Posted on 02/02/2017 6:21:18 PM PST by Tours
When Gen. Michael Flynn marched into the White House Briefing Room to declare that “we are officially putting Iran on notice,” he drew a red line for President Trump. In tweeting the threat, Trump agreed.
His credibility is now on the line.
And what triggered this virtual ultimatum?
Iran-backed Houthi rebels, said Flynn, attacked a Saudi warship, and Tehran tested a missile, undermining “security, prosperity and stability throughout the Middle East,” placing “American lives at risk.”
But how so?
The Saudis have been bombing the Houthi rebels and ravaging their country, Yemen, for two years. Are the Saudis entitled to immunity from retaliation in wars they start?
....Or are we going to carry out any retaliation alone, as our NATO allies observe, while the Israelis, Gulf Arabs, Saudis and the Beltway War Party, which wishes to be rid of Trump, cheer him on?....
Bibi Netanyahu hailed Flynn’s statement, calling Iran’s missile test a flagrant violation of the U.N. resolution and declaring, “Iranian aggression must not go unanswered.” By whom, besides us?
The Saudi king spoke with Trump Sunday. Did he persuade the president to get America more engaged against Iran?.....
...High among the reasons that many supported Trump was his understanding that George W. Bush blundered horribly in launching an unprovoked and unnecessary war on Iraq....
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
“The supposedly bogus wmd’s in Iraq were trucked out by a huge 500 truck convoy.”
Really? To where? And, if wmds were the real reason (which I highly doubt) for attacking Iraq why did we not attack the country to which they went?
“The supposedly bogus wmd’s in Iraq...”
So, Trump deliberately lied?
I am not suggesting anything of the sort, nor making any conclusions. Just reporting what I recall about what have I read over the years, so I can’t tell you specifically which plane was shot down-it was long ago, and I don’t remember. I do remember that the first plane downed after that was the one over Lockerbie.
It is my understanding that the Fatwa can be followed by any of the radical terrorist, no matter what country, but IIRC, it was an Iranian Cleric who declared the Fatwa, and so declared war on USA.
It is not entirely clear to me why Mattis is so focused on Iran. Just that he apparently feels that Radical Political Islam needs to be defeated, and that won’t happen due to Iran. Suggest you go to you tube and type in his name and listen to some of his speeches. I did post some links to threads after he was named, but don’t have them bookmarked.
Concern about muslims? I am concerned that our Military is being used to literally destroy entire countries and replacing those regimes with Terrorists like the Muslim Brotherhood who will kill Christians and other Muslims in horrific fashion. I don’t approve of giving arms to ISIS.
I am upset that the rules of engagement are such that our brave soldiers are killed. I am upset that we sent our Military in with no clear objective, and that we have been fighting for 16 years and there is no end in sight.
I am upset that the Government has used the 9/11 attacks as an excuse to pass all kinds of laws that can be used against Americans that violate the Constitution, and are militarizing the police, and setting up Regional Councils to stealthily bring Agenda 21 and Agenda 2030 Global Government under the UN-subverting our country.
I am upset that we are being subjected to constant PSYOPS from the LSM to divide black against white, rich against poor, etc. I am upset that LSM, is encouraging violence and keeps talking about assassination.
I am upset against a great many things, and Muslims aren’t at the top. Heck, I’m even upset that Carter went in and destabilized Iran and took down the Shaw over an argument relating to renewal of BP oil lease.
One of Trump’s Generals stated that Assad would have already been gone, if Iran hadn’t helped him. As for the Iranian people, only 10% were part of the Revolution, so I doubt that they really wanted to live under Kohmeni, but Carter wouldn’t listen to his advisors, he said that Kohmeni was a religious man, and would be better to deal with.
I am extremely upset that during my lifetime, our CIA has toppled something like 81 governments, and most of the time there was no debate about it, and it wasn’t really reported. So the LSM and CIA try to convince the American people that Trump is a stooge of the Kremlin, and McCain bellows that we need to go war with Russia because they interfered with our democracy. POT meet KETTLE. That really hacks me off.
So, I am extremely upset about a great many things, and while muslims are not at the top of the list, but since you asked, I don’t like what has happened anywhere in the Middle East. If I had my way we would have become energy independent and got out of the Middle East decades ago.
The lives of our brave men and women in the Military are more important to me than anyone in the hell hole that is the Middle East or Europe either for that matter.
The last thing we need is war with Iran.
I don’t, nor do I think anyone has a good answer on what to do with Iran in the short term.
Sanctions? Useless unless it’s global.
Wonder if we can shoot down their missiles over the sea?
In relation to Mattis, I’ve seen the youtube clips. He is rightly focused on Iranian regime, but that isn’t and shouldn’t be his sole focus - there are significant others involved.
I’m of course not privy to any official or unofficial plans or discussions, but know enough from personal knowledge and experience to put forward a logical & reasonable perspective.
The focus on Iran is not simply because of the Mullahs’ regime. It’s because Iran generally has been singled out (for decades) to be the cause of all evil in the world. In reality it is not true. Though, that’s politics.
