# What is Trump's response if a missile attack is launched on the US embassy in Bagdhad **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 4, 2020, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950 "2020-01-04T22:53:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/21 "2020-01-05T14:45:06Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > :smack: Would you believe I actually double-checked and still got it wrong? > :smack::smack: Shia Islam is the predominant religion in Iran encompassing around 89% of the population. > [Islam in Iran - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Iran) > :smack::smack::smack: Shia Islam in Iraq is most predominant in the southeast, which borders Iran and includes the city of Basra and Iraq’s access to the Persian Gulf. > [The Secular Roots of a Religious Divide in Contemporary Iraq | Origins](http://origins.osu.edu/article/secular-roots-religious-divide-contemporary-iraq) (scroll down for map) > :smack::smack::smack::smack:All that and I still typed in Sunni. There’s obviously a problem with my chair-to-keyboard interface.:smack::smack::smack::smack::smack: Haha no worries mate, happens to the best of us. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/22 "2020-01-05T15:40:01Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > This whole post is nonsense. So is this one, since you refuse to add to the conversation. On-topic: I can’t find a cite now, but I read somewhere that Trump has said that the USA would target cultural centers if Iran retaliated. Surely I’m not the only one who is disturbed by this. That’s not an act of military might, or even an act of war; that’s terrorism, plain and simple. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/23 "2020-01-05T18:03:41Z")
He’ll do what his buddy Vlad tells him to do. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/24 "2020-01-05T18:35:27Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I think it’d be a bit more likely to be accurate. If we got a Bush type (i.e. neocon), then we can expect escalation, or at the very least an “in kind” military strike response. If it’s Obama, then I’d expect an international coalition of stronger sanctions, and maybe some drone strikes on Iranian agents in Iraq and elsewhere. Some violence would happen, even under Saint Obama, no “maybe” about it. Surely you know Obama didn’t shrink away from using drone strikes ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/25 "2020-01-05T18:35:28Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Since Soleimani was killed in an “active war zone” (Baghdad), I assume Iran may invoke the same logic and target the US embassy in Baghdad. Iran could launch missiles (via its proxies) from within Iraq and possibly Syria, too, thus not justifying a retaliatory US strike directly on Iran territory. Or would it? > > Would this be the excuse Trump was looking for to flat out destroy the Iranian military and leave Iran impotent for a generation? (I am not advocating anything of the sort, of course. Not only is not a long term solution, but it would guaranty fanatic, insatiable, violent anti-Americanism for generations.) Something straightforward such as a rocket attack on the US embassy is not as likely as cyberattacks on banking, military and the power grid. Iran likely already has the plans in place. Soleimani was also known for having proxies such as militias throughout the Middle East engage in attacks, whether using heavily armed speedboats to attack frigates or planting IEDs to kill troops. Heavy use of these tactics are much more likely than directly attacking an embassy. There is even concern about sleeper cells already in place in Western Europe and the US. Soleimani was a master at [asymmetrical warfare](https://www.britannica.com/topic/asymmetrical-warfare). Any attacks will almost certainly follow this strategy because the plans have already been prepared and are in place even with Soleimani dead. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/26 "2020-01-05T18:40:09Z")
There’s been concern about sleeper cells for 20 years. Sure, they probably exist but since 9/11 the US has mostly only seen “lone wolf” type incidents. These sleepers were waiting for this? ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/27 "2020-01-05T18:51:43Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > He’ll do what his buddy Vlad tells him to do. I can’t help but wonder whether Godfather Vlad might have been concerned about Iran getting too big for its britches. So he tells King Cannot that he must be decisive toward them ayatollahs, with predictable results: Iran gets taken down a peg, and US credibility takes yet another gut punch. There’s somebody playing four-dimensional chess here, and it ain’t Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/28 "2020-01-05T18:57:12Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > There’s been concern about sleeper cells for 20 years. Sure, they probably exist but since 9/11 the US has mostly only seen “lone wolf” type incidents. These sleepers were waiting for this? Cyberattacks and extremist militias attacking Westerners or military bases overseas are the likely way Iran will respond. Sleeper cell attacks are remote at best but that doesn’t make them impossible. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/29 "2020-01-05T19:17:31Z")
