Fighting radicalism is mostly about intelligence gathering and that requires among other things good cooperation from other countries. You'll have a hard time getting it by being a unilateral bully.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

We've got the finest military on Earth, equipped with the latest and greatest weapons available, of that I have little doubt.

Unfortunately, we currently don't have the manpower or money for another war, let alone also support the wars were in.

But if that's the course we're going to pursue, then we have several options:

Option 1:

1. Start the draft up or recruit several hundred thousand more volunteers.
2. Raise or borrow multiple more trillions of dollars.
3. Convince our allies to earnestly join the fight and share the costs.

If we can't accomplish all 3 of the above, then invading Iran and bringing them "into line" is not a doable option.

Option 2:

Go nuclear and wipe them all out at little cost to us, except a bunch of ageing nuclear missiles that are just laying around anyway. The only problem is all those poor innocent civilians that would die. I mean it's not like they would defend their land and sovereignty in a massive foreign invasion.

Option 3:

Resolve all of our differences diplomatically and pursue a peaceful coexistence with Iran and/or the Islamic extremeist. Probably wishfull thinking, but worth some thought and effort.


So for all of us that want to "stabilize the region", which option would you choose, or perhaps suggest ?

My first choice would be option 3, backed with the threat of option 2 and really mean it. Option 1 would bankrupt the country to the point of no return.

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Question Authority before it Questions you.

Regarding Option 2, what if someone who's sympathetic to Iran decides to counter-nuke us? Even if that doesn't happen the cost to us economically and diplomatically could be astronomical. We would be considered the chief sponsor of terrorism and there could be lots of trade sanctions against us. China could retaliate by ceasing to lend us money and trading with us. This could bring down the US economy without even firing a shot.

Option 3 is the closest to a logical choice, but it's poorly worded. Iran is not all extremist. Just the current president and a few clerics in the government are and even with those you could probably reach some sort of an agreement. Most Iranians are like us and they just want to live their lives peacefully. Again in my view, the problem isn't really Iran. The problem is in Pakistan and Afghanistan where Al Qaeda and Taliban are regrouping. What if they get a hold of Pakistan's nukes?

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

They can do that anytime they choose, but their not done with us yet.

I stand corrected. We would have to make peace with Iran and also the folks who would not want to live under those agreements.

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Question Authority before it Questions you.

I have received the Gen. Cash email several times but snopes has not confirmed the article, I also checked the General listings and cannot find a Jim or James Cash.

Your Cash and nuthin' but trash.

1st Amendment is negotiable?



That article doesn't sound like a general. "scareed Gaddafi's pants off", "insure my feelings", "the Democratic Party has fielded the foulest, power hungry, anti-country, self-absorbed group of individuals ", etc. don't sound like they came from someone intelligent enough to make general.

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1984 300TD

Up until Vietnam, that' sthe way wars were run. McNamara thought that he was mart enough to be able to 'manage' the media. As usual for McNamara, he was dead wrong.

Rumsfeld was far more clever than McNamara in that regard as well as most other things in DoD. He knew he could neither control nor manage the emdia in the present world in which we live. He also understood about the psychological impact of unit cohesion. Imbedding newsies at the platoon or squad level will, in a few days, make it impossible to report a straight story -- one cannot help but sympathize with the people with whom one lives or dies.

Had Rumsfeld been as good at waging armed war as he was at waging media war, we'd be in a different role at the present time.

B

No when the country is at war and under attack, like now these things are military matters. His politcal rant was just that, but his strategy was just that.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

What is fighting the real war? How are they going to do it?

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Correct this struggle has been going on for a very long time, since the Holy Roman Empire at least. Its probably not going to end in our life times either. This clash of civilizations is very active now because they have a ton of oil money and can afford to be. We need to attack the problem at the root, IE cut off the oil funds.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Bot,
McNamara was not ALWAYS wrong; just most of the time, politically.
Some of his sucesses--
The Ford Falcon was McNamara's car. Small, efficient, solid, if unimaginative. More importantly, they sold millions of them and made FoMoCo a boatful of money. The Falcon was the most sucessful new car launch since............well guess. In fact, the Falcon's launch has only been bettered by one other car,.....guess again.

McNamara was also behind the decision to make the T-Bird into a 4 passenger car. Now, all you 2 seater purists, don't go crazy here. With the economy in recession (remember the Edsel), and poor sales ( although better than the 'Vette), the choice was not a 4 door or a 2 door T Bird. The choice was a 4 door T Bird, or NO T Bird. MacNamara's decision preserved the T Bird as a car line.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Okay, I'll give him the cars. Too bad he didn't stay with them. A man should know his limitations.

No guesses on the other 2 most sucessful new car launches????
They are really quite easy.

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Mustang (in 1960's)? Mustang? (in 1990's)?