NationStates Jolt Archive

Retirement (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7290826.stm) of an Admiral over policy differences.

The commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan
well this can't be a good sign.
The Esquire article suggested Adm Fallon was standing up to a president supposedly contemplating war with Iran.
He is described in the article as "the strongest man standing between the Bush Administration and a war with Iran".
Mr Gates said the idea, suggested in the article, that Adm Fallon's departure indicated that the US was planning to go to war with Iran was "ridiculous".
He said "there is a misperception" that the admiral disagreed with the Bush administration's policies towards Iran. "I don't think there were differences at all," Mr Gates said.
War with Iran? ahhhhh not another war, baaaaad idea.
The Bush administration's official policy towards Iran is to use diplomatic and economic pressures to resolve differences while retaining the possibility of military options.

The US and other Western nations suspect Iran is using its nuclear programme to develop atomic weapons - a charge Tehran denies.
The parts which caught my eye are in bold.
This sounds like similar reasons the US claimed for war against Iraq.
I imagine the troops currently fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq might be a bit miffed at him stepping down early. Might make them question what they're fighting for if their own commander doesn't like what's happening.

So i was wondering, is this talk of war with Iran likely to happen?

The talk of war with Iran is happening right now.

The actual war? Well, Bush has committed political suicide long ago. I don't think so but hell, I didn't think when he was elected in 2000 that we'd end up in Iraq.

baaaaad idea.

That typically fails to deter fools.

That typically fails to deter fools.

Let's just hope it is a good idea then...

That typically fails to deter fools.

I still have faith in humanity. Maybe Bush won't roll the dice on this one?

Let's just hope it is a good idea then...

But reverse psycology doesn't work on President Weedwhacker. It only encourages him.

War with Iran is imminent. Yet another war for Israel.

War with Iran will either fail in a spectacular manner, or end up with a bankrupt, isolated USA government.

Maybe even both.

It's sad that disagreement results in one losing their job.

I still have faith in humanity. Maybe Bush won't roll the dice on this one?


I get the feeling Bush will be extra spiteful to the next comer to the presidential seat, and will launch the war, about two days before he's meant to vacate it.

If we were to be reasonable on this, we might note the lack of a big pro-war marketing campaign since the intelligence report came out saying Iran wasn't making nukes. We would also note the US military's situation and the fact that it wouldn't be able to be as decisive as it would want to be. We would note the President's political situation and of course the lack of popular support for yet another conflict.

Bush is an idiot, but unlike a few years ago, we don't have a situation seemingly geared entirely to accommodate him. So no, I don't think anyone other than the usual military strategists are thinking or talking about a war with Iran.

I still have faith in humanity. Maybe Bush won't roll the dice on this one?

More likely he will just place both of them on "one".

But reverse psycology doesn't work on President Weedwhacker. It only encourages him.

Yes. He might be called intelligent, if he were six-years-old.

It's sad that disagreement results in one losing their job.

Unfortunately, that seems to have been this administrations SOP when dealing with dissent, especially on military matters.

As for the possibility of a war with Iran, that's pretty low IMHO. It's possible Bush will order it, but the window of opprotunity is rapidly closing.

This is not the first high-ranking military official to resign, nor is this the first to reportedly do so due to differences with the administration regarding Iran.

It ought to be quite clear...Bush wants a war with Iran. Nuclear weapons have little to do with it...it is an ideologically driven decision.

It is the military who recognize the fact that we do not have the capability to both sustain our current committments and accomplish the goal of reducing the Iranian military to scrap metal.

In fact, the only person who doesn't seem to recognize that fact is the Commander-in-Chief. Fucking pathetic, if you ask me.

Looks like my dream of mooning the draft board may someday come true after all.

The fact that the joke option has more votes than anything else shows how sick people are of this issue

Sure, things are tense between Iran and countries such as The United Kingdom, Isreal, and America. And a combined effort would be more than a match for Iran's military.

But, the same thing will happen as in Iraq, we invade, wipe the floor with them, then they turn the tide with insurgent tactics. It would be another war we could NOT win.

There is no point or need for war with Iran.

Sure, things are tense between Iran and countries such as The United Kingdom, Isreal, and America. And a combined effort would be more than a match for Iran's military.

But, the same thing will happen as in Iraq, we invade, wipe the floor with them, then they turn the tide with insurgent tactics. It would be another war we could NOT win.

There is no point or need for war with Iran.
You are aware that Iran is much larger than Iraq and that it's military is nearly twice the size of what Iraq's was before the invasion, right? The terrain is also a bit more rugged.

[captain obvious]The last thing this country needs right now is another war. :headbang:[/captain obvious]

Here's the funny thing.

"If, in the dying light of the Bush administration, we go to war with Iran, it'll all come down to one man. If we do not go to war with Iran, it'll come down to the same man. He is that rarest of creatures in the Bush universe: the good cop on Iran, and a man of strategic brilliance. His name is William Fallon," reads the magazine article.



Hunh... So the 'press', by beating the peace drums about stopping their reported Bush Administration rush to war with Iran, have managed to remove the "one man" they think could stop it.

I'm sorry but how long has this war been talked about?

I mean ffs I almost hope it happens so we can all masturbate to invading somewhere else for a change

We. Are. Fucked. (http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=12503)