US bases in Iraq under missile attack

[Pato del Muerto 52,600]

14 minutes ago, hrmaddie said:

I’m in Amman, Jordan and can’t fucking wait to get on a plane tomorrow morning and get the fuck out of here. All the while I’ll be praying I don’t get shot down.

I suggest you walk to Lebanon and take a boat to Greece. 

[WhatTheBuck 28,798]

21 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

I’m not a fan of Trump, but this is wildly inaccurate. 

Bullshit. Maybe when you have more life experience you'll be a better judge of character. Trump is a pussy. He's a schoolyard bully who merely talks tough. He's been repeatedly pantsed by his adversaries on the world stage. He's not even man enough to fire his employees to their face. He's a gutless coward. 

[WhatTheBuck 28,798]

19 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

meh, you will be fine, just take a quick jump too Malta. No one fucks with anyone going to Malta. 

Just be sure to leave your falcon statue behind. 

[NowThis 931]

11 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

I suggest you walk to Lebanon and take a boat to Greece. 

or just go to Israel which is the closest state to the city of Amman.

[hrmaddie 48]

Spent 9-10 days in Israel already.  Came to Jordan to see Petra and see other sites.  

[Junior Miller 1,502]

2 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Don't presume to educate me about Iran and Iraq and our history with them. Several pages back you said this:

"I wouldn't be surprised if right now Iranian suicide bombing aren't being planned for attacks inside the US."

That's preposterous. That's not what they do. They're not al Qaeda. Al Qaeda is a Sunni jihadist non-state actor who has long aimed at sending agents to commit terrorist attacks in the U.S.  Iran is an Islamist state actor who has never committed a terrorist attack in the U.S.  Their goals are local. If you're confusing the two strategies then you obviously don't understand the difference between the two. 

"Iraq under Saddam was mostly Shia with minority Sunni." No shit, Sherlock. Now tell me water is wet. 

You said you think Iran did it with Iraq's permission which if you knew Iraq leadership is mostly Shia now like Iran then you'd already know of course Iraq wouldn't care.

Also about the suicide bombings it's a tactic Iran's proxies have been using for decades. Iran was big time into guerilla warfare in their Iraq war in the 80s and showed a willingness to adapt from standard trench warfare so in this situation it would make sense for them to use unconventional tactics to attack the US. 

But I'm sure you knew all that being the infallible expert you are and all. 

Edited January 8, 2020 by Junior Miller

[deech 2,291]

I'm praying our President takes the smart route and takes the deescalation proffer by Iran after these bombings of limited to no success..

[Fastbreak 3,992]

20 minutes ago, deech said:

I'm praying our President takes the smart route and takes the deescalation proffer by Iran after these bombings of limited to no success..

LOL - have you not paid attention?

[Junior Miller 1,502]

7 minutes ago, Fastbreak said:

LOL - have you not paid attention?

Well he did say pray and that's like shitting in one hand a wishing in another. We can all hope for pie in the sky longshots. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

 

[Homercles 10,206]

6 hours ago, StruggleBus said:

I’m not a fan of Trump, but this is wildly inaccurate. 

I guess I’ll start tallying ‘I didn’t vote for’, ‘I’m not a fan of’ and other variations of that phrase because it pretty much always prefaces a statement that pretty much reveals a Trumpy type.  If anyone is afraid of him it’s because of his wild flailing and unpredictability, the other major powers in the word play him like a fiddle.  

Edited January 8, 2020 by Homercles

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,523]

Surprising that trump was talked down by pompeo and Esper last night. Perhaps they convinced him there’s no rush in further retaliation and we need to move more people/resources over there.

Or perhaps there was a message from the Iranians that they missed on purpose but wanted to show they could hit us when they want. And pompeo discusses this as a way out for trump.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

Or perhaps this whole thing is an orchestrated circus from start to finish.  

[Mrs Whiggins 13,050]

1 minute ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Or perhaps this whole thing is an orchestrated circus from start to finish.  

