Will Israel/Lebanon affect US/Iraq?

[demopolite]

Interesting article in the Christian Science Moniter (CLICK (http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0721/p09s01-coop.html)) about the vulnerablity of U.S. supply lines in Iraq.

From a review by John Hood:

"Because virtually all of our forces' materiel and supplies are trucked from Kuwait, the lines stretch through large swaths of southern Iraqi territory that are quiescent at present but "thoroughly infiltrated by Iranian special operations forces working with Shiite militias." Thus, if tensions over Lebanon or nuclear-weapons development escalate further, Lang argues that Iran could essentially order a serious harassment campaign against the American supply lines, lightly guarded and operated largely by skittish Turkish and South Asian truck drivers."

Brings up some interesting questions:

Are we doing the correct thing by staying out of the Israel/Hezbollah conflict considering our vulnerable position in Iraq?

Should we take affirmative measures to guard against Syrian or Iranian interference in the area....or should we wait it out?

Should the U.S. itself make a move, or press an international organization (UN, NATO, etc.) to do so?

NOTE: if you just want to B&M about the dirty a-rabs or the dirty UN, this is probably not your thread :D However, if you're concerned about 18 year old kids getting shot after our government sent them to a foriegn country, this probably IS your thread!

[CedarSam]

Syria will attach Israel.,...and Holy land will have new meaning....like in Bomb Craters.

[demopolite]

Attack or attach? I guess either would be a bit discomfiting.

But on point, what measures should be taken to protect U.S. interests, U.S. troops, our allies, and innocent civilians?

[fleming]

Syria doesn't have the trained forces or miilitary equipment to even help the hisbolhee in Lebenon. That is why they have steered clear of the conflict.

[demopolite]

Now THIS I also found very interesting:

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/opinion/view.asp?msgID=1254

Even the hardliners are starting to turn away from Hezbollah. This could very well signal the end for the group....hmmmm.....

[demopolite]

A senior Iranian official admitted for the first time Friday that Tehran did indeed supply long-range Zelzal-2 missiles to Hezbollah.

Interesting, considering that Tehran has been so loathe to discuss any of their involvement with Hezbollah thus far. Seems to be a sign that they are getting worried (perhaps that the ceasefire won't happen as the U.N. hopes???).

[Mystic_Rhythms]

IMO, we should let Israel deal with Lebanon the way they see fit. We as a military are getting to the point where we have "too many irons in the fire". We have a serious problem on our hands with Irag and Afghanistan. We need to deal with them first. At the same time we are watching Iran and North Korea. I feel like North Korea and Iran chose this exact time for the whole launching missles into the Sea of Japan and "peaceful nuclear technology" because they see and realize that the U.S. is...kind of strung out. The problem I always had even when I was serving in the military was, we were always trying to police the world. Now, let me say that whenever I was called on to do a job for my country I never had a problem with it, I did my job. It's just I think it's sometimes easier to see things when you've been on both sides of the looking glass. Countries like Iran and North Korea are almost impossible to deal with on a civilized level. Maybe what we should do is give them the ultimate threat. Tell them that we are dealing with enough as it is, if N. Korea insist that they will launch more missles then we will in turn turn their country into a parking lot for South Koreans. And Iran....we will level it clean, pave over it and establish the HQ for 7-11 in the middle of it. It is going to come to a point where we are going to have to make an example out of someone....or else we may be on the recieving end of someone elses examples. JMO

[mmcd3182]

The problem I always had even when I was serving in the military was, we were always trying to police the world. Now, let me say that whenever I was called on to do a job for my country I never had a problem with it, I did my job. It's just I think it's sometimes easier to see things when you've been on both sides of the looking glass. Countries like Iran and North Korea are almost impossible to deal with on a civilized level. Maybe what we should do is give them the ultimate threat. Tell them that we are dealing with enough as it is, if N. Korea insist that they will launch more missles then we will in turn turn their country into a parking lot for South Koreans. And Iran....we will level it clean, pave over it and establish the HQ for 7-11 in the middle of it. It is going to come to a point where we are going to have to make an example out of someone....or else we may be on the recieving end of someone elses examples. JMO

If you did that to Iran and North Korea... killing hundreds of thousands (or more) innocent people, then you'd give every nation in the world to see us as insane monsters, not to mention possibly destroying close to 50% of the what's left of the world's oil supply.

I haven't been in the military, but I've seen pictures and read about what happened in Japan (and the long after effects to the cities) near the end of WW2 and something like that should never happen again... all the horrible things that happened to that many people.

maybe you were just guessing... but wouldn't it be better, if you're going to do something "ultimate threat" style... why not take out that crazy little Kim Jong Il in N. Korea. and doesn't Iran have until the end of this month to stop their nuclear efforts or face the wrath of the U.N.?

[Eagle101]

The security of the supply lines to Iraq from Kuwait is of great interest to Demopolis and the surrounding area. That is the mission of the Demopolis NG unit. They run convoys in and out of Kuwait every day. Many of you know someone in the unit. These convoys are well protected and almost every one is attacked in some way, small arms fire or IED's.

When we dropped the bomb on Japan ending WWII, mostly civilians were killed or lived with the effects of it for the rest of their lives. As horrible as it was, ten times as many casualities were predicted if the U.S. launched another D-Day invasion like we used in Europe. Just in the invasion to take Okinawa, the U.S. lost 12,000 KIA and about 38,000 wounded during the 30 day battle. The world saw the power of nuclear weapons and most became terrified of them. The science, technology and ability of countries like North Korea and Iran to build nukes will, or has, put us right back into a cold war.

We were fighting WWII on three basic fronts, Europe, Pacific and here at home. At home we had to have "homeland security" even back then and troops had to be trained and equipment manufactured. The draft supplied the men and just about every family had members in service. Troops and supplies were stretched thin and items were rationed here at home. When the war was over in Europe, some of those troops were sent to the Pacific.

Today we have no draft. The troops serving today are there because that is what they chose to do. The reenlistment rates in all the services is very high. Each branch of service usually meets recruiting goals. The basic training locations have not slowed down, cut back or closed down. These troops know they may end up in Iraq or Afghanistan. We see demonstrations against the wars but not anything close to what it was during Vietnam. That is because of two basic things, there was a draft back then and today we have all volunteer services. Most of the war protesters during Vietnam were draft age people who just didn't want to get their ***** shot at. Public opinion turned against the war and politics lost the war. Our troops didn't lose a major battle. Coupled with the South Vietnamese not wanting freedom enough to fight for it, our military was forced to cut and run. That is want many of our polititians want us to do today. To score a few more votes to take back power, we have members of our U.S. Congress who want us to stop what we are doing, pack up and come home. Cut and running again. Many of them were protesters during Vietnam (Senator Clinton) or in Congress (Senator Kennedy). I believe mistakes were made in our Iraq operations. But if we pulled out now, the U.S. just may as well as just join South Vietnam and say we don't want freedom bad enough. We didn't lose over 2500 of our troops and many thousands more with major wounds to not finish the job. The November U.S. elections will decide the fate of not just us here but of the people of Iraq. Will they end up like South Vietnam?

[fleming]

If you would like a clearer picture of the U. S. involvement in the Israel/Lebonese conflict go to:

http://www.washington-report.org/html/us_aid_to_israel.htm

I won't say this organization is not biased but what org. today isn't. This Org. was co-founded by a west Alabama native whose sister lives in Demopolis. He was a career foreign service officer and an ambassador to Qatar when he retired.