good day for MAGA, bad day for neocon chicken hawks.
Posted on 06/21/2019 7:22:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
For some, you could hear the sound of war drums. It was coming. Iran had shot down a surveillance drone in international waters. President Trump did not mince words, saying Iran made a huge mistake, though was cagey about military action. He told the press “you’ll find out” when asked. President Trump has taken action before, firing cruise missiles at an airfield in Syria in 2017 after a horrible chemical weapons attack struck the town of Khan Shaykhun. The airfield was the staging ground. Reports trickled in last night that air strikes were ordered against Iran but were halted by Trump. We didn’t know why, but earlier this morning the president tweeted that he aborted the mission because the retaliatory strikes were not proportionate (via WaPo):
EXCLUSIVE: Iran received message from U.S. President Trump via Oman overnight warning of imminent attack on Iran - Iranian government officials pic.twitter.com/kzV1S1MCHC— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) June 21, 2019
....On Monday they shot down an unmanned drone flying in International Waters. We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from a General. 10 minutes before the strike I stopped it, not....— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2019
....proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone. I am in no hurry, our Military is rebuilt, new, and ready to go, by far the best in the world. Sanctions are biting & more added last night. Iran can NEVER have Nuclear Weapons, not against the USA, and not against the WORLD!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2019
President Trump ordered an attack on Iran on Thursday in retaliation for the downing of a surveillance drone in the Strait of Hormuz but called the operation off just before it was due to occur because it would have caused extensive casualties, he said Friday.
In a series of morning tweets, Trump said he called off strikes on three Iranian sites minutes before they were to be launched because he was informed of the likely loss of life among Iranians.
“We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die,” Trump tweeted. “150 people, sir, was the answer from a General. 10 minutes before the strike I stopped it.”
Such a death toll was “not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone,” Trump wrote, adding: “I am in no hurry, our Military is rebuilt, new, and ready to go, by far the best in the world.
But I don't think that is the case here, and right now we stand to lose more by starting a war with Iran than we can possibly gain from doing so.
In a year and a half, we won't have to put up with their sh*t any longer.
Excellent analysis. Exactly correct.
Yes I agree. Seeing as to how Iran was the one to collect the debris from the downed drone and not us, I'd speculate that the drone was probably over Iran's territorial waters contrary to what we claimed, otherwise we would have collected the debris ourselves to prevent them from gaining access to it. If that's the case then technically they could claim they had the right to shoot it down.
Whatever the case I think it bodes well for Trump's re-election chances by him being careful how he responds to this.
mohammedums only respect force, power, and aggression. They are laughing at us for being so weak and pathetic.
Sometimes it’s wise to not do what your enemy expects you to do.
This was obvious bait.
Interesting that you post that. This is another Iranian claim to be taken with a grain of salt.
Amirali Hajizadeh, head of IRGC’s aerospace division: “With the U.S. drone in the region there was also an American P-8 plane with 35 people on board. This plane also entered our airspace and we could have shot it down, but we did not.”
It’s Trump’s way of sending a nice big fat WARNING.
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Agreed. He’s getting inside the Iranian’s heads, while at the same time preserving political capital by showing voters that he has thoughtful restraint.
This was his plan. He wanted a plan to abort. To think otherwise is to believe he didn’t tell his generals to come up with a plan for proportionate response.
Very well played.
But America didn’t bomb Saudi Arabia, even American government knew the fact that more than 90% Saudi adult citizens endorsed 9/11 attacks, at that time.
The problem with congressional wall funding is not the amount, despite what dem talking points say.
Agreed. Good diplomatic move by Trump. Let the world see he's giving them an opportunity to act responsibly without paying tribute. Everyone knows they can be crushed... so much better when their own people do it.
Agree. I think this was also a tool to see how the invited congresspeople reacted after the briefing, and which press outlets got the leaked info. Release info about an attack, wait to see who runs to the microphone and who prints the info. Call off attack. The Deep State is getting desperate. That's two false flags in a week.
I agree with Donald too, although he is probably playing a deeper game than we can see. Someone once said that war is politics by a different means, and that your goal in battle should be to strike at your opponant’s “Center of mass”. While we have the world’s most fearsome military, our weakness is that often we use it too predictably. This allows a weaker power, like Iran, to manipulate us into battles we cannot win politically, because our center of mass is our domestic public opinion, often influenced by the drive by media and fickle instant polling.
If Trump proceeded with Bolton’s Plan Alpha he would have given Iran the massacre they wanted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8DQlqemkcQ
I disagree with Donald.
The danger from Iran is they are on course to have a nuclear warhead deliverable by ICBMs and we (Obama) have done nothing to deter them. When you impose sanctions (Trump) countries like NK and Iran make the people suffer and continue weapons development.
Iran has threatened to destroy the US and Israel for the last 40 years. It’s time to take them seriously, not because of what happened this last few weeks but because they are a major threat to us and world peace and the risks will be higher in the future as their weapons come online..
I would sink every Iranian flagged vessel on the high seas and in Iranian territorial waters with extreme prejudice.
Proportionate my ass.
“If it was about ‘proportionate’, then, I’m 100% certain that with Iran being such a big country and being a target-rich country, that there are hundreds of targets in that country that would have been “proportionate” for striking without human collateral damage.”
I am curious. Please suggest something. I can only think of “transformer farms” or some such as guaranteed to cause no loss of life, and they are probably not worth the cost of the ordnance to blow them up.
People on this thread have mentioned “nuclear facilities” which, I would imagine are several hundred people at each. Creating a bunch of Chernobyl sites in Iran doesn’t sound like a great idea, either.
I am glad Trump is in charge. At least there is a chance that the right action will be taken at the right time.
The last so-called “President” we had wasn’t even an American, and his administration acted just like that was the case.
I don’t like being restricted by “proportionate” either. While there shouldn’t be a ‘canned’ response, and each act looked at on its own merits, I am concerned about the message that has now been sent. Is it ok for our foes to shoot down drones in International airspace now without fear of repercussions? People are minimizing that the shoot down was still an act of war. Iran has much US blood on its hands (Beirut, Kobar Towers, ~1000 servicemen in Iraq).
I continue to support POTUS, and I am happy we are not in another shooting conflict (yet). Honestly, I could live with it having gone either way, this pause, or just kick their ass (which they richly de4serve). My gut tells me that this ain’t over.
I believe he meant, 150 lives is not comparable to an unmanned drone over water.
If it was a 9/11 style attack, it would not be close.
I think he is using his brain.
“I suspect that we are not sitting around waiting for the next provocation and are rather retaliating in other ways.”
We are starving the mullah regime out, in a siege strategy - at almost no cost to ourselves (in fact, it helps our oil and gas producers pick up market share and expand). This is a major strategic shift. Our enemies have grown accustomed to using a strategy of slow military attrition to defeat us politically, since Vietnam.
The Iranians are losing badly in the new approach, and they (and their anti-American supporters, like communist China) seek to change the nature of the conflict, back to one that disfavors the USA.
It is just a matter of weeks since the really severe sanctions were placed on the mullahs (designed to bring their oil exports to zero). Time is on our side. Strategic patience may be all that is needed for strategic victory - regime change in Iran.
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