(06-15-2019, 06:53 PM)Byron LeftTown Wrote:

(06-15-2019, 09:15 AM)mikesez Wrote: There is something to be gained, for someone.
The initial defeat of Iran will be relatively simple.
If they time it right, the US military can have control of the gulf coast of Iran, where most of the oil is, by Christmas. Iran is much bigger than Iraq, and more mountainous, so it's unlikely we would be able to quickly gain control of the entire country by force. but it is well within our capabilities to get the coastal lowlands. Perhaps Teheran would surrender at that point, or perhaps we would start to declare the part we control to be independent from Teheran.  Either way, the downside of the move, in terms of military glory, doesn't come for another two years at least. And Donny gets to beat the "support the troops" drum to re-election.

As Donald Rumsfeld said in 2003 about the length of the potential Iraq war (now into its 16th year):
It will take weeks, not months.

It did take mere weeks for u.s. armored personnel carriers to have the run of the land within Iraq's borders.
Of course that's not the same thing as winning a war.
If we were to try to hold the coast of Iran, it would be under constant threat from out-of-uniform operatives taking their orders from Tehran.
Just like the much flatter, and much small Iraq, we could dominate this area, but could we pacify it? Probably not.

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