BREAKING: Trump tells Iran "FAFO"

Not a great way to start the day. I was awakened at sparrow fart by the distant whine of the Fort Mudge air raid siren. Seems that Chief Wiggum, who's in charge of the device, had misinerpreted the news flash on the radio and was warning the populace that Iran was attacking the US of A. In fact it's the other way around.

It's actually the mad mullahs who rule the Islamic Republic of Iran who need to keep their eyes to the skies, as President Donald Trump told the Iranian armed forces to lay down their arms or face "certain death." FAFO!

POTUS also urged the Iranian people to rise up and "seize control of your destiny" as "major" joint American-Israeli strikes against Tehran commenced overnight. 

Why is this happening? Because, after months of palaver, the Islamists refuse to accept limits on their development of nuclear technology. They say it's for peaceful purposes, because, as is well known, Islam is the Religion of Peace(TM).  American security experts, however, think that the Iranians mean to bring peace to the Middle East by nuking Israel. Just a thought, of course.

 Announcing the strikes to eliminate "imminent threats from the Iranian regime" which "directly endangers the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world," President Trump said, "A short time ago, the United States Military began major combat operations in Iran."

The strikes are intended to destroy Iran's stockpiles of missiles and to "obliterate" Iran’s missile production industry, the President said. The intent, he explained,  is to prevent Iranian nuclear-tipped long-range missiles from ever threatening the American mainland or America’s allies in Europe.

This is also about bringing regime change to the Islamic Republic. President Trump called on the armed forces, paramilitary, and police of Iran to lay down their weapons. If they did so they would receive "complete immunity" and be treated fairly, he said, but else would face "certain death". 

 

POTUS also called on the Iranian people to take this opportunity to rise up against the government, stating "the hour of your freedom is at hand" and they would not likely get another second chance. "Stay sheltered," he said, "Don’t leave your home, it’s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will, probably be your only chance for generations… now is the time to seize control of your destiny."

Iraq: Is calling in air strikes enough?

The Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities of Iraq clearly needed help to resist the invasion by the Sunni Muslim terrorists who call themselves "the Islamic state" (ISIS). The word "genocide" springs to mind when 1000s of people are herded like sheep -- lambs to the slaughter -- to the top of a mountain and told that they must either convert to Islam or die.

Divine intervention is called for, prayed for. But God and the Pope have no divisions, as Joseph Stalin famously said, so help must come from those that do. Walt therefore applauds the decision of President Obama to authorise the bombing, by drones and manned aircraft, of ISIS artillery and other positions.

But a question nags at my mind [or what passes for such. Ed.] Can the air strikes be anything but a prelude to an invasion by ground forces? Air power first, tanks and troops next. That's what happened in Iraq the first time. And in Afghanistan. And in Vietnam. That's because air power, awesome though it may be -- remember those scenes in Apocalypse Now? -- is never, by itself, sufficient to enable a foreign power to defeat an army or guerrilla force of locals. Take Gaza as today's example. Hamas isn't beaten yet, and the Israelis know it.

If the Gaza argument isn't persuasive enough, consider the thoughts of Matthew Bunker Ridgway. General Ridgway held several major commands in the United States Army and was most famous for resurrecting the United Nations war effort during the Korean War. Several historians have given him the credit for turning the war around in favour of the UN side.

To quote from The Fifties, by David Halberstam (Villard Books, New York, 1993): In World War II and Korea, and in Korea particularly, [Gen. Ridgway] had seen what the Air Force had promised to do with strategic bombing and how limited, in fact, strategic bombing was as an instrument of policy. If we bombed, he argued, we would end up inevitably using ground troops. Ridgway saw air power as as a sort of high-tech aspirin; it gave some immediate relief, but it did not cure the underlying problem.

In Walt's view, we can no longer refer to the ISIS forces as just terrorists. They are a large, well-trained, well-equipped, battle-hardened army. They are in control of large chunks of Syria and Iraq. How they can be defeated without yet another Western invasion of those countries is our dilemma for today. If anyone has a solution, please don't write to me. Send it to the Prez, because neither he nor his advisors seem at all sure of what to do next.

Waiting for the balloon(s) to go up

This just in...

"President Barack Obama has approved targeted air strikes in Iraq, near the site where some 40,000 religious minorities are trapped on a mountaintop after fleeing from Islamic State militants who have threatened to kill them.

"Obama said the Iraqi government asked for U.S. help in fighting Islamic State militants, who have surged across northern Iraq in the country's Kurdish region, forcing tens of thousands of Christians and Yazidis — a Kurdish ethno-religious community — to leave their homes or risk death."

Meanwhile, to the northwest, Russian troops are massing along the border with Ukraine. NATO has called on Russia to "step back", otherwise they will, errr, well... that's kind of unclear. If (God forbid) NATO wants to call in an airstrike on the Russkis, who're they gonna call? The USAF will, it seems, be occupied elsewhere.

And... yes, there's more... there seem to be two chances of a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, the two chances being slim and none.

What next? To be clear, Walt is glad the USA is coming to the defence of the Christians (etc) in Iraq. Better late than never. And Walt would support the use of lethal force to keep the Russians from gobbling up any more of Ukraine. The fear, of course, is that the Islamic militants and/or Russians might stand and fight. So what should we do? Walt's answer: Go big or go home! But...

Memo to Ed.: Remember that bomb shelter we built out in the back 40? Do you remember where I put the key?