A VERY long read, but very much worth it.

HH
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Iran Plans to Checkmate America

By Mark S. Hanna

www.americanthinker.com/2007/10/iran_plans_to_checkmate_americ.html

Moscow, 1985. The world is riveted as the 24th and final game of the World Chess Championship begins with young Kasparov leading the contest 4 - 3. The chess prodigy needs only a draw against his older and more experienced opponent Anatoly Karpov to win his first world title and be crowned the youngest world champion in history.


Karpov begins by executing an aggressive attack against Kasparov’s king.  “No price is too great for the scalp of the enemy King,” fellow Russian chess master Koblentz once commented. A win for Karpov would tie the match and foil the boy wonder’s title aspirations. Kasparov observes his opponent’s assault, reasons, calculates, tabulates and then in an amazing turn of play, sacrifices a pawn to block Karpov’s surge. The decade-long champion’s incursion fails; Kasparov wins, stunning the world with his ingenuity and boldness.  His sacrificial calculation proved unbeatable and earned him the prize on which he had his eyes since boyhood.  

Two decades later another boy wonder has stepped onto the platform with his eyes on the prize. And again the world is riveted to the stage on which this strategic mastermind plays.  Only in this game, the stakes are much higher and due to the enormous prize, the gamesman is willing to sacrifice much more than a pawn. The trophy? Regional hegemony and a giant step towards the revolutionary raison d’etre of the Islamic Republic of Iran:

The Constitution, having regard to the Islamic contents of the Iranian Revolution, which was a movement for the victory of all the oppressed over the arrogant, provides a basis for the continuation of that revolution both inside and outside the country. It particularly tries to do this in developing international relations with other Islamic movements and peoples, so as to prepare the way towards a united single world community. (The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran)

For Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, A-Jad for short (no offense to the Yankee prodigy), his “Game 24” has arrived and instead of a chess title, victory means Iran’s irreversible progress as Allah’s divinely ordained tool (a good word here) toward the establishment of the “united single world community” or the Islamic Caliphate - a global Islamic government that would look, taste, feel and breath like the current Islamic Republic of Iran.  

A-Jad and his coach, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Hossayni Khamenei, as well as their ½ to 1 million-man army, including 125,000 highly trained Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), have all sworn allegiance to this constitutional mission/mandate. The Religious Army commanded by A-Jad has an even further specific constitutional “responsibility not only for the safeguarding of the frontiers, but also for a religious mission, which is Holy War (JIHAD) along the way of God, and the struggle to extend the supremacy of God's Law in the world.” (Iranian Constitution Preamble)


As with all men with fire in their minds, A-Jad and Team Iran are not only living for this purpose, but will die for it if necessary.  And in this most serious final game being played, nuclear technology and weaponry are the keys to their kingdom come.


Sitting opposite A-Jad and Team Iran are the Western powers led by the US which over the last quarter century have arrogantly toyed with their opponent, affording their challenger the respect and credibility of a third rate farm team.  But the amateur club now sits at the final table and their star player has not only secured the Kasparov advantage, but in his own mind, has so outplayed his nemesis (as have his team mates for the last 25 years) that, incredulously, he has even declared that his victory is inevitable before the match ends.  

“They (his more formidable opponent) do not dare wage war against us and I base this on a double proof…I am an engineer and I am a master in calculation and tabulation. I draw up tables. For hours, I write out different hypotheses. I reject, I reason. I reason with planning and I make a conclusion. They cannot make problems for Iran.”  
The ex-engineer, ex-Internal Security Department “Interrogator” of the Revolutionary Guard, ex-Mayor of Tehran’s second proof: “I believe in what Allah says.”

For Team Iran, victory is inevitable because even if their “drunk and arrogant” opponent makes a last ditch surge to capture their prized nuclear queen by going to war, they won’t be able to do it.  Team America’s pieces have been depleted, and with A-Jad’s pieces positioned as they are, any move on the part of his opponent is a futile effort.   Team Iran’s Lady of Destruction will remain.  Mission accomplished.  


