural similarities intelligence forces were able to infiltrate.
And they still were able to fight for 30 years.
On the other subject, the draft, as usual the Bushcons don't think it through. It means you are training part of your nation to be an effective military force: many revolutions involve disaffected conscript armies - eg Russian revolution; generally professional armies more often side with the oligarchs, though they can still rebel.
All in all, I think this one will go down in history (if there is any history) with 1812 and Stalingrad - a strategic all-time goof. (NB Napoleon won every battle in 1812, it was the winter and the loss of his myth of invincibility that destroyed him).
*Lived since birth under the most anal retentive, unforgiving, religious fundamentalist region of the world. You break a rule, you lose a limb or die.
Not true, Saddam's rule was very secular and he tried to reduce power of religion. Religion plays major role only since US attack..
Iraq was an easy conquest due to 10 years of sanctions, inspections and outright monitoring by the US and its allies. George Bush knew from the reports of the monitors that Iraq had nothing to resist with. If the monitors had instead reported, even if it were a lie, that Iraq had stockpiles of WMDs already to use, George Bush would never have attacked.
If tens of thousands of American youth would have died in the initial onslaught GB would have had to answer to a very angry nation. But with an easy victory assured George came out smelling like a rose.
Iran and North Korea are different and George isn't so eager to attack. These nations do have WMDs, both to use against the invading Americans and to sabotage their own oil capability to keep it out of American hands. The US may eventually attack Iran but the victory will not be so easy as Iraq and Iran knows it.
Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 2498 Location: Ye Olde Englande
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 10:19 am Post subject:
Can't see Iran or North Korea being attacked in the near future. Any further military adventures by Bush will involve a draft and this will be resisted in HUGE numbers across the country.
The only possibility I see that will make a draft possible is another attack on US soil that can be directly linked to another country.
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