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Iran Calls Trump’s Bluff: The President is caught between hawkish goals and dovish means.
Wall Street Journal ^ | June 21, 2019

Posted on 06/22/2019 3:25:28 AM PDT by reaganaut1

President Trump called off a military strike against Iran in mid-mission Thursday, and his supporters and even some of his critics are hailing it as an act of restraint and courage. The question for American interests is whether Iran and other adversaries will see it instead as a sign of weakness and indecision.

“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 proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone,” Mr. Trump tweeted Friday morning.

It’s important to understand how extraordinary this is. The Commander in Chief ordered ships and planes into battle but recalled them because he hadn’t asked in advance what the damage and casualties might be? While the planes were in the air, he asked, oh, by the way? This is hard to take at face value.

More likely, he changed his mind because he had second thoughts about the military and political consequences of engaging in a conflict he promised as a candidate to avoid. Mr. Trump may have saved Iranian lives now, but his indecision and professed fear of casualties may be risking more American lives later.

Squeezed by the U.S. “maximum pressure” campaign, Iran’s rulers are trying to pressure Mr. Trump in return. In recent weeks they have attacked oil pipelines, mined oil tankers, and this week brazenly shot down a $130 million U.S. drone monitoring shipping lanes over international waters. Iran’s bet is that Mr. Trump is so averse to military confrontation that he will ease U.S. sanctions. On the evidence of the aborted mission, they may be right.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2020election; djibouti; dnctalkingpoint; dnctalkingpoints; election2020; eritrea; hassannasrallah; hezbollah; iran; lebanon; mediawingofthednc; nevertrump; nevertrumper; nevertrumpers; partisanmediashills; presstitutes; smearmachine; sudan; trump; wallstreeturinal; yemen
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To: reaganaut1
A good tweet would be?

Are the Democrats colluding with Iran? etc.

101 posted on 06/22/2019 12:29:23 PM PDT by right way right (May we remain sober over mere men, for God really is our only true hope.)
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To: WWG1WWA

FAKE NEWS! Sorry, I just had to say it.


If that’s what passes for your thinking,
I’ll send you sampler of other items you
might enjoy, including ‘deep state,’
‘exploding heads,’ and the ever popular
‘underwater 4D chess.’


102 posted on 06/22/2019 12:30:33 PM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: sparklite2

That’s quite a home page! :)


103 posted on 06/22/2019 6:32:55 PM PDT by WWG1WWA (Brothers, what we do in life echoes in eternity." -Marcusurelius)
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To: billyboy15

Totally agree.

The most foolish, reckless, irresponsible, and dangerous thing our CIC could do would be to telegraph his intentions.

If someone asked me to take a wild guess, I would say I suspect that one or more remaining Deep State bad actors buried within the Pentagon have been feeding information to the Fake News.

Either President Trump was forced into this imaginary “pull back”, or it was a deliberate set up to smoke out more weasels.


104 posted on 06/23/2019 12:33:36 AM PDT by jazminerose (Adorable Deplorable)
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