Posted on 01/06/2020 9:07:25 AM PST by SeekAndFind
President Donald Trump insisted Sunday that Iranian cultural sites were fair game for the U.S. military, dismissing concerns within his own administration that doing so could constitute a war crime under international law. He also warned Iraq that he would levy punishing sanctions if it expelled American troops in retaliation for a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad that killed a top Iranian official.
Trump’s comments came amid escalating tensions in the Middle East following the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds force. Iran has vowed to retaliate and Iraq’s parliament responded by voting Sunday to oust U.S. troops based in the country.
Trump first raised the prospect of targeting Iranian cultural sites Saturday in a tweet. Speaking with reporters Sunday as he returned to Washington from his holiday stay in Florida, he doubled down, despite international prohibitions.
“They’re allowed to kill our people. They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people. And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural sites? It doesn’t work that way,” Trump said.
The targeted killing of Soleimani sparked outrage in the Middle East, including in Iraq, where more than 5,000 American troops are still on the ground 17 years after the U.S. invasion. Iraq’s parliament voted Sunday in favor of a nonbinding resolution calling for the expulsion of the American forces.
Trump said the U.S. wouldn’t leave without being paid for its military investments in Iraq over the years — then said if the troops do have to withdraw, he would hit Baghdad with economic penalties.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
I don't think they've been destroyed yet. I hope not.
THIS
Believe me, Trump will hit within the law. And where it does the most good.
No, GLarry, that is not right.
If they use a museum or a hospital or an architectural wonder for military purposes, it loses its Geneva Hague protection. But there better be proof.
They lost and they had it coming.
You think Trump doesn’t know that?
+1 FRiend!
“... locating a nuclear enrichment facility in the basement of a historically important mosque ought to be considered a War Crime.”
That is a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions. No doubt of that at all.
Why?
The President cannot legally target whatever he wants despite illegal acts by the enemy.
What “illegal targets” are you worried about Trump targeting?
None. He is a rule follower.
I think you are correct. I believe many people here and elsewhere are prematurely jumping to the wrong conclusions, based on how they've interpreted Trump's vague tweet words, as isolated here.
"...targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!"
The "52 Iranian sites" could just be (like the first droned site) the precise locations of 52 Iranian terrorizing leaders, including "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei" (who could also certainly be accurately described as "a target at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture"). So far, all of the targets picked by President Trump's team have been human terrorists (unless you include their vehicles they were riding in).
This terror-sponsoring Ayatollah knows for sure now that his location can easily be pin-pointed by the current American technology, and he also knows that President Trump does not just "talk a good game".
Some people have taken Trump's words, and conflated the term "52 Iranian sites" with the term referring to targets "at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture", and from that, come up with the term "cultural sites", which is not the term that was actually stated in Trump's tweet there. (His words could also actually be interpreted to mean some military sites, along with some high-level Iranian terrorist human targets, possibly including that sleazy, evil "Ayatollah" himself, and he personally knows that now. He has something more to think about now, while contemplating his own next move.)
Well, hell, then, I guess we won that war, right, Ol’ Dan O’l boy??
What do you mean, 'we,' paleface?
Well, okay, I meant I did.
You’re a long shot and more tuckered than I ‘spected.
You didn't win anything. You wanted war with Iran and Trump is giving us peace.
You’re a long shot and more tuckered than I ‘spected.
You're a Bushie whose time has passed. Crawl back under your neocon rock.
Even after you sleep till noon you whimper and cry like a little baby. Or a creaky, diapered, little O'l Danny man.
Does your real last name happen to be Quale?
lol
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