Oil $90-110/barrel

[stevesrt8]

Originally Posted by marlinspike

In what way has Iran indicated itself to be any threat to the US?
By threatening to close the strait of Hormuz if attacked by anybody! Not to mention many other threats spoken directly from the Prez's mouth

Also, if you think war with Iraq has gone poorly, remember that Iran has a military that won't disband as soon as attacked,

That's subject to debate, remember the much vaunted "revolutionary guardsmen? When we really go for it with overwhelming military force they don't stand a chance!

a people who don't feel like they're under the thumb of a tyrant,

The people there are believed to be very unhappy with their government. This is especially apparent in the younger people.

submarines, short range ballistic missiles, submarines, a sizeable airforce,

Just one carrier battle group can destroy their entire navy and air force in ONE DAY!

is surrounded by mountains,

no military advantage there, our air force will rule the skies.

and has China and Russia for friends (all things Iraq didn't have).

There's the one interesting point. But I'd rather deal with them sooner than later.

[marlinspike]

Threatening to close a the Strait of Hormuz if attacked is not a threat that needs to be preempted. That's like if I told someone I'll shoot them if they try to kill me. That's just asserting self-defense.

The people there are actually not all that unhappy. Believed to be is garbage, just get a visa and go.

While their air force doesn't compare to ours, it's not like they're flying around in rickity 3rd world planes. Their F-4 and F-14 fleets are still operable, plus they added the entire Iraqi Air Force to their supply of planes after our first invasion of Iraq.

I don't know why everybody thinks war with Russia and China is inevitable. Russia doesn't care about us anymore and China needs us.

[usnis0922]

Ahh wish I could comment on this subject!