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Schadow
Vice Admiral
Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 936
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
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 Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 4:46 am Post subject: Do these dots connect? |
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• General Casey is replaced by Lt Gen General David Petraeus as Commander, Multinational Force - Iraq. Gets fourth star.
• General Abizaid is replaced by Admiral William Fallon as CentCom.
• John Negroponte is replaced by Adm (ret) Mike McConnell, former Director of the NSA, as intel chief.
• Zalmay Khalilzad--an Afghan Pashtu Muslim--will be US ambassador to the U.N.
• Three US Navy battle groups are in the Persian Gulf.
• US Special Forces and Coalition naval assets are aiding Ethiopia's efforts in driving Islamists out of Somalia.
• The US has released documents proving that Iran is materially aiding both Sunni and Shiite forces in Iraq.
I have a hunch that the President will announce next Wednesday something more than the widely expected "surge" of troops into Baghdad. The realignments above suggest to me a shift to naval engagement affecting Iran to some extent. The credentials of both Petraeus and Fallon are impressive. Maybe a few strikes on training centers or IED manufacturing sites. The President probably won't lay on many specifics, but some strong hints may come out. The UN won't know what to do about Khalilzad.
The mask needs to come off the fiction that Iran is not a part of the Iraq war. And, I don't think a few precision air strikes would precipitate some great retaliation by Iran. Gaddafi in Libya saw the light rather quickly when Reagan hit him with B-1's back when.
I dunno, I just smell a distinct change in this war is imminent. Then again I may be just be caught in wishful thinking. The war is stuck in a rut.
Schadow
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Capt, 8th U.S. Army, Korea '53 - '54 |
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baldeagle
PO2
Joined: 27 Oct 2004
Posts: 362
Location: Grand Saline, Texas
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 4:57 am Post subject: |
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We can dream, anyway..................
A side benefit......?...........Harry's and Nancy's heads would explode!!!
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"In a word, I want an American character, that the powers of Europe may be convinced we act for ourselves and not for others; this, in my judgment, is the only way to be respected abroad and happy at home." --George Washington |
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kate
Admin
Joined: 14 May 2004
Posts: 1891
Location: Upstate, New York
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 6:29 am Post subject: |
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Interesting Schadow
side note- Gates' official announcement at DoD
| Quote: |
Defense Secretary Gates Announces Recommendations to the President on Key Leadership Positions
“Today, I am announcing my recommendations to the President for nomination to key command and leadership positions in our nation's Armed Forces. America is truly blessed for the service of the outstanding men who are leaving their current posts, and for the superb officers who have stepped forward to take their place.
“Generals Pete Schoomaker and John Abizaid are retiring after decades of selfless and accomplished service to the nation.
<>
“There is no officer at this time better suited to be Army Chief of Staff than General George Casey.
<>
“I am also recommending that Lieutenant General Dave Petraeus be promoted and succeed General Casey as commander of Multi-National Forces ……………..“General Petraeus is an expert in irregular warfare and stability operations, and recently supervised the publication of the first Army and Marine counterinsurgency manual in two decades. Dave Petraeus has been leading the effort to rewrite the military’s doctrine for defeating an insurgency, and, subject to confirmation, he’ll bring all the tools to enable Iraqi and coalition forces to create a stable and secure Iraq. He is the right man to lead our forces in Iraq at this critical juncture.
<>
“I am proposing to the President that Admiral William Fallon succeed General John Abizaid as commander of Central Command. …………. “Fox Fallon is one of the best strategic thinkers in uniform today and his reputation for innovation is without peer.
<>
“I believe that it is essential to have individuals of experience, skill and creativity in key national security positions. However, it is also critical to have a team of individuals whose mix of experience, skills, creativity, and strategic vision make the whole greater than the sum of the individual parts. I have recommended these three men to the President for these positions because I am convinced they have these talents.
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severely snipped, more at the link
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dusty
Admiral
Joined: 27 Aug 2004
Posts: 1264
Location: East Texas
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 8:41 am Post subject: |
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Sooner or later Schadow. Sooner or later.
Iran has to have a slight attitude adjustment. You may have called it I hope. It's past time to deal with this rat's nest.
Dusty
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Left and Wrong are the opposite of Right! |
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Snipe
Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined: 03 Jun 2004
Posts: 574
Location: Peoria, Illinois
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| Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 11:59 am Post subject: |
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Hmmmmm. Let's see. US Troops in Iraq to the west of Iran. US
Troops to the east of Iran in Afghanistan. US Fleet in the Persian
Gulf in the Arabian Sea to the South of Iran. A lot better deal than
was the case when "Jimmy" took a shot at Iran. I wonder if the Dems
can read a map?
