kernel alert

 

My grandfather’s ship was sunk at Savo. He survived, but a fifth the crew was killed nd another fifth were wounded. And yeah, there was a lot of fighting going on to get the US Army Air Corp into position to drop thos two bombs, but they were what what terminated the resistance and led to an offer of unconditional surrender six days after Nagasaki was bombed. At the time of their surrender, Japanese forces on the Home Islands numbered ~3.5 million with another 2 million in China and Manchuria, 1 million in Korea, and another million in Southeast Asia and on Pacific islands. While it might be argued that Okinawa and Iwo Jima were part of Japan, the Japanese “home Islands” are generally considered to be the four largest islands- Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku. The US did have plans to invade Kyushu (Operation Olympic) in November. The surrender after the bombing of Nagasaki removed the need for that.

Total US casualties at Iwo Jima numbered 26,000, 7000 dead and 1900 wounded. Total US casualties in Okinawa were 50,000, 12,000 dead and 38,000 wounded. Estimated US casualties if the invasion of the four largest Islands ranged from a low of 250,000 to a high of 4 million and that was a major reason Harry Truman authorized use of the atomic bombs.

 

Yeah ok, whatever you want to tell yourself. Maybe one day we will wake up and realize the trillions of dollars we have spent adventuring around in the desert could have gone a lot further by spending it on stuff here. This was supposed to be the administration that got us out of that tired old playbook. They got suckered into it. So predictable.

Speaking of nukes, Iran has enough enriched uranium to field about 11 weapons. Where is it? Did we get it?

Sorry, but it all seems very unnecessary to me. Now fuel is skyrocketing but somehow the people who were screaming no new wars are defending this one? I don't know man. I just don't want yet another generation to suffer through the same bs that mine did. Maybe I am getting soft.

 

Great argument for nuking Iran. Thanks.

The situation in Japan was a lot more complicated than you let on. The fact remains that we invaded Japan. I am not here to argue semantics, though. We aren't going to bomb the Islamic republic into submission.

 

Pretty multifaceted guys! This place is full of would-be airline executives and now global strategy analysts. Airline pilots are a very unique group.

“I’ve seen an Iranian, in the grocery store, and therefore you should give heed to what I say….” 😂

 

Nah. Just a couple of decades in the organization that is charged by elected officials to carry out their whims. Couple that with a healthy dose of pessimism, some extreme jadedness, some light hearing loss coupled with tinnitus, and an unhealthy relationship with legal stimulants as a result of some very long nights in hot places.

It's all good, though. I am sure this time will do the trick.

 

You’re not soft. I’m having the same misgivings after spending years in the friending Hindu Kush, several times over.

I’m also torn with wanting to finally engage a country that’s been at war with us since 1979. I remember the fall of the shah and the embassy take over well. Beruit… etc. And when they open negotiations with a threat that they have X grams of 60% enriched blah blah blah. We have to go right?!!? Ugh!

We are good at breaking things. Rebuilding them? Not so good.
Maybe the locals will actually stand up, fight for, and set up a normal govt (of their own choosing!) ? We suck at nation building ever since the Marshal plan.

Yeah, this time will be different.
I’m as uneasy as you.

 

nah. Just a guy who spent 5 out of ten years bouncing around all inclusive paid resorts in the desert seeing the absolute insanity of doing the same thing and expecting different results.

If Lindsey graham would volunteer to pick up a rifle or fly a mission downtown, maybe I’d be a little more convinced of the justness of this bombing campaign.

I thought we set their nuclear program back 30 years in June with the bunker busters. Either that was a lie, the danger of their nuke program now is a lie, or we are grossly incompetent and relying on israeli intelligence.

 

I think a major hiccup, or at least what’s been released by Witkoff (sp?) was Iran’s declaration about how much enriched uranium they have and what they intend to do with it. Not discounting your statement or the fact that Midnight Hammer’s success might have been overblown. We took out their enriching capabilities, not what they’d already enriched.

Also, I am very much not a fan of the senator from SC who parades around like a bellicose chicken hawk when he was only a JAG off icer. Very much dislike that person. Bends like the a reed in the wind.

 

It seems unnecessary to deal with a regime that chants “death to America”, chases nuclear weapons, kidnaps and tortures our embassy personnel, bombs marine barracks, wants to exterminate Israel, plots to assassinate POTUS, and is the number 1 state sponsor of terrorism? Really?

Pulling back from the world stage to only focus on domestic issues would prove to be disastrous. We tried that during the buildup and beginning of WW2, and a huge chunk of the world collapsed into fascism and we all know how that played out. Isolationism is foreign policy for children.