Comments on: Precious Bodily Fluids

By: libbyliberal

libbyliberal — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:18:37 +0000

Are you expecting the Bush adm. to apply reality to this situation?

By: MrToad

MrToad — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:09:59 +0000

Way, way back there! When I first saw the story about Riper and the wargame, I immediately thought of Len Deighton’s ‘Billion Dollar Brain’. Of course, there it was a British wargame under NATO(US) command and the opposition forces commander was in charge of Soviet units. Otherwise, strikingly similar. There is always a question about whether the side represented by the imaginative wargamer will actually use such unusual tactics (since professional militaries are generally pretty similar in how they think). In this case, though, I would expect the Iranian leaders to use their assets as best possible. To plan for them to fight the way you want them to is asinine. Of course, to invade Iraq without any sort of contingency planning was equally asinine, so I won’t make any predictions.
God, I wish we didn’t have a ‘faith-based’ government.

By: SouthernDragon

SouthernDragon — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:01:52 +0000

Way down in EPU hell but I just have to reinforce this sentiment.

Fuck the VFW.

By: bemar

bemar — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:28:18 +0000

This is a little frightening. Any idea how reliable the source is?

By: kirk murphy

kirk murphy — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:24:30 +0000

Soviet Union: the first Cold War empire to collapse from unsustainable military spending.

According to Chalmers Johnson, the American empire will be the next.

By: barbara

barbara — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:20:54 +0000

Got here too late to participate, but this is a great post! There. I said it and I’m glad.

By: DWBartoo

DWBartoo — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:56:52 +0000

demi, I don’t know if my soul is ‘good’, as for the rest, I can only agree.

My vitrol, such as it is, is not directed toward those here in attendence, but rather toward those who would destroy all that I cherish and care about.

Those who would use the military (and those ambitious ‘Brass’ who would happily go along) to help in that destruction are my especial targets.

For the ‘foot-soldiers’ both military and civilian who are caught up (as are we all) I have nothing but concern …

As to the ‘leadership’, including the ‘loyal’ opposition (many of whom are invested in the military-industrial complex, literally) I have nothing but contempt …

By: Hugh

Hugh — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:53:04 +0000

I put this in the next thread but it is more relevant here.

I was just going through the calculations for the June window for an attack on Iran. The whole window extends from May 30 to June 12. During this period, the sun sets over Iran around 8:30 PM and rises around 6:30 AM. The sun contributes to the least amount of light in the sky at this time between about 1 AM and 4:30 AM. The new moon occurs on June 3, a Tuesday. The best dates for an Israeli attack taking a northern route happen during the first half of the window, May 30 (a Friday) to June 4. Because US forces are closer and do not need to fly over third countries, they have pretty much the whole window available whereas the second half of the window is very problematic for the Israelis. Other factors to keep in mind are how many US carriers remain in the region, where Petraeus is and what his job title is, and the ongoing withdrawal of US ground forces in Iraq due to the exhaustion of the “surge”.

By: Stormcrow

Stormcrow — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:51:52 +0000

TomJ @ 115, have you been keeping up with the trials and tribulations of the poor bastards at Natanz who actually have to work with that stuff?

Arms Control Wonk has been reporting on their extended agony for the last three years.

They’ve got to be about half an inch from going full-out “ban the bomb”, just from the frustration alone.

By: ncopernicus

ncopernicus — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:48:46 +0000

Tried to digg this, but they told me the topic is not valid???

probably taking it waaaaaaay too literally ; )

Yep, the ‘eek’ factors are definitely skewed.