War with Iran just started
I'm going to update this essay later. This should get things rolling for now.
To convey a sense of Soleimani’s significance, it would be as if, during the Iraq war, the ayatollah had ordered the assassination of Gen. David Petraeus, Gen. Jim Mattis, the head of Special Operations Command, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.* Soleimani’s responsibilities corresponded with all four of these roles. Even then, the analogy falls short because, among Shi’ite Muslims across the region, Soleimani also exuded the charisma of a religious icon, a holy warrior.For the past 20 years, he had been the architect of Iran’s expansionist foreign policy, running subversive operations and controlling Shi’ite militias in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, and Afghanistan. In the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, he shared intelligence about al-Qaida and the Taliban with U.S. officials, until President George W. Bush declared Iran to be part of the “axis of evil.” In the fight against ISIS, his militias were crucial in forcing the group’s fighters out of Iraq. But he was also responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. troops during the Iraq insurgency. On Thursday night, the Pentagon justified its action by claiming that he was about to launch an offensive against American embassies and armed forces throughout the region.
Even if that is true, killing him doesn’t make much strategic sense. As important as he was, his loyal and capable lieutenants are still capable of executing the missions.
Let's not overlook the guy who was killed alongside him.
He was credited with being a key leader in the Shia militias, the Popular Mobilisation Forces, known as the Hashed (al-Shaabi), employed as shock troops in the bloody fight against Islamic State in Iraq. Although he worked under Faleh al-Fayyadh, Iraq’s national security adviser, Muhandis was widely recognised as the Hashed’s real leader.And equally, if not more, important was his involvement in founding and leading the Kata’ib Hezbollah militia, part of the Hashed.
This changes everything!
Any hope of salvaging the situation in Iraq is sunk. I don't see how the Iraqi government will not demand that we leave.
This will make our occupation in Syria increasingly untenable.
I don't see how Iran cannot strike back at us, probably both directly and with proxies. This will cause Trump to lash out disproportionately again, and escalate the situation.
Outside of Israel and the Saudis, I don't see us having any allies in this fight.
Domestically this changes the political conversation. Any talk of Trump not being keen on war will now end. Republicans will go back to calling Democrats Blame-America-First-Traitors.
Comments
Call your Representative and Senators Now!
Call your representative and Senators asap to demand an end to Trump's warmongering.
https://www.contactingcongress.org/
U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-312
Congress must act now and demand a halt to this violence before this escalates any further.
Too late. Congress has given tacit approval.
Peace
FN
"Democracy is technique and the ability of power not to be understood as oppressor. Capitalism is the boss and democracy is its spokesperson." Peace - FN
Exactly!
All the more reason to call and make them realize they won't get re-elected if they want to keep being warmongers. I'd say if we don't call in sufficient numbers, it's on us.
And if we call and nothing changes?
If we had any true control over what our "representatives" really do we would not be where we are today. We can quibble all we want over what we "should do" but when that changes nothing then what?
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
MoA also has a report on this
All I can add here is - "sow the wind and reap the whirlwind"
There will be an asymmetrical war in response and the US has a buffoon as
CommanderTwitter in Chief.i was about to cross-post
news and quotes on this insanity, but using far different sources. i hope it's not going to be stepping on your toes, gjonsit.
As long as it doesn't duplicate the opinions/ideas
then please do post away.
We need more diversity of viewpoint.
I'm no censor.
all i can say is that
most of my sources come from very different points of view, save for the Altantic one i'd used in the way of satire, which mirror's Slate. i had brought some bits of bernhard's (MoA) that CB's brought to your thread.
so yes, on balance i'd have to reckon that diverse views matter; thanks.
Good for you.
I wish others had the same respect for my essays. It seems like when I publish one, another user posts a highly similar one not long after.
