So, what do you think about Diego Garcia?

[EndlessWire]

If we are going to attack Iran, which it seems we are, will this take care of the Houthi problem? Do you think it's all a bluff to get Iran to stand down its nuclear program?

If he thinks this will distract us from the havoc musk and trump is currently bombing us with, he is wrong. This latest thing he is doing just plays to his desire to bomb somebody. I also think that this is what Netanyahu planned for, to get us involved in this theater to take care of that problem. Never enough.

If this is all a pressure tactic, how much is this deployment costing us?

How long have we been deploying to DG that we didn't know?

This just isn't something I want to watch happen. I guess we'll find out pretty soon. Have you heard anything?

[Duncanpup]

1. It is wag the dog

Oh look a shiny object for MAGA.

[SheltieLover]

2. Exactly!

Dunc would agree that you're an expert in wagging tails.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. tRump sent a demand letter to Iran three weeks ago. They responded or will respond through the Omanis. . . nt

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

4. We're prepping to attack Iran

B2's have enough range to hit Irans suspected nuclear sites without the need to refuel. They are also, as far as I know, the only bombers we have that can carry the GBU-57 Massive ordnance Penetrator. It's a 30,000 lbs bunker buster. Supposed to be able to penetrate 200ft into the ground before detonation of it's 5000lb warhead. The B2 can carry 2 at the same time. Estimates I've seen is we have up to 9 B2's at Diego Garcia, half of our B2 fleet. Plus around a dozen mid air refuelers and 3 C17 cargo planes.

[EX500rider]

5. Yeah sounds like more ordnance then we would need for the Houthis

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

7. Yep

I don't see the need of having that many B2's deployed for the Houthis. I'm not sure what air defenses the Houthis have besides some manpads and maybe some older Soviet era systems, unless the Iranians have supplied them with newer hardware. If that's the case and they have newer SAM systems, then sure, maybe a couple B2's isn't a terrible idea. Overkill probably, but still a generally reasonable use of the B2 if there are modern SAM's to deal with. But 7-9 that are said to be Diego Garcia now? Yea, that's not a deployment for airstrikes against the Houthis. That's a deployment for major military operations against a nation state.

[indusurb]

6. If we attack Iran, we're screwed

Iran has a real army, and the backing of Russia, among others. Not to mention others will be dragged into the war, including Isreal. With so many madmen at the helm, guaranteed that sooner or later nukes will fly. Could very well be the genesis of WWIII, and nobody will untouched.

[milestogo]

9. Emphasis on nukes.

[milestogo]

8. I had to look him up.

Then I found out he is an island. Although I have to believe there are thousands of men named Diego Garcia.

I think we should end all wars and use this island as a vacation spot.

[DFW]

10. The only disagreement I ever had with Wes Clark was over Iran

And I won it. It was almost exactly 20 years ago.

We were right in the middle of the Iraq fiasco, and Cheneybush was/were looking for a distraction—any distraction—to get people’s minds off Iraq by the 2006 midterms. Wes was convinced that Cheney was going to invade Iran. I said I was sure he wouldn’t do it, even if he didn’t have a house on Kish (it’s now no longer in Cheney’s name, but rather!! in Halliburton’s). Wes asked me why I was so sure?

I explained that Republicans never invaded or attacked a country that they knew would shoot back. Reagan invaded the Caribbean island of Grenada. Bush, Sr. invaded Panama. Junior invaded Iraq, but that was a miscalculation. Rumsfeld had said it would take “maybe six days, maybe six weeks, certainly not six months.” Oops. An invasion of Iran would take way more than six months, and if there are a few ten thousand Americans killed in those first six months after the start of an invasion, with a few hundred or thousand POWs as hostages, you can bet before the next election, the voters will turn on the Republicans with no mercy for the ones in office who robotically endorsed the invasion.

I don’t see any huge surge in Republican courage, nor do I see anything we have to gain as a nation from invading Iran, so I still think they’ll huff and they’ll puff and they’ll not invade. Send some missiles or drop some bombs, something we’ll regret later, but actually invade the country? I don’t see it.

[roamer65]

11. $200 bbl oil.

That will be a minimum price, especially when the Saudi terminal and refinery at Ras Tanura is up in flames.

It’s right across the Gulf from Iran.