Iran says it will deliver response Aug. 22

AP via Yahoo ^

[RockinRight]

If so...there will be no Iran on August 23.

[Centurion2000]

It is my suspicion that their response will consist of a nuclear detonation, either as a test, or worse.

I think you're right.

[newcthem]

And a great big thanks from the civilized world to that fricking idiot Jimma Carter.

[RightWhale]

The 22 Aug date was announced a couple weeks ago. Any idea if that date is otherwise significant to Iranians?

[observer5]

Here is some advanced intelligence regarding the response:

"Kill all infidels"

[pierrem15]

Militant Islam would be an annoyance if it were not for that a$$.

[ZeitgeistSurfer]

We need to land a (non-nuclear) ballistic missile launched from a submarine in their midst with the message that we can turn their country into glass in less than 30 minutes and our trigger finger is getting very itchy.

[Just Lori]

I knew that date had to mean something.

[Westbrook]

We need to land a (non-nuclear) ballistic missile launched from a submarine in their midst with the message that we can turn their country into glass in less than 30 minutes and our trigger finger is getting very itchy.

Won't work.

They already know this.

Amadinejad, and the other adherants to his weird sect, believe that the Mahdi ("the Twelfth Imam") will provide supernatural protection from their enemies in the apocalypse to come.

.

[redgolum]

There are a couple of theories out there. One is that Aug 22 corresponds to the date in the muslim calender that Saladin captured Jerusalem. On the Western calendar, that date is October 2, but the islamic calendar is a lunar one, so the months move around compared to ours (they don't have a 365 day year).


The other is that Aug. 22 is the date the Shah entered Iran in the 50's. I don't know if that one is right, and tend to lean to the former explanation. There have been quite a few threads on this date, and I might have missed a better explanation.

[defenderSD]

Iran may demand sanctions against Israel or even inspections of Israel's Dimona facilities to confirm the existence of nuclear weapons. But such demands won't have any impact on the key power centers in this confrontation. France is not a key supporter of Israel now, so if France turns against Israel then Israel hasn't lost much and the situation hasn't fundamentally changed. Any Iranian demands aren't going to change the position of the US, Britain, Germany, Russia, or China and thus when Iran is done venting its frustrations over the powerful Israeli nuclear arsenal, everyone will look at Iran and say "are you finished now?" and that's about it. The situation will be unchanged: nobody outside of Iran and a few other small countries wants Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, and the rest of the world has the power to shut down Iran's nuclear program, one way or another.

So all the rantings from Iran are just like a criminal gang leader yelling out of his house at the police who have him surrounded and are moving in to arrest him. The fun-sized psycho in Iran is deluding himself that somehow he's going to win a military confrontation against all the major military powers in the world. It appears to be difficult for these Iranian leaders to face up to reality. They are so used to calling the shots, telling everyone else what to do, and doing whatever they want in Iran, and now the big world powers are telling them "no, you can't build nukes." So far, they're in denial of reality and refusing to face up to the inevitable conclusion of this confrontation.

[epow]

It is my suspicion that their response will consist of a nuclear detonation, either as a test, or worse.

I doubt that Iran will test a nuke if it gets one. They know that a test would alert Israel that they have the bomb, and that the next thing on the program would be a mushroom cloud rising over the heap of rubble that was formerly Tehran. I think the first we will know of Iran having the bomb will be when it either explodes or fails to explode in Israel.

Either way that will spell the end of Iran as a functioning nation, because Israel's response will be devastating. Several nukes exploding simultaneously in carefully selected areas of tiny Israel would probably take out most of it's population and infrastructure, but I believe the IDF has the ability to massively retaliate with multiple nukes of it's own even if the homeland is virtually destroyed.

[Westbrook]

See Post #29 above.

.

[prairiebreeze]

Ahmadinawhackjob to the civilized world:

"Bite me."

[epow]

I think your #29 is correct, the morons in Tehran really believe the Mahdi is about to appear and lead the Islamic military forces to victory over all their infidel enemies. Even if they die in the great battles they believe they will be amply rewarded by Allah for their dedication to his cause.

This is the same kind of Muslim religious fanaticism that led the Islamic Sudanese tribesmen to revolt against the British and their Egyptian vassal government in the late 19th century. They believed the Mahdi had returned in the person of their tribal chief, and in the end 20,000 of them were slaughtered at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898 by Lord Kitchener's Anglo-Egyptian army.

Winston Churchill played an active part in that battle as a young British cavalry trooper and wrote about it in his book "The River War". It's a very interesting read for anyone with an interest in the history of that time and place.

[Mat_Helm]

We'll meet again,

Don't know where,

Don't know when,

But I know We'll meet again Some sunny day.

[rjp2005]

Well, already we have Russia and Finland saying Israel goes too far. A Spanish PM supporting the Palestinians and a French PM saying Israel goes too far. Dont be surprised if China starts weighing this opinions against Israel as well.

[JasonC]

So what? At that point, what's to save?

[Paul Ross]

The C-802 is not a silkworm, it is a much more advanced missile.

[pierrem15]

Thanks. I had seen it referred to using both designations.

So the Iranians are willing to give their most advanced weaponry to terrorist groups.