I enjoy your essays. Keep up the good work, Wendy.
i do remember that
happening on one of your 'war with iran' posts, so i thought it might be polite of me to ask.
i will say that although i hadn't had the time to click in, i might have suggested 'war ON iran' instead. ; )
aw, jeezum crow;
the penny finally drops. if i'd done the same to you, i sincerely apologize. i do get tunnel vision, and cross-posting via ancient firefoxes still with 'easy copy' html code is a bitch, especially anything with tweets, as in: the café only requires urls, this site requires embed codes, etc. meaning: it gets pretty complicated.
and i usually start composing not long after fist light, and try to check into c99% now and again to make sure no one else has blogged on the same subject. but sometimes,i forget to so so, and even if i've spent hours composing, i may press Publish nonetheless. again, if i've stepped on your toes, i apologize, and will ask in advance if i'd be doing so.
And so it begins
I second this
Some words from a wannabe.
So it was a reckless move but she approves of the murder?
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
Aaron Mate's analysis of the candidates' responses
[video:https://youtu.be/Yw7MkaDelRI]
She didn't say that she approved
She said that she wouldn't mourn over his death.
Neither will I.
The whole concept
that we can let a prior, mass murdering president live peacefully among us is what bothers me.
This country abounds in double standards.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
Assassinations are supposed to be illegal
but they've been normalized over the last 20 years.
Like torture and a complete destruction of the 4th Amendment.
It's inevitable that an assassination would lead us to war.
This war will likely go in a similar way to Iraq, in that we'll win up front but lose in the long run.
Very much like the Bay of Pigs
Warren is either ignorant
The US attacked Iraq unprovoked based on outright lies and deception. This invasion violated the UN Charter and international humanitarian law. As such the US is guilty of an international war crime and everything that happens subsequent to that becomes a direct responsibility of the US.
The US used napalm, white phosphorus, cluster bombs and depleted uranium that killed hundreds of thousands, mostly civilians and wounded and maimed untold hundreds of thousands more. Civilian infrastructure such as sanitation, water supplies and food production/storage facilities were directly targeted and destroyed and directly impacted the lives of children and women. US soldiers along with paid mercenaries maimed, raped, killed and plundered with little restrain.
It was an ILLEGAL move.
Does Warren not know that/
"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin
Trump didn't declare war
The military industrial complex declared war. Trump, like Presidents before him, is merely a prop. The disaster that is about to unfold will be left at his feet.
Again, this should not be considered an excuse or praise for the despicable sociopath in the White House. I am merely restating the chain of command that exists in the US.
tRumpolini seems to be relishing this
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-jabs-dems-10-word-tweet-ira...
So even if right how does that allow for ameriKa to
assassinate him?
dear mr. tRumpolini, name one war you've won, better yet name
one negotiation you've won. Yes your base will love you for
this because that's what people with TDS do.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Persia won plenty of wars
It had a couple empires, I might add.
Trump doesn't seem to realize this.
I hope he enjoys acting tough. It won't last.
This isn't the WWE.
TDS
TDS isn't a reference to Trump's base. It stands for Trump Derangement Syndrome and is used to refer to people that irrationally hate Trump and call him names like tRumpolini.
Technically true, but
Might even be more aptly applied to these pod people cultists rather than his opponents as there is nothing irrational about hating a hateful irrational person wielding enormous power like Trump.
No. Just no.
It's re-purposing of ODS - Obama Derangement Syndrome, which was coined by Politico in December 2008 to describe conservatives that wouldn't believe Obama was born in the US.
The use of TDS is well-established for describing liberals that don't believe Trump was elected president or that believe that he is somehow Putin's puppet.
Agree on
PDS
Edit: Also - Pretty Damn Stupid.
Is it great yet?
Excellent! n/t
Oh yes the tRumpolini cult is guilty
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
I agree
Trump doesn't have the detailed knowledge and understanding of the situation in the Middle East nor does he have the intelligence and skill set to be "Commander in Chief" in a time of war. He is being used like a trained seal much like Dubya was by the hidden war mongers behind the throne.
"My fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." - George W. Bush 2003
"There are some who feel like - that the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring 'em on! We've got the force necessary." - George W. Bush 2008
Trump comes across with his tweets like a 13 year old boy having a schoolyard fight with another kid. This is going to get a lot of Americans killed - there's little chance of turning back.
Trump is on a leash but..
