Posted on 01/02/2019 11:09:33 AM PST by SeekAndFind
“North was the implementer, Not the shot caller”
I didn’t say North was the shot caller if anything he aided and abetted. North wasn’t even an implementer but he did provide Iran, the enemy of the United States since 1979 when the Ayatollah took over the country from the Shah and took our Embassy employees hostage... We were essentially at a impasse with Iran, when Carter left office and Reagan stepped in the hostages were released, however, we were not on speaking terms with Iran and treated Iran as a hostile nation. But Ollie North had plan...
I’ll put it this way, I know a number of old retired officers from that era who basically said Ollie North was a traitor to the United States military personnel who were killed in Beirut Barracks bombing in 1983. His very own Marines!
I never (at one point in time) thought about it that way but over the years as I think about it occasionally he essentially did something that no law-abiding military or civilian person would even think of doing. Yet Ollie North crossed the line. And he has never been held accountable for crossing that line.
I really do not know how he justifies his actions with the Iranians and the follow-up murders in Beirut ‘83.
Man, that would sure be some dirty fighting if we hit that...
I like it!
“But their ability to project power is very low. That big army only matters if someone was idiot enough to go there. You know, like try to fight a land war in Asia.
Our leaders would never be that stupid./s”
I agree. I was responding to a ridiculous claim up-thread about the size of the Chinese army.
That’s good because I may need to call in a strike on my own position.
“Unfortunately, China can now beat the crap out of our military. They’re weapons are more sophisticated.”
Sure they are. They alcannot even build a decent jet engine yet.
We all know how that story ended.
Hmmmm yeah.. I dont think I would do that.
Sounds like something Jimmy Kimmel would say.
You assume we have the will to destroy our enemies, or to force the enemy into capitulation to our national interests. Do you see any evidence of that?
Their larger cities would glow under mushroom clouds, their navy would be sunk, their satellites taken out of orbit, the Panama Canal ports would be under U.S. military control, and a whole heap of other stuff that’s probably already been mentioned up-thread.
“I’m afraid the next big war won’t just be in a far off land and we’re just reading it on the internet / seeing on television. Countries like China and Russia have the means to hit our homeland.”
Very true. But it would be suicide because within the hour, their nation would be utterly devastated. There simply is no realistic way for them to hit us and not be totally destroyed in return.
That leaves them one option to destroy us. That is to attack our economy. They won’t sink a carrier, they will sink the dollar. We used to dictate terms to the world because we were the 500 pound gorilla economically. In the 1950s we were HALF the GDP of the world. When Reagan took office we were the largest creditor nation on earth.
All of that was backed up by a very strong military, but that wasn’t the main reason we were so strong. Our military was the result of our economy, not the -cause- of it. Today we are the largest debtor nation on earth, and our main enemy, China, holds massive amount of our debt.
So if I were someone that wanted to reduce the USA down to size, (American neocons, globalists, the EU, Russia, China) I would skip retarded ideas like sinking carriers and shooting nukes, and I would keep bribing US politicians and business leaders, and would spread my influence widely around the world. Then wait for and cause the USA to enter a 1930s depression, and if I was lucky, a civil war that would make the Balkans look like childsplay.
They could do a sneak attack and sink a carrier, but they won’t.
They are stockpiling gold, building ports and infrastructure in Africa (making them dependent), and they are pursuing deals with Russia for gas and oil, mining, logging and farming.
They are setting up to be the worlds economic powerhouse, then they will sink us without a shot.
That’s the plan IMO.
Can you imagine the left’s reaction if those words came from Trump in the same manner as Reagan delivered them?
ROFLMAO
“The standing regular Chinese army (not counting reserves, border patrol, etc.) has about two million soldiers.”
Counts if they are being invaded or invading a neighbor.
The USA has between 43-55 million gun owners and plenty of ammo.
They sink a US carrier while Trump is POTUS and they might see China become a radioactive swamp for the next 10,000 years.
If we have to go to war with China, then I want Vietnam as an ally.
In the Sino-Vietnamese war of 1979, China invaded Vietnam with 600,000 troops and 400-650 tanks and various other vehicles. China captured several border cities. It took the Vietnamese about 6 weeks to send them back to China with 62,000 dead and lots of wounded. The Vietnamese captured 420 of the Chinese tanks and most of their trucks and other vehicles.
“That said, we would most certainly have to be careful to keep our carriers out of range of Chinese surface to surface missiles.”
Agree. The carrier, as a means of projecting power, is still a formidable weapons system for sure. But, it’s probably never been more vulnerable. These hyper speed missiles that even second tier countries can bring on-line present a new challenge no doubt about it.
About China’s land army; agree with your comments. With the exception of a few elite units it’s still a peasant army who’s purpose is to fight a defensive war, a danger that doesn’t exist.
Yeah, same playbook, different similar-looking actor.
“That is assuming rational heads prevail and China does not resort to targeting population centers or nuclear weapons to save face”
If by some odd twist of fate, China could successfully dismantle us conventionally. Would we accept that defeat with our nuclear missiles sitting in the silos? With thousands dead, massive damage, would we?
It’s more than saving face, it’s saving ass.
Oh I get that you knew that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.