Do you think the U.S. will fire on & provoke Iran?

[Philosoraptor]

They got that huge naval build up in the Persian gulf goin' on y'know, surely they're not going to all that trouble and expense just to look threatening from afar, don't you think they'll at least lob off a few missiles inland to yank the chain of that crazy Iranian president whose name no one can pronounce?

Yes or no? Before Christmas or after?

[Donnachaidh]

1. BEFORE the Dems take control of Congress

I have no doubts after seeing the signing statement on the Indian nukes. Chimpie thinks he's still an emperor.

God help us.

[Philosoraptor]

2. Which is when precisely?

scuse my ignorance.

[TahitiNut]

18. January 4, 2007 is, I believe, the date.

Merry New Year.

The 110th United States Congress is the next meeting of the Legislature of the United States federal government. It will convene on January 4, 2007 and expire on January 3, 2009. Of the 435 members of the House of Representatives, 433 were elected on November 7, 2006, and two were elected in December 2006 runoffs. Because of the staggered terms, only 33 of the 100 United States Senators were elected in the November 7, 2006 elections. The remainder were elected in 2004 and 2002.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/110th_United_States_Congress

[Trajan]

3. Only if they are crazier than even we had imagined ....

You think you saw failure in Iraq ? ...

Just wait until Iran ....

IF they jump that shark, the results will be heartbreaking, and perhaps catastrophic ....

[MADem]

4. No, but we're off the coast of Iran because we are showing the Saudis that we love THEM best

And we're proving it by waving our saber at the Persians. We don't want Prince Turki to stay mad at us, you see....

[BrotherBuzz]

5. I anticipate a super-double-secret false flag operation...

in January or February - March at the latest. The boys got to get something going, and PRONTO.

[xchrom]

6. i don't know about now -- but

i do think that the u.s. will bomb iran's nuclear facilities.

[robertpaulsen]

7. Other.

They'll wait for Israel to provoke Iran, then join in to "defend" them.

[blues90]

8. There are more and more posts on this showing up lately

And it is beginning to worry me . I heard about 3 weeks ago two more ships were headed to Irans shores .

Thom Hartmann also brought this up this week on his show .

This idea seems to have been building up for some time and it seems the nuke options were still on the table as far as I know , this has not changed .

I do think they are crazy enough to do this thing . I know many people think it is out of the question but I am not so sure .

[Philosoraptor]

9. There's crazy, and there's neo con crazy.

Neo con crazy ain't like human crazy, they don't think in terms of logic or reason or what their citizenry thinks. That worries me too, big time.

[Az]

10. George can't fire on Iran without congressional approval

The best he can hope for is that by placing the ships in harms way they can provoke action out of Iran.

[Philosoraptor]

11. I hope you're right.

But people don't usually tell him what to do, they merely suggest it nicely and back up slowly with heads bowed.

[blues90]

12. How would this be proven ?

Not to disagree but if the US did fire on Iran first we would not know anymore than we know what happened on 9/11 .

I just feel they can do anything they feel warrented to get the thing going , if we did find out it would be well too late .

[Lilith Velkor]

13. Yes he can, unfortunately

The war powers clause of the Constitution sez he can shoot first and ask Congress for a declaration of war up to 60 days later.

It'd be political suicide and his own party would happily impeach his ass, but it'd be technically legal.

[Donnachaidh]

19. and if Congress is not back from the Christmas vacation?

He put Bolton in during a recess -- I wouldn't put anything past this crazy MF in the WH. Especially now when his Joint Chiefs have publicly dissed him.

They've been sending ships over there since October. They are already in place. While there may have been an organized plan before the elections, it fell apart. Rumsferatu is gone, Cheney is distancing himself from the coming shitstorm -- so Chimpie is all alone with his delusions. Think about it -- he has the red phone with him 24 hours!

He's never been slapped back before when he's done phenomenally stupid things -- I doubt he likes being told he's wrong. I really worry about a fit of petulant rage that can set off WWIII.:wow:

[Ilsa]

14. I dunno, so I'm voting my 80 year old Dad's opinion and he thinks

Chimperor is trying really hard to start another war so the two wars he's avoiding right now will be forgotten about.