A-Jad celebrated his fait accompli last month by taking an early victory lap.  Arriving in the “The Lion’s Den” of the United States of Babylon, the prodigy was garnered with all the media attention of a hometown hero.  Pompously parading through his opponent’s backyard, A-Jad culminated the show with a lengthy, teary-eyed victory speech before a world delegation of admirers at the UN.  The oration began with his traditional call to Allah to speed up the arrival of his savior, Imam Al-Mahdi, who is hiding in an old well outside Tehran. He then quickly moved to his self congratulatory announcement:

...By the grace of faith in Allah and national unity, Iran has moved forward step by step and now our country is recognized as one with the capacity for industrial scale fuel cycle production for peaceful uses...
Previously, they (his opponent) illegally insisted on politicizing the Iranian nation's nuclear case, but today, because of the resistance of the Iranian nation, the issue is back to the Agency, and I officially announce that in our opinion the nuclear issue of Iran is now closed and has turned into an ordinary Agency matter.
Many attending the sermon thought A-Jad would conclude with some sort of thanks to his team mates (the Revolutionary Guards), the coach (Khamenei) and the estimated 100,000 twelve to sixteen year old human pawns of the Basij (Iran’s “voluntary” citizen militia), who the late master-coach Aytollah Khomeini forced to march in formation across minefields toward the enemy, clearing a path with their bodies during the Iran/Iraq war of the 80s.  He didn’t thank any of them, only the audience for enduring his homily, and Allah who willed that the Basij, the Islamic Republic’s first suicide kid martyrs, wear little green plastic keys (made in Taiwan) tied around their neck as they marched to their gory destruction. The keys, the boys were told, were a symbol reminding them that blowing themselves up opened the doors of paradise.  A-Jad then bowed slightly and took his leave. It was official: Iran won, Team America lost and the nuclear issue was closed.  


But what makes him so certain the nuclear issue is closed? A-Jad arrives at this conclusion because he sees only two possible outcomes to the nuclear stand-off.  Either the US will attack (with or without its allies) or they won’t.  Here’s his irrefutable syllogism: The Islamic Republic of Iran will have nuclear weapon making capability if the US does not attack.  The US will not attack.  Therefore, Iran will have the capability.


Ah ha! you say.  This means that if the US attacks, we’ll stop him.  Not so fast says Boy Wonder. Even if the US attacks, Iran will still at some point have nuclear weapon making capability.  So if the US does attack, Iran still gets its nukes, albeit some day.  Only if the US (or some other power) determines to attack and attack and keep attacking will Iran be stopped.  No power has the will to do this. The queen will always be there for Iran. Eye on the prize.


Take the first proposition, he reasons: Team America does not go to war against Iran. Implications: the UN sends another letter to coach Khamenei, and sanctions continue (possibly even harsher ones are imposed.)  Like Iraq before it (and all other UN sanctioned nations before Iraq) A-Jad simply goes around the unenforceable suggestions and inspection teams, working closely with his friends Chavez, Assad and Kim to get the supplies and resources needed to survive – all the while enriching uranium and multiplying centrifuges.  And because Russia and China oppose any further sanctions, they too help A-Jad, reaping the economic and diplomatic rewards of staying “neutral.”  It is this unacceptable scenario that has Bush and Cheney in a conniption.


Since this option ends in certain defeat for Team America, the only other possible way to play the game and halt A-Jad’s queen, is to attack Iran like Hersh thinks the Bush Administration is preparing to do.  What would be the consequences of this proposition? First, of course, Iran’s known nuclear facilities would be turned into burnt toast, as would their known military facilities, air defenses, arms production centers and terrorist training camps.  But as one of A-Jad’s team mates, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander Mohammad Ali J'afari, hinted last month,

The intelligence that the West currently has on Iran's nuclear program is limited to the sites accessible to IAEA inspectors, and more than that they do not know... Is the [total] number of Iran's nuclear facilities [really] limited to those facilities that have been reported - so that America can be certain that by destroying them it will destroy Iran's entire nuclear program, or at least set it back for a very long time?
With all the confidence the US has in the international watchdog agency, American intelligence on the whereabouts of Iran’s nuclear and military establishments does go beyond the IAEA.  In fact, there is the MEK, the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq, a previously designated terrorist group of Iranian origin that, instead of being radically Islamic like the victors in the 1979 Iranian revolution, were more radically Marxist.  They ended up siding with our good friend Saddam Hussein, so of course their intelligence should be good.  Yes, they did expose the location of the Natanz enrichment facility as well as the heavy water research reactor in Arak.  But wouldn’t Iran know that the MEK knew this and thereby that the US (and the IAEA) would eventually discover these facilities?  Chess masters always think many moves ahead.


