Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin are mad Trump didn't shoot first and ask questions later

Washington Examiner ^ | June 24 2019 | Jack Hunter

[rintintin]

The American Conservative Editor Jim Antle writes, "Thursday night was the night Donald Trump became president. You can imagine the hyperbolic hosannahs that would have been sung if Trump had gone ahead with his planned strikes against Iran, adding to the list of undeclared presidential wars. Instead he pulled back."

“Hyperbolic hosannahs,” indeed. Who might have led this pro-war chorus?

Conservative pundits Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin.

When President Trump decided not to strike after being informed it could potentially kill 150 civilians, he explained on Twitter, “10 minutes before the strike I stopped it, not ... proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone.”

A disappointed Shapiro tweeted in reply, “Disproportionate response to attacks on US assets are a good way of showing our enemies that we will mash them if they continue to escalate. The US doesn’t want war. You know who doesn’t want war even more? The ayatollahs who will find themselves quite dead if war occurs.”

In other words, “mash” them to show these pesky foreign countries we mean business, because such strategic military intervention including regime change has always worked out so well for us in the past (Thanks again, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton).

[The Toll]

Saddam was nowhere near the “threat” that North Korea is today. Your stance on invading the peninsula?

[The Toll]

[[That adventure was botched terribly,]]

No it wasn’t!

You do realize who runs Iraq today right?

[Bob434]

I’ve shown several valid reasons for the war- I’m not interested in reliving the left’s idiotic childish criticisms of the war-

[Reily]

A lot of people scoff at that but there really was an attempt. Should an attempt by another nation on a US President go unpunished? Maybe invasion shouldn’t always be the solution but ignoring it certainly shouldn’t be one.

[Mr. Blond]

Just send them a bill for the drone. Iran will be dealing with the commander who shot it down.

Expect Shapiro to claim that drones count as American soldiers.

[Pelham]

“Yeah, this is why Saddams own people had and used chemical suits- because their chemical weapons of mass destruction were so ineffective-”

And they were so effective and threatening that none of them were used against us as we invaded Iraq.

“Look- everyone knows He shipped wmd’s out of his country-”

Because Team ‘Everybody Knows’ is better informed than the Iraq Survey Group that Dubya had searching for a year.

I missed the part in the Duelfer Report where they said that Saddam had shipped his WMDs to Syria.

Funny that none of these WMDs turned up during the recent Syrian civil war.

[Bob434]

North Korea for now isn’t firing on our planes like Saddam was in violation of un resolutions- He isn’t gassing his own people with wmd’s either- Nor is he directly housing and training terrorists and arming them in his country- We are keeping a very close eye on him- and rightfully so- We are not allowing him to pursue nuclear weapons so far- Saddam very well may have been actively pursuing it- Israel took out a facility they believed was doing so-

[The Toll]

I’m not saying Saddam was a good guy. What I’m saying is that we all damn well know they hid the Saudi involvement in 9/11 from the American people for 18 years, while they chose to open an unnecessary 2nd front in the WOT, in Iraq. It can’t be undone at this point. Iran OWNS Iraq now and we are STILL hunting down Taliban dorks. It was botched!

[lurk]

For 75 years we have chosen war first, thought later.

We have been lured or talked into some dumb adventures that have cost money and lives.

Better to be really well-armed, not make threats, and respond in proportion.

And if those are not our oil tankers headed for our use, it is not our problem.

[Bob434]

[[And they were so effective and threatening]]

Yes they were- just ask the many 1000’s of middle easterners that were wiped out in horrific attacks- oh wait- they are dead now-

[[Because Team ‘Everybody Knows’ is better informed]]

Yes they are- and everyone but the ‘bush lied’ crowd knows it-

[[Other shipments went by truck and storage payment was made to Syria through an arms smuggling front company run by Syrian Intelligence: SES International. That it did exist, was A Syrian Intel front company and was corrupt is not at all in dispute. SES Intl was one of those blatant Oil-For-Food cover companies used by Saddam to buy conventional weapons in exchange for UN oil vouchers. The Duelfer Report is ridden with information about SES International’s illegal sales-sales that Saddam was using to break his conventional arms containment. SES was cited by the Treasury Department as being a front for Syrian Intelligence, a sanction-breaking company, and was being used by Syria’s family to launder money. Assad’s family has also been caught by the UN using the collapsed bank of Al Madina as a similar front company involved in the assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister.]]

[[Perhaps it’s wiser to believe the professionals who serve with honor and for whom lying is a disgrace rather than a politician for whom pandering to constituents and the party base isn’t lying. It’s “spin.”]]