Which just might be the best unintended consequence of all.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
The stumbling block
The MIC appears to know just how much war to have to maximize profits without it escalating into uncontrollable chaos or full-scale war like WW2 that might cause their sons to be drafted. Think 28 years of low-level conflict in Iraq with a couple of periods of brief high intensity fighting. Think 17 years in Afghanistan. 8 years in Syria. I do believe they have perfected the concept of permanent war.
Just more evidence of a military coup has occurred
Trump Did not declare war and by the authority of the AUMF, Trump and the military have the right to use military force in Iraq.
Maybe they
Remember, the US attacking Iran is what Trump said in a 2011 tweet that Obama would do in order to enhance his re-elect prospects.
Donald always was reliably good at showing his thinking through projection.
What will Iran do now?
Go figure that The Rising gets right on it:
[video:https://youtu.be/nwQPfBfo8ic]
Trump has started a fire
in the Middle East he may not be able to control.
Trump may well be able to control it through election day
. . . to his temporary advantage.
Don't be surprised when most Americans rally around the flag especially if they feel threatened.
Only Bernie has any chance at all of stopping the madness. Not a great chance but I'll opt for the only chance and a chance that may well be the best chance of our lifetimes.
If this was 20 years ago you would be 100% right
Even 10 years ago it would be a fairly safe bet.
But now?? I'd say that it's a 50-50 shot.
Agree. Too many
But it's entirely reasonable to suggest Trump might calculate differently. And he has so few cards to play, and the "national security threat" card has worked well in the past.
I did note if they feel threatened
How will Iran retaliate?
Before the SuperBowl? Patriotism feeding frenzy.
Before November? Trump election assured.
Obviously, the Iranians are consulting with the Russians and the Chinese at this point.
Ugh. If all this shit doesn't convince folks Bernie is our only hope, fuhgetaboutid.
It's all a matter of framing and marketing.
They've been busily framing for many years -- Iran is the root of all problems in the Middle East. Now comes marketing -- defeating Iran will solve all problems in the Middle East.
The MSM will jump on the bandwagon. Warmongers on social media will push it to their followers. Grandma on Facebook will share anti-Iran posts. Those that disagree will be branded as traitors.
Iran and its proxies will fight back against the incremental escalations done by the US, and that will justify more escalation, until we're at a slow boil but never a full conflagration. Voila! One more permanent war.
I hope you are right that it won't work this time.
Pompeo: "The people of Iran will rejoice"
Yeah not so much.
Let us not forget that the house stripped out the amendment that would have blocked Trump from starting war with Iran. This was just one of the many gifts Nancy gave to Trump in the NDAA. Nice job, Nance.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
I don't think Pompeo is that delusional
I think he's just a lying warmonger.
But I could be wrong.
Pompeo
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
There was an article on Fox yesterday...
Proclaiming how happy and excited Middle Easterners were that the evil Soleimani was blown up. An example was the scores of jubilant people in Tahrir Square in Baghdad. Score equals 20, so plural means there were at least 40. Yuge!
What was Israel's role in this?
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Everyone knows that Israel was involved in this
It just can't be proven is all.
Israel will suffer consequences too, but that's what Netanyahu is counting on.
May Netanyahu get the karma he deserves - and soon.
That sonofabitch is the primary reason why there can be no prospect of peace in the Middle East.
There are probably worse than he in the pipeline, but if he's sent to the slammer for corruption, there's a very slim chance that somebody half-decent will replace him.
Stop the world, I want to get off....
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
This is good for Netanyahu's re-election campaign. n/t
It will also stop his prosecution
War is not the time to change horses.
Good too for
I believe this attack was Pompeo's doing
Trump had no other choice than to own it.
Ted Cruz: "Justice for Israel overdue."
And yet....
When was the last time the IDF had skin in our wars? Seems that Israel loves to send our men and women off to war. His men and women? Not so much.
Graham and others are pushing for a defense agreement with Israel. So if Israel does attack Iran and they respond we are on the hook to come to Israel's defense. We probably would have anyway, but this cements it.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Former Italian ambassador to Iraq:
"Iran will simply continue to do what it has always done, in Afghanistan, Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Gaza, indefinitely testing the patience of its enemies, willing to spend years weaving a carpet."
