This is unbelievable. How can the military officers think this is a good idea? Terrain is against us. Weapons are against us. And losing a whole lot of servicepeople is looming for us. How can they be so stupid??!! This is not a cakewalk. This is not easy. This is not Desert Storm, where we went in, did the thing, and left. No, this is heading towards Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and others too many to list. Feel free to add yours. My compliments to Raw Story:
The Pentagon is preparing plans that would be a substantial escalation of the Iran war and place U.S. troops at risk from a number of dangerous threats if President Donald Trump chooses to act on them. Military leaders are laying out plans for weeks of ground operations in Iran as thousands of American soldiers and Marines arrive in the Middle East, U.S. officials told the Washington Post, which described the escalation as a “dangerous new phase” in the war but would not be considered a full-scale invasion.
Plans don’t last for more than 30 seconds when you meet the enemy. I cannot understand the stupidity of sending troops when you have all this information that not only the people, but *the land itself* are against you! Us non-military peons can see it would be a disaster. But the military can’t? Or are they stuck doing something against their better judgment? I don’t know anything about what happens behind the scenes in the military. I leave that, and more, up to “our” Denis, who has the knowledge and experience I do not. Here is one of his pieces on Kharg Island. If this is not a full-scale invasion, then what is it?
“It’s the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the Commander in Chief maximum optionality,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Post. “It does not mean the President has made a decision.” The ground operation would involve raids by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops, said the officials on condition of anonymity, but would expose U.S. personnel to Iranian threats such as drones and missiles, ground fire, and improvised explosives.
“The Trump administration in recent days has vacillated between declaring that the war is winding down and threatening to amplify it,” the Post reported. “Discussions within the administration over the past month have touched upon the possible seizure of Kharg Island, a key Iranian oil export hub in the Persian Gulf, and raids into other coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz to find and destroy weapons that can target commercial and military shipping,” the report added. “One person said that the objectives under consideration would probably take ‘weeks, not months‘ to complete. Another put the potential timeline at ‘a couple of months.'”
No, no, and NO. Please don’t make this happen. Please don’t waste servicemembers’ lives on something that has a very small chance of success. Denis has told us about this. I can’t understand why they are considering something that I believe would be a huge debacle. They need to take a long, hard look at what they would be facing, starting with how the hail to get through the Strait. I obviously don’t have a military mindset to be able to understand what this insanity is.
Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed in action in the four weeks since Trump launched the war, while more than 300 service members have been wounded by strikes at facilities across the Middle East, and the military operation faces significant opposition among Americans and poses considerable risks to ground troops – especially if they attempt to seize Kharg Island. “I just wouldn’t want to be in that small place with Iran’s ability to rain down drones and maybe artillery,” said Michael Eisenstadt, director of the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Eisenstadt, a retired Army officer who served in Iraq, Israel, and Jordan, suggested it might be much safer for U.S. forces to deploy mines around the island to pressure Iran to remove its mines from the Strait of Hormuz and send troops to “clear out” coastal military sites threatening shipping routes. “I think it’s better to not have the troops located in any given place for a prolonged period of time,” Eisenstadt said. “Agility is part of your force protection, if they are moving and doing raids, in and out.”
Significant opposition? Considerable risks? Gosh, golly, gee, my goodness, YA THINK? I would guess that the majority of the country didn’t want to be in this war in the first place! And now Trump is stuck. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. The man is already damned and doesn’t need to pull others down with him. The worst action would be to send in those boots. It would be embarrassing to pull out, but it would also leave Iran in a position of power with the Strait of Hormuz. There really isn’t any positive action to take. If we clear the mines from the Strait, there are still all the weapons they have on land next to it. I’m hoping that someone is being sensible and saying no to a war crime of bombing infrastructure. Any answer is going to suck. Anything.
See you soon!
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“If we clear the mines from the Strait” … last time I looked, Susan, we had no minesweepers available. Our remaining old (but competent) ones, all 4 of them, are in Japan. We have some Littoral Combat Ships which were supposed to replace them, but they’ve been an exercise in incompetence and are considered abject failures. Some of them have been decommissioned after only a couple of years of troubled operation; we tried to sell a few to Greece but they said No, citing unreliability and myriad defects. Anyway, there’s an old Navy wisdom which states that once a body of water is mined, it is considered mined forever.
Thank you for confirming that. I was pretty sure we didn’t have any sweepers but not 100%. And if we don’t have those, how in the hail are they going to remove the mines? They aren’t. I can’t see the UIS dropping bombs to try and clear it. Plus, the tsunami that would cause would be something. It won’t be as bad as one with a longer time to form, so it might be a small one. That’s going to hit civilians on the coast. Now, I may be wrong about the tsunami, in which case I apologize, but there would certainly be some sort of water chaos. And we can’t be certain, as you mentioned, that they would all be cleared.
“Once a body of water is mined, it is considered mined forever.” Well, damn. The saying wouldn’t have stayed around this long if it was nonsense. So *any* ship that passes through runs the risk of sinking. That’s not going to be acceptable for anyone, not just the US. I do wonder how Iranian ships with oil will get through. Maybe they aren’t supposed to. They’ll just sit at anchor and continue screwing the world.
Too bad there aren’t such things as drone ships that we could send through to blow up some mines.
There *is no* solution.
I listen to Malcolm Nance et al daily. He’s been there – done that. The heads of this military are either under estimating Iranians or 47 is not listening to those that KNOW what we’re sending our best into. Every Iranian has a weapon. The straight has been mined – how many – well we might find out. The terrain is not positive for the U.S. to put boots on the ground – or even go after any of the islands. This is going to be one huge shitshow and our military are going to be hit hard.
Two mine sweepers are in Singarpore – retrofitting. 47 pulled 4 mine sweepers from Bahrain and they are in PHILADELPHIA. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/iran-strait-of-hormuz-minesweepers-b2936416.html
47 is not listening. That means disaster for us. They know history. They know the odds. And they know how much blood is going to be soaking the soil and the seas. Trump has put himself and us in a no win situation. The mines are a major problem, exacerbated by the narrowness of the Strait. And dropping people on Kharg Island without the equipment they need, that can’t be dropped with them, is instant disaster. It would be a surprise if anyone made it down there from an air drop. Iran knows it’s being considered and they have all sorts of time to prepare. Servicemembers will DIE for an egomaniacal orange tin god and Dumb McNamara.