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@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace "It does now."
No, it really doesn't. The non-responsiveness of Washington to citizen concerns has been written about, at length, for longer than you've been alive, "Sarge."
No, it really doesn't. The non-responsiveness of Washington to citizen concerns has been written about, at length, for longer than you've been alive, "Sarge."
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace ""It just doesn't listen to you, because you don't have answers, you just have complaints"
How would you know?
" and a severe lack of understanding of geopolitical consequences"
Awfully big words for a probable high school dropout.
How would you know?
" and a severe lack of understanding of geopolitical consequences"
Awfully big words for a probable high school dropout.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace Sarge, for a second, just for fun, let's pretend that you're really in the military and not just another internet loudmouth who found his way into an army surplus store.
Which, by the way, I doubt very much.
Which, by the way, I doubt very much.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace There are more than a few ex-military people in my family, so I know the type, and they don't tend to go off half-cocked the way you did.
But let's pretend that it's not all just an act with you.
But let's pretend that it's not all just an act with you.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace Well, if you're a sergeant, we can be fairly sure you haven't been to college. A mere bachelor's degree is enough to get somebody to be a second lieutenant in the army, when he completes basic training.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace No, if you really are a sergeant, your education almost ended in high school. Your knowledge of battlefield weapons and of tactics at the platoon level and below would, of course, be far greater than mine, and I would not presume to argue with you about these subjects.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace But geopolitics would be well beyond your pay grade. Your mastery of pushups and small weapons would give you no deep understanding in that area.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace And nothing you said in that belligerent little rant of yours hints at any understanding, at all. Geopolitics, you say?
Do you remember how we lost ex-Soviet Georgia as an ally? I'll refresh your memory.
Do you remember how we lost ex-Soviet Georgia as an ally? I'll refresh your memory.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace Pres. Bush the younger had decided to engage in regime change in a country that had little reason to object to this, being run as it was by a maniac: Iraq, then suffering under the misrule of Saddam Hussein.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace Just to keep order in that country, after the madman was toppled, required such a heavy commitment of US forces, that when the Russians invaded what was then one of our allies (Georgia), we couldn't afford to send a force to defend said ally.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace There was a NATO ally (Turkey) adjacent to Georgia, one not noted for its fondness for Russia, there was a seacoast for us to land on, but just no troops to spare.
Our credibility took a serious blow on that day,
Our credibility took a serious blow on that day,
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace Now, let's say we try to do regime change in Iran. Iran, with its 80.2 million people vs. Iraq's 40.2 (and a far more mountainous country for us to invade).
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace In Iran, who would our friends be? The protesters? Start blowing up their country and they won't stay your friends for long.
In Iraq, we did (and still do) have allies - for example, the Kurds were happy to see us come.
In Iraq, we did (and still do) have allies - for example, the Kurds were happy to see us come.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace On top of that, Russia and China are pro-Iran, and they certainly aren't pro-US. So, the conquest and occupation of Iran would obviously be far more difficult, and in the end, who do we turn the new Iran over to, when everybody in it hates us?
What's our exit strategy?
What's our exit strategy?
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace This country that has more people than Afghanistan and Iraq put together would, based on past performance, require the commitment of so many of our troops that we would be left unable to act effectively elsewhere.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace In case you've forgotten (or never knew in the first place), it was that occupation-induced paralysis, that over-commitment of our forces to one part of the world, that left the US unable to act as North Korea began to build up its nuclear arsenal.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace Kim Jong Un is now more dangerous than Saddam Hussein ever was. Would you like to see some more men like him get their hands on that kind of power, because we can't act? Because we're bogged down in a futile attempt at nation building?
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace While we're attempting the impossible and have no troops to spare, what happens if North Korea attacks South Korea or Japan?
Even if they survive as independent countries, fighting off the invasion, why would they go on being our allies, if we aren't there to help?
Even if they survive as independent countries, fighting off the invasion, why would they go on being our allies, if we aren't there to help?
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace Why would their reaction to the discovery of our uselessness be any different from that of the (ex-Soviet) Georgians? If anything, they'd have more of a reason to react that way.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace To be our ally is to inherit our enemies. Iran is having a population explosion at the moment. A generation from now, it's going to have A LOT of bodies to put out on a battlefield. Or to send out as terrorists, if they feel provoked enough.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace But it gets better.