Iran continues its long game
Just a thought...
... this has officially sucked all the air out of the room. Amount of media coverage of impeachment will drop to zero. The (presumed) plan to embarrass Republican Senators with their votes is now not worth the paper it was never printed on. What was already likely to be a circus trial will now include clowns and elephants.
Who will campaign against the war? Sanders. Maybe Yang and Gabbard.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahv4nYd6fLI]
Does low media coverage translate to low voter turnout? Will younger people turn out in force to try to stop the madness before they get drafted and sent into a meat grinder?
Cutting off oil shipments from the Persian Gulf will crater the world's economy in a matter of weeks, just before an election.
The walls were closing in, tick tick tick TICK, and now #MadPrezDonny has flipped the Monopoly board.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppKkYkM0apI]
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
I listened to Bernie's speech live
It is really worth watching. And after the part about war he talked about MFA, how he will do it and how he will pay for it.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
there is a package soon to be delivered
in the DC neighborhood which
will give our arrogant rulers pause
pretty sure the think tanks have their
legislation already written in response
a conveniently timed disaster is what the
PTB are ready for. An opportunity for martial law.
Will make the patriot act look like a merry go round.
truth is considered foreign influence, world peace is a threat to national security
I worry about that too,
Lurking in the wings is Hillary, like some terrifying bat hanging by her feet in a cavern below the DNC. A bat with theropod instincts. -- Fred Reed https://tinyurl.com/vgvuhcl
WDS - War Derangement Syndrome - spreads
fast and can't be cured.
https://www.euronews.com/live
WDS cures itself
so I can go to sleep now and not worry over the fact
that so many people get all exited and upset about it and talk in codewords, or in chinese, or in movie clips' quotes or is so snarky ways I can't figure out what is snark and what is not?
Have mercy with the old ladies. Snark is not their strong side.
Thanks. I hope you are right. I hate that disease.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Another attack in Iraq
Things are heating up. Gee it's almost like they are trying to provoke something.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
We killed some doctors
we're the good guys
Bernie + Khanna just introduced legislation to block war funds
The NDAA had that in it
but Nancy let it pass after the amendment was stripped from it. Any democrat whining about what Trump has done needs to stfu if they voted for the NDAA without it in it. Especially Nancy.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
EXACTLY
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
It's important to pin down Pelosi et al.
Even if the legislation doesn't pass.
Less wiggle room for centrist Dems
Also I posted yestidy that very same Bragman tweet (the one you note below) about Pelosi previously stripping out those provisions in a response to Wokkamile: https://caucus99percent.com/comment/459059#comment-459059
Edit/add: And here's a video of demonstrators outside Schumer's residence:
This
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
It's almost unbearable
Lurking in the wings is Hillary, like some terrifying bat hanging by her feet in a cavern below the DNC. A bat with theropod instincts. -- Fred Reed https://tinyurl.com/vgvuhcl
Send them all copies of "Level 7"
Nasty novel about people who thought they were safe that far down in their bunkers...until they weren't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_7_(novel)
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Here's a must read piece
On who Soleimani was, by Ali Soufan.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Good read
That article had the most information on Soleimani of any I've read. Thanks.
Thanks,
Lurking in the wings is Hillary, like some terrifying bat hanging by her feet in a cavern below the DNC. A bat with theropod instincts. -- Fred Reed https://tinyurl.com/vgvuhcl
KISS - question
from: here
The president is the highest military commander in chief, isn't he? If a president orders the killing of foreign commander in a country outside of the US, is that an unlawful order according with the UCMJ?
If yes, what kind of response do the military commanders and service members under the president have to not obey the unlawful order of their highest commander in chief?
It seems to me that they have none. Which is what? A CDS = constitutional derangement syndrome?
Why don't I understand this shit? Drives me nuts.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Simple answer,
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
hmm, then this article seems to be utterly not so simple
Did the President Have the Domestic Legal Authority to Kill Qassem Soleimani? - By Scott R. Anderson - Friday, January 3, 2020, 4:49 PM
I tried to read through this to the end. I can't do it.