More reliable intelligence regarding Iran’s capabilities (nuclear and military) have come from defectors, scientists and academics traveling abroad as well as the exile community which regularly travels back and forth to Iran from the US and Europe.  Nuclear expert David Albright says this information is more reliable than the faulty information regarding Iraq’s WMD programs that the Iraqi scientists, academics and exile community provided because, “rarely would Iraqi [expatriates] ever go to Iraq.  We didn’t have this information.”  He doesn’t explain how the US can truly know if the information being offered from the Iranian exile community is compromised or a deliberately planted false flag (Hitler used these deception techniques masterfully in the Venlo Incident.)


Albright does, however, send a warning regarding the possibility of Iran having unknown centrifuge plants: “There’s nothing distinctive about a centrifuge facility, which is impossible to find if a country chooses to hide it.”


A-Jad has used his mathematical mind to tabulate all the other possible  consequences to a US attack, all of which he concludes would only make the US weaker at home and abroad and none of which would capture his queen.  Take, for starters, international scorn. Barring a 9/11 event directly attributable to Iran, any direct attack on Iran (let alone 2500 sorties) would result in increased world outrage against the US and increased prestige or sympathy for Iran.  This is a positive outcome for Iran. Rook takes Knight, G8.


In addition to increased international condemnation, a US attack would also lead to massive retaliation by Iran, certainly in ways that the US cannot completely forecast. One predictable recoil, however, would be the use of Hezbollah as their international IED against America’s interests abroad and at home.  According to Barbara Newman and Tom Diaz, authors of Lighting Out of Lebannon, Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil, the #3 at the FBI is convinced "Hezbollah makes Al-Qaeda look like Sunday-schoolers, children, kindergartners."  Additionally, they document that at least 14 US cities where Hezbollah has been under investigation: Boston; New York; Newark; Atlanta; Miami-Fort Lauderdale; Tampa-St. Petersburg; Charlotte; Louisville; Detroit-Dearborn; Chicago; Houston; Los Angeles; San Francisco; and Portland and estimate there are many more investigations they don’t know about.


That Hezbollah is in America and operating is not in dispute among intelligence and law enforcement officials.  The question is the extent of their preparation for and willingness to attack.  Walid Phares, Director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, believes Hezbollah has “already acquired its strategic targets” in America.  Executive Director of Central Ohioans Against Terrorism, Patrick Poole documents the litany of recent penetrations, smugglings and illegal entries Hezbollah has made into US territory.  


Their own Secretary-General (who studied under coach Khamenei), Hassan Nasrallah does not mince words about the organization’s objectives: "... We reaffirm the slogan of the struggle against the Great Satan and call, like last year: 'Death to America. To the murderers of the prophets, the grandsons of apes and pigs,' we say: ... 'Death to Israel...'"


Undoubtedly, a wave of suicide attacks on US interests would cause significant economic, political and social injury to America.  And a weakened, even crippled America and West is not only desired by Team Iran, it is expected at some point as a necessity, and therefore an inevitability, for the global caliphate to be established. Such attacks would be justified by Iran as lex talionis (qisas in Arabic) – an eye for an eye. Pawn takes Rook, D2.  


And such a justification, A-Jad knows, brings an even further advance for Iran - possibly the one that would accrue to the greatest advantage in their quest for the caliphate: the increased credibility they would achieve among Islamists and Islamic regimes around the globe.  As in the aftermath of 9/11 and Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 2006, posters of A-Jad would likely appear alongside Osama and Nasrallah throughout the Islamic social centers of the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.  Jihadist recruitment would sky rocket, more Jihadist organizations would emerge, and maybe most significantly, relations and cooperation between Iran and Al-Qaeda would not only strengthen but could now be openly justified (see Iran's Proxy War Against America by Thomas Joscelyn of the Claremont Institute for details of Iran’s relationship with Al Qaeda and Iran’s involvement in 9/11.) Rook takes Bishop, F4.  


