Iranian troops invaded Iraq

[Ironduke]

Attack Iran, US chief ordered British
By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 30/06/2004)


America's military commander in Iraq ordered British troops to prepare a full-scale ground offensive against Iranian forces that had crossed the border and grabbed disputed territory, a senior officer has disclosed.

An attack would almost certainly have provoked open conflict with Iran. But the British chose instead to resolve the matter through diplomatic channels.

"If we had attacked the Iranian positions, all hell would have broken loose," a defence source said yesterday.

"We would have had the Iranians to our front and the Iraqi insurgents picking us off at the rear."

The incident was disclosed by a senior British officer at a conference in London last week and is reported in today's edition of Defence Analysis. The identity of the officer is not given.

"Some Iranian border and observation posts were re-positioned over the border, broadly a kilometre into Iraq," a Ministry of Defence spokesman said.

The incident began last July when Revolutionary Guards pushed about a kilometre into Iraq to the north and east of Basra in an apparent attempt to reoccupy territory which they claimed belonged to Iran.

Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez then ordered the British to prepare to send in several thousand troops to attack the Revolutionary Guard positions.

The Revolutionary Guard Corps has 125,000 soldiers, making it 25 per cent larger than the entire British Army, and is equipped with 500 tanks, 600 armoured personnel carriers and 360 artillery weapons.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../ixportal.html

[Asim Aquil]

So it's still with Iran? And they say 'Evil' America is looking for an excuse to invade Iran. They're flat giving them all that they could ever ask for to justify that Iran drew first blood!

[Ironduke]

My opinion of this invasion is that the Revolutionary Guards were acting independently and in defiance of the Iranian government (controlled by reformists), the same with the recent abductions of British sailors.

[Confed999]

My opinion of this invasion is that the Revolutionary Guards were acting independently and in defiance of the Iranian government (controlled by reformists), the same with the recent abductions of British sailors.

Ditto, but I'm certain the "reformists" can't be trusted either.

[ChrisF202]

Ditto, but I'm certain the "reformists" can't be trusted either.

IMO we need to restore the Shah but with limited powers. Iran has become very agressive recently. It seems as if the Mulllahs have a death wish.

[Asim Aquil]

My opinion of this invasion is that the Revolutionary Guards were acting independently and in defiance of the Iranian government (controlled by reformists), the same with the recent abductions of British sailors.

Hmmm I was switching channels, but I thought those were arrests, and I might be wrong about this, but some british also accepted their mistakes, saying woops :)

[Ray]

It does speak well of British diplomacy and colonial heritage to be sensitive to 'native' issues and being able to solve prickly problems with calmness.

Any aggressive gestures would have caused another flare up and it would become too hot a potato to handle!

Given the sentiments, installing Shah would be another 'illegitimate puppet' who would require a whole Army to protect him.

While one would like a govt sympathetic to one's own country's views, yet, it must be done with sensitivity so that the population goes along with it, rather than have a confrontation and thereafter military might is used to control the country. The USSR realised the same, alas too late for them.

Minds just cannot be controlled. And we should not forget Orwell's message in his books Animal Farm and 1984. Big Brother, no matter how good it's intentions maybe, will always be distrusted. Man maybe born in shackles but his mind is free like Uncle Tom's. Friendship like that between Uncle Tom and the Plantation owner's daughter alone can ensure that things move in the direction that is desired. Subtleness is the key.

[visioninthedark]

IMO we need to restore the Shah but with limited powers. Iran has become very agressive recently. It seems as if the Mulllahs have a death wish.

change is coming automatically ....

no need to hurry up and put the cart before the horse ...

[Maxcraft]

Ditto, but I'm certain the "reformists" can't be trusted either.

Why's that then? How come you're so certain? Sounds like a prejudice to me!

[ZFBoxcar]

because in matters of foreign policy the reformists speak exactly like the Mullahs. Sure, on the domestic front they are a slight improvement over the Mullahs, but not on the international level.

[Confed999]

Sounds like a prejudice to me!

Then you have no idea who you're talking to.

[Ironduke]

Why's that then? How come you're so certain? Sounds like a prejudice to me!

The reformists may be a better force than the mullahs, but they can be trusted to be no less nationalistic when it comes to the United States.

[visioninthedark]

because in matters of foreign policy the reformists speak exactly like the Mullahs. Sure, on the domestic front they are a slight improvement over the Mullahs, but not on the international level.

well then if the mullas (extreminst) and the anti-mullahs (all the rest) are one and the same as far as you are concerned ....


that covers the whole Iranian people ...

so what do you suggest ....

genocide???

[ZFBoxcar]

The reformists do not have complete control over their own policies. If they attempted to form a different foreign policy the Guardian Council would denounce them as traitors and probably have them arrested/executed. Its not the Iranian people that are the problem, it is the limitations placed on what the "opposition" is allowed to say and do. And even if the reformists on their own would still be beligerant to the west, well, at least the possibility of true reform would be out there. Iran was on the right track and if the mullahs hadn't rigged the election by banning hundreds of reformist candidates they might still be on the right track. The more the Guardian Council lets go, the faster the changes would come, but since they've pulled back, and Khatami is playing along with them, the pace of reform will slow and the current reformist leadership cannot be trusted.

[Praxus]

Oh come on, the British should have routed them and then retreated back out and then US/British Air Power pound the shit out of any Iranian invasion force.

Iran has, is, and always will be the major enemy in the war on terror.

change is coming automatically ....

no need to hurry up and put the cart before the horse ...

Is this change going to happen before or after a few million westerners die from a nuclear explosion?

Then if we don't respond in kind, they will have proven their point. That the west is a bunch of paper tigers to be feared by no one. It is inviting our own destruction.