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'We Gathered Intelligence' More

'We Gathered Intelligence'

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  • As long as they were in Iraqi and/or international waters, what exactly did the Iranians expect? Is this any worse than Cuba having a Soviet listening post for 30 years monitoring American communications?
    • AFTER RTFAing- this wasn't even that sophisticated. Their "gathering intelligence on the Iranians" consisted entirely of interviewing Iraqi fishermen about the boats they spotted and the problems they had fishing.

      In fact, I'm amazed that the British Navy relies on eyewitness reports from Iraqi fishermen to track on-surface Iranian boat movements. What's wrong, isn't MI5's version of Google Earth good enough for them?
    • As long as they were in Iraqi and/or international waters...

      That part of the border that's offshore is very "fluid" so to speak. The dispute continues and just makes my case against the concept look better every day. Well...maybe not for the pirates and the arms dealers, but for the rest of us...oh baby, free at last. We can roam with the buffalo and migrate with the birds. Free to follow the food wherever it goes. Or...you can stay put if you like and have the food come to you.

      So...Anyway...Iran-Iraq...(oh
      • So...Anyway...Iran-Iraq...(oh, god, this is so 80s!)

        I wish it was the 1980s- then we had a right wing nutjob president who at least knew how to win a war in less than 48 hours.

        So...Anyway...Iran-Iraq...(oh, god, this is so 80s!) So whadowegot? Money here, money there. This money wants to kill and replace that money, right? So you got money flying all around everywhere. Money bein' money. You got money flinging money at money. Do you get what I'm saying here? There is no Iraq and Iran. They are 20th ce
        • I think we need to pull out of the entire region and let it self-destruct.

          That's just it. If all the outsiders pulled out, it most likely won't self destruct. In fact the area might even flourish. But we'll probably never know. The money is just too irresistible.
          • That's just it. If all the outsiders pulled out, it most likely won't self destruct.

            I would hope so- but the Shia-Sunni violence in Iraq and the obvious wish of Palestinians to destroy Israel Zionists would say different. If we pull out, the extremeists will win. What I'm saying is that isn't entirely a bad thing.

            In fact the area might even flourish. But we'll probably never know. The money is just too irresistible.

            The funny thing is that long term, there's more money in pulling out and not trading
            • If we pull out, the extremeists will win.

              Maybe so, but they won't last long. Change is hard, but it would settle out, and if it doesn't, oh, well...
              • Maybe so, but they won't last long. Change is hard, but it would settle out, and if it doesn't, oh, well...

                I come from a family where tradition and duty are paramount. Change is nearly impossible in such a situation. But I agree- they won't last long. Once they've killed each other off, the region will once again be available for colonization. Which is why I say there's a good deal more money in letting them fight it out rather than maintaining the status quo and trying to make peace and democracy in
                • ...maintaining the status quo and trying to make peace and democracy in the region.

                  You're half right. The profits come from the conflict. The stock portfolios are looking great. War IS the status quo. Peace and democracy are the very antithesis to this.

                  And for what?

                  Pick another point of view, and you will have your answer.
                  • You're half right. The profits come from the conflict. The stock portfolios are looking great. War IS the status quo. Peace and democracy are the very antithesis to this.

                    To maintain the war, the United States has to maintain the farce that we are spreading "Peace and Democracy" in an area of the world that wants neither. Pulling out won't produce peace, because that area of the world doesn't want peace. But the profits from the conflict are short term profits- they will cost us more in the long tem than
      • Baghdad was - since it's inception - a principly Persian city. It's name is in the Persian language, meaning Given by God. Since the fall of Assyria, Culture in the regiaon meant Persian or Grecian - withthe Grecian far more deeply indebted to the Persian than is usually recognised in the west. The Dorians themselves were Indo-Aryan latecomers from the Caspian, in terms of near eastern history.

        That said, the Abbasid Caliphate set up it's seat in Baghdad, giving it an Arab dynatic stamp. The Iraq plateau
        • I wish I had as much interest in history when I was in school as I do now. My problem now is that I simply can't follow all these entangled relationships anymore. Dementia is creeping in, and I'm enjoying every minute of it. Saves money on mind altering drugs. Anyway, I saw in the papers about the these recent disputes over the where the border is off shore, which I guess led to this what I prefer to call, distraction. Normally I would think it's merely a line that extends perpendicular from the border on t
          • The British are pretendingthere was a hard line, perpendicular to the shoreline. In most cases there are all sorts of interesting trigonometries to figure this out - and most countries with costal borders would have a dispute if you tried to reconcile them with Tony Blair's compass and dividers.

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