Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

We have looked for a reason to carpet bomb Iran since the hostage situation that Carter dealt with. Maybe even since the Shah was deposed.

They need to re-watch footage of us taking Baghdad in Desert Storm. Because that could be Tehran. And hell, with the protesters already there, we may have help from a decent number of Iranians.

Point of order, sir. We didn't take Baghdad in Desert Storm. You would be thinking of the much more cornily-named "Operation Iraqi Freedom".

A promise to restore their beloved Shah would undoubtedly win over the hearts and minds of the Iranian people. Along with a promise to bring back "Persia". Everyone stopped using it, but now we can finally say it again: Persia.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Well, the logistics behind Iraqi Freedom was huge. That's not going to happen with Iran in the age of uncoventional/asymmetric warfare that is an extension of politics by other means.

The US is pretty much in the driver's seat here....... for now. We can afford to wait for the Iranian response. I expect it to be unexpected.

[AlabamAlum]

Point of order, sir. We didn't take Baghdad in Desert Storm. You would be thinking of the much more cornily-named "Operation Iraqi Freedom".

A promise to restore their beloved Shah would undoubtedly win over the hearts and minds of the Iranian people. Along with a promise to bring back "Persia". Everyone stopped using it, but now we can finally say it again: Persia.

Well, the Shah is dead. So, not sure that would do much for the hearts and minds.

And as I typed "desert storm" I thought that even though that name has informally become a label for the Gulf War and its 20? 30? operation names, I made the leap that no one would be pedantic enough to call me on it. I was wrong. Please accept this Rush Limbaugh patriotic calender from 2003 as a token of apology for being inaccurate on this forum.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I'll take your Rush Limbaugh calendar and bite my thumb at you, sir. Did you hear me, sir?? I BITE MY THUMB AT YOU

[AlabamAlum]

That's not your thumb, you deviant.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Pentagon says they are deploying an additional 3500 troops from the 82nd Airborne to the middle east

[Ghengis Jon]

Ooooooooooooo, a potential for yet another ME war. Must be an election year.

[Dr. Strangelove]

DHS with a statement that there's no credible threat from Iran to the homeland. Not sure that they're including cyberattacks in that.

[CGVT]

81988661_3176621042367697_4987940598259384320_n.jpg

[Dr. Strangelove]

Because Trump has so few sincere beliefs (his views on tariffs being one of the exceptions) and he can't resist media attention, he's on the record for both sides of nearly any issue. Sometimes it comes back to bite him, make him look hypocritical, or at least call into question his motivation for everything he does.

Back in 2011-2012, one of Trump's favorite attacks on Obama was to claim that he was trying to start a war with Iran in order to boost his sagging poll numbers and get reelected.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/03/polit...ion/index.html

[lineygoblue]

So when this guy would have carried out his next attack against Americans, and killed a bunch of our people, Trump would have been blamed for failing to protect Americans, most likely led by the voices of Schumer and Pelosi.

[Dr. Strangelove]

So when this guy would have carried out his next attack against Americans, and killed a bunch of our people, Trump would have been blamed for failing to protect Americans, most likely led by the voices of Schumer and Pelosi.

Well let me throw this out there and I don't think it's unreasonable. I could be completely wrong, but 24 hours in and no administration official has been willing, even off the record, to provide the smallest details about what attacks were "imminent". I'm beginning to wonder if that maybe because there were no imminent attacks planned? At least nothing out of the ordinary. This guy's been planning attacks against us for decades, what's new with that?

I suspect Trump was plenty pissed on Dec. 27th after he learned that Iran's militias had attacked he base in Kirkuk and a US contractor had been killed. In his mind he's been more than gernous and now a US citizen is actually dead. Trump wants to hit Iran back hard and asks for options. Someone says, hey, we've been following this Soleimani guy for a while now. We know his movements. He's arrogant and brazen enough to not really travel around that secretly anymore. Trump says do it.

He certainly deserved his fate but how's killing him going to stop an attack that's days away from being executed, if that's what "imminent" means? The military and State Department certainly aren't acting like the coast is clear -- they're telling people in the ME to either get the hell out or be on your highest level of alertness.

Although I will say an alternative theory could be that we are aware of what the "imminent" attacks are and don't want to tip our hand that we're expecting them.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Reuters reporting that we've targeted and bombed another Iranian-backed militia tonight. May have killed its leader.

Perhaps Soleimani was the start of a campaign?

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-security-blast-taji/air-strikes-targeting-iraqi-militia-kill-six-army-source-idUSKBN1Z229P

[Dr. Strangelove]

[Whitley]

That sound you hear?

That is President Deals getting ready to start a war.