It's certainly blown impeachment, the Democratic candidates, the cost to Americans of the tariffs, Deutsche bank, and other important topics off of the news. Meanwhile, his intelligence briefing isn't scheduled until 2:15 pm today (EST per his public calendar) not that Trump listens to anything intelligent anyway.

[Brisketexan 105,336]

 

You know, Ukraine has to be a little sick of this shit. No matter what stupid shit Trump does, the end result seems to be that Ukraine gets fucked somehow. They’ve got to be thinking WTF?

[Loco 3,754]

 

[Homercles 10,206]

Well happy to wake up to no major escalation.  Iran played it well...fire a bunch of very visible (as opposed to cruise missiles) ballistic missiles aimed at dirt and non-US buildings so the whole world took notice but in a way that left open a door for everyone to quietly walk back from.  
 

Now there’s no way the Trump admin had any way of knowing this would be the outcome and I still think it was stupid to kill a uniformed leader

[Neonmoon 38,130]

9 hours ago, Telegraph_it said:

Oh come on now.

 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,523]

7 minutes ago, Loco said:

 

But we’re saving money.   Besides no one has applied for those jobs even though they’ve been posted online for months.

[Nivek 16,986]

 

Fucking Bidens.

[EMAWesome 101]

12 hours ago, EMAWesome said:

The U.S. didn't put Iran in a situation where they had no choice but to respond. Iran put Iran in a situation where they had no choice but to respond.  And as far as Trump being a war monger and wanting a war with Iran let's go through a bit of a time line from the last year.

 

Iran attacks tankers in the Strait of Hormuz--no response from Trump or the U.S.

Iran shoots down an American drone--no response from Trump or the U.S.

Iran launches missile attack (may have been rockets I'm doing this from memory) against Saudi Arabia--no response from Trump or the U.S.

 

There are three open doors for Trump to walk through just in the last year if he wanted a war with Iran.  He didn't walk through any of them.

Not only did he not walk through any of them, at least in some of the situations he had John Bolton whispering in his ear and he still didn't walk through any of them.

[kevwun 15,897]

Forget to switch to your sock account?

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

51 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

You know, Ukraine has to be a little sick of this shit. No matter what stupid shit Trump does, the end result seems to be that Ukraine gets fucked somehow. They’ve got to be thinking WTF?

 

[EMAWesome 101]

9 hours ago, Dahobbs said:

So all this was cover for Putin to take out somebody on the aircraft. 100% chance we will find out that Putin coincidentally benefited  from the death of someone on board. 

There were a grand total of 11 Ukrainians on the plane and nine of them were the crew.  Mostly Iranians and Canadians with a few British, Swedes, and Germans on board the plane.

 

I could easily see Iran mistaking the plane for an American military plane and shooting it down.  On the other hand it was a Boeing 737 and right now I wouldn't trust Boeing to build a kite that works like it is supposed to.

[EMAWesome 101]

12 minutes ago, kevwun said:

Forget to switch to your sock account?

Nope, just adding an additional thought that crossed my mind about ten hours after I made the post.

[thrillhammer 684]

49 minutes ago, Loco said:

 

this is wildly inaccurate.

director of national intelligence = trump. homeland security secretary = trump. head of cbp = trump. head of ice = trump.  asst sec for europe = trump.  navy sec = trump.   don't worry, we got this.

[EMAWesome 101]

10 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

Let’s ignore the fact that it gives them all the justification they need to ramp up their nuclear program and further destabilize the region.  No, I give him no credit.

Because Iran wasn't doing anything to destabilize the region for the last four decades before what's his name got toasted at the airport.

[Mrs Whiggins 13,050]

2 minutes ago, thrillhammer said:

  don't worry, we got this.

Uh-huh. That's the same phrase I hear the sideline soccer moms use when their child's team is down 9-0 and instead of watching the ball their players are looking over at the cooler to see if all the Juicy Juice and Capri Sun is gone.

[EMAWesome 101]

8 hours ago, David Dennison said:

No, it isn't. He's acting from a position of weakness, not strength. Our enemies know it. Everyone knows it. 

