Pentagon preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, Washington Post reports
The Pentagon logo in the briefing room, following the United States and Israel-led strikes on Iran, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 2, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
March 28 (Reuters) - The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, the Washington Post reported Saturday, citing U.S. officials.
The plans could involve raids by Special Operations and conventional infantry troops, the Post reported. Whether President Donald Trump would approve any of those plans remains uncertain, according to the Post.
The Trump administration has deployed U.S. Marines to the Middle East as the war in Iran stretches into its fifth week, and also has been planning to send thousands of soldiers from the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne to the region.
Reporting and writing by Christian Martinez; Editing by Sergio Non and Chizu Nomiyama
Another ground war in the middle east with a President even stupider than George W Bush.
Should end well.
"This statement, in its utterly clueless hubristic stupidity, cannot be improved upon. I merely quote it in admiration of its perfection." - Garibaldi
"Problem is, while the Germans have had many mea culpas and quite painfully dealt with their history, the South is still hellbent on painting themselves as the real victims. It gives them a special place in the history of assholes" - Covenant
"Over three million died fighting for the emperor, but when the war was over he pretended it was not his responsibility. What kind of man does that?'' - Saburo Sakai
bilateralrope wrote: 2026-03-29 05:34pm
I've seen some people claiming that this looks a lot like how the Vietnam war started.
The Vietnam was started with far more political support.
vakundok wrote: 2026-03-30 11:38am
They only dug tunnels to store drones, right? Definitely not to make an invader suffer.
Iran seems to have prepared thoroughly for this confrontation whereas the America Israel seem to have thought they would win in the first two days.
"This statement, in its utterly clueless hubristic stupidity, cannot be improved upon. I merely quote it in admiration of its perfection." - Garibaldi
"Problem is, while the Germans have had many mea culpas and quite painfully dealt with their history, the South is still hellbent on painting themselves as the real victims. It gives them a special place in the history of assholes" - Covenant
"Over three million died fighting for the emperor, but when the war was over he pretended it was not his responsibility. What kind of man does that?'' - Saburo Sakai
bilateralrope wrote: 2026-03-29 05:34pm
I've seen some people claiming that this looks a lot like how the Vietnam war started.
The Vietnam was started with far more political support.
vakundok wrote: 2026-03-30 11:38am
They only dug tunnels to store drones, right? Definitely not to make an invader suffer.
Iran seems to have prepared thoroughly for this confrontation whereas the America Israel seem to have thought they would win in the first two days.
Israel was seemingly content to attack Iran purely from afar, they weren't planning to launch a ground invasion AFAIK.
From a logistical perspective the best time to attack Iran was back when the USA had troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan so they could have hit the country from two sides at once.
It speaks volumes that the Bush Administration, filled with Neocons, didn't follow through with that.
"This statement, in its utterly clueless hubristic stupidity, cannot be improved upon. I merely quote it in admiration of its perfection." - Garibaldi
"Problem is, while the Germans have had many mea culpas and quite painfully dealt with their history, the South is still hellbent on painting themselves as the real victims. It gives them a special place in the history of assholes" - Covenant
"Over three million died fighting for the emperor, but when the war was over he pretended it was not his responsibility. What kind of man does that?'' - Saburo Sakai
Leaving aside moral issues, I don't think that Hegseth's 'logistics don't matter if you do enough war crimes' philosophy will actually work in achieving their goals. Drones aren't that expensive or hard to make even by ruined country standards. Even if they go completely ape shit nuking cities I don't think they can stop the military of a country the size and population of Iran from producing enough to keep the strait closed.
If Hegseth goes through with this, it will do nothing but get a lot of soldiers killed. They will not achieve any kind of 'objective', they will not 'win' any land/concessions, it will do nothing but make the US look as bad as or worse than Russian v Ukraine. It has already weakened the US economically and will only get worse the longer it drags out. It's also going to lose the US all remaining respect from our NATO and Asian allies.
Which is why they're going to go through with it like a bull in a china shop, because "if the country's at war the people will vote to keep Trump in!"
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
Unless this is all tied to the theory of 'trump out after the half point to Vance can take over and then get elected 2 terms later'.
First thing Vance does - order a complete withdrawl, and apologize to Iran for 'trumps decisions under what was not obviously a declining mental state'
Really, who the hell knows anymore?
I've been asked why I still follow a few of the people I know on Facebook with 'interesting political habits and view points'.
It's so when they comment on or approve of something, I know what pages to block/what not to vote for.
Solauren wrote: 2026-04-01 06:02pm
Unless this is all tied to the theory of 'trump out after the half point to Vance can take over and then get elected 2 terms later'.
First thing Vance does - order a complete withdrawl, and apologize to Iran for 'trumps decisions under what was not obviously a declining mental state'
Really, who the hell knows anymore?
That bloke has the charisma of a dead bird. I don't see him exciting anybody.
