Oh What a Mess This Iranian Challenge Is.
Trump has today threatened to swiftly hit 52 major Iranian targets, if Iran makes ANY retaliation against Americans or American targets in response to Trump’s killing Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani. Again, instead of tit-for-tat, Trump is throwing the entire shebang for the slightest face saving response. What about yesterday’s statement that he doesn’t want to start a war?
Senator Bernie Sanders is proposing a bill that Trump could not start a war with Iran, specifically, but only Congress could. There are so many stirred up militia groups, how will they know that it was only a local militia, and not an Iranian action? The fog of war, especially with the foggiest administration ever.
This is even a stronger case for Vice President Mike Pence stepping in with the 25th Amendment to save the nation. However, it was discouraging that Pence tried to link Soleimani to the 9/11 attacks.
l was just going to summarize Trump’s destruction of what we have accomplished after years of expensive efforts an American sacrifices in the Middle East. Then there is the list of targets and disruption that Iran could cause to Americans.
Update: The US may get kicked out of Iraq, since we are only there at their request to help them fight ISIS. A vote of the Shia dominated Iraqi Parliament has called for all foreign troops to leave Iraq, so Trump blew it. The Iraqi Premier said that he is behind it.
The Iraqi militias backed by Iran have been a key on-the-ground force in fighting the ISIS invasion, in cooperation with US air support. That is gone now. There were courageous demonstrators in Iran against the regime, and some say that 400-500 of them were actually killed by the regime. All of those sacrifices are now a wash with the vast protest against Trump’s killing of Quds leader, Major General Soleimani. Apparently, the US will also be on the outs with Iranian backed militias in Syria, who also were fighting ISIS. This is after Trump abandoned our allies in Syria, the Kurds, to the Turkish invasion, occupation, and ethnic cleansing along the border. Will we see a resurgence of quieted ISIS? And what about the 10,000 ISIS prisoners which the Kurds were holding?
In the Iranian target list, it is hard to know where to start. The most serious to the US would be cyberattacks in the US. There is also an internet influence campaign. The US has a fleet of ships in and around the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz which could be attacked. The Straight of Hormuz could be shut to oil tankers or other commerce that would affect all of the Gulf oil nations. Iran or militias could again launch a drone attack against Saudi oil fields, which would affect the world, including California. There are American troops in something like 6 nations in the Middle East. They seem vulnerable by rocket or even done attacks. All of these have been mentioned on TV. There have also been attempts by Iran to get people in America to attack American assets. An Iranian General also mentioned Tel Aviv as a possible target. It seems that Persian-Americans, largely in Southern California, who fled the present regime, are worried about how they will be regarded in an upcoming war.
From a Washington Post map, the US has about 70,000 troops in 11 Middle East countries, including Afghanistan.
Trump’s war threatening tweet seems to kill any efforts to negotiate another nuclear non-proliferation agreement with Iran. It could also affect the present agreement which the other involved nations who are sticking by the agreement, which the US withdrew from.
Since when is the seriousness of the US declaring a war or laying down conditions reduced to a tweet, by a President, with no government or Congress standing behind him or in the audience? As in the assassination of Suleimani, it then takes several days for the White House to come up with some story or reasoning behind the President’s action. The assassination hasn’t even yet been justified with any evidence. Only after the fact was Congress informed, and no approval has been sought by them for the latest threatened actions.