[Melynn]

15. Yes, they will and it will be after Christmas

Everyone is saying that March is the big month for Iran because that is when they are suppose to be able make nukes or something. I look for the shooting to start in March.

[TahitiNut]

16. I expect another "Tonkin Gulf Incident"

It's certainly not at all improbable that creating a "target-rich" gulf will be too irresistible for Iran ... or someone with a bomb and a boat. At the same time, I doubt that the truth would get in the way of a false flag operation or something that's mostly fabrication. We have a political "leadership" in this country that's more belligerent and corrupt than any in our history.

[HockeyMom]

17. Increase in troop levels for what?

Iraq or IRAN?

[catzies]

20. Depends on what Saudi Arabia asked Cheney to do while there last month.

And with the Ambassador leaving between dawn and morning, we had to show SA we still love them best, from the Bush Family.

I don't know what SA wants but I do not doubt that's what they'll do. Does SA want to use us as proxy for a war with Iran?

[Kelly Rupert]

21. AH-MA-DEEN-EH-JAD.

Seriously, Ahmadinejad is not that goddamn hard to pronounce. Five syllables. Exactly as long as "George W. Bush," "Dennis Kucinich," and "Hillary Clinton."

Break it apart. Pretend it's two names if you have to. "Ahmad Inejad." It's not a spectacularly hard name, and you'll feel so much better once you can toss it out in conversation ;)

[Bakunin]

22. Will they be able to use the 1979 incident as

a pretext to 'defend' us?

[moondust]

23. The ungrateful must be punished.

Overheard in Dubya's Dream:

With impeachment "off the table" it appears that I can get away with anything. My gift to those who have betrayed me and taken a stand against me is.....ANOTHER WAR!!! Let them now have their just desserts!!!!!! EYAAAAAA!!!!!"

[Disturbed]

24. I think that the Joint Chiefs would relive him of

CIC before they allowed him to destroy America.

[moondust]

27. How does that work?

A military coup?

[Swamp Rat]

25. yes

I feel a draft... :scared:

[Selatius]

26. We already did once when we blew up an Iranian civilian airliner in 1988.

Killed all souls onboard, too. The pictures of floating corpses in the water after the remains landed in the Persian Gulf...didn't make America look very good at the time. Back then, though, it was a case of a misidentified target.

[HuffleClaw]

28. show of force mostly i think... ...BUT

i think the 'cooler heads' in the administration and pentagon are likely working overtime trying to prevent bush & friends from doing something rash. they've been itching to attack iran but have yet to produce a convincing enough excuse yet. they'd have to at least pretend it was iran that started hostilities (like they so desperately tried to do during the israeli/lebanon debacle, using syria as a proxy) but that would likely be so obviously bullshit i don't think they dare try it. i'd call it a toss-up, but doubt bush will attack as bullies only attack when they are assured of victory. if there's doubt they will merely bluster. and bush IS a bully.

[Donnachaidh]

29. "bullies only attack when they are assured of victory"

one word -- IRAQ.

No victory there -- just delusions. And he seems to be ramping up the delusions about Iran too.

[maine_raptor]

30. I voted "No", but

there maybe a little dust-up before this is over, here's why:

1) Ahmadinejad just got his ass handed to him, election-wise. The same pressure (ie: foreign adventure need to unite the home folks) now exists there. Don't be surprised if there is an increase of Iranian naval presence in the area to counter this new Battle Group's deployment.

2) More targets in the area. With the second BG now or soon-to-be in the area, you got a lot more chances of a clash (intentional or not) between Iran and US navies.

3) Very confined waters. The Persian Gulf is a shallow finger of sea intruding into the desert. The Straits of Hormuz have a high traffic volume and that, combined with it's narrowness creates a situation whereby "accidents" can happen.

So even if Bush has no intentions of bombing Iran, something I know that a lot of us think is not true, something could come up. Something that would cause either Bush OR Ahmadinejad to feel that some military action (small) is needed to show the "other guy" his dick is bigger.