Posted on 06/21/2019 4:49:47 PM PDT by Kaslin
The somewhat disturbing news from last night involved Iran once again. Yesterday I was pondering what our response would be to Iran shooting down one of our drones. Surely some sort of meaningful action was called for, but what form would it take? Now we may (or may not) have found out what was on the agenda before allegedly being rejected at the last minute. Assuming the reporting of the New York Times can be taken at face value (a big assumption, which I’ll get to in a moment), we were set for air strikes against Iran until the President changed his mind at the last minute and canceled them. (NY Post)
President Trump reportedly gave the order to bomb Iran on Thursday night in response to its “unprovoked” downing of a US drone — even going so far as to put planes in the air and ships in position to strike — before eventually changing his mind, officials say.
The retaliation mission was ordered up earlier in the day, according to the New York Times, and was still in the progress of being carried out as of 7 p.m., the newspaper reports.
Multiple senior officials, speaking under the condition of anonymity, said the president was prepared to attack a number of Iranian targets, including radar and missile batteries. However, he eventually gave the word to stand down — with sources telling the Times that he chose to pull the US military forces he had positioned in the region back, though it’s unclear why.
There are two ways to read this news. One is to take the report at face value, in which case it’s highly disturbing. If “multiple senior officials” are leaking news like this, it comes off as some serious deep state antics aimed at undermining the President by making him seem erratic or indecisive. And that’s the sort of catnip that the New York Times could never resist. But it’s the sort of leak that exposes our hand to Iran when we’re perched on the precipice of military action against a formidable opponent. That sort of leaking (along with the willingness to report on it immediately) is unconscionable.
But there’s one other possibility that I wouldn’t rule out entirely. This leak may have been orchestrated by the White House. Why? Because the target audience isn’t the Democrats or the Republicans in the United States. The message was for Tehran. Not only have they shot down one of our drones, but they’re stonewalling us on a more acceptable nuclear deal. If this was a designed leak, it’s a reminder to the Iranian regime that they aren’t dealing with Barack Obama anymore. Trump isn’t going to respond to their provocations with a strongly worded letter.
Trump demonstrated his willingness to pull the trigger early in his administration with the strikes on Syria. It’s a message saying that he actually is erratic and unpredictable (or at least wants to be viewed that way). His unhappiness with Iran’s government could result in some bunker busters raining down on their radar installations, secret nuclear facilities and possibly Mehrabad International Airport for all we know. But this time they lucked out… for now. And the Iranians are left to stew in their own juices for a little while, wondering if the bombs are about to start falling and if just possibly they shouldn’t be working on being less aggressive and more accommodating before it’s too late.
We won’t know for sure unless the President decides to tell us, but I’d certainly rather think that was the underlying reality. The alternative is that multiple people were engaging in something that borders on treason, having revealed sensitive military planning details to our adversaries virtually in real time.
With a message to the Iranians on the side.
History has shown that Trump was wise not to draw first blood.
“changed his mind”, media and others trying to make Trump appear indecisive.
Exactly what I thought. Smoking more people out both here and in Iran.
But it’s the sort of leak that exposes our hand to Iran when we’re perched on the precipice of military action against a formidable opponent. That sort of leaking (along with the willingness to report on it immediately) is unconscionable.
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Iran a formidable opponent? The neocons are spoiling for a needless fight over a drone. The American left is a greater threat to America than an Iran whose military has not had significant combat experience since the Iran-Iraq war of the late 1970’s, and whose population needs to be subdued against it’s current government. Let other governments protect their own shipping.
I’ve been wondering how much of the information that came out in the last 24 hours was to determine who may be internally leaking things from the Trump White House.
The head fake could also have been to gather intelligence on how Iran reacts in the face of an imminent threat.
Did you catch this?
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4803899/speaker-pelosi-calls-tensions-iran-dangerous-situation
After yesterday’s meeting with POTUS, and the parking lot happy dance, Pelosi had a meeting with her members regarding the Iran Project, including ...
Amb. Wendy Sherman, who helped negotiated the Iran Deal
https://www.belfercenter.org/person/ambassador-wendy-r-sherman
Amb. William Luers, head of the Iran Project
http://iranprojectfcsny.org/core-member-bios/
and ...
JOHN BRENNAN.
The head fake could also have been to gather intelligence on how Iran reacts in the face of an imminent threat.
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And exactly whom the Valerie Jarrett / Obama “sleepers” they had inserted and/or promoted in the military, intelligence agencies and State Department communicated with once they got the word on the heavily classified decision to attack and the details of the planned attack. I don’t mean this post to be sarcasm.
GEEZUS.
WTFlick???
PeLOUSY met with Al-Brennan, after the Iran briefing??
Seriously. WTF?
Paging Pompeo.
You’re needed to investigate PeeLousy and Traitors, STAT!!
I don’t think Trump is going to allow himself to be fooled in taking action like he did in his first year. He knows he was deceived by the CIA.
Could also mean it’s coming on Saturday.
Correct. The USA is being played by Saudi Arabia AGAIN. No more Americans to die or usa tax dollars going to fight for the Saudis
He handled it masterfully.
Don’t know for sure but just for arguments sake,those that think that America’s President does not have the stomach for unleashing America’s military might be right,OR they could be terribly wrong,he just might be asking,well punk,do you feel lucky? Or Go Ahead,make my day!
p
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