Why??? Let’s hope nobody got hurt. Or killed.
Oh good. I hope that’s an accurate report.
The Iranians don’t necessarily need to kill Americans; they want to drive the US out of Iraq and this is the kind of pressure that will enable them to do it.
Fun quote floating around on Twitter tonight from various people:
I’m old enough to remember when Trump was going to hire the bestest ever generals, and hire even bester generals if those didn’t work, and we would be saved by the adults in the room.
(insert some filthy swears here)
No man, we ALWAYS have an off ramp. We had the HUGEST of all fucking off ramps after 9/11 - we just refused to take it and instead swerved into traffic.
The problem is that we have a baby at the helm who is eager to get involved in a dick measuring contest. We could EASILY zip up and walk away.
Fucking Middle East! Fucking oil! Add any $ and deaths to the cost of your fucking cheap oil!
I also hope nobody was hurt or killed.
~Max
Coincidentally, Slate is running an article that reads “As the Washington Post reports, [Iraqi Prime Minister] Mahdi is interpreting the letter as a ‘withdrawal announcement’ and is now asking Washington for a timetable on removing troops.”
Keating, J. (2020, January 7). “Pentagon: Letter Removing Troops From Iraq Was a “Mistake.” Iraq: No Takebacks.” Slate. Retrieved January 7, 2020 from Iraq considers U.S. letter to be "withdrawal announcement" while Pentagon says it was a "mistake."
~Max
Missiles. They started investing in missiles particularly during and after the Iran-Iraq War as a hedge against a spare parts-starved air force.
I don’t know how this is going to turn out, but either way it’s going to be historic.
Trump ran on being the guy who opposed foreign intervention and supported bringing the troops home.
Trump also ran on being a ball-busting Islamic hater who would punish anyone who dared cross the US.
What’s going to happen now that Iran is about to bust Trump’s balls by giving him a huge opening to satisfy a campaign promise?
I feel confused by this, but I don’t know why I should. As long as nobody makes any stupid moves, Trump folds for now, politically the circle is squared when his base hails him as a conquering hero who subjugated the dirty Iranian infidels. Revisit in 3-5 months the next time Trump needs to distract from impeachment.
But wut about bengazi!!!
You should really think more about the part I bolded, IMO. Trump is directly involved; the chance of him doing something stupid is very nearly 100%.
I already mentioned this over in a Pit thread, but if there’s a fight between Trump’s stupidity and cowardice, I challenge anyone to make a confident bet which one wins. (I personally could not).
NPR said Iran said they have “concluded” their revenge with these strikes. Hopefully we can all walk away. We got their commander, great, yay. And the Iranian response was kinda wimpy. USA! Let’s back off now before we start a real war.
Watch this idiot tweet or say something about how the Iranian military is not very good.
If the Republican Party were comprised of sane and reasonable patriots…if there were even a couple dozen!..this threat could be gone toot sweet. Impeach for Ukraine? Hell, impeach him for eating bananas. Or for not eating bananas! Just get him the fuck out of there, and we’ll argue about shit later!
Oh there’s no way this is over, but with any luck it’s over until the next impeachment article drops.
Based on the reported size and impact of the two base attacks, it feels to me more like they’re giving a show to make us think that we’re all safe; they’ve gotten their anger out.
I don’t expect them to actually do anything for several months, and then probably start wacking diplomats and taking wealthy Americans hostage around the world.
Heh, that would begin to look like a pattern. Anyway, if you’re right and it’s not over, start pulling back the rubber band on the Try2B wisdom credit trigger. My way is best, everything else is bloodshed.
This was the tamest response possible by the Iranians while saving face and allowing the other side to back down. I get the sense that the missiles were aimed at the empty parking lot and the mullahs are breathing a sigh of relief that no Americans died.
The US assassinated a member of the Iranian government. Why the f*** should they “back down”? Would the US “back down” if Iran assassinated one of our top government officials?
Yes, the warhawks and evangelicals want war. They are the US equivalent of crazy Muslim extremists.
^ This.
And I’ll just note that if Trump is removed by the Senate it still won’t be “President Pelosi”, it will be “President Pence”. You know - the wacky hyper-religious guy with fantasies about the End Times who wants to re-program people to think the way he does and legalize religious discrimination (which statements I base on what he said and did as governor of my state).
Not anymore.
Not with Trump at the helm.
Not when the PotUS orders the assassination of a member of another government with whom we are not at war. That is not being “the good guys”. We - Americans collectively - need to stop believing we’re always the good guys because demonstrably in this case we are not. Our government did a bad thing and further destabilized the Middle East and put the Iranian government in fear of its existence. The US started this escalation, no one else.
Yes, yes it is. The Iranian government has stated so very explicitly. Nor were these the usual rockets used by insurgents and proxies. These were ballistic missiles launched from the arsenal of the official Iranian military. Iran has released a statement that very much this was done by Iran and is their response.
So… a man kicks a dog then gets mad when the dog turns around and bites. Who exactly started this, again?
^ This.