"This statement, in its utterly clueless hubristic stupidity, cannot be improved upon. I merely quote it in admiration of its perfection." - Garibaldi
"Problem is, while the Germans have had many mea culpas and quite painfully dealt with their history, the South is still hellbent on painting themselves as the real victims. It gives them a special place in the history of assholes" - Covenant
"Over three million died fighting for the emperor, but when the war was over he pretended it was not his responsibility. What kind of man does that?'' - Saburo Sakai
Solauren wrote: 2026-04-01 06:02pm
Unless this is all tied to the theory of 'trump out after the half point to Vance can take over and then get elected 2 terms later'.
First thing Vance does - order a complete withdrawl, and apologize to Iran for 'trumps decisions under what was not obviously a declining mental state'
Really, who the hell knows anymore?
That bloke has the charisma of a dead bird. I don't see him exciting anybody.
Vance has backers who made him Trump's VP.
If those backers have any doubts about his ability to get elected, elevating him to president lets them see if they should replace him.
Though even if Vance won't get elected, he's going to be better at remembering orders than Trump.
Trump has a certain charisma and following that J.D.Vance and others just don't have.
Trump has also shat all over those who surround him, so they are not really liked by the base (from what I can see).
It's hard to see them holding the Trump Coalition together.
"This statement, in its utterly clueless hubristic stupidity, cannot be improved upon. I merely quote it in admiration of its perfection." - Garibaldi
"Problem is, while the Germans have had many mea culpas and quite painfully dealt with their history, the South is still hellbent on painting themselves as the real victims. It gives them a special place in the history of assholes" - Covenant
"Over three million died fighting for the emperor, but when the war was over he pretended it was not his responsibility. What kind of man does that?'' - Saburo Sakai
bobalot wrote: 2026-04-01 10:15pm
That bloke has the charisma of a dead bird. I don't see him exciting anybody.
He has his fans. And that just drives home that his best chance of being elected president is if he's already president.
Not that I believe for one second that Trump would go along with that or that they'd actually have the stones to force him to.
1. 25th Amendment. Force Trump out due to "mental instability", Vance steps in following the Rules.
2. "it is with great sadness to report that President Trump died in his sleep last night". And such a shame it just Old Age/Aneurism/Stroke/Cardiac Incident... and Vance steps up per the Rules
3. Set up an assassination to make Trump a martyr so Vance can "carry on his work", stepping up as per the Rules.
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
bobalot wrote: 2026-04-02 04:57am
Trump has a certain charisma and following that J.D.Vance and others just don't have.
Trump has also shat all over those who surround him, so they are not really liked by the base (from what I can see).
It's hard to see them holding the Trump Coalition together.
Oh, they won't.. Unless they make Trump a Martyr.
Nitram, slightly high on cough syrup: Do you know you're beautiful?
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
bobalot wrote: 2026-04-01 10:15pm
That bloke has the charisma of a dead bird. I don't see him exciting anybody.
He has his fans. And that just drives home that his best chance of being elected president is if he's already president.
Not that I believe for one second that Trump would go along with that or that they'd actually have the stones to force him to.
1. 25th Amendment. Force Trump out due to "mental instability", Vance steps in following the Rules.
2. "it is with great sadness to report that President Trump died in his sleep last night". And such a shame it just Old Age/Aneurism/Stroke/Cardiac Incident... and Vance steps up per the Rules
3. Set up an assassination to make Trump a martyr so Vance can "carry on his work", stepping up as per the Rules.
There is a 4th possibility: Trump dies of poor health ahead of schedule. But close enough to Jan 20 that some people think they can make it look like he's still alive until we are passed that threshold.
An assassination attempt, disguised as a natural death or not, is going to run into the problem of an investigation. If there is enough suspicion, the democrats can stick to their principles and demand a full investigation. Trump loyalists and career employees in the DOJ will want that investigation. Any attempts at a cover up could be politically unwise.
The 25th amendment seems the least risky option for any effort to remove Trump. Though they will need to find some way to silence Trump afterwards, or at least distract MAGA from his Truth social posts. Or it gets really interesting if the attempt fails.
If Trump dies early, just 'he's in a comma' until Jan 30 or so.
If you have to use the mental health proviso, have his wife sign off that he needs to 'monitored' for his health.
Of course, she would get control of his estate and finances....
I've been asked why I still follow a few of the people I know on Facebook with 'interesting political habits and view points'.
It's so when they comment on or approve of something, I know what pages to block/what not to vote for.
bobalot wrote: 2026-04-01 10:15pm
That bloke has the charisma of a dead bird. I don't see him exciting anybody.
He has his fans. And that just drives home that his best chance of being elected president is if he's already president.
Not that I believe for one second that Trump would go along with that or that they'd actually have the stones to force him to.
1. 25th Amendment. Force Trump out due to "mental instability", Vance steps in following the Rules.
2. "it is with great sadness to report that President Trump died in his sleep last night". And such a shame it just Old Age/Aneurism/Stroke/Cardiac Incident... and Vance steps up per the Rules
3. Set up an assassination to make Trump a martyr so Vance can "carry on his work", stepping up as per the Rules.
I repeat, I don't believe they have the stones to do it much less pull it off.
As for natural causes, I'm not betting against the longevity of a billionaire who doesn't drink, smoke or climb stairs.