[[One of Saddam’s generals, General Georges Sada, has come forward with claims that Saddam moved his “special weapons” out of Iraq, to Syria in late summer 2002. He allegedly did this under the guise of humanitarian aid flights to Syria after there was a dam burst in July, and the shipments were made on modified civilian planes, by pilots Sada knows personally. On June 17, 2002, the Times of London reported that Iraqi nuclear centrifuge parts were being smuggled out of Syria-originally stored at the port of Tartus, they had been moved to Damascus International Airport and moved to points unknown from there-effectively corroborating Sada’s story. ]]

http://www.floppingaces.net/2007/06/18/did-saddams-wmd-go-to-syria-part-i/

You wanna throw in with the ‘bush lied’ liberal crowd, that’s your business- There were several very valid reasons for the war- and Saddam had publicly state4d he was actively trying to restart his weapons of mass destruction, and He was actively housing arming and training and arming terrorists- The war was justified-

[[Funny that none of these WMDs turned up during the recent Syrian civil war.]]

Asad was gassing his own people-

[Pelham]

“Not so fast. First, the ISG did find WMD. In fact, it found at least 53 of them. “

A fact included in my first post. I’ll repost the sentence since you evidently didn’t see it:

“The only ones that they found were chemical artillery shells manufactured prior to Gulf War I.”

[Bob434]

i’m done- The ‘bush lied’ crowd will never admit there was several valid reasons for the war- I’ve laid them out here- and there were other reasons- WMD’s were found, Saddam stated publicly he was pursuing more wmd’s and also trying to get nuclear bomb- He needed to be removed- Each situation needs careful consideration- The Saudi situation is a whole nother issue- but saddam issue was needed- It was not an unneeded front- as described in previous posts- you are going to disagree- whatever- I’m not in the ‘bush lied’ crowd- The Taliban has been greatly diminished- and Nations now know we are not going to tolerate this crap any longer-

[The Toll]

That’s reasonable, but don’t be under the impression that America is on board for suppressing Nuclear Proliferation around the world. We never signed up to go to war with anyone that figures out how to split an atom. That is NOT in the cards.

[Bob434]

i didn’t miss it- WMD’s weren’t the sole reason we went to war- I’ve laid out several very valid reasons- However, we knew saddam had them, that he used them, that he was actively trying to restart it- and that he was actively harboring training and arming terrorists to boot- as just a few of the valid reasons for war- You disagree- whatever- WMD’s were mvoed out as stated by his own generals- and his own chemical weapons experts, and as boots o nthe ground knew- you call them all liars- just as you do to bush- whatever- that’s your right- Saddam was a threat- was growign as a threat, and was a very nasty creature- as are a lot of dictators, however, he was directly threatening us, firing on us- violating UN resolutions repeatedly, and was a part of the axis of evil at that time- If you don’t think he was a threat- well that just flies i nthe face of facts-

[Bob434]

[[with anyone that figures out how to split an atom.]]

UIt’s not just anyone- it was a madman- a very dangerous madman that had proven he was capable of very horrendous acts against his own people despite un resolutions against him- Asad is another terrible actor- Obama did nothing to stop him- -

[LS]

i do think some WMDs were there, now in Syria

[Romulus]

Yes, he lied. He said he knew exactly where the WMDs were. He was in the market for faulty intelligence and the neocons’ shady friends — remember Ahmed Chalabi? — were glad to be of service. They all knew it was bogus, but had made up their mind that this was their chance to implement regime change in Iraq. The narrative was crafted to serve that end. Any stick is good enough to beat a dog.

And no — not everyone in Congress was on board. Were you around in 2003 when mentioning a sneaking respect for Ron Paul was good enough to get you booted out of FR. I was. Go back and read my posts if you want to see if I had the war fever.

[arthurus]

I learned sometime in late 2018 to never second guess Donald J. Trump.

[arthurus]

I heard both of them on this. Hunter is blowing fictional smoke.

[Pelham]

“Yes they were- just ask the many 1000’s of middle easterners that were wiped out in horrific attacks- oh wait- they are dead now-”

Saddam used chemical weapons against Iranians as well as Kurds during the Iran-Iraq War. The Halabja massacre killed 1,000s of Kurdish civilians. This didn’t inspire GHW Bush to invade Iraq during Gulf War I.

So how exactly did Saddam’s chemical weapons suddenly constitute a threat to America when Dubya decided to invade Iraq when they didn’t before?

“Yes they are- and everyone but the ‘bush lied’ crowd knows it-”

I’m in the “Bush jr was a nation-building fool” crowd, as opposed to the Bush Lied crowd.

I like sticking with evidence, the same as Bush’s own Iraq Survey Group did.

And when they didn’t find anything other than a few 10 yr old chemical shells, they didn’t resort to an unprovable claim that WMDs had been shipped to Syria.

“Asad was gassing his own people-”

Syria is perfectly capable of manufacturing chemical weapons. Their Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center dates back to the 1970s. Sources as authoritative as Jane’s and the Israelis recognize Assad’s ability to manufacture chemical weapons.