Breaking- Trump to Iran, 52 strikes for 52 hostage in 1979

You can't possibly be serious. I am guessing you voted for Trump.

Iran can project enormous power within the region, including closing off the Hormuz Strait for shipping. A great deal of oil needed by the world comes through that strait. Her proxy forces in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Gaza, Lebanon, etc can do enormous damage.

Don't feel bad. Trump didn't know that, either.

 

-You most certainly DO NOT have to kill the leadership to take them out of power. You need only to eliminate their ability for command and control. Saddam's government was out of power LONG before he was captured.

-What is it with you and the word precision? My use of that term was to counteract your nonsensical accusation that we would be "indiscriminately" bombing. There is not one thing that is indiscriminate about dropping a bunker buster within a few feet of where you want it. Precision bombing is the polar opposite of indiscriminate. Precision bombing with the type of intelligence that identified the precise location of Soleimani and followed that location from Iran all the way to Baghdad, is hardly indiscriminate. In fact, such a characterization is downright silly.

 

"Pointing to two wars where we INVADED WITH GROUND FORCES and saying "well we took out their governments" isn't evidence that we could take out a government by not invading."

Precision bombing requires on intel to actually be sufficiently discriminate. You seem to think that as soon as Iran catches whiff of a war that they're just going to sit around in easily identifiable locations to take them out. It's ****ing delusional and well-wishing. And Soleimani wasn't exactly hiding, he was pretty flagrantly out in the open all the time.

 

This is utter nonsense. Their Navy could only control the Hormuz Strait if the United States was not engaged against them. Their little glorified PT boats would be bombed out of the water within one day.

 

-If fully taking out their government were the goal, surely it would require ground forces. Removing their command and control would not. If we wanted to simply use airpower to destroy their war making and nuclear capabilities, we could do so indefinitely with very little risk to personnel.Either of those potentials would be devastating to the Mullahs. You will not see them respond strongly enough to evoke such a response, and Trumps latest action is bold enough that it certainly makes them wonder "how far is too far?" The action that constitutes "too far" just got a lot smaller, and that is a good thing. Unpredictability is a good thing.

-You can rest assured that our intelligence apparatus already knows the location of virtually all Iranian military assets. There would be absolutely NOTHING indiscriminate in the targeting of those assets with precision ordnance.

 

Taking out random military assets that won't actually contribute to how they'd hit us back does nothing to stymie their ability to conduct asymmetric warfare throughout the region. So, congrats, your plan is dumb.

 

“Iran is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets as revenge for our ridding the world of their terrorist leader,” Trump tweeted. “Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have ... targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!'"

Trump threaten Iraq with sanctions if it expels U.S. troops: “If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever. It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame.”

Trump accused Iranian general Qassem Soleimani of planning “imminent and sinister attacks.”

If people, including Americans, are going to die as a result of Trump's decisions -- and that seems quite likely -- the American people have a right to know. What was the imminent threat to Americans? Where was this going to happen? Who would be killed? Will the death of Soleimani end the threat or will it provoke Iran to hasten its execution?

 

-Just because you say random doesnt make it so, and I have already said that their ability for assymetric warfare would remain. Nor have I put forth an actual plan. If anything is "dumb", it is your response.

-I personally am bored with this bickering that keeps going over the same ground with slightly different wording. I have made my point, and you have tried making yours. Lets allow the reader to decide. My work here is done.

 

Ad homs aside, you likely weren't born yet when these events took place. You should read a book.

 

U.S. Air Force warns Iran with huge show of strength as 52 fully-armed F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters worth $4.2 BILLION take off in a single wave after 'elephant walk' along Utah base runway




https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...F-35A-Lightning-II-stealth-fighters-Utah.html

Thats one F-35 per hostage held by Iran in 1979.

I bet we can drop tens of thousands of smart phones, and use drones/satellite for an internet connection.