In the wake of Thursday night’s assassination of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the Pentagon offered a legal justification by claiming there was an “imminent” attack being plotted at the time.
That’s the go-to excuse for US airstrikes, but it is conspicuous that in all that’s been said on the high-profile assassination, the Pentagon is absolutely refusing to offer any details on what that threat actually was.
That’s not insignificant, to the extent that the US is going to try to argue a legal pretext for an act of war launched outside of a Congressional authorization. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was similarly light on details, but claimed it would have “put dozens if not hundreds of American lives at risk.”
There are details sorely lacking in all of this, and evidence as well. Sen. McConnell (R-KY) suggested some Senators might get a classified debriefing next week, but that still leaves the public in the dark as the attack risks starting a war.
The lack of specificity leaves open room for speculation. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) was eager to get in on this, claiming Soleimani was plotting a coup in Iraq at the time. He similarly offered no evidence, and given Iran’s close ties to the Iraqi government, it seems highly unlikely.
Adding to doubts about the imminent threat is the Department of Homeland Security, which even after the attack claims there is no domestic threat at all. While New York officials say they are bracing for an attack, the signs point to there being no intelligence at all.
Great job calling for revolution if Trump was impeached, antiwar.com. You guys stood for a real winner,
Antiwar.com called for no such thing.
Let the Impeachment of “Israel’s Bitch” proceed. The lickspittle groveling toady is a national embarrassment. Most Americans are not as enamored with Israel as is America’s Uriah Heep.
The lies always comes after the crimes.
“no intelligence at all.” So true.
Sounds like BS to me.
Hello, I am your Fascists Israeli American President. I am not here to start more endless wars and expand the empire, I am here to extend an opportunity to those with incomes of $100,000,000.00 or more (special tax loopholes) to own vacation land in the sunny Eastern Mediterranean that comes with oil rights and pipelines. All you need to do to take advantage of this one time offer is invest $10,000,000 or more in your favorite General Dynamics, Raytheon, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, or other manufacturer of solid built US armed transportation vehicles and drones. Remember, these investments create American jobs and get rid of those pesky anti-imperialists around the world. There will be even a special reward for one investor to press the button to rid the Empire of the next biggest human obstacle determined by our Department of Peace. We just got rid of the biggest. Happy New Year.
No commanders can be successful without superb intelligence especially when their troops are operating in a foreign country. In Iraq the amount and quality of information for Suleiman’s successors and for President Trump will now depend on the effect which Trump’s past and continued actions have on potential Iraqi informers as well as on the population at large. Will they want both Iranian’s and Americans out? Or only one of the two, at least for the time being? If the population and the informers trend towards Iran only in then Suleiman’s successors will get more and better intelligence than Trump.
Iran is far better informed by default. The U.S. killed most of its supporters; the Baathist Sunni whose survivors radicalized into the Islamic State.
The U.S./NATO has made limited inroads into the Shia community, who are mindful they are next on the chopping block, all other major heads that weren’t good at ducking (like the Kurds) having been rolled.
The Kurds only know what the Kurds know, and they don’t know much outside their own constituency.
Information wars are won by the ability to process information, not just have it, or Iran would have won a long time ago. China and Russia do not seem eager to intervene with their two cents.
Pompeo seems more in charge of this than Trump, though. Trump only spoke up after it became obvious most Americans hate Iran by default and ordering an assassination reinforces his antihero chic.
Iraq-Iran post Soleimani appears to be Pompeo’s baby the way Venezuela was Bolton’s.
Logically, though, Iraqi nationalists should want the U.S. out first followed by Iran, because the U.S. is by far the more dangerous frenemy whereas Iran far weaker and not so bright. Except for the corruption problem; the U.S. knows who the bribe and kills whomever can’t be bribed.
Actually, Trump probably did assassinate Soleimani to prevent a greater war.
The initial act of aggression Solemani was implied to have been fomenting was a repeat of the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979. That’s when Iranian student protesters seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
A Baghdad Embassy crisis would have been politically unacceptable to Trump and strategically disastrous to the Deep State. To even hint of such a thing would be a death sentance, something Soleimani may not have fully understood.
The Iraq Embassy Crisis narrative has since been quietly dropped in favour of a more conventional vanilla excuse that does not justify assassination, cheer-led by Reuters.
https://www. reuters. com/article/us-iraq-security-soleimani-insight/inside-the-plot-by-irans-soleimani-to-attack-u-s-forces-in-iraq-idUSKBN1Z301Z
Eric Zuesse has written on America’s massive black box embassy in Baghdad, a black box no truly sovereign nation would allow in its soil.
‘The Secret Logistics of America’s Global Deep State” – Eric Zuesse, The Duran, Jan 13 2019.
https:// theduran. com/the-secret-logistics-of-americas-global-deep-state/
This embassy was constructed at the height of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, and therefore with no scrutiny or supervision; they could build a nuke into it an no-one would have noticed.
The U.S. intended to rule the Middle East from that embassy; it should be shut down and returned to Iraqis. However, given the Illuminati leanings alleged of our ruling elites, the U.S. Embassy is likely also a major antiquities smuggling hub for artifacts to be repurposed for the cult as well as sold for cash, in addition to smuggling who know what else into and out of Iraq.
Whether or not Soleimani intended to take the U.S. embassy or not is unclear, but it would have been a major coup to capture and reveal its secrets.