Yes there would massive destruction in Iran if the US attacks, but A-Jad and Team Iran know that with these repercussions, the fight would deal a more devastating strategic blow to America. Revolutionary Iran has shown in the past that they are willing to sacrifice more than a pawn to obtain their constitutionally mandated objective of an Islamic world government. In addition to the 100,000+ adolescent martyrs the Islamic Republic sent to their suicidal deaths, the regime may have lost upwards of a million adult men in their war with Iraq.  This is on top of the 60,000 “martyrs” Team Iran lost seizing power during the Revolution.


Losing a few hundred thousand in this mother of all matches would not shake the regime.  Instead, as with their other losses in the past, it would be considered a glorious blood offering to their god of the Kabba which would only strengthen the resolve of this Republic which invented suicide bombings.  (Might Team Iran even be willing to be the first suicide nation?) Knight takes Bishop, C7.


But it is not only the unacceptably high cost that the US will pay that convinces A-Jad that America won’t attack, it is the fact that even with an attack, US and Western objectives cannot be achieved.  


A-Jad has ciphered that the maximum loss for Iran in any kind of US air assault would be acceptable on Iran’s cost/benefit scale.  Convinced that the US couldn’t possibly send enough boots to fight a successful ground war inside Iran while it continues its contests in Iraq and Afghanistan, Team Iran knows their borders are safe.  But even if Team America was foolish enough to try,  A-Jad is confident that his ½ to 1 million man army and upwards of 11 million trained Basij militia volunteers will without hesitation give their lives to protect the queen, resist occupation and advance the global Islamic revolution. Such dedication invalidates the possibility of occupation, they ruminate.  And this, Team Iran resolves, prevents the royal US objective: regime change. Bishop takes Queen, B6.


The best our Red, White and Blue can hope for, the Persian phenom cogitates, would be to knock out the known targets from the air and by on-going guerilla-type sabotage.  But even here, while the bombs dropped and the Special Forces tried to figure out where the real reactors and weapon systems are located, A-Jad and Team Iran would hide securely in their Russian built bunkers that are too deep for our weapons to penetrate. In the meantime, Team Hezbollah and Al Qaeda would jihad American interests at home (possibly with dirty bombs or even suitcase nukes) and around the world sending America (and possibly the world) into an economic tailspin. And after the smart-bomb dust settled, A-Jad would begin to rebuild.  Or more likely, while rebuilding, he would continue to enrich his uranium in the centrifuge facilities that he had hidden from us all along. Checkmate.

bump

HH

I think he is missing something in his "calculations".  Like the fact that the US military will turn his million man army to dust bunnies...

I expect them to have to deal a lot with internal unrest, social upheavalsm and a host of other problems, like accidental leaks from equipment failures at their nuclear facilities, future issues with food, water, disease, gay guerillas, feminism, etc.

This article focuses too exclusively on military options, exported terrorism, etc.  

Reminds me of the scene in Star Wars when Luke was playing a 3-D type chess game with Chewbacca.  What was Han Solo's comment about playing this game with a Wookie?  Something to the effect of the Wookie will tear your arm out if he loses?  

A-jad can talk chess all he wants to but chess is a difficult game to play if someone smashes the board into a bunch of little pieces.

Too bad no prez we've had since Reagan would have the stones to hit that switch.

One can make a strong argument for any position when one substitutes supposition for fact.

There are a lot of suppositions in the article with which I don't agree.

For example; while it's true that the Iranians lost over a milion combatants fighting their war with Iraq to a stalemate, all that they "achieved" was the construction of their infamous "fountain of blood", and the survival of their regime.

The United States achieved regime change in Iraq after waliking through their military like a hot knife through butter.

The islamic fanatics currently in charge of Iran, like all tin pot dictators, don't view a massive loss of their countymen as a negative so long as they remain in charge when the shooting stops; but the bastards are always afraid of being booted from power.

In our war against Japan, a fanatical enemy was willing to die for their emperor; we accomodated them and changed their society from the ground up.

