He just says the quiet bits loud. These will be things that are obviously faux pas to say publicly but not behind the curtains.
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US Department of Defense confirms it targeted/killed Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iran's Quds Force, outside Baghdad Airport
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He just says the quiet bits loud. These will be things that are obviously faux pas to say publicly but not behind the curtains.
Source for the rationale behind this particular bombing. But I do understand what brought you to that conclusion.
Either way, we've gone off topic.
I mean, obviously there are irrational people who believe irrational things in the military, but even divorcing morality from the discussion, specifically targeting cultural sites for the sake of destroying cultural sites would be called incredibly dumb and self-defeating by the vast majority of military strategists in the world, those in the US included.
Either way, we've gone off topic.
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I don't think there's anyone left in the White House to stop him if he decides to do it. And all it would take is one phone call from Putin, or even just a snide Twitter remark from a political figure in Iran and he'd do it as a "show of strength."
I don't give Trump enough intelligence or sanity to credit him with thinking, "This is a dumb move," and I don't think any "Adults" are left to control him if he orders this.
If you are interested in the way targets were selected in the Vietnam war, any book that cover it from the white house and/or air force perspective will do. The US didn't have good intel at all, especially not about where the VC were. They picked points on the map and said "hmmm could be here" and leveled them.
Anyway, I tried to tell my best understanding of the My Son bombing and at least in rough terms what my thoughts on this are and how I came to arrive to them. I'm not an expert, I just went there, randomly, and then read everything I could find about it, which is not a ton.
Not sure you'd want to read a footnoted paper on this, I'm fairly certain I don't want to write one.
Also for real, you just learned about it, right? aren't you even a bit worried of finding yourself downplaying a really bad war crime? even if it's just a bit?
I mean I could be wrong, I get it, but I could be right, right?
I don't think you're doing it intentionally, but I think this instinctive habit of trying to see if maybe America is not really that bad in that war thing is something we need to fight.
This is Nixon we're talking about here.
Chikor, I'm not doing any of that. You have come to a conclusion on a historical event based on your own feelings and interpretation of the event, and I have said your conclusion may be correct. I am not assuming it's incorrect, but if you want me to just say you're right without any direct evidence, I'm sorry, I personally can't do that. I don't know what the rationale was for this particular bombing, and when I say I don't know I mean I don't know. That's not providing cover for the United States, I'm just not the kind of person that makes definitive statements on very specific historical events without something to base that statement on. If I were to write a textbook on the Vietnam War, I could not make the argument you are making in it.
Additionally, if you are correct about the My Son bombing, well then that action would have been against US military policy, and I already have said several time that violations of military policy happen and the US has destroyed cultural sites in the past. So I don't know what larger point you are trying to make that I haven't already concede.
Anyway, if you want to continue the conversation, lets take it to PM.
I don't know what to tell you, and I have no idea why you seem to be angry at me.
Let me try again, I was there, his is a pretty common tourist destination, it's a day trip from Da Nang. This is really something that most vanilla itineraries will have and not VICE EXTREME TRAVEL at all. They have a museum there. They have a lot of Vietnam war museums in Vietnam. I read the story there, never heard about it, I got interested and I decided to read about it as much as I can to see if it checks out, and I think that it does.
Are we only allow to talk about stuff we learned from wikipedia here?
And I get it that you need to take me at my word that I'm not making shit up, but what do I say which is outrageous?
I feel like all I'm saying is "Nixon did a war crime" and it's coming across like I'm saying the moon landing is faked.
Do you want like photos of passport stamps?
I know we've been desensitized and beaten down by this shit, but just stop and take a breath for a moment. If I had told you 5 years ago that the President of the United States, right after ordering the assassination of Iran's top general, would threaten to obliterate 52 Iranian points of interest if they retaliate... via Twitter- would you have believed me?
The US president commiting a war crime on twitter is probably the most 20's thing ever too
The thing is this may make them pause and think what they actually will do. Trump is fucking insane and they know he would probably bomb everything if given any reason.
Madman theory didn't work for Nixon, and I don't think it'll work for Trump either.
Yeah, no. If Iran responded sheepishly to military threats, we'd have had an entirely different relationship with them over the last 3 or 4 decades than what we've had.
I'll bet you all the Iraq war ghouls they have there are pushing him to "show strength". All those dickheads believe that it's important for other countries to believe that the commander in Chiefs has nor morals that will stop them from unleashing the full might of the US military.
He's also a moron. You don't tweet details about a hypothetical military response to an action that hasn't taken place. The Iranians have probably already guessed what the majority of the 52 targets are. Personnel and assets are already being moved, and air defenses are probably already being buffed up at some of those sites.