 

You have no idea what you are talking about.  Iran's economy is centered around three oil refineries.  Their GNP shrank by ten percent last year.  They have had millions of their citizens protesting their government this year due to the economy going into a nosedive.  Without those refineries their economy goes into the shitter.  Trump knows it, Pompeo knows it, the Iranian regime knows it and the Iranian regime knows we know it.  Meanwhile the U.S. is currently the world's number one producer of fossil fuels.  We don't need to buy their oil but they damn sure need someone to sell it to.  Any air strike at any of those refineries cripples Iran's economy and the U.S. has the capability to take them out any time we damn well please.  Iran also knows that.  You can't be in a position of more strength than the U.S. is now in regards to dealing with Iran.

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13,587]

6 minutes ago, EMAWesome said:

Because Iran wasn't doing anything to destabilize the region for the last four decades before what's his name got toasted at the airport.

Love the start of your timeline here.

 

[PappyVanVinceYoung 85]

8 minutes ago, EMAWesome said:

You have no idea what you are talking about.  Iran's economy is centered around three oil refineries.  Their GNP shrank by ten percent last year.  They have had millions of their citizens protesting their government this year due to the economy going into a nosedive.  Without those refineries their economy goes into the shitter.  Trump knows it, Pompeo knows it, the Iranian regime knows it and the Iranian regime knows we know it.  Meanwhile the U.S. is currently the world's number one producer of fossil fuels.  We don't need to buy their oil but they damn sure need someone to sell it to.  Any air strike at any of those refineries cripples Iran's economy and the U.S. has the capability to take them out any time we damn well please.  Iran also knows that.  You can't be in a position of more strength than the U.S. is now in regards to dealing with Iran.

I'm pretty damn sure Iran exports far more crude oil than they do refined products. Why do you think their economy is centered on refining?

[TXSG8R 3,362]

18 minutes ago, EMAWesome said:

Because Iran wasn't doing anything to destabilize the region for the last four decades before what's his name got toasted at the airport.

Heard someone on Fox this morning making a similar argument, that Soleimani was working to get the US out of the region, so he had to be stopped.  So Trump cooked him, and Iraq is booting us out of the country.  We cant go north because Trump burned the bridge with the Kurds, so Iran/Syria/Russia get to control Iraq going forward.  GG.  

[atomheartbevo 89,799]

9 hours ago, Thetexashammer said:

Funny thing, but that's exactly what happened. W is indeed a complete piece of shit. Good family man though.

I'm sure the families and friends of the 4,500 American troops who were killed in Iraq, and the 32,000 troops who were wounded in Iraq and their families are all thinking George W. Bush is a good family man.

W can burn in hell as far as I'm concerned.  I had friends, both those I served with, and one from high school, who were killed there.  It was ultimately his call to invade or not, and he chose to do so.  They are dead because of him.

 

[atomheartbevo 89,799]

9 hours ago, David Dennison said:

No one on earth is scared of Donald Trump. He's weak.

Nobody is scared of a 4 year-old either, but give him a loaded firearm with the safety off, and all of the sudden he's a threat to everybody around.  

Or in Trump's case, give him the ability to launch attacks against other countries with no checks and balances until it's too late.

[GRHorn 105]

I was against the killing from the beginning, but early returns show it might’ve worked out to a slight positive. Gotta take that. 

Edited January 8, 2020 by GRHorn

[David Dennison 18,946]

18 minutes ago, EMAWesome said:

You have no idea what you are talking about.  Iran's economy is centered around three oil refineries.  Their GNP shrank by ten percent last year.  They have had millions of their citizens protesting their government this year due to the economy going into a nosedive.  Without those refineries their economy goes into the shitter.  Trump knows it, Pompeo knows it, the Iranian regime knows it and the Iranian regime knows we know it.  Meanwhile the U.S. is currently the world's number one producer of fossil fuels.  We don't need to buy their oil but they damn sure need someone to sell it to.  Any air strike at any of those refineries cripples Iran's economy and the U.S. has the capability to take them out any time we damn well please.  Iran also knows that.  You can't be in a position of more strength than the U.S. is now in regards to dealing with Iran.

