Early signs of progress in Baghdad crackdown

[hohenfelsvol]

I guess that means there was no progress made through the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the Great War, World War II, and the Korean War.

Good point.

 

[WA_Vol]

I've never understood how developing a nation that will be the greatest ally the country of Iran will ever have is in the national interest. Come someone please elaborate?

 

[hohenfelsvol]

I've never understood how developing a nation that will be the greatest ally the country of Iran will ever have is in the national interest. Come someone please elaborate?

Don't see that happening. They have recent history of killing and gasing each other. Greatest allies is a pretty long stretch.

 

[WA_Vol]

Don't see that happening. They have recent history of killing and gasing each other. Greatest allies is a pretty long stretch.

The ruling party and the majority of people in Iran are Shea (sp?). The same as in Iraq now. Its only natural they will be allies.

Saddam Hussein, wasn't a Shea, so they never had any influence or political power in the country before.

 

[hohenfelsvol]

The ruling party and the majority of people in Iran are Shea (sp?). The same as in Iraq now. Its only natural they will be allies.

Saddam Hussein, wasn't a Shea, so they never had any influence or political power in the country before.

The whole middle east are allies in that sense. I still wouldn't say these two are going to be best buds anytime soon.

 

[BigPapaVol]

I've never understood how developing a nation that will be the greatest ally the country of Iran will ever have is in the national interest. Come someone please elaborate?

We build bases there as existed in Europe. Iran cannot ally themselves with someone housing US troops. If you'll recall, that is the gripe of many of the other Wahabbists in the region, especially Al Qaeda.

 

[WA_Vol]

We build bases there as existed in Europe. Iran cannot ally themselves with someone housing US troops. If you'll recall, that is the gripe of many of the other Wahabbists in the region, especially Al Qaeda.

Maintaining a US base in Iraq IMO would be a mistake. Everyone including most of the U.S. want all the troops out of the country.

 

[allvol123]

Maintaining a US base in Iraq IMO would be a mistake. Everyone including most of the U.S. want all the troops out of the country.

That is not really good reasoning for calling it a mistake.

 

[therealUT]

The ruling party and the majority of people in Iran are Shea (sp?). The same as in Iraq now. Its only natural they will be allies.

Saddam Hussein, wasn't a Shea, so they never had any influence or political power in the country before.

Shia; Shiite.

You are correct though. Persians of Islamic persuasion are mainly Shia. Saddam Hussein was Sunni. Syria and Saudi Arabia are Sunni. Syria, Saudi Arabia, and pre-war Iraq were not all buddies.

BigPapaVol brought to the table the most important point though. Iran will not overtly involve itself in the politics of a nation that houses American troops. Just as China and Russia would not overtly involve themselves in the politics of South Korea and West Germany, respectively, Iran will try everything to undermine the Iraqi government but refrain from any blatant action. Therefore, Iraq will never be that great of an ally to Iran.

 

[CSpindizzy]

Iran does not have to be overt. They can just sit back and continue doing what they have done and even go as far as setting up Hizbollah in Iraq as they have done in Lebanon. As long as Iraq is tied up, Iran has less to worry about from direct actions. They do get the chance to test our operations and our resolve. At this point, the resolve of our nation is waning so Iran can keep up the pace here and have direct involvement off the table.

They can continue this whole effort to keep oil prices up as well. Iran comes out the winner in this whole matter.