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 ...
Yes, liberals claim Trump is a warmonger, neocon McCain nuts claim Trump is too weak.......
Iran’s bet is that Mr. Trump is so averse to military confrontation that he will ease U.S. sanctions.
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How on earth does that follow?
When waging war one can not be afraid of killing our enemies.
A mistake our county has made for decades.
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Agree 100%. Smart bombs are stupid. No doubt ther are of some use but we need to use a lot more dumb bombs to send a message.
If you go to war, bomb them so quick and hard they’re begging to quit. No need to risk a lot of our troops.
We’re so worried about collateral damage that we lose more of our good men and women and we prolong wars. Their citizens are more likely too resist and overthrow their government if they are fearful of being in harm’s way.
I hate the thought of going to another war but, if we do, we need to make it quick and make them realize they never want to do it again.
“Kill the Iranian leaders.”
Several years ago I read someone’s PhD dissertation on political assassination. The study went back as far as Julius Caesar and concluded that in no case did the assassin achieve his political objectives.
Having known and worked with numerous Iranians I can tell you that their thinking can be as alien to Western thought as if they were a different species from Mars. We simply can’t model their reactions based on what we think our own would be.
I no longer have the ability to search academic databases but I did find a similar NYT’s article on the subject. The conclusion paragraph says essentially the same thing the dissertation did about the assassin succeeding in his aims.
From the NYT’s article:
“Have assassinations altered the course of American history? Yes, but not in the way that the assassins desired. The very heinousness of the crime has generally led to a reaction against the assassin’s objectives.”
That's Israel's job. But we can certainly do our part to help them
I am thrilled we have a president who stood up got he warmongers and won.
As they never understood “dumb Reagan “ ...they totally misjudge Trump. Doing this, he is setting up for a massive strike with nearly ANY pretense in the future. This was not an egregious enough act to take out their nuclear plants...but the next “event” regardless if size will trigger a major attack. People all now know Iran almost got clobbered (within 10 minutes of death), they are more mentally aware. Couple this with Trump’s unveiled threat that Iran WILL NOT have a nuclear bomb....watch him surgically take out the nuclear facilities the next time Iran acts out. And the opposition will be muted because he was so “kind” in this first incident. And Iran will do it again, since they have the national IQ of a Democrat caucus.
“Kill the Iranian leaders. That will put a damper on their plans to kill more Americans.”
Go Michael Corleone on them.
I picked up on that immediately. These idiots are beyond irrational.
John Kerry is advising Iran in my opinion
“The President on the other hand has to deal with his political opponents who will make hay of every enemy civilian life taken.”
Yes. In a very real way we have an undeclared war ongoing within America today, and he’s the one on the side of America. Many of his political opponents are domestic enemies of America. They’ve already declared that those of us who support Trump are essentially scum that are not to be respected. They clearly want to ‘transform’ America into something much different than the country we love. Dealing with them, and preventing them from retaking power, has arguably become an essential component of defending America - just as important as dealing with foreign enemies.
WSJ and other never-Trump losers will project they want our enemies to see it as weakness...they won’t as they know how fast PDJT eradicated ISIS.
Simple as that. It is good to have choices when being the most military powerful nation on earth, with largely (I.e., not 100%) the right military leaders in place.
“The whole point is to keep our enemies completely off balance and confused at all times. The President understands this from decades of complex business negotiations up against some very shrewd and often very shady characters.”
I am always dumbfounded at how few understand the importance of what you have said and even more dumbfounded at how few are familiar with the concept.
When I read stories about how other leaders complain of Trump’s unpredictability It truly is encouraging to me. I know he is doing exactly the right thing.
I googled the cost of that drone. Every publication has a different price ranging from $120mm-$240mm. Ridiculously large spread.
Whatever it is, they overpaid.
It doesn’t. It’s the media’s way of suggesting Trump is somehow going to be frightened into lifting sanctions so Iran will stop causing trouble in the Gulf.
I assure you....we learned a lot.
President Trump is a “Rorschach test”, people interpret his words and action to meet their preconceived ideas (and agenda).
I have no idea what President Trump’s intentions are. What I do know (from his past actions) is that he is playing the long game (and that he is not above playing “head games” with his opposition. The only thing we can do is wait and see how this all plays out.
Now, on another subject (and not an interpretation on the President’s action is calling off the attack).
I recently watched a documentary on WWI. A war no one really wanted. You could say it was an accidental war that resulted in the loss of million of lives and changed Europe forever (as well as sowed the seeds for WWII).
The war could have been prevented if just one national leader would have stopped to think about the ramification of their action. But once the wheels began turning, minor disputes, misunderstandings, incompetence and the feeling that they would have a quick and clean victory added to the FEAR OF LOOKING WEAK preventing the leaders to back away... war became inevitable.
President Trump did something no other leader in recent history has done. He made the decision NOT to go to war.
Think of how many wars have been fought because our leaders did not have the strength to withstand political or public pressure.
Personally I don’t think President Trump had any intention of sending bombers or cruise missiles into Iran. I personally believe he is smoking out his opposition both overseas and within our nation.
He is the physiologist and he just gave everyone a Rorschach Test.
John Kerry came within 120,000 votes in Ohio of winning the 2004 election. That stiff jerk shouldn’t have had a snowball’s chance in hell of getting elected. That tight election was a clear indication of how badly Americans had already soured on the U.S. military campaign in Iraq that started the previous year.
The president is one of us. And like one of us he saw another bullshit use of force mission taking off...so he stopped it. This suggests that he was talked into the use of force more than he himself felt it necessary.
If he were sending those men into action to destroy the Iranian navy, airforce, oil refining capacity, presidential palace and gov’t buildings etc THAT would be a proper use of force. But for a downed drone? Nope. Not me. Force is a terrible thing. I’d need a reason. A good reason. And then the mullahs would rue the day the screwed with us.
Very good analysis. Trump has achieved his objective and his powder is still dry
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