I've been saying it for months - Tonkin revisited.

[johnaries]

We've already got ships in the gulf doing "wargames". We are sending more - not to replace them but to join them.

I have a friend whose son is a new officer in the Marines who is being sent to join these "war games". His company had been told that at least a third of them will be re-assigned to infantry duty. Why would Marines be re-assinged to Infantry in a Naval wargame?

I have another friend whose step-brother was retired Special Ops. He was reactivated, and will be joining the "wargames". He will not be Special Ops - he was given command of an ordinary infantry unit. Of course, being Special Ops he was notoriously silent about anything he was doing. Except that my friend knew him very well, and although he wouldn't talk about his mission he was very busy "making his peace" with all his family and she could tell that he doesn't expect to come back.

Yep, even though you don't see it on CNN, we're poking Iran with a stick. We will keep on poking them until they slap us and tell us to stop. Then Bush will claim "they attacked us" and want War.

God, I hope I'm wrong. Please, God, prove me wrong. In this case, I don't want to be right. PLEASE prove me to be just a blithering idiot or a "tin-foil hatter".

[Monkeyman]

1. God I hope your wrong But i don't think you are

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Well we are moving units that have not finished

their taining cycle either into theater... bush is that insane

[johnaries]

5. Exactly! Why?

None of this makes any sense. Unless he's trying to goad another country into action. Then it all make sense.

At this point, my only solace is that Bush is nuts, and I only hope he's not smart enough to do what I'm afraid he's doing. But, he does have some cunning puppet-masters. And he is the perfect puppet.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Well if the goal is chaos

or to wag the dog... they are going exacly to plan

[jpak]

25. Iran's Bushehr reactor will start fueling in March and be ready for operation in September

If Bush attacks it after it begins operation (with a few million curies of fission products in its core) - it will cause a "Big Mess".

If they intend to take it out - it has to be done before then.

The clock is ticking...

[riderinthestorm]

30. Exxon and BP's contracts for complete control of Iraq's oil fields will be signed in a few weeks.

It's going to be a race to get the contracts signed before Iran's reactor is blown. Follow the oil money in this mess and it's apparant to me that BFEE is ensuring that there are enough troops in Iraq to keep the lid on the chaos until the contracts are signed. Then Exxon, BP and all the rest of the Secret Cheney Energy Task Force Committee will ramp up their mercenary armies that have been getting trained up in Iraq already to guard THEIR oil fields.....

The manufactured incident in the Gulf, blamed on Iran to provide the necessary cover for the strike at Bushehr, will probably come in late Feb. This is a wider regional conflict imho, being played out in Iraq, with dangerous religious overtones, fueled by greed and oil.

[TomInTib]

11. Because we are fucked, that's why.

Scaping is just scraping.

There ain't nothing left, n.

[Rebellious Republican]

7. There is no god, otherwise he would not allow Satan to be driving us

toward Armageddon!

:argh:

[TomInTib]

10. This is what I have been dreading, Monkeyman

I have been hearing this buzz from some old SO buddies of mine.

Do you know that we are eligible until the age of 62?

This is killing me, man.

See my reply somewhere below in this thread.

Heaven help us all.

Because ain't nobody else gonna do it.

Tom

[Monkeyman]

15. 42 Was the last I heard but you may be right shit again

[TomInTib]

19. No. Fuck, man

I got a letter a few years ago from BUPERS.

Told me I am eligible for six more years (I am now 56).

Did I ever tell you about my thing in Panama?

[johnaries]

2. Oh, yeah. It explains the "surge"

he wants more troops in Iraq so he can re-deploy them quickly - to Iran.

The whole purpose of invading Iraq was to provide a staging area from which to "stabilize" the rest of the Middle East. they don't want Iraq's oil, they want ALL the oil.

[ReadTomPaine]

4. The numbers don't add up for an attack, but the harsh rhetoric does.

With Bush at the helm, it's anyone's guess at this point. Logic doesn't enter into these equations anymore.

[johnaries]

6. Remember, Rumsfeld convinced Bush smaller is better. nt

[Virginia Dare]

28. It doesn't count the mercs, which are large in number...n/t

[magellan]

8. Here, unfortunately, is the surest sign yet of their intent

LBN - "Administration: No plan to strike Iran"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2686831&mesg_id=2686831

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. OH SHIT

in their world this means, we will be at war very soon, with Iran... god help our swabies in the gulf, they will be the fist to feel it

[TomInTib]

9. When they begin calling up SO, we had better all get ready

God, this just freaks me completely out.