I am sure many people are upset and mostly very concerned. Many because any major escalation resulting in war can affect us all.
One reason I like/liked Trump was because of thinking he’d be smart enough to find a feasible, alternative to war solution(s), to get rid of ALL “Islamic Terrorism”.
>>”They certainly have been supporting Hezbollah and have worked with Al Queda.”<<
I don’t know where “Al Queda” came from. There was suddenly a massive Bin Laden blitz by western MSM after 9/11.
Though, can tell you Hezbollah is a very legitimate party in Lebanon and has many Christian Lebanese members.
Whether they engage or carry out violent attacks on certain others in the ME, that’s another issue. But their party is politically considered legit in Lebanon.
True. And I don’t think choking Iran with sanctions will lead to that war.
But just be advised that wiping out jihadis is going to require military action, not only in the ME, but other parts of Africa and Asia. And it is and has been high on Trump’s agenda.
Are the Saudi’s the only interested party in taming Iran? I didn’t think so.
>I don’t see a way that Iran’s actions against Israel, Europe, USA and Sunni Islam countries does not start a huge war.
Because Israel couldn’t beat Iran in a war, we have nothing to gain with a war with Iran, and Europe just wants their oil to keep flowing.
>Will Russia and China side with Iran?
Probably.
The best option of dealing with Iran was Russian pressure, the problem with that idea is Iran is supplying the ground troops that are doing the majority of the fighting against ISIS in Syrian and in Iraq. Russia’s not in a position to squeeze them. So that’s off the table.
Personally I favor taking out ISIS and then disengaging from the middle east. Let Israel/KSM and Russia/Iran deal with the problems in the area without us. We’re going to need our troops back home to fight in the coming leftist rebellion.
They were reportedly under Russian control when removed from Iraq. That explains pretty well why Bush didn’t bomb them (or Russia). I think and this is just my opinion that was good enough, too, for Bush - the weapons were no longer in Hussein’ hands. -— The rest I leave to other FR posters who remember much more I’m sure.
nobody ( other then moi, of course) is perfect. (And Trump knew, he’d mentioned the reports several times already). I figured Trump said things right much much much more than HilLIARy. Let’s see what he does — he still looks pretty good imho
Right -- the mythical convoy. Saddam Hussein trucked all of the WMDs out of his country that could have been used to save his own @ss.
Some people will believe anything.
Bunker busters may actually not be enough. Though it makes one heck of an engineering thought problem.
For example, is the target on the front, the back (under water), or square on top?
The original ‘Dam Buster’ concept, Operation Chastise, still has some relevant variables. (And a nice little .gif)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chastise
For example, the water side of major modern dams are often protected by heavy torpedo nets, as well as surface barriers to keep boats laden with explosives from getting too near.
During the Cold War, the US opinion was that you would almost have to use a nuclear weapon to breach a dam. The Soviets were very big on defending their dams and water supplies.
Penetrating bombs, like bunker busters, are pretty well designed for strictly vertical attacks, but it is best to hit dams from an angle when using a shaped charge penetration.
It was sobering because that was the moment I realized the Ayatollah Khomenei was right all along when he called the United States of America "the Great Satan."
Sadam didn’t truck the weapons. Russia did.
Not necessarily. Iran’s serious weapons are its missiles. If you can neutralize them, most of the rest of their military is just crap.
The USN would pulverize both their surface and submarine fleets overnight. Likewise their air forces would be cut to ribbons by the USAF. Their al-Quds unconventionals would be annoying, so western nations would have to up their security.
The most dangerous wild card would be Russia. It’s interference route would be via the Caspian Sea, but Russia has no major assets there, other than a corvette and a frigate.
And when they're never found, I'm sure there will be stories all over FreeRepublic tracing a mythical journey from one country to another -- without a single shred of evidence to support it.
If the U.S. refrained from attacked a convoy of trucks carrying WMDs because they were driven by Russians, then why did we bomb and invade a country with any Russians in it in the first place?
It really helps if you can see a bullsh!t story for what it is.
LOL.
Look, I’ve already written more about it than I intended, and I’m sure that Mattis knows full well about significant others.
I don’t necessarily agree that “Iran generally has been singled out (for decades) to be the cause of all evil in the world.” Certainly, the Soviet Union, Russia, and China have been vilified quite a lot during my lifetime, as was Libya, Syria, and Iraq.
Iran was a country that had modernized and was becoming westernized before USA helped bring down the Shah. I don’t like that we helped to create the Mullah’s rule, but I don’t necessarily support another invasion.
My preference is to do something similar to what the Mossad did after the Munich massacre of athletes. Tracked down the terrorists and sent them to their maker. If the terror network includes the Mullah’s - they need to go too.
Mattis is a very intelligent thoughtful man who not only knows military strategy etc. he has decades of experience in the Middle East - so whatever he advises, I’d lean toward that. I just want to get our guys out of that quagmire as soon as we can responsibly do it.
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