Not impossible but the problem is that “concern about sleeper cells” is blatant code for “let’s crack down on the local Muslim population” when the concern is “remote at best”. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/30 "2020-01-05T20:41:50Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > So is this one, since you refuse to add to the conversation. “…Unarguably showing his treasons.” That’s not a conversation. Martial Law in the next few weeks? Troops surrounding Capitol Hill? Dems being rounded up? There is nothing there worth discussing. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/31 "2020-01-05T20:53:05Z")
Thing is, all you ever do is post “Wrong!” without anything else. And you’re often, well, wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/32 "2020-01-05T21:35:27Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > “…Unarguably showing his treasons.” > > That’s not a conversation. > > Martial Law in the next few weeks? Troops surrounding Capitol Hill? Dems being rounded up? > > There is nothing there worth discussing. That may be your feeling but, obviously others disagree. D’Anconia, per the new rules you are forthwith banned from this thread. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/33 "2020-01-05T21:50:59Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > The modern US has no allies, only clients and enemies, quickly changeable as needed. > > This POTUS is wagging the dog, not his wee weenie. He fears his financials will soon become public, unarguably showing his treasons. Thus this diversion to avoid dying in prison. As combat ensues, the Senate trial for his removal will be shuffled off-stage. Expect the State of Emergency and Martial Law proclamations by or at the SOTU show. Look for troops surrounding Capitol Hill then. Dems and other dissidents will be rounded up right afterward. Are your affairs in order? > > I really, really hope I’m wrong. I don’t know if Trump is necessarily wagging the dog; I think the problem is, he simply has no idea what he’s doing. This might have been partly motivated by his desire to tear up Obama’s legacy. He might also be partly motivated because he knows he ran on a campaign of being anti-Muslim (and he probably truly is anti-Muslim himself). But I really think bigger problem is that he is so clueless about the decisions he’s being asked to make that he just acts on a whim without any idea of the consequences. His extreme ignorance leaves him in a position of being taken advantage of by Pompeo and others of a like mind. Just to remind everyone, Trump has absolutely nobody acting in the traditional diplomatic capacity. He has only yes men who take his orders and he has right wing ideologues who advise him. Unfortunately, with each escalation, Trump paints himself into a corner. If he ends up getting us entangled in a war, he will likely feel compelled to go all the way – his presidency, the survival of his criminal business empire, and his personal survival and that of his family depend on his waging all out war against his enemies foreign and domestic. It is inevitable that Iran will respond, and they will do so in ways that weaken not only the US but America’s perception of its leadership. This is something he and his defenders will refuse to acknowledge and they will wage a vicious holy war to preserve the “real” America. We’ve all been talking for the past 3 years about how bad this administration is, and how it will ultimately inflict untold irreparable damage on the republic. That damage has been occurring but not in ways that the average person can necessarily appreciate and observe. But I think that’s about to change. We’re approaching the day when this is going to be China’s world. And we will be the ones taking orders, if we even have a country left. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/34 "2020-01-05T22:38:40Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I don’t know if Trump is necessarily wagging the dog; I think the problem is, he simply has no idea what he’s doing. Much that’s attributed to evildoing is really incompetence, sure. But Tramp has VERY vigorously resisted release of his financials. Available reports indicate he’s owned by Putin. A diversion, whether wag-the-dog or false-flag or whatever, may SEEM to him like the only was to avoid VERY unpleasant consequences when we indisputably learn that he has done the bidding of an enemy waging war on the US, as his UN ambassador and Putin’s defense minister have declared. Note the constitutional definition of treason. Follow Tramp’s self-interest. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/35 "2020-01-05T23:03:36Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Much that’s attributed to evildoing is really incompetence, sure. But Tramp has VERY vigorously resisted release of his financials. Available reports indicate he’s owned by Putin. A diversion, whether wag-the-dog or false-flag or whatever, may SEEM to him like the only was to avoid VERY unpleasant consequences when we indisputably learn that he has done the bidding of an enemy waging war on the US, as his UN ambassador and Putin’s defense minister have declared. Note the constitutional definition of treason. > > Follow Tramp’s self-interest. I honestly don’t think he really games things out like that – I could be wrong. Trump is brilliant - truly, terrifyingly brilliant - in one sense: he knows how to work a crowd, knows how to put on a show – he knows that people like a gladiator show. He understands people on an instinctive level. He knows what whets someone’s emotional appetite. He also understands - again on an instinctive level - how to attack his enemies, and he can sniff weakness. He knows how to manipulate people. But all of that is at a very instinctive level and we would probably need a true psychologist (which I am not) to explain how it all works. But actually learning how to use a foreign policy event as a chess move? I may