Britain took part in mock Iran invasion

[bear425]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,1754307,00.html

Pentagon planned for Tehran conflict with war game involving UK troops

Julian Borger in Washington and Ewen MacAskill
Saturday April 15, 2006
The Guardian


British officers took part in a US war game aimed at preparing for a possible invasion of Iran, despite repeated claims by the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, that a military strike against Iran is inconceivable.
The war game, codenamed Hotspur 2004, took place at the US base of Fort Belvoir in Virginia in July 2004.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman played down its significance yesterday. "These paper-based exercises are designed to test officers to the limit in fictitious scenarios. We use invented countries and situations using real maps," he said.

The disclosure of Britain's participation came in the week in which the Iranian crisis intensified, with a US report that the White House was contemplating a tactical nuclear strike and Tehran defying the United Nations security council.

-more-

[NJ Democrats]

1. UK will never go into Iran

They are sapped and the Blair gov. would fall if that happened.

[HereSince1628]

2. Now there is a saber rattle if I ever heard one.

very well catapulted, you know, gotta give the DoD credit when it's due.

[Deja Q]

3. How has the UN responded to Iran's insult?

And will the UN confirm it is obsolete by inaction?

[mazzarro]

5. Now the obsolesce of the UN - again?

I guess the UN is relevant only if it is the lap dog of western governments - especially US and Britain!

[TheBaldyMan]

7. I think the time has come for the international community to tell the US

and Iran to stop playing their bloody stupid games.

If the US had held out for a second UN resolution the situation in Iraq might not have proved so disastrous for all involved, it may have been less profitable for the war profiteers. Now the UN should unite and place the US in a position where it will have a choice. Comply with good sense or to use it's veto.

If the EU, Russia and China can be persuaded to push a little in the security council and it would only take the smallest amount of political pressure, the Bush administration will have to do the right thing or face sanctions itself.

A lot of column-inches have been printed warning of a possible global recession if America stops importing asian goods and oil. However an oil embargo on the US would seem to be the only thing that would stop the Bush administration's deeply flawed policy in it's tracks. There's a big market in the EU and the far-east so the recession wouldn't be complete, everyone would suffer but peace has a price. The question would be: what price would you be willing to pay.

[peacetalksforall]

4. HOTSPUR? Spur the world into destruction. Burn? What jerks! Total

mucked up jerks.

[Haole Girl]

16. Hotspur 2004?

And, what did they mean by 2004? Edit: Just read that it took place two years ago. Interesting.

[peacetalksforall]

17. Was there a HOTSPUR 2005 and will there be a HOTSPUR 2006?

2005 was when they moved the U.S. solidiers/intell in to Iran - there were posts to DU saying so and so was on their way - assigned?

2006 means going live?

I am sick. The Iranian people don't deserve to die. Our kids don't deserve to die.

FOR THIS MADNESS!!!!!!

I don't understand the military thing to come up with these horrible names.

[allemand]

6. Seymour Hersh: "nobody knows what will happen if Bush calls Blair".

I could add, if you want to get even more scared, some of our closest allies in this process -- we deal with the Germans, the French and the Brits -- they're secretly very worried, not only what Bush wants to do, but they're also worried that -- for example, the British Foreign Officer, Jack Straw, is vehemently against any military action, of course also nuclear action, and so is the Foreign Office, as I said, but nobody knows what will happen if Bush calls Blair. Blair's the wild card in this. He and Bush both have this sense, this messianic sense, I believe, about what they've done and what's needed to be done in the Middle East. I think Bush ("Blair"?) is every bit as committed into this world of rapture, as is the president.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/12/1359254

:scared:

[fedsron2us]

15. Be very afraid

Blair has a giant ego . He will want to be part of any major world event so he can secure his place in 'history' no matter what the cost. Fortunately, the rest of the his party, including some senior cabinet members, are tiring rapidly of his foolhardy and vainglorious delusions. Let us pray that they decide to get rid of him before he can do any more damage.

[sweetheart]

8. They've been practicing for it

at the cape wrath bombing range as well.
I wrote a post about this last november that i
can't find now on an archives search, though i still
have a print.

This post from nov 2005 printout that i can't find
anymore on the search tool: "i found this thoughtform on the beach"

As i'm flying my tornado aircraft, i'm preparing to bomb targets in iran,
training for that on the Cape Wrath bombing range.

The bouncing bombs have gone to their heads.

Then oh, not real, such a thought could be? Ssayeth thy ghost?

Yet tough words beg tough action, and Tony Bliar has all but insinuated
war given the already forward position of British troops on iran's border,
andt he skirmishes already downplayed, in a volatile proximity to
sovereign indignity.

And two imperial armies stand surrounded in bagdhad, by an angry insurgency,
one that includes all moral sentiment of the popular majority. And so it
remains then a war of attrition, and as the empires bankrupt themselves in
greed, they plan even more forward measures that are unthinkable,
preemptive measures untenable, not right... upsetting.

Gosh, its amazing what trash washes up on the beach these days.

Or perhaps, if they ARE gonna drop the bombs, then they shouldn't drop
the thoughtforms like leaflets, that a loyal person might report a crime
in progress.

But what if some terrorists hyjakked a tornado squadron and bombed all
the nuclear facilities in iran, would we be safer then?
"

[TheBaldyMan]

9. Is this the link you mentioned?

I found this thoughtform on the beach tonight

[sweetheart]

14. yes of course

Thanks, you're better with the search tool than i.
Heck, i even had the posting date from a printout, but
not the forum and i couldn't find it.

To a peaceful island not in any wars.

namaste,
-s

[IndianaGreen]

10. The UK troops are the Hessian guards for US imperialism

However, Hotspur took place at a time of accelerated US planning after the fall of Baghdad for a possible conflict with Iran. That planning is being carried out by US Central Command, responsible for the Middle East and central Asia area of operations, and by Strategic Command, which carries out long-range bombing and nuclear operations.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,1754307,00.html

Why isn't there an outcry about all the war planning which was first outlined in the PNAC document long before Bush took power? I am more convinced than ever that the US is planning to invade the oil rich region of Iran that borders Iraq, and that tactical nukes will be used in the bombing campaign.

[Ezlivin]

11. Can all wars from now on just be mock wars?

It'd save a bunch of lives and we'd probably feel just as satisfied over the outcome.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

12. That sounds more like it

The winners will get the ego-stroke they desire, but no one dies.

[Rex]

13. Sir Henry Percy (AKA Harry Hotspur)

"In the autumn of 1388 Berwick the major border power point was captured by the Scots. This was a slight on Earl Percy’s watchfulness. The siege of Berwick lasted nine days, the final victory being led in person by Sir Harry Percy to whom his father had granted him this most dangerous honour. Sir Harry leapt through with sword shouting ‘esperance’ the Percy motto. He was just 12 years old and was protected by stalwart Northumbrian’s to make sure that he came to no harm. No quarter was given and no Scots survived. But revenge was quick and the Scots tore Northumberland apart for leagues. King Richard intervened on the advice of John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster also a cousin of Richard (as Hotspur was). This intervention by Lancaster was motivated by his desire to see his son Henry Bolingbroke nominated as Richards’s successor. This caused much mistrust between Lancaster and the Percies who were loyal to Richard and eventually led to the troubles culminating in the battle of Shrewsbury in 1403."

Don't the Royals have a son about ready to join in the military fray?