Dominated by those hawkish against Iran, the Trump Administration has a sizeable contingent that has been itching to start a war with Iran. It is a big enough concern that Congress has let this inform the language of bills.
Numerous bills, including sanctions-related bills and recent National Defense Authorization Acts, have included language declaring that nothing in the bill may be construed as authorizing the use of force against Iran. Some bills have had language to this effect as far back as 2012.
This suggests that Congress is unlikely to sign off if the administration just asks for a new war authorization specifically aimed at Iran. Instead, the administration is looking to again try to broaden the decades-old authorization they already have, hoping to squeeze one last big, plainly unintended war out of it.
To that end, officials have begun trying to advance a preposterous claim that Iran is secretly backing “high-level al-Qaeda operatives.” Iran has been at war with al-Qaeda since the group’s founding, and the Shi’ite Iranian government is fundamentally incompatible with the Salafist terrorist group.
Tying the two groups together is so absurd that US officials have rarely tried to argue for doing so, instead presenting the possibility as little more than a notion. Officials seem now to hope that this notion, repeated often enough and with enough alarmist tone, will just become widely accepted, or at least not challenged enough to be rejected out-of-hand.
It is at that point the hawks’ favorite gift that keeps on giving, the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) starts to matter. That AUMF authorized a war against al-Qaeda, and has been broadened since to include anything remotely al-Qaeda-affiliated, even groups that didn’t exist in 2001.
It was obvious the 2001 AUMF was never meant to apply to Iran, but even a plainly flimsy argument has tended to be enough to support America’s assorted other wars to come out of that authorization. Once a president picks a fight, Congressional leadership rarely has any interest in reviewing it.
This seemingly eternal malleability of the AUMF has been behind several so-far-unsuccessful attempts to repeal and replace it with something more clearly defined. Administrations have resisted such efforts, and even if Congress has the foresight to try to do so before the administration can attack Iran, they will doubtless face veto threats and intense pressure.
How ironic that Trump would attempt to use an al-Qaeda Iran link as an excuse to attack Iran since Washington has been funding al-Qaeda in Syria since the beginning of the Syrian civil war. Iran as been fighting al-Qaeda since the Syrian civil war began.
It doesn’t matter what Iran has really done, all that matters is what Americans are told Iran has done, and even that only matters superficially.
It’s like rain on your wedding day or that big fat lie about the yellow cake….
It didn’t matter to anyone that the folks we funded against the Soviets BECAME al-qaeda.
I think about that whenever I happen to watch Rambo III
I think that was kind of the idea. Zbig knew the USSR had some disgruntled Muslims.
Excellent point but never underestimate the stupidity of the zionist likudniks in the trump admin. They are making policy and possibly war and the sheeple citizens stand back in horror but cannot do a damn thing about it.
old Bush and Neocon tactic…..just like before the Iraq invasion in 2003, linking Iraq to al-Qaeda ( US asset ).
What a joke. Al-Qaeda and Iran hate each other.
Very frightening. This whole concept needs to be ridiculed every time it is expressed as a trial balloon to ensure it does not become received wisdom. The power of narrative is the most critical power there is … It is vital therefore to make sure idiotic warmongering is immediately countered.
This old re-run? If Dubya couldn’t make it stick, what’s Mango Mussolini going to do? A better sales pitch? How is an advertising campaign going to defeat Iran, Balkanize it, occupy it, make it a puppet, and suck it dry?
I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. The Lobby (Adelson, Braman, Ellison, et al) is going to try and cash in at the right moment to try and get Trump to sign off on an Iran war or a Venezuela war. They’re slowly backing the idiot into a corner where he thinks he has to choose between one war or another if he’s to be re-elected. The Lobby is making noises with the other potential candidates for 2020 to scare him into submission.
He’ll slam a burger and a diet coke and make his call. I doubt it will end well. My hope is that he gets overwhelmingly frustrated with the lot of them and turns on everyone, throwing the greatest tantrum of all time.
Trump somehow has some of the anti-war crowd snowed, because he made noises about Iraq being a “dumb war” and about getting out of NATO (only because the allies aren’t paying their fair share.) Not like it’s going to make a huge difference but Raimondo et al at least saw Bush as the neo-con puppet he was, but they give Trump a pass for ratcheting up tension further in the Middle East while hiring Bolton and Abrams back into the fold.
You’re absolutely right. If Dubya couldn’t make this stick, what’s a Mango Mussolini going to do? BTW, I like that monicker, Mango Mussolini. Is he going to make a better sales pitch? How’s an advertising campaign going to defeat Iran, balkanize it, make it a puppet, and suck it dry? The truth is, that’ll NEVER happen. Why? Iran has two quite powerful allies – China and Russia – as well as more sophisticated weapons.
Yes, the Lobby (Adelson, Braman, Ellison, et al) will try and cash in at the right moment to try and get Trump to sign off on an Iran war or a Venezuela war. Yes, they’re slowly backing this idiot into a corner where he thinks he has to choose between one war or another if he’s to win re-election. The Lobby’s also making noises with the other potential candidates for 2020 to scare him into submission.