be wrong, but I don’t think his brain works like that. Mike Pompeo’s brain might work like that. Jared Kushner’s brain probably works like that. Stephen Miller’s brain absolutely works like that. But Trump’s? Nah, I don’t see it. Does it matter whether it does or doesn’t? Maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/36 "2020-01-05T23:20:52Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Would this be the excuse Trump was looking for to flat out destroy the Iranian military and leave Iran impotent for a generation? (I am not advocating anything of the sort, of course. Not only is not a long term solution, but it would guaranty fanatic, insatiable, violent anti-Americanism for generations.) If you’re asking about Trump’s military objectives, you’re asking the wrong question. Everything Trump does is for his own political benefit, mainly as determined by watching coverage of him on Fox News. If I’m Trump then I’m desperate to take control of the impeachment news cycle right now, and I’m desperate not to look weak, but I also want to hold fire until I really need it in the May/June timeframe. I don’t know that he’s capable of that kind of restraint, but if someone smart is advising him, and Hannity gives his blessing, it may happen that way. I expect we go back to incremental escalations for a few months. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/37 "2020-01-05T23:30:32Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Never thought I would see the day that Tucker Carlson would be the voice of fucking reason.😕:rolleyes::smack: I know. I found that development almost more shocking than the inciting action (the execution of the Iranian general). ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/38 "2020-01-05T23:40:21Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Not impossible but the problem is that “concern about sleeper cells” is blatant code for “let’s crack down on the local Muslim population” when the concern is “remote at best”. There are unconfirmed reports of Iranian-Americans–citizens–being detained at a US border, namely the Canada/Washington state border: > [@](#): > > Washington state officials are investigating claims that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is detaining Iranian Americans at the Washington-Canada border. > > The Washington chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported in a press release that they were helping more than 60 Iranians and Iranian-Americans, many of whom were U.S. citizens. The organization alleged that the people were being detained and questioned at the Peace Arch Border Crossing in Blaine. > > They also said that CBP was refusing Iranian-Americans entry due to a lack of capacity for them to be detained. > > These residents were reportedly returning across the border from an Iranian pop concert in Vancouver, Canada. According to CAIR, people who were detained said that their passports were confiscated and they were questioned about their political views. > > Customs and Border Protection is disputing these allegations … > **[Washington officials investigating claims of Border Patrol detaining...](https://www.kxly.com/news/morning-sprint/washington-officials-investigating-claims-of-border-patrol-detaining-iranian-americans-in-blaine/article_06a1584f-9ae8-50b3-88e3-01324d7ecd39.html)** > > Washington state officials are investigating claims that Customs and Border Protection is detaining Iranian Americans at the Washington-Canada border. Whether or not these reports prove to be accurate, it’s not unlikely that both Iranian-Americans and Muslim-Americans in general might be targeted by the Trump Administration—if there’s not enough of a public outcry against such treatment. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/39 "2020-01-05T23:49:12Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > the execution of the Iranian general “Execution”? ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950/40 "2020-01-06T00:01:15Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > “Execution”? Is “extra-judicial killing” more to your liking? No, I’m not saying Soleimani was a good guy. I’m saying that the rationale for killing him given by the Trump Administration appears to require an extraordinary degree of faith in Trump’s honesty, and that many people will be unable to summon up that faith—given three years of experience of Trump. Two previous administrations were aware that Soleimani’s activities were, shall we say, not pro-USA. But they chose not to kill him\*—though there were plenty of opportunities—because the cost-benefit analysis said that killing him would harm Americans more than letting him live. Remember, this wasn’t a stateless terrorist. This was an accredited official of a sovereign state. Killing him was a serious matter. It appears that Trump did not take the likely consequences of the decision particularly seriously. - > [@](#): > > … “what always kept both Democratic and Republican presidents from targeting Soleimani himself was the simple question: Was the strike worth the likely retaliation, and the potential to pull us into protracted conflict?” … > **[Why neither Bush nor Obama killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, who the...](https://www.businessinsider.com/why-neither-bush-or-obama-killed-iranian-general-qassem-soleimani-2020-1)** > > Former officials said that the potential for retaliation from Iran against US troops and allied forces is why neither Bush nor Obama killed Soleimani. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-trumps-response-if-a-missile-attack-is-launched-on-the-us-embassy-in-bagdhad/845950.md?page=3)