re: #621 brookly red

It’s Bush’s fault, not his.

Of course it’s Bush’s fault. But it’s in Obama’s hands now, and he can still do something about it. But his options do grow thinner with every passing day. There’s even a good chance that strong sanctions (which are NOT being encouraged at the moment, as they’re watering them down to only affect the ruling elite) will be met with harsh reaction by Iran. Contrary to what many people think, the Iranians can create some VERY SERIOUS problems for the U.S, even without a nuclear weapon.

the giant is slow to anger but can get really pissy if provoked.

~40% of the world’s oil passes through the Straits of Hormuz. Iran controls that passage. They don’t need a powerful navy, just a swarm of small motor boats, laying a bunch of mines in the sea lanes. All you need is to hit one tanker to cause mass panic. Forget economic recovery. To my understanding, the U.S. Navy is not equipped to handle a guerrilla navy consisting of small motorboats. Even if they interdict 90% of them, we could end up in a whole boatload of ****