He’ll surely scarf down a burger and a diet coke and make his call, but I’m sure it won’t end well at all. My hope, too, is that he gets overwhelmingly frustrated with the lot of these scumbags and turns on everybody, throwing the greatest tantrum of all time.
Is this war monger getting tips from Cheney, Bush, and company now?
Unlike real bull manure which is useful as fertilizer, the bs spread around by neo cons stinks regardless of how old it is. This particular pile derives from the same ploy that was used 16 years ago to invade Iraq.
This administration is so dangerous to Iran and Venezuela I would not be surprised if Pelosi becomes president by succession. The level of extremism is obsessive and a real threat to millions of people who aren’t going to sit back and take it.
And Pelosi would be just as dangerous to Iran and Venezuela.
Trump isn’t going anywhere. The level of sheer partisanship in Washington these days, Trump (or Pelosi, for that matter) could murder someone in broad daylight and anyone with an (R) after their name would twist themselves into theoretical pretzels to justify it somehow ( (D) in Pelosi’s case of course.)
Will Pelosi be better? She already is part of the 2012 Obama Democratic Party sanctions on Venezuela which led to the present impasse.
What difference does it make? The inventions and reinventions of imperial myths will be vigorously promoted, told and retold by the countless imperial media criers, pompous know-it-alls, and centers of metaphysical sophistry of spin-tanks. And in the end, they will fool most of the prople — most of the time. The end result? No matter the truth — most prople would just be uncomfortable questioning the public”truths”.
So, our and European media shed tears over “fall ofAleppo”, when the monsters that held East Aleppo hostage for years were finally kicked out. Nobody from the imperial press bothered to talk to people how they felt, and what they experienced during their ordeal. Al-Qaeda (The Base) was our csuse, our heros manning the barricades against the imperial nemesis —Assad. Now, Al-Qaeda is a villain again. But it was a friend in Afghanistan against Soviet Union, and still friennds with Taliban (students) were sent in from Pakistan to kick-behind the foot-dragging Afghan tribes that did not manage to get rid of pro-Soviet government in Kabul two yesrs after Soviets pulled troups out of Afghanistan. Still, Arabs (Al-Qaeda) was there , US srmed, Saudi paid. And Students came to power, and The Base — with them.
And does anybody care? The stories are for us, the dummies, to keep us entertained, and flag waving. In the era of fast and numerous media sources — it iis much easier to keep people confused. Fast, fast and faster — words, and words multiply. And before you can make sense of one thing — hundred other made up things fly through the ether.
But the joys of the lying elite is not going to last. Its credibility is already shut. So, mistakenly they feel that lies work, people are worn out from all the nonsense, no resistance to their zealotic world conquering bug.
Unfortunately for the elite and us — the measure of truth is in the day to day existence. Day to day life is not getting easier. Of the two million jobs added, this icludes ablut a milion jobs loss in listed corporations. Which means that all job growth was in small business. This really covers all kinds of liw paying jobs with no benefits in health care and other services. As the corporate world and their political cheerleaders are generating failing economy — the cconsequences are predictable, people will need change untill they get it. For better or for worse.
And this displays why we prosecute crime, if we dont, they just keep doing it until we do.
Yes, and the same is true of the media personalities who promote war after war with lie after lie. So long as guys like Thomas Friedman pay no price for what they’ve done, they occupy that space and keep marginalized those who were actually correct about all that.
Not much we can do about media, but, anyone providing false testimony to congress during war runup should be in prison now, not doing it again.
I saw this on another blog and it works for me: never, ever, underestimate the stupidity of the us govt; we are now seeing this in spades,
al-Qaeda operatives,gad these people with this stupidity are deranged. It becomes difficult to grasp that they can even offer this but they are desperate for war.
bolton must be dancing in the streets, iran and venezuela!!!!
Iran aiding Al Qaeda? Then why is Iran aiding Syria in its battle with Al Qaeda? Ridiculous. In fact the US CIA and Saudi created Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden was their operative leader.
Actually the US uses the Al Qaeda they created as a foil to give the appearance of fighting terrorism while spreading it to make a pretext for intervention and mass murder.
That’s about as crazy as saying the US is secretly aiding ISIS and its assorted fringe groups! Oh, wait…..
The USA not only uses “sanctions” to destroy Iran (and Russia, Venezuela…) and uses economic pressure and other threats which are already a war crime, but now wants physical violence to prove its inordinate success in the wars it is already losing in this century??
Trump seems to think pressure on China will lead to some benefits to the USA, but the likelihood is minimal. Does war help there as well, with the “greatest army the world has ever known” bogged down in several conflicts with no end in sight?
The idea of negotiation, of finding points in common, of considering other points of view, even of having such people as diplomats (has the USA really got any?)appears to be lacking in the US mentality. Force is all.
How stupid does Washington think the American people are? Oh, never mind. I guess they’re right considering all of the lies that Americans have fallen for, including the idea that Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism and the most disruptive force tin the Middle East.
I smell John Bolton’s shit.