For all their bluster,the weakness of the mullahs is that they don't want to be overthrown.

And it's a weakness that can be exploited.

Good assessment of what the enemy...thinks.

Nicely written, too.

Quoted: For all their bluster,the weakness of the mullahs is that they don't want to be overthrown. And it's a weakness that can be exploited.

Absolutely correct.

tag

Quoted: They MIGHT be able to put one broke-ass pawn on the nuclear table.   We'd never even have to bust out a bishop to turn Iran into a glowing radioactive hole in the ground. Checkmate, bitch. CJ

I would not consider Hizballah a "broke-ass pawn"... but I do agree with you somewhat - mainly in that no matter what the Iranians are planning, they cannot stand up to the true might of the US...

This

In addition to increased international condemnation, a US attack would also lead to massive retaliation by Iran, certainly in ways that the US cannot completely forecast. One predictable recoil, however, would be the use of Hezbollah as their international IED against America’s interests abroad and at home. According to Barbara Newman and Tom Diaz, authors of Lighting Out of Lebannon, Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil, the #3 at the FBI is convinced "Hezbollah makes Al-Qaeda look like Sunday-schoolers, children, kindergartners." Additionally, they document that at least 14 US cities where Hezbollah has been under investigation: Boston; New York; Newark; Atlanta; Miami-Fort Lauderdale; Tampa-St. Petersburg; Charlotte; Louisville; Detroit-Dearborn; Chicago; Houston; Los Angeles; San Francisco; and Portland and estimate there are many more investigations they don’t know about.

keeps a lot of people in positions of power awake at night I am quite sure.

didna read much of it..

checkmate.. no.. perhaps 'check'..

as in.. nukes or dirty-nukes dropped into the main saudi oil fields and perhaps other oil producing regions in the middle beast..

thats the threat friends and neighbors..

"he who can destroy a thing, controls a thing"

american energy independence should be a the top of the list of long term strategic goals..

And a grand round of applause to Jimmy Carter, George Walker Bush, and Bill Clinton...

Carter for allowing these shit-birds to take over Iran in the first place...

And Bush & Clinton for cutting the Army in half...

With just 3 of the divisions they cut (3rd Armored, 2nd Armored, and either 7th or 9th Infantry) we could solve the Iran problem the 'right' way & keep the nut-balls too busy trying to take power back at home to attack us here....

Quoted: And a grand round of applause to Jimmy Carter, George Walker Bush, and Bill Clinton... Carter for allowing these shit-birds to take over Iran in the first place... And Bush & Clinton for cutting the Army in half... With just 3 of the divisions they cut (3rd Armored, 2nd Armored, and either 7th or 9th Infantry) we could solve the Iran problem the 'right' way & keep the nut-balls too busy trying to take power back at home to attack us here....

+1

Quoted: And a grand round of applause to Jimmy Carter, George Walker Bush, and Bill Clinton... Carter for allowing these shit-birds to take over Iran in the first place... And Bush & Clinton for cutting the Army in half... With just 3 of the divisions they cut (3rd Armored, 2nd Armored, and either 7th or 9th Infantry) we could solve the Iran problem the 'right' way & keep the nut-balls too busy trying to take power back at home to attack us here....

wow!  Dave_A says something I agree with!

Mark your calenders!

Quoted: And a grand round of applause to Jimmy Carter, George Walker Bush, and Bill Clinton... Carter for allowing these shit-birds to take over Iran in the first place... And Bush & Clinton for cutting the Army in half... With just 3 of the divisions they cut (3rd Armored, 2nd Armored, and either 7th or 9th Infantry) we could solve the Iran problem the 'right' way & keep the nut-balls too busy trying to take power back at home to attack us here....

Not only did Carter allow those shit birds to take over Iran in the first place; he facilitated it.

I was there at the White House to watch him do it.

Just because a man carries concealed, does not mean he could ever actually shoot the bad guy with it. We, as a country, are like that man. Reagan was different and everyone knew it.

Quoted: Just because a man carries concealed, does not mean he could ever actually shoot the bad guy with it. We, as a country, are like that man. Reagan was different and everyone knew it.

After overthrowing regimes in two countries, and standing firm despite huge internal US political pressure, I think much of the world (including Ahmadinejad) thinks Bush is capable of anything too.

