What happens if you want to fight a war, and the generals threaten to not show up? From the Sunday Times:
SOME of America's most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources.Tension in the Gulf region has raised fears that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely before President George Bush leaves office. The Sunday Times has learnt that up to five generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would be a reckless attack.
"There are four or five generals and admirals we know of who would resign if Bush ordered an attack on Iran," a source with close ties to British intelligence said. "There is simply no stomach for it in the Pentagon, and a lot of people question whether such an attack would be effective or even possible."
A British defence source confirmed that there were deep misgivings inside the Pentagon about a military strike. "All the generals are perfectly clear that they don't have the military capacity to take Iran on in any meaningful fashion. Nobody wants to do it and it would be a matter of conscience for them.
"There are enough people who feel this would be an error of judgment too far for there to be resignations."
A generals' revolt on such a scale would be unprecedented. "American generals usually stay and fight until they get fired," said a Pentagon source. Robert Gates, the defence secretary, has repeatedly warned against striking Iran and is believed to represent the view of his senior commanders.
We are so far beyond surreal, I don't even know what to call it.
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Euro-dollar.
It's all about selling oil. Or rather more specifically what currency you are going to sell oil in. Next month Iran begins to sell oil in Euro's instead of dollars. Just before the build up to the Iraq war they began selling Oil in Euro's. In fact just before the war Venezuela put a motion to the OPEC nations that they all trade in Euros. If every country in the world has to flush all the dollars out of their national banks to purchase Euro's the American economy collapses, especially with your massive deficit. And this is especially important because China has started trading in Euros as well.
You can view the war in Iraq as a public beating - a warning almost to not switch to Euros. And they are just about to rough up Iran to make sure the message has gone across to the punk nations in South America.
Out of interest North Korea (also member of the axis of evil also started trading in Euros. But hell, it don't produce anything, so it don't matter.
If so, in that sense it backfired. The gross cost overruns of the Iraq war have combined with Bush's other mistakes to greatly weaken the dollar. If Bush had not gone to war in Iraq, the dollar would not be so weak, or appear so unreliable. So it would be much more difficult for Iran and Venezuela to make the case for trading oil in Euros. Beyond that - America's ability to pursue any kind of military action against Iran has been greatly reduced (and for long-term military action, wholly ruined) by the invasion of Iraq. Finally ... with the cost of oil so high - Venezuela and Iran can offer oil in Euros at significantly below-market prices (for a limited time), something that might not have been possible without the Iraq war.
From the reader-submitted comments on that article:
:O