War with Iran - DEFCON 3

[Shaka]

I generally avoid frank because that’s probably more healthy for the board. When I do attack it’s because he has consistently, over several years, mischaracterized my political positions and attacked those strawmen instead of honestly engaging in an actual discussion. He has these made up charactures of anyone on this board that doesn’t immediately go against anything Trump does. In his mind, we are all fascists. It’s tiring. He reminds me of Lifi on CB.

I avoid most political discussion now except for the short, light hearted quip mainly because of the dishonesty in the discussions, a lot of which is perpetuated by frank.

[SteelBlue]

Wild to see Hegseth speaking proudly about air superiority and switching to gravity bombs. We had air superiority in Iraq an Afghanistan within minutes. How'd that work out? Hearts and minds do not go with gravity bombs. I wonder if we're already running low on precision munitions and this is spin?

[dabrockster]

Not to speak for fusnik (heaven knows he doesn't need or want me as his mouthpiece) but it seems his main concern is the potentially upcoming shooting of the innocent American enlisted personnel in the streets and over the skies of Iran.

"Human toll is just beginning..". That statement alone seems to speak to more than just military personnel. The human toll has been taking place in Iran for over 50-years, but I was only speaking to the most recent attacks on their own people..

[dabrockster]

Lol. This has absolutely nothing to do with Frank. Scroll back to post 629. And read the name more carefully.

Why does everything I post (not even related to him) get rebuffed or defended by his protectors..

[dabrockster]

Which is two more than SIX-SEVEN!

[dabrockster]

List of all countries now involved in the Iran conflict.. Looks a bit one-sided. That should say something on how this is going from a country perspective.. Iran going out in a blaze of sham and burning any and what little goodwill they had left. Sure.. Trump and Israel starting this forced this, but they could elect to help Iran, but their decision to bomb these countries sealed their fate.


https://www.axios.com/2026/03/03/ira...-gulf-qatar-us

[SteelBlue]

List of all countries now involved in the Iran conflict.. Looks a bit one-sided. That should say something on how this is going from a country perspective.. Iran going out in a blaze of sham and burning any and what little goodwill they had left. Sure.. Trump and Israel starting this forced this, but they could elect to help Iran, but their decision to bomb these countries sealed their fate.


https://www.axios.com/2026/03/03/ira...-gulf-qatar-us

Do you not remember the list of countries in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars? Do you not remember goat herders in rope sandals giving us the boot? What fate, in your mind, has been sealed? We are likely in for years of asymmetrical warfare. Iran has massive mountains in the south looking down on the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the strait of Hormuz. Those GCC countries are filled with foreign workers, something like 50% of the populations, who aren't going to be interested in sticking around if they are dodging drones and missiles. The damage Iran can do to world economics from those positions alone is staggering. It blows my mind how quickly Americans forget our very recent history. This is what the beginning has always looked like. You don't get regime change from the air, and you don't get lasting regime change when you pick the next regime.

[Northwestcoug]

I see a few GOPs in congress coalescing around either the 'we've been at war with Iran for 47 years' or 'we didn't start this war, but we'll end it'.

Can you get more Orwellian than that?

[dabrockster]

Do you not remember the list of countries in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars? Do you not remember goat herders in rope sandals giving us the boot? What fate, in your mind, has been sealed? We are likely in for years of asymmetrical warfare. Iran has massive mountains in the south looking down on the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and the strait of Hormuz. Those GCC countries are filled with foreign workers, something like 50% of the populations, who aren't going to be interested in sticking around if they are dodging drones and missiles. The damage Iran can do to world economics from those positions alone is staggering. It blows my mind how quickly Americans forget our very recent history. This is what the beginning has always looked like. You don't get regime change from the air, and you don't get lasting regime change when you pick the next regime.

I remember the politicians getting involved and ham-stringing our military due to their political motivations to get re-elected.. It blows my mind that people only remember certain aspects of what we did and did not do.

I agree that the U.S. should not be involved in selecting the next regime but allow the people to decide who will be their next leader. I can only hope we support that and step away once this regime is eradicated.....

[Maximus]

lol

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[SteelBlue]

I remember the politicians getting involved and ham-stringing our military due to their political motivations to get re-elected.. It blows my mind that people only remember certain aspects of what we did and did not do.

Yeah, I'm going to call bullshit here. What was it we did not do that needed doing?

[wally]

I liked operation 'midnight hammer' because i think we can all agree that a nuclear Iran is a 'no-go' zone (put aside the discussion of whether Iran was close to nukes or not, they were still going there ultimately)

This operation I am way more concerned about, obviously, but I don't feel I know enough yet to have a defensible opinion on it. I feel like we have been on a collision course with Iran for a while. I also feel like diplomacy and/or economic sanctions are not going to work with the current regime, and maybe even any future regime that springs out of the same extremist theocracy. Is the solution to force this conflict now, when it looks like the Iranian regime is showing some weakness and hope that Iran selects a leader that will focus more on domestic issues within Iran? Seems like we are just rolling the dice on a new regime, unless there is a more secret plan that is not out there in the public discourse right now. Maybe the solution (outside of a full-scale war, which I am very opposed to) is just "Hey Iran, pick a new leader, and BTW if we don't like that guy we'll just go ahead and kill 'em too! Peace out!"