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Tin Can Sailor |
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GenrXr
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 05 Aug 2004
Posts: 1720
Location: Houston
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| Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 1:01 am Post subject: Re: Do these dots connect? |
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| Schadow wrote: | • General Casey is replaced by Lt Gen General David Petraeus as Commander, Multinational Force - Iraq. Gets fourth star.
• General Abizaid is replaced by Admiral William Fallon as CentCom.
• John Negroponte is replaced by Adm (ret) Mike McConnell, former Director of the NSA, as intel chief.
• Zalmay Khalilzad--an Afghan Pashtu Muslim--will be US ambassador to the U.N.
• Three US Navy battle groups are in the Persian Gulf.
• US Special Forces and Coalition naval assets are aiding Ethiopia's efforts in driving Islamists out of Somalia.
• The US has released documents proving that Iran is materially aiding both Sunni and Shiite forces in Iraq.
I have a hunch that the President will announce next Wednesday something more than the widely expected "surge" of troops into Baghdad. The realignments above suggest to me a shift to naval engagement affecting Iran to some extent. The credentials of both Petraeus and Fallon are impressive. Maybe a few strikes on training centers or IED manufacturing sites. The President probably won't lay on many specifics, but some strong hints may come out. The UN won't know what to do about Khalilzad.
The mask needs to come off the fiction that Iran is not a part of the Iraq war. And, I don't think a few precision air strikes would precipitate some great retaliation by Iran. Gaddafi in Libya saw the light rather quickly when Reagan hit him with B-1's back when.
I dunno, I just smell a distinct change in this war is imminent. Then again I may be just be caught in wishful thinking. The war is stuck in a rut.
Schadow |
If your analysis proves correct, it could not come at a sooner moment.
Hope you are right Schadow.
_________________
"An activist is the person who cleans up the water, not the one claiming its dirty."
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Founder of Conservative Philosophy |
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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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| Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 4:11 am Post subject: |
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Good perceptions, Schadow.
You are in good company with your hunch.
Ralph Peters, a writer who is expert on military matters, sees the same indications that you observe.
| Quote: |
~SNIP~
ASSIGNING a Navy aviator and combat veteran to oversee our military operations in the Persian Gulf makes perfect sense when seen as a preparatory step for striking Iran's nuclear-weapons facilities - if that becomes necessary.
While the Air Force would deliver the heaviest tonnage of ordnance in a campaign to frustrate Tehran's quest for nukes, the toughest strategic missions would fall to our Navy. Iran would seek to retaliate asymmetrically by attacking oil platforms and tankers, closing the Strait of Hormuz - and trying to hit oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf emirates.
Only the U.S. Navy - hopefully, with Royal Navy and Aussie vessels underway beside us - could keep the oil flowing to a thirsty world.
In short, the toughest side of an offensive operation against Iran would be the defensive aspects - requiring virtually every air and sea capability we could muster. (Incidentally, an additional U.S. carrier battle group is now headed for the Gulf; Britain and Australia are also strengthening their naval forces in the region.)
Not only did Adm. Fallon command a carrier air wing during Operation Desert Storm, he also did shore duty at a joint headquarters in Saudi Arabia. He knows the complexity and treacherousness of the Middle East first-hand.
STRENGTHENING his qualifications, numerous blue-water assignments and his duties at PACOM schooled him on the intricacies of the greater Indian Ocean - the key strategic region for the 21st-century and the one that would be affected immediately by a U.S. conflict with Iran.
The admiral also understands China's junkie-frantic oil dependency and its consequent taste for geopolitical street-crime: During a U.S. operation against Iran, Beijing would need its fix guaranteed.
While Congress obsesses on Iraq and Iraq alone, the administration's thinking about the future. And it looks as if the White House is preparing options to mitigate a failure in Iraq and contain Iran. Bush continues to have a much-underrated strategic vision - the administration's consistent problems have been in the abysmal execution of its policies, not in the over-arching purpose.
Now, pressed by strategic dilemmas and humiliating reverses, Bush is doing what FDR had to do in the dark, early months of 1942: He's turning to the Navy.
AS a retired Army officer, I remain proud of and loyal to my service. I realize that the Army's leaders are disappointed to see the CentCom slot go to an admiral in the midst of multiple ground wars. But, beyond the need for a Navy man at the helm should we have to take on Iran, there's yet another reason for sending Fallon to his new assignment: The Army's leadership has failed us at the strategic level.