And now our idiot president, because he is weak, got baited into making a stupid decision that will unify the Iranian people, strengthen the regime, and give them even more incentive to reestablish their nuclear capabilities. 

[Leeroy Jenkins 2,415]

There were a grand total of 11 Ukrainians on the plane and nine of them were the crew.  Mostly Iranians and Canadians with a few British, Swedes, and Germans on board the plane.
 
I could easily see Iran mistaking the plane for an American military plane and shooting it down.  On the other hand it was a Boeing 737 and right now I wouldn't trust Boeing to build a kite that works like it is supposed to.

First it was incredibly stupid to take off during these events.

You know Iran had all of their anti-aircraft systems on and ready to go Incase we or Israel launched an air attack. I wonder what could have occurred? Hmmm.

[BrazilHorn 6,633]

Saw a former deputy defense secretary this morning that said he’d be shocked if partisan groups backed by Iran didn’t ramp actions 
 

that while Iran officially may be done unofficially they will release the hounds to keep pressure on. 

[GRHorn 105]

9 hours ago, David Dennison said:

No one on earth is scared of Donald Trump. He's weak.

I’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt saying this is hyperbole. Otherwise congrats, it might be the dumbest take on the internet. 

[formermav43 4,606]

3 hours ago, Homercles said:

I guess I’ll start tallying ‘I didn’t vote for’, ‘I’m not a fan of’ and other variations of that phrase because it pretty much always prefaces a statement that pretty much reveals a Trumpy type.  If anyone is afraid of him it’s because of his wild flailing and unpredictability, the other major powers in the word play him like a fiddle.  

But you’ve hit on precisely why “no one is afraid of him, he’s weak” is a silly statement. Nearly everyone on this thread is afraid of him and it’s BECAUSE he’s weak.

Its like the old line about the greatest swordsman in the world not fearing the second best. Instead, he fears the person who’s never held a sword before because he doesn’t do what he ought.

[BradInATX 9,208]

1 minute ago, GRHorn said:

I’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt saying this is hyperbole. Otherwise congrats, it might be the dumbest take on the internet. 

"I don't really like Donald Trump, but I immediately spring to his defense when anyone insinuates that he's not an alpha male with a huge dick!"

- Super intellectual both-sides guy

Edited January 8, 2020 by BradInATX

[atomheartbevo 89,799]

2 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Surprising that trump was talked down by pompeo and Esper last night. Perhaps they convinced him there’s no rush in further retaliation and we need to move more people/resources over there.

Or perhaps there was a message from the Iranians that they missed on purpose but wanted to show they could hit us when they want. And pompeo discusses this as a way out for trump.

Was it Pompeo and Esper?  Because when it comes to Trump, I'm leaning more towards his campaign and polling people.

From Pompeo's and Esper's point-of-view, the killing of Soleimani maybe the result of a years-long process with a lot of dots that are connected, where Soleimani was involved with actions that killed Americans (as were the Saudis during their proxy war in Iraq) and he had it coming for a long time.  But Pompeo and Esper did not sell that to the American public, nor did Trump and Fox News, until long after the fact, where it came across as "okay, you caught me with my pants down and my dick in my hand staring in the neighbor's window, but let me explain how I got here, because it wasn't my fault!"

From a typical American's political perspective, there's just not a lot of dots to connect - some embassy protests that killed no one and basically ended as soon as a 100+ Marines showed up, Trump has an Iranian leader assassinated in Iraq, and putting them in a position where Iran can't sit back and allow its leaders to be assassinated.  This sounds like something Parscale and his folks were probably shitting their pants over.

Edited January 8, 2020 by atomheartbevo

[David Dennison 18,946]

3 minutes ago, GRHorn said:

I’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt saying this is hyperbole. Otherwise congrats, it might be the dumbest take on the internet. 

No, it isn't. He's a weak, flailing president who is lashing out to try to save his political fortunes. He is the epitome of a weak president.

[GRHorn 105]

2 minutes ago, BradInATX said:

"I don't really like Donald Trump, but I immediately spring to his defense when anyone insinuates that he's not an alpha male with a huge dick!"

