reply to post by john124
Why is that funny? I don't get it.
Just because Iran is not better equipped than the US, doesn't mean that they can't keep up with a good fight. The US has been smacked in the face
too many times to fail to realize that.
And even if the US is certain that they will win the war, that doesn't mean that they will take their chances. Casualties (money related, obviously
the human life is not at stake in the US equation) and loss of equipment are all factors to be considered before starting a war.
Provably the US realized that Iran was not weak enough to make a swift war around their country. If Iraq is a stone in the US shoe, and they weren't
organized, imagine an army bigger and better than what Iraq had.
Iran has effective Anti-Aircraft systems in place, they have GOOD aircraft (most of them even come from the US them-selfs) and an attack initiated by
the US side, would provably pull a lot of people in favor of Iran. It would be the last drop.
The Iran armed forces aren't a joke. They have over 1000 tanks, among those are tanks like the T-72's, which is considered one of the best tanks of
all time (and very good for their type of battlefield).
They have an airforce of around 350 fighters, in which you can name models like the F-15 (which is still considered to be one (if not the) best air
superiority fighters), and also throw in there some AH-1 Cobras and whatnot.
Plus a army of around 700,000 active soldiers, it gives a pretty good idea of what the US might face.
They can be beaten, but is it worth it? What this General states is that the US realized that the US figured out that the cost and "punishment" for
invading and conquering Iran wasn't worth the loss. Which is true.
They aren't Iraq's twin brothers. They have some serious teeth.
The problem with Iraq was that they were demoralized, they had no organization whatsoever, and lost most of their communications in the first few
days, losing the coordinated attack capability.
Plus, Iraq didn't have an airforce that could even stand against a strong wind.
US troops found empty tanks and empty bunkers, because the Iraq soldiers were long gone when they got there.
That wont be the case with Iran. They are motivated, they are following orders, and it seems more likely everday that they are waiting for a good
excuse to fight the US.
[edit on 18/2/10 by Tifozi]