After Gen. Eric Shinseki was sidelined for insisting on a professional approach to Iraq, Army generals did plenty of fine tactical and operational work - but they never produced a strategic vision for the greater Middle East.
Our Army is deployed globally, but our generals never seem to acquire the knack of thinking beyond the threat hypnotizing them at the moment (the Marines, with their step-brother ties to the Navy, do a better job of acting locally while thinking globally). Perhaps the Army's Gen. Dave Petraeus will emerge as an incisive strategic thinker after he takes command in Baghdad, but his predecessors routinely got mired in tactical details and relied - fatally - on other arms of government to do the strategic thinking.
The reasons are complex, ranging from service culture to educational traditions, but it's incontestable that the Navy long has produced our military's best strategic thinkers - captains and admirals able to transcend parochial interests to see the global security environment as a whole. Adm. Fallon's job is to avoid the tyranny of the moment, to see past the jumble of operational pieces and visualize how those pieces ultimately might fit together.
NOR is the Iran problem the only Navy-first issue facing CENTCOM. As you read this, our ships are patrolling the coast of Somalia to intercept fleeing terrorists - and have been hunting pirates in the same waters for years. China's future development (and internal peace) is tied to dependable supplies of Middle-Eastern and African oil transiting Indian-Ocean sea lanes, as well as to shipping goods along the same routes. In a future confrontation with China, our ability to shut down the very routes we're now challenged to protect would be vital.
Not least because of the botch-up in Iraq, there's a growing sense of the limitations of U.S. ground-force involvement in the Middle East. That doesn't mean we won't see further necessity-driven interventions and even other occupations, only that our strategic planners have begun to grasp that positive change in the region - if it comes at all - is going to take far longer than many of us hoped and won't always be amenable to boots-on-the-ground prodding.
If we can't determine everything that happens in the Big Sandbox, [b]we need to be able to control access to and from the playground - a classic Navy mission.
And in the end the United States remains primarily a maritime power. As Sir Walter Raleigh pointed out 400 years ago, he who controls the waters controls the world.
Gen. Petraeus is going to Baghdad to deal with our present problems. Adm. Fallon is going to the U.S. Central Command to deal with the future. |
New York Post
Navy's being called on big time.
Uh huh, I kinda like the idea of an Admiral in charge.
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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Schadow
Vice Admiral
Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 936
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
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| Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 3:28 pm Post subject: |
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The dots may be starting to connect. Our guys have stormed an Iranian "consulate" in the Kurd city of Irbil. Laptops were gathered up. From the BBC:
| Quote: | US forces storm Iranian consulate
US forces have stormed an Iranian consulate in the northern Iraqi town of Irbil and seized six members of staff.
The troops raided the building at about 0300 (0001GMT), taking away computers and papers, according to Kurdish media and senior local officials.
The US military would only confirm the detention of six people around Irbil.
The raid comes amid high Iran-US tension. The US accuses Iran of helping to fuel violence in Iraq and seeking nuclear arms. Iran denies both charges.
Tehran counters that US military involvement in the Middle East endangers the whole region.
A local TV station said Kurdish security forces had taken over the building after the Americans had left.
Irbil lies in Iraq's Kurdish-controlled north, about 350km (220 miles) from the capital Baghdad.
Reports say the Iranian consulate there was set up last year under an agreement with the Kurdish regional government to facilitate cross-border visits.
Pressure
Iranian media said the country's embassy in Baghdad had sent a letter of protest about the raid to the Iraqi foreign ministry.
One Iranian news agency with a correspondent in Irbil says five US helicopters were used to land troops on the roof of the Iranian consulate.
It reports that a number of vehicles cordoned off the streets around the building, while US soldiers warned the occupants in three different languages that they should surrender or be killed.
In December, US troops detained a number of Iranians in Iraq, including two with diplomatic immunity who were later released.
Thursday's raid came as US President George W Bush unveiled his new strategy in Iraq, which included increasing troop numbers and a commitment to stop Iranian support for "our enemies in Iraq".
BBC Diplomatic Correspondent Jonathan Marcus says the raid could signal a ratcheting-up of pressure on the Iranians, in line with the rhetorical thrust of his speech. |
Source
I would not be surprised if some Persian Gulf Tomahawks were being fed targeting coordinates right now. Stay tuned.
Schadow
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Capt, 8th U.S. Army, Korea '53 - '54 |
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BuffaloJack
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 10 Aug 2004
Posts: 1637
Location: Buffalo, New York
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| Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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Lt Gen General David Petraeus !
Geez, he's like the re-incarnation of Patton. No nonsense; go get'um; no excuses; the troops would follow him into Hell.
Dubya did his homework on this one.