In the first US-Iraq War of 1990-91, the US enjoyed a commanding technological lead, the kind of lead that allowed it to have the upper hand when dealing with China, a country with over four times its population.
In the first US-Iraq War of 1990-91, the US enjoyed a commanding technological lead, the kind of lead that allowed it to have the upper hand when dealing with China, a country with over four times its population.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace How times change. Courtesy of some poorly thought out free trade treaties, much of our industry has wandered off, seeking cheaper labor and the lower operating costs available in China. Our enemy, and Iran's ally.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace Do you imagine that the American STEM community will be able to give you a commanding lead over the Chinese, the way our predecessors gave your predecessors one over Hussein's Iraq and the old Soviet Union?
If so, you are dreaming.
If so, you are dreaming.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace For over a generation, young engineers in America have been thwarted in their search for their first jobs by the insane expectation that they get 2-5 years of experience before getting their first real jobs.
Meanwhile, their Chinese counterparts have been gaining in experience.
Meanwhile, their Chinese counterparts have been gaining in experience.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace Speaking as somebody who (unlike you, "Sarge") has been to grad school, I can tell you what the demographics of the younger part of the engineering community looks like (heavily Asians, with large Indian and Chinese contingents).
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace I can also tell you that American exceptionalism is bunk. The Western students weren't any better than the Chinese students, and the more numerous Chinese students are now getting experience.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace As developers of new weapons (assuming we support this proposed war of aggression, which we're not like to), how are we supposed to compete with that?
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace Also, China (Iran's ally) is expected to have the world's largest economy by the end of next decade, replacing the US in that role, rather significant given how much more of our economy is service-based, and how much more of theirs is industrial.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace As you would know, if you had stayed awake during history class, industrial capability is a crucial part of a county's ability to sustain a war effort, and America, quite foolishly, has been exporting much of that capability to its enemy.
So, good luck with that.
So, good luck with that.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace What were you blustering at me about, again? Ah, yes. My understanding of geopolitical issues, which I admit could use some work, but which (unlike yours) is based in reality, not fantasy.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace What is the purpose of this fool's errand you'd send us on, this war that would make us enemies around the globe and increase (not decrease) the amount of terrorism we have to deal with?
In simple terms, you want to show the world, show everybody, what a big man you are.
In simple terms, you want to show the world, show everybody, what a big man you are.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace That's just not a good reason to start a war that would kill millions of people at a minimum (Muslim lives matter), endangers our allies, puts us at risk for getting into a war with both Russia and China and, in the end, achieves nothing,
That's madness.
That's madness.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace It's also not the sort of thing that I find that real military people tend to favor. Being sent to a war they will, of course, follow orders to the best of their ability, but contrary to popular opinion, they're not bloodthirsty monsters.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace Even when they feel confident that they'll come home alive (and in the war you're dreaming up, that would be remarkable optimism on their part), they don't enjoy the concept of mass slaughter and destruction for its own sake.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace A real soldier is not a gladiator. He does not go out thinking that he will kill to amuse the masses. He does what he feels he must to protect his home. That is why he is there, and that is why I don't believe that you are what you claim to be. You're too fond of war.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace But even if you are, you have not thought this through. In grave matters of life and death, you have substituted bluster for sober analysis. This isn't merely behavior unworthy of a non-commissioned officer, it's unworthy of an ordinary citizen
You should be ashamed of yourself
You should be ashamed of yourself
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace Please unroll @threadreaderapp
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace Initial comment from the Imam of Peace
My initial reply
and some of Sarge's trolling, to which I then replied.
archive.fo/1i7Sq
I've dealt with trolls, before.
My initial reply
and some of Sarge's trolling, to which I then replied.
archive.fo/1i7Sq
I've dealt with trolls, before.
@WrightsKnights @Imamofpeace Another bypass tweet, just in case Sarge decides to go for low cunning and delete his tweets. My reply to his most recent comment is here
and I've included links to archived copies of his tweet in the mini-tweetstorm that follows.
and I've included links to archived copies of his tweet in the mini-tweetstorm that follows.
