LAT: Air Force's role in Iraq could grow (more flights likely along the Iranian border)

[sabra]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-airforce31jan31,1,1478882.story?coll=la-headlines-world

Air Force's role in Iraq could grow
More flights are likely along the Iranian border, sources say.

WASHINGTON — The Air Force is preparing for an expanded role in Iraq that could include aggressive new tactics designed to deter Iranian assistance to Iraqi militants, senior Pentagon officials said.

The efforts could include more forceful patrols by Air Force and Navy fighter planes along the Iran-Iraq border to counter the smuggling of bomb supplies from Iran, a senior Pentagon official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing future military plans.

Such missions also could position the Air Force to strike suspected bomb suppliers inside Iraq to deter Iranian agents that U.S. officials say are assisting Iraqi militias, outside military experts said.

...

Within the Pentagon, many active-duty officers are wary of an aggressive military response to Iran, arguing that there is no need to risk starting another war.

Some Pentagon officials worry that an escalation of military pressure that included strikes on Iranian territory could prompt Iran to go after targets it could easily hit, such as oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.

[USA_1]

1. APPEASEMENT SUCKS!

IMPEACH BUSH!!!

[HereSince1628]

2. This is sort of how we snuck up on the Bombing of Cambodia...

One thing leads to another.

It won't be long now until there is the need to do hot pursuit across the border.
And not long after that there will be urgency to attack the Iranian supply camps before the arms come across into Iran.

The suggestion of an attack on Iran for before April might be a bit early but probably not by much

[doc03]

3. Here we go, next thing we will be taking out Iranian

radar sites so we have control of the air to start the bombing. This f---ing nut has to be removed from office, I wonder if it would be possible to take him out for mental problems. He has got to be stopped and the Congress better get their head out of their ass.

[MGKrebs]

4. That makes sense.

1. Put a Navy guy in charge.
2. Send more Army guys.
3. Send more Air Force guys.

[Gloria]

5. Sounds like the provocation that Brzezinski will be talking about

tomorrow....
Thread on this elsewhere......

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001916.php
Zbigniew Brzezinski Calls Iraq War a Historic, Strategic and Moral Calamity & Says Stop the Trappings of Colonial Tutelage

If the United States continues to be bogged down in a protracted bloody involvement in Iraq, the final destination on this downhill track is likely to be a head-on conflict with Iran and with much of the world of Islam at large. A plausible scenario for a military collision with Iran involves Iraqi failure to meet the benchmarks; followed by accusations of Iranian responsibility for the failure; then by some provocation in Iraq or a terrorist act in the U.S. blamed on Iran; culminating in a "defensive" U.S. military action against Iran that plunges a lonely America into a spreading and deepening quagmire eventually ranging across Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

[aquart]

6. Yup, Georgie's trying to provoke an attack.

And Iran's George may be just macho idiot enough to respond.