There probably doesn't exist a better man for the job.
Bravo Zulu, Dubya!
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Swift Boats - Qui Nhon (12/69-4/70), Cat Lo (4/70-5/70), Vung Tau (5/70-12/71) |
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dusty
Admiral
Joined: 27 Aug 2004
Posts: 1264
Location: East Texas
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| Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 6:11 pm Post subject: |
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Iran has literally been getting away with 'Murder' in Iraq. It's high time we put a stop to it.
I can hear the Commiecrats screaming already.
Dusty
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Left and Wrong are the opposite of Right! |
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Me#1You#10
Site Admin
Joined: 06 May 2004
Posts: 6503
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| Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 6:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Iraqis need to identify a common enemy against whom they can develop a sense of national unity. Perhaps the meddling of Syria and Iran will suit that purpose. The Iraqi government should propagandize that reality to its utmost ability. |
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streetsweeper95B
PO2
Joined: 25 Nov 2004
Posts: 365
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:24 pm Post subject: |
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If a young'n can interject something here?
Haven't the people of the Middle East been at each others backs, fronts & throats for centuries now? My thought is, the fighting amongst themselves is so in-grained & gone on for so long that to myself; it's best compared to handling a very ill-tempered cross-bred pitbull.
I'm not understanding of how a people & nation that have historically been at each for so long would understand anything else when they only understand what's broadcast to them by their cleric's over PA's. Am I daft or am I not getting the point?
thanks
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Deuce
Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined: 19 Mar 2005
Posts: 589
Location: FL
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| Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:39 pm Post subject: |
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Streetsweeper,
Not Daft, not even close, you're spot on....but I can't help notice when you put it that way how similar our 2 countries are:
Iraqis
| Quote: | | ...would understand anything else when they only understand what's broadcast to them by their cleric's over PA's |
vs
Americans (liberals)
| Quote: | | ...would understand anything else when they only understand what's broadcast to them by their pundits over the radio/TV/print media |
hmmm, 
just a thought that came to mind when reading your post, perhaps unwarranted, but all's fair in war...as some have alluded to, the whole 'peaceful' mid-East might have had an entirely different recent history, if the successes of the '67 war had not been followed by our president turning his back on the Shah of Iran in the '70's. followed by the Hostage crisis, which only ended the day Reagan took office. OK, OK, I'm biased...but in my mind, this whole current 'worst-case' scenario is Carter's Legacy to our generation....guess for those who really 'enjoyed' the Gulf Wars, they could thank him.../rant...ummm, speaking of 'Connect the Dots'!
Deuce |
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streetsweeper95B
PO2
Joined: 25 Nov 2004
Posts: 365
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:47 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks Duece!
I really was half expecting ME#1 & everyone else to *cuff* me upside the my head! But on the last part...yea there are similarities between the two but then...thats part of why blogs like this are in existance.
I bet it sure does *rankle* the leftist news & groups that we do! On another blog they have a thread about the AQ withdrawing fast through the Diyala Valley towards Iran.
Told 'em my first & only thought is...set up at least a battalion size ambush for 'em.....let 'em get their butt's just inside the bottle neck then slap the door shut on 'em.
It's the only way the outsiders can be gotten rid of. Never mind; they'd sue me in court for *cruel n unusual punishment*
*chuckle*
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kate
Admin
Joined: 14 May 2004
Posts: 1891
Location: Upstate, New York
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| Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 5:22 am Post subject: |
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more dots to add... some high profile targets in that raid
FReeRepublic
| Quote: | Iranian Alert - January 25, 2007 - U.S. Says Quds Force Operations Director Among Detained Iranians
Regime Change Iran ^ | 1.25.2007 | DoctorZin
International Herald Tribune reported that the The U.S. ambassador said Wednesday that one of the Iranians detained by U.S. forces in Iraq during two raids over the past month was the director of operations for Iran's Revolutionary Guard Quds faction, the organization responsible for funding and arming Iraqi militants. An excerpt:
"Some of those we've arrested are Quds Force operatives. One of them was director of operations for the Quds Force" who was in the country without the knowledge of Iraqi security officials ...
snip |
who offed this guy ?
FReeRepublic
| Quote: | IRAN: NUCLEAR SCIENTIST DIES UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES
Tehran, 25 Jan. (AKI) - One of Iran's top nuclear scientists, Ardeshir Hassanpour, a professor at the university of Shiraz, has died under mysterious circumstances. Hassanpour's death was announced by Iranian state television, a week late, on Thursday. No reason was given for his death.
snip |
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Last edited by kate on Sun Jan 28, 2007 4:20 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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