And that's fine by me.

it's pretty easy to play armchair quarterback and talk about how things are going to go when the bullets aren't flying and you're not praying that the bunker-busters that are falling won't hit your "Impenetrable Russian Bunker"

Here's the problem that A-Jad isn't taking into consideration in his chess game; We find it easy to complain about a war that is far from home and isn't hitting us here at home, but to hit us here at home like 9/11 did, or even a bunch of smaller stuff, much less a suitcase nuke or some crap like that will unite this nation and suddenly all the fury and might of the worlds most powerful nation/military will be focused squarely on him, an outcome he is completely not ready for.

and if he is stupid enough to use a nuke of some kind....it's our policy to retaliate in kind, and that is also an outcome A-jad isn't really ready for even though he thinks he is.

Quoted: Very interesting article to the extent it actually reveals the opponent's thinking.  One always has to keep the possibility if disinformation near to mind when reading this sort of thing. I note that the recurring theme is of chess.  Chess can be a good simulation of military and political tactics and strategy. OTOH, poker might be a better theme. Bush plays poker very well. I've never met an Iranian who was very good at it.

One of them took second place in the WSOP a few years ago.  I think it was the year that Chris Moneymaker won.

The real danger lies in a nexus between Russia, China, Iran and the Islamic jihadist NGO's.  They have some common goals and a common enemy.

Tag for later.

Quoted: Very interesting article to the extent it actually reveals the opponent's thinking.  One always has to keep the possibility if disinformation near to mind when reading this sort of thing. I note that the recurring theme is of chess.  Chess can be a good simulation of military and political tactics and strategy. OTOH, poker might be a better theme. Bush plays poker very well. I've never met an Iranian who was very good at it.

Amir Vahedi

Quoted: In the meantime, Team Hezbollah and Al Qaeda would jihad American interests at home (possibly with dirty bombs or even suitcase nukes) and around the world sending America (and possibly the world) into an economic tailspin. And after the smart-bomb dust settled, A-Jad would begin to rebuild.  Or more likely, while rebuilding, he would continue to enrich his uranium in the centrifuge facilities that he had hidden from us all along. Checkmate.

If a US city got nuked I would hope we would respond in kind. Isn't almost everybody in Iran located in one city (Tehran)?

Iran is playing checkers. Chess is not a game they understand.

The only real problem is that many times in Iranian history, when invaded, the Iranian people have rallied around even hated leaders due to pride.  They want to deal with these problems themselves.  The problem is that they haven't done enough and we can't stand by and watch Tel Aviv or New York disappear waiting.

How hard could it be to drill for oil through a layer of glass a few inches thick.

Quoted: How hard could it be to drill for oil through a layer of glass a few inches thick.

I said this to my dad once.  I thought I was going to die.

Quoted: Quoted: And a grand round of applause to Jimmy Carter, George Walker Bush, and Bill Clinton... Carter for allowing these shit-birds to take over Iran in the first place... And Bush & Clinton for cutting the Army in half... With just 3 of the divisions they cut (3rd Armored, 2nd Armored, and either 7th or 9th Infantry) we could solve the Iran problem the 'right' way & keep the nut-balls too busy trying to take power back at home to attack us here.... I agree with you and actually go a step farther.....I think they should have kept the 5th ID (Mech), 8th ID(Mech), 24th ID (Mech), 193rd Infantry Brigade, 194th Armored Brigade and the 197th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized) as well. All those combined with what we have now equalled our peak Cold War military strength in the late 80's. But all things considered, that was still a rather small number of forces considering the MASSIVE Soviet Army we would have been facing if war had broken out. So it seems we keep making a habit of having far fewer forces than we should have. We should have had a bigger military during the Cold War. And we need a military similar insizse to what we possessed during the Cold War today. There is no reason the world's wealthiest nation, a nation with over 300 million people, can't field a bigger active duty army than 10 divisions. Geez, we need to eliminate some of the BS we are spending money for (such as the 1 billion we're giving to Mexico to "fight drugs" with and other such waste) and put that toward growing the size of our forces. If we ever get into a serious war that lasts any length of time (not an insurgency, but a full scale war) with a capable foe, we would be in trouble with an army the size of what we have now. The same would be true if we find ourselves in multiple smaller scale wars like we are now. We are stretched too damn thin. We need more people to help better distribute the load.