- Super intellectual both-sides guy

I guess I should have clarified. I don’t give a shit about his weak comment. It was statement that no one on Earth is scared of him. That’s asinine. He’s the POTUS. And a wildcard on top of that. Stupid stupid take. Almost as dumb as saying Nancy has leverage over Cocaine Mitch. Denny is off his game. 

[workswithseed 2,111]

3 hours ago, Homercles said:

I guess I’ll start tallying ‘I didn’t vote for’, ‘I’m not a fan of’ and other variations of that phrase because it pretty much always prefaces a statement that pretty much reveals a Trumpy type.  If anyone is afraid of him it’s because of his wild flailing and unpredictability, the other major powers in the word play him like a fiddle.  

Unpredictable and also played like fiddle? That's some double think.

[Enchubben 5,510]

51 minutes ago, EMAWesome said:

There were a grand total of 11 Ukrainians on the plane and nine of them were the crew.  Mostly Iranians and Canadians with a few British, Swedes, and Germans on board the plane.

It seems like Canada, Sweden, Germany and the U.K. should all be pretty upset by this. I wonder how much money they will send to Iran as a consequence?

[BradInATX 9,208]

2 minutes ago, GRHorn said:

I guess I should have clarified. I don’t give a shit about his weak comment. It was statement that no one on Earth is scared of him. That’s asinine. He’s the POTUS. And a wildcard on top of that. Stupid stupid take. Almost as dumb as saying Nancy has leverage over Cocaine Mitch. Denny is off his game. 

Fair enough, but I think the original post was basically saying that everyone knows he's a fake tough guy chump. Obviously lots of people have a fear of him, as he's the most powerful person on Earth.

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13,587]

47 minutes ago, EMAWesome said:

Because Iran wasn't doing anything to destabilize the region for the last four decades before what's his name got toasted at the airport.

Right after I initially responded to this, I ran across this on my FB feed, and figured this is probably as good a time as any for a review-

In 1953, the CIA and British intelligence orchestrated a coup d’etat that toppled the democratically elected government of Iran. The government of Mohammad Mossadegh. The aftershocks of the coup are still being felt.

In 1951 Prime Minister Mossadegh roused Britain’s ire when he nationalized the oil industry. Mossadegh argued that Iran should begin profiting from its vast oil reserves which had been exclusively controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. The company later became known as British Petroleum (BP).

After considering military action, Britain opted for a coup d’état. President Harry Truman rejected the idea, but when Dwight Eisenhower took over the White House, he ordered the CIA to embark on one of its first covert operations against a foreign government.

 

The coup was led by an agent named Kermit Roosevelt, the grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt. The CIA leaned on a young, insecure Shah to issue a decree dismissing Mossadegh as prime minister. Kermit Roosevelt had help from Norman Schwarzkopf’s father: Norman Schwarzkopf.

The CIA and the British helped to undermine Mossadegh’s government through bribery, libel, and orchestrated riots. Agents posing as communists threatened religious leaders, while the US ambassador lied to the prime minister about alleged attacks on American nationals.

Some 300 people died in firefights in the streets of Tehran.

Mossadegh was overthrown, sentenced to three years in prison followed by house arrest for life.

The crushing of Iran’s first democratic government ushered in more than two decades of dictatorship under the Shah, who relied heavily on US aid and arms. The anti-American backlash that toppled the Shah in 1979 shook the whole region and helped spread Islamic militancy.

 

https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/iran-coup/

 

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

Killing the guy only unified a divided Iran, wore out our welcome in Iraq, pissed off all our European allies, and inspired a whole new generation of anti-American terrorists; so it’s obviously a huge win for us. 

Edited January 8, 2020 by Hugo Stiglitz

[Goredho 17,419]

1 hour ago, thrillhammer said:

this is wildly inaccurate.

director of national intelligence = trump. homeland security secretary = trump. head of cbp = trump. head of ice = trump.  asst sec for europe = trump.  navy sec = trump.   don't worry, we got this.

Well, that’s fucking comforting.