You see, SO troops are eligible for recall until the age of 62.

I know this, all too painfully.

For I am one of them.

I was sent to Panama in 1989.
After seeing no action whatsoever since 1972.
I was old and I had kids and nobody gave a damn.

This thing about your friend's step-brother is exactly what I have been dreading.

Not about me, but this just means that we are out of rope, out of ideas, and out of luck.

We are so screwed.

After reading your post, I doubt that I will be able to sleep tonight.

God help us all.

Damn

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Trust me I don't sleep at night

fearing a recall of my husband... he is liable to a recall.

My brother in law, if they recall him we are truly you know what...and I do hope they don't start scraping that bottom but moving Stryker Brigades with troops straight out of basic without a visit to the box at the NTC is just fucking insane

[johnaries]

16. Please, try to get some sleep.

We may need you to help get the word out, tomorrow. We need you fresh and rested.

Thank you for the service you have given, and for the service you continue to give.
:patriot:

[Monkeyman]

17. Sleep Brother Sleep let me check this shit out

Dam they call me back all shit will break out. Sir No Sir

[TomInTib]

21. Trust me, Brother

We will back into the most convenient granite corner at the Darien bus station.

I am so weary of all of this business.

We will be out the window and in the alley and running free.

After all, Monkeyman, we got nothing left to lose.

This shit is beginning to make me crazy. Along with a lot of my friends.


OK, Monkeyman (because it is just you and me - everyone else can just go away), I am gonna cool out, now.

But I am still pissed off.

I am so pissed off that I am pushing on parts of me that still hurt.

Damn

[johnaries]

22. Anything you can find out, I'd love to know as well. nt

[Virginia Dare]

23. I have heard rumours that Drs, nurses and medics...

are desperately needed, they will be called up first most likely.

[TomInTib]

27. Yeah, my cousin is sweating it.

He was Delta (and is now one of the world's foremost thoraxic surgeons) and was called up in the early stages of Afghanistan.

They were bringing him in to work on SO troops.

We are not even hearing the half of it.

The stuff he told me chilled me to the bone.

[johnaries]

18. OK, this post has me tightening the chin-strap on my tinfoil hat.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x3109671

In the U.S. House today, Republican Rep. Walter Jones (NC) introduced a resolution requiring the President "to receive congressional authorization to use military force against Iran," reports McClatchy Newspapers.

"The resolution requires that – absent a national emergency created by an attack, or a demonstrably imminent attack, by Iran upon the United States or its armed forces – the President must consult with Congress and receive specific authorization prior to initiating any use of military force against Iran," Rep. Jones said in a press release.

Although the bill SOUNDS good, it's this exception that scares me. The President must already get authorization from Congress, after the post-Vietnam resolution. However, if I'm right and Bush goads Iran into attacking or threatening our forces in the gulf, his lawyers could argue that the exception in this resolution gives Bush the authority to retaliate WITHOUT asking Congress.

Write your Congressman and tell them not to vote for this resolution unless that exception is REMOVED!

[JCMach1]

20. Was checking the oil tanker traffic on the East Coast of UAE

yesterday... i.e. entry point into the Straits of Hormuz.

Oil tankers usually look like one long train stretched as far as you can see one after the other.

Today, they were clumping in groups.

I am wondering if the Navy has secretly begun escorting proper, or exercises...

:shrug:

[blues90]

24. When some keep talking about ground troops ?

From what I hear what will we need ground troops for ? Also if Israel is involved as they may very well be don;t they have the ground troops needed ?

I just really wonder how much time we have before this entire thing explodes into another war .

[johnaries]

26. Like I said, one friend's Marine son said 1/4 of their company

was told they will be re-designated as infantry.

Why so many infantry troops in Naval maneuvers?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

29. Keith Olbermann brought up this possibility last week while talking to Jonathan Alter

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16596476/

OLBERMANN: While we have the Vietnam parallels on the table, could we be looking at another Gulf of Tonkin? By moving that carrier group, sending a Patriot missile battalion into the Persian Gulf, by storming an Iranian consulate in northern Iraq, might the U.S. be looking to materially provoke Tehran?