Bring back my old units the 9th and 193rd, that would rock....

Iran couldn't beat Iraq, and that was back when money and Soviet arms were available in massive quantities. Iran's economy today is wheezing along and their military is pathetic.

As far as assymmetric warfare, oh please. We flourished after 9/11, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The same cannot be said for iran once the US military unloads it's first batch of ordnance.

Quoted: I understand Saddam Hussein was a survivor and chess player as well. Until he "figured and calculated" his way to the end of a rope.

+1

When war begins the chess games end and all that's left is the combatant nation wielding the power of their respective militaries.

Wars have been started before by dictators and fanatics who thought they could prevail against overwhelming military power; but  as history has shown, they came up short.

Unforunately a lot of lives were wasted in order for them to see for themselves how the chess game actually ends.

Tag to find it tomorrow.

The real danger lies in a nexus between Russia, China, Iran and the Islamic jihadist NGO's. They have some common goals and a common enemy.

You forgot Venezuela, North Korea, Syria and Cuba----the sum of those nations could do some real damage to us. . .never underestimate your enemies. . .

Quoted: Quoted: Iran couldn't beat Iraq, and that was back when money and Soviet arms were available in massive quantities. Iran's economy today is wheezing along and their military is pathetic. As far as assymmetric warfare, oh please. We flourished after 9/11, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The same cannot be said for iran once the US military unloads it's first batch of ordnance. We were also fully supporting the Iraqi military enough to keep it a stalemate...

That means that iran is even more likely to lose now that we no longer have to go through intermediaries and we can then bring on full direct power into the fight instead.

I think the nuts over there don't really understand the destruction that will SURELY be rained down on them if they ever do anything that REALLY upsets the American people.  

They should check with some Hiroshima or Dresden survivors about the degree of violence which can be brought to bear if WE THE PEOPLE ever decide to go on our own "jihad". The rest of the world better HOPE we don't get a bad case of "nationalism". If we are ever really provoked, we could and I hope WOULD be the most vengeful people ever known in history.

This lack of knowledge on their part  is our own fault as we have not demonstrated our capability or resolve to use it in 60+ years.

If we ever decide to totally unleash the.mil, they will cease to exist as a nation.

I fear their ignorance may cause a miscalculation that will bring about just this result.

I don't look forward to it but if it must be, LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE.

Quoted: The real danger lies in a nexus between Russia, China, Iran and the Islamic jihadist NGO's. They have some common goals and a common enemy. You forgot Venezuela, North Korea, Syria and Cuba----the sum of those nations could do some real damage to us. . .never underestimate your enemies. . .

Yeah, I'm sure a series of thundering speeches filled with fist-shaking will change the inevitable. I hope and pray that those tinhorn dictators are stupid enough to step in. Can you imagine how long the lines will at recruiting offices if a "real" war breaks out? 'Git sum!

Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, the Soviets, etc... they all crumbled on way or another to the USA. Heck, even the Vietnamese think they are blessed if they can get a job working for an American corporation that pays with checks that don't bounce and backed up by the dollar.

Quoted: Very interesting article to the extent it actually reveals the opponent's thinking.  One always has to keep the possibility if disinformation near to mind when reading this sort of thing. I note that the recurring theme is of chess.  Chess can be a good simulation of military and political tactics and strategy. OTOH, poker might be a better theme. Bush plays poker very well. I've never met an Iranian who was very good at it.

You are right about poker.  The classic tome is McDonald's "Strategy in Poker Business and War."  Studied by game theory and conflicts academics along with the "Book of 5 Rings".  

Iran gets excited about a lot until teh bombs fall.

Quoted: Ahmin-yaba daba doo

His name is "Imajihadi," and he's a twat waffle.

Aside from what good people may live in Iran and may perish, I would very much like to see him cross the line.

He is essentially a poser, and wannabe, emo, airsoft player, all talk - no play... Full of hot air, coming from his rectal region - It stinks, but really isn't going to hurt anyone.


