U.S. will deploy 1,500 troops to Middle East

[Oublious]

This is a small fart before the storm....

 

[925boy]

90,000 troops were committed to invade Iraq in 2003, and about half of this strength was assigned the responsibility of combat operations, and this force took over Iraq in just 21 days.

So what are you trying to say? fact is, US will need 100-150K soldiers to either start or maintain or manage any serious escalation with Iran. Once again, Iran has alot more armed forces with better training and better equipment, and worse terrain for an invader and allies in Iraq and Lebanon so even the 70K US soldiers wont be enough for a serious or dominating US threat to Iran.

Even though Iraq was militarily weak at this point in time, Saddam regime had amassed an asymmetric force of its own (e.g. Fidayeen), and was still much stronger than the Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Irrelevant. With such "bad" results, Saddam's forces were OBVIOUSLY not as good or dynamic as Hezbollah. Fighting Israel is probably the closest thing to fighting the US army in the ME, so i would say Hezbollah has already shown it can stay fighting and not get squashed within even a month by a very strong power(unless they choose to use ALOT of power and in that case Hezbollah would struggle more).


A renowned Iraqi military general Ra'ad Majid Rashid al-Hamdani had low opinion about IDF but praised American military prowess:

General Hamdani on a number of occasions commented on how much the American military had impressed him in both 1990 and 2003. Particularly interesting was his view that the US Army was far superior to any he had seen in the Middle East— including the Israeli Defense Force. What particularly impressed him in 1990 was the sight of US soldiers along the Saudi-Kuwaiti border in full body armor and Kevlar helmets during the early period of Operation DESERT SHIELD, despite the fact that the temperature was 100+ degrees, and that hostilities had yet to begin. He claimed that he had noted to one of his subordinates at the time that the American appearance alone underlined "a real sense of discipline."[/QUOTE]

Why should i give a fuk about this guy's opinion? because you said so? This is just one man's opinion(even though its an opinion we should respect). Facts and realities on the ground in the ME have probably changed since then. For one, US adversaries have alot more technology and manpower in the ME these days. I worry US military is getting overstretched and allies dont want to cover up the gaps of "work". We've all known the US military is very competent, as an organization. Thats quite different from how it acts and behaves and achieves in a hostile/war environment. Many people in US thinks the US military's war record isnt great, but many are afraid to say it to now sound unpatriotic.

B/W YOU have an extremely inflated view of the Iranian military might. When the show begins, be prepared to answer lot of questions but I have a feeling that you will stop posting here because 'propaganda bots' usually loose steam in the face of ground realities.

Or maybe you have an extremely deflated view of Iranian military might and preparation? YOU will have fun at the start of the show, but he will probably have fun at the end of the show. just my gut feel. Iran has prepared for a long time to now allow the US quench it if and when it chooses to attempt that. Just remember that. But Iran is overcautious about not inviting unnecessary and hard-to-recover-from destruction to itself at the hands of world powers. These wars are no more about who pounds who more, its about who outlasts the other person. PLus North Korea, Iraq PMU, Hezbollah, Some Syrian forces will support Iran militarily. If you under estimate these forces you've already lost more than you ever imagined.