Can somebody reformulate what is written in this article in simple language?
https://www.euronews.com/live
I haven't read the article
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
I'm a US Army veteran.
No US soldier has the right to disobey an order, lawful or unlawful. Either can result in disciplinary action. The proper procedure is to escalate the dispute about an order to the immediate supervisor of the person giving the order, and then from there up the "chain of command", that is, each level of upper management.
A soldier can say, "Sir, I respectfully decline to obey that order because it is unlawful for this reason...". But they will still be relieved of their duties and possibly imprisoned. Another soldier will then almost always carry out the order. If an entire unit refuses the order, that's mutiny.
On the other hand, a soldier can refuse to obey an order to commit a crime, but even then they may be on shaky ground. The Court of Military Appeals has held that "the justification for acts done pursuant to orders does not exist if the order was of such a nature that a man of ordinary sense and understanding would know it to be illegal." Ordinary sense and understanding is, of course, open to interpretation.
I hope that helped some.
This seems to be
Weren't soldiers prosecuted successfully for murdering civilians in VN? And surely, falling back on the Nuremberg defense is no defense. So it would appear soldiers do have a right, a duty even, to disobey clearly unlawful orders. No shaky ground. The soldier, as with the VN examples, may even later be prosecuted for following such unlawful orders. And, imo, the reasonable/ordinary person standard is about as good as any.
Problems, gray areas, might arise in less egregious situations, and a soldier can't of course conjure up an unreasonable, baseless personal opinion to justify a refusal to follow orders.
My two cents.
Not contradictory.
Firing the rocket that killed the Iranian general wasn't unlawful as currently understood. That was Mimi's question, to which I responded. A soldier that failed to follow that order from the President of the United States would be relieved of duty and charged.
As for right vs ability, there's no contradiction there. Soldiers don't have the right to disobey an order. On the other hand, they do have the ability and obligation to not obey unlawful orders. But those orders have to be strong examples of a direct violation of the Constitution and the UCMJ and not the military member’s own opinion.
Military members disobey orders at their own risk. They also obey orders at their own risk. An order to commit a crime is unlawful. An order to perform a military duty, no matter how dangerous, is lawful as long as it doesn't involve the commission of a crime. Firing the missile at Soleimani was not a crime as currently defined.
and I thought of TDS being the opposite
meaning that a person is so deranged to hate Trump more than a rational person would be capable of. Which one is it now?
Geez, I really have to check everything.
https://www.euronews.com/live
workamile is trying to change definitions
He should be ashamed of how confusing that is. Words have meaning and context. If humans stop communicating concisely, we might as well give up language and resort to grunts and gestures.
TDS is Trump Derangement Syndrome. It applies to people that irrationally hate Trump and criticize anything he does.
Eau FFS.
Further, an extreme, reckless narcissistic type of leader like the Don almost invites a strong, extreme negative reaction. It's the nature of the unruly, predictably unpredictable Beast. Few people who oppose him -- which appears to be roughly 52% or more of the public -- have soft, nuanced views. His backers, and a few here, would call it "deranged" but mostly the negative comments about Donald are within bounds of reasonable discussion. In fact, the "derangement" actually can barely keep up with the deranged leader's behavior. We'll have to pick up the pace obviously.
oh my ...
Who understands that currently in that way? With what kind of argumentation? A war against Iran was not declared by Congress. The order to fire a rocket to kill the Iranian general then is in my understanding equal to an assassination. AFAIK that is a crime and therefore unlawful.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Thank former Presidents Obama and Bush.
They both stretched the limits of the authority granted by Congress. Obama authorized and justified assassinations, including of Americans residing abroad. Trump is just following the precedents they set. Reviews by US courts have supported such killings as legal, despite treaties and US policies such as Executive Order 12333 forbidding assassination.
The stance of the US government is that "it's legal if we say it's legal". As the old proverb says, Might Makes Right, meaning if you're the strongest, you decide what's right and wrong.
But that is a LAWLESS, not lawful society
which is what various people have been trying to point out.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Those various people include me.
I hope you aren't claiming otherwise. It's hard to judge the intent behind short comments.
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