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Originally Posted by microbet
I don't believe the part about Iran's Army. Y'all may be too young to remember the awesome power of the 4th largest Army in the world and the elite Republican Guard in Iraq in 1992 but I'm not. Barring actual Russian fighting, Iran's military would collapse in a few weeks or less of a similar assault.
Even if that is true, the fight would be far more grueling and the death toll of both civilians and soldiers would be far higher. This also leads to further incentives for ordinary Iranians, many of whom are actually pro-America, to join guerilla warfare groups and essentially become terrorists. Wouldn't shock me to see ISIS go, "Yeah that's us. They're in ISIS now."
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Originally Posted by +rep_lol
lol think about the disregard for civilian casualties that would take place on the part of this admin as well, the death toll and destruction would be horrific. i too am skeptical that iran's military wouldn't fold like a napkin. not to say the whole affair would be quick and easy tho, we've seen this play out a couple times already
Well disregard for civilians has been a staple in warfare ever since war existed and America is no exception. Difference between the two was that civilian casualties were impossible to avoid in the past. Now we have the technology to minimize casualties but choose to sacrifice many innocents if it kills a few suspected terrorists.
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Originally Posted by WichitaDM
I think Iran is more similar to Vietnam than Iraq probably. One problem with Iraq staging a long all out war against anyone was that they were very divided between Kurds, Shia and Sunni. Sadaam's was holding that mess together to some extent and as a result his power was somewhat limited. Additionally once you toppled Sadaam it was all over in Iraq. Iran doesn't have that problem and would probably be very unified in a war effort if it came to it.
100% true
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I mean obviously USA #1 has the most powerful military in the world but as we have learned several times in recent history you can't win a war if they won't surrender without killing them all which we aren't willing (nor should we be) to do. I also think with how degraded our image is abroad that we may not be seen as the good guys this time by a majority of countries outside of Israel and W. Europe. That makes it a lot more likely you see intervention from Russia and the like.
The other issue with this war (like basically every other one since WW2) is that the government hasn't factored in any externalities and probably never will. Anybody who thinks it's just US vs Iran is kidding themselves. Russia will join Iran in the fight and Europe for fear of a more powerful Russia will have their hand forced in helping the US. It will without question be another Vietnam.
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Originally Posted by WichitaDM
I am far from an expert on Iran's military. This may be a faulty assumption but I suppose most of my belief that Iran is much more capable than some of the countries in the region is the reluctance of war hungry America to wage war there when we have been going on and on about how evil and dangerous they are for 30+ years. Can someone explain why it hasn't happened if it would be as easy as some of you say?
When you're the most powerful country in the world, taking chances that could lead to that not being the case is a bad idea.