Rest assured, whatever happens next, the U.S. Embassy will be secured.
“The initial act of aggression Solemani was implied to have been fomenting was a repeat of the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979.”
If even partially true that would be plastered non stop across every corporate owned newspaper, radio and television channel in America.
That omission is what flagged attention. The MSM just kind of danced around the idea that would have been on every thinking person’s mind.
No MSM source seemed to want to recall the Iran Hostage Crisis when the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was attacked, while Soleimani was implied to have been plotting some attacks worthy of war. It makes limited sense insofar as not giving an opponent ideas, but assassination makes the likelihood starkly obvious.
At least one oddblog Trump followers might have read was making odd noises about some impending Middle East hostage crisis for at least a month, as well.
https:// truthernews. wordpress.com/2019/12/01/international-nightmare-cia-plotting-december-1-2019-embassy-and-or-consulate-attack-hostage-crisis-siege-and-or-terror-event-december-1-2019-cia-headquarters-located-beneath-cern-at-lake-gen
Something was going down, and Major-General Soleimani is in fact quite down after months if not years of attempts.
Soleimani’s history suggests he might imply such threats as a psyop, but not follow through with such a hard escalation. Yet, the U.S. embassy is at reduced strength. Armed militias could inflict a lot of damage, lay siege, perhaps even break into deep black box areas.
The only thing that reliably triggers Trump’s war button are political threats to his Presidency. If they wanted to tarnish Trump’s not-great antiwar record, they’ve chosen an odd cause to trigger him with. Enough Americans are propagandized into hating Iran that they won’t care and even celebrate.
At the very least, the War Machine also exchanged a known opponent they were getting the hang of, for an unknown one, usually not such a great deal in shadow warfare.
Get real, if those demonstrators were armed to assault the green zone they would have been meat within half a mile. The US knows who is coming, and what they are carrying. If your local police station knew when they were coming, 100s of light militia couldn’t take the station. Give it a rest. Oh, your link doesn’t work. One C 130 gunship pretty much ends a determined assault on the green zone, then the crew goes back and has a pizza.
There are blanks in the link to deactivate the link function. You have to cut and past into the location bar, then close them.
Did you really think those protestors could have gotten anywhere near the Embassy without some level of Iraqi government nudge-wink, do you really think a U.S. slaughter of Iraqis would go down very well, and, do you really believe U.S. troops were ready for real attack?
The Green Zone has been somewhat demilitarized and defortified from what I can tell. Its not nearly the fortress it was.
So yes, a determined surprise assault with light arms could cause a lot of damage at that time given what the unarmed protesters were able to accomplish.
However, the original Iran Hostage incident was accomplished by mostly unarmed students who rushed the U.S. Tehran embassy.
To attempt the takeover of the US Embassy in Baghdad with a force which was obviously far too small, which appeared to have no serious strategy, and which was abysmally trained for the task does not seem to me to have sprung from Suleiman’s brain. To me it looks much more to have started somewhere in Baghdad with “let’s go and harass the Yankees at their Embassy.”
An idea potentially more dangerous than the act is a principle of a good psyop; yes Soleimani would have considered this. There isn’t room for both the U.S. and Iran in Iraq.
Yet, once its on the table, there’s no taking it back. A very dangerous idea, one worth killing Soleimani over just to send a message; hands off the Embassy.
Recall that the Embassy was supposed to be the centre of a new remade Middle East. Its a black box building no-one knows anything about.
What information was being fed to Trump and Pompeo when the decision had to be made on whether Soleimani lives or dies? Surely its come up before.
Something changed. The Embassy threat is the only real game changer.
Add to my reply, The Hill reported ‘thousands’ of protestors in addition to the paramilitaries who entered the compound.
https://thehill.com/policy/international/middle-east-north-africa/476318-protesters-storm-us-embassy-in-baghdad-after
Anyone remembering the Iran Hostage Crisis would also remember, those Iranian students mostly weren’t armed, there were just a lot of them.
Armed Embassy guards, had the scenario became a hostage crisis mob, would have to shoot unarmed protestors and an unknown number of uniformed paramilitaries, possibly armed.
The appearance was on the surface, an ugly repeat of Tehran, 1979.
The Red Flag of Revenge has been hoisted in Qom. That flag has never been flown before.
https://youtu.be/b0rb1tUSZ6Y
This didn’t start with Trumps assassination of a bad guy General…it began a few years ago when Trump pulled us out of the Iran treaty. From there everything has gone down hill. Now Trump has his ass in a bind where he has to send in thousands of US troops to protect our interests that could lead to war…this is the result of electing a boneheaded moron. Who will pay the price…our military and the American taxpayer with billions more to fund another useless war that could have been avoided years ago.
A funny way of not wanting to start a war.
Trump says US to strike 52 Iranian sites ‘VERY FAST and VERY HARD’ if Tehran moves to avenge general’s death
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202001051077946825-trump-says-soleimani-killing-was-warning-threatens-to-hit-52-iranian-sites/
So Iran was planning attacks. No evidence for that. Unlike Trump who has freely admitted there are 52 Iranian sites planned for attack. In fact Trump has been planning attacks on Iran from the day he was elected. Pompeo and the foreign policy team were all selected on their record of staunch anti Iran activism.
Thats the “deal” Trump made with Sheldon & Miriam Adelson. Americans are that stupid they allow an Israeli citizen i.e. Miriam Adelson to dictate their foreign policy.