I have heard that the strikes so far are very specifically targeted. Have specifically avoided any infrastructure like power and water. I have heard that the US gave Israel a 'no kill' list of current Iranian leadership, where Israel just wants to take them all out, Implying that our side seems to have a tiered list of preferred new leadership. I have also heard that this operation might have further-reaching implications regarding supply chain disruptions, access to oil, delaying or precluding any potential action by China toward Taiwan, and Iranian-made drones that make up the majority of what Russia is using in Ukraine. These two examples maybe suggesting that this action on Iran is not necessarily targeted at a wholesale regime change to 'westernize Iran' but just to maybe set them back and hinder other actors a little bit? I do think that Trump wants this done and over soon so that hopefully it can be claimed as a victory going into the midterms. If for whatever reason, this draws us into a more protracted conflict with a negative perception, then Trump has got to know he'll lose the House and battle impeachment hearings in the Senate for the final two years of his presidency.

I have been able to find some 'unbiased' discussions on this conflict where people with differing opinions are discussing objective geopolitical merits or demerits of taking these actions, but it as usual, most discussions start rational and then quickly devolve into "orange man: bad." slop.

[SteelBlue]

US commander said Trump "anointed by Jesus" to attack Iran: Report - Newsweek

[dabrockster]

This may be the path of boots on the ground and not being U.S. boots on the ground.. I am curious how good this is and if it will bring the right leaders to take over Iran or like many have said, I lesser extremist leader..


The Coming Invasion of Iran


The U.S. and Israel are arming Kurdish groups to stage an incursion. What could go wrong?

Days after the United States and Israel killed Iran’s leader, the war is set to enter a dramatic new phase. Thousands of Iranian Kurdish militants are gathering in Iraqi Kurdistan, set to receive American and Israeli financial and military support to launch a major attack on Iranian territory, according to several people with close knowledge of the plan. Other armed militants, such as the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), an exiled opposition group that has long carried out violent operations inside Iran, and Baloch militias that operate on Iran’s southeastern border with Pakistan, are also rumored to be involved.

Last month, five Kurdish Iranian political parties came together to form the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan, signaling their desire for joint political action. The five parties, all of which have military wings, have gathered thousands of their members in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region, a leader of an Iranian opposition group who has been privy to the plans told me. (He requested anonymity, like others I spoke with for this story, because of the sensitivity of the operation.)

According to this person, the operation is to be led by the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (known by its Kurdish initials PDKI), whose leader, Mustafa Hijri, spoke by phone with Donald Trump yesterday. The PDKI has deep roots among Iran’s Kurds. It’s the oldest Kurdish party and a consultative member of the Socialist International. According to the opposition leader who spoke with me, as well as the leader of one of the Kurdish groups aware of but not included in the plan, the U.S. and Israel have set aside significant funds for arms and logistical support to the five Iranian Kurdish groups. (A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said the organization had “no comment on this matter.” The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) The Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, also a consultative member of the Socialist International but more left-leaning than the PDKI, joined the coalition today, becoming its sixth member party. The party had already received arms and financial support separately, my opposition source told me. Khalid Azizi, PDKI’s spokesperson, declined to comment when I reached him by phone.

I spoke with a Kurdish Iranian analyst who is normally based in the United States but has close ties to the Kurdish forces. He was about to leave for Iraq to embed with them. He told me that, to his knowledge, the militants taking part in the operation are Iranian citizens and mostly Kurds. The question of whether the MEK or the Communist Party of Iran (which has roots in Iranian Kurdistan but doesn’t have a military wing) are directly involved was not one I could settle at the time of writing; this source suggested that the Communists were but the MEK was not, but the information could not be confirmed.

Iranian Kurdish forces have long awaited such an opportunity, Shukriya Bradost, a Kurdish Iranian security analyst based in Washington, D.C., told me. “Kurdish parties want to protect the interests of their people,” Bradost said. “They have sought to do so peacefully but, when they get no results, they try other means.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/internat...s-iraq/686231/

[LVAllen]

This may be the path of boots on the ground and not being U.S. boots on the ground.. I am curious how good this is and if it will bring the right leaders to take over Iran or like many have said, I lesser extremist leader..


The Coming Invasion of Iran


The U.S. and Israel are arming Kurdish groups to stage an incursion. What could go wrong?

https://www.theatlantic.com/internat...s-iraq/686231/

Are these the same Kurdish groups that Trump betrayed and left to die by Turkish hands?

You think they'll remember that if they get into power? Probably not. Middle Easterners are famous for having a forgiving nature and short memories.