He's a coward and will bite you when you turn your back, but when he realizes that he bit the wrong person, he will tuck tail and run. When he's caught he will cry like a baby and beg for mercy.

Quoted: Too bad no prez we've had since Reagan would have the stones to hit that switch.

Where do you people come up with this shit?  I liked Reagan, but we cut and ran from Bierut.  People will give all kinds of reasons why he did that, but we still left.  

On the other hand, Bush actually did something after 9/11 and is being crucified for it.

Quoted: Quoted: Too bad no prez we've had since Reagan would have the stones to hit that switch. Where do you people come up with this shit?  I liked Reagan, but we cut and ran from Bierut.  People will give all kinds of reasons why he did that, but we still left.   On the other hand, Bush actually did something after 9/11 and is being crucified for it.

Yep.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Iran couldn't beat Iraq, and that was back when money and Soviet arms were available in massive quantities. Iran's economy today is wheezing along and their military is pathetic. As far as assymmetric warfare, oh please. We flourished after 9/11, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The same cannot be said for iran once the US military unloads it's first batch of ordnance. We were also fully supporting the Iraqi military enough to keep it a stalemate... That means that iran is even more likely to lose now that we no longer have to go through intermediaries and we can then bring on full direct power into the fight instead.

My point is that we funded Iraq enough to make it so neither power would dominate the region.  We would very certainly defeat Iran in a conflict.  I just think using the Iran/Iraq war as an example of their weakness isn't a good argument.

Quoted: Too bad no prez we've had since Reagan would have the stones to hit that switch.

+1  But, Maybe Hitlery might be on the rag at the time..............................Who knows???

Quoted: Iran is playing checkers. Chess is not a game they understand.

You might actually try to learn something about another culture before making a fool of yourself by writing dumb shit like this.

The first reference to chess in literature appears in Persia and dates around the 5th century AD[4] Karnamag-i Artaxshir-i Papakan. ... The game reached Western Europe and Russia by at least three routes, the earliest being in the 9th century.

They've had at least 400 years longer than Europeans to learn and understand the game.

Ahmadinejad is a puppet.

Khameinei pulls the strings.

Khameinei wants you to focus on ahmadinejad and forget about Khameinei.

Don't get sucked in.

Iran is bluffing with a pair of threes.

We're holding all the aces, all the kings, all the queens and all the jacks.

Five of each.

We have cards that don't even exist in a conventional deck.

WHEN it's time, before, if Khameinei gets his panties (deliberately, by us) wadded under his man dress, we're going to HURT Khameinei, and as little else of Iran as possible, and they might get two or three good ones off before we suppress them back to the stone age.

Iran spends a max of $6 billion USD on defense per year. About half that till recently.

The US budget now is what, $450 billion per year, up from $250 before 9/11?

It won't be painless, but the pot belongs to us.

Come to pappa.

Its going to take another 9/11 for us to do something to Iran

  Even if we attack, what happens if a nation like China, Russia,
etc starts backing the Iran regime?  It could happen, look at what
Cuba did with us in the sixties.  

Quoted: And a grand round of applause to Jimmy Carter, George Walker Bush, and Bill Clinton... Carter for allowing these shit-birds to take over Iran in the first place... And Bush & Clinton for cutting the Army in half... With just 3 of the divisions they cut (3rd Armored, 2nd Armored, and either 7th or 9th Infantry) we could solve the Iran problem the 'right' way & keep the nut-balls too busy trying to take power back at home to attack us here....

+1

Quoted: Quoted: Iran is playing checkers. Chess is not a game they understand. You might actually try to learn something about another culture before making a fool of yourself by writing dumb shit like this. The first reference to chess in literature appears in Persia and dates around the 5th century AD[4] Karnamag-i Artaxshir-i Papakan. ... The game reached Western Europe and Russia by at least three routes, the earliest being in the 9th century. They've had at least 400 years longer than Europeans to learn and understand the game.

I think you are drastically missing my point. If you did, however, play the board game using Imanutjob's strategy, you wouldn't last very long. Btw, while many have tried, nobody has beat me at chess in the last thirty years.

Oh yea, thanks for calling me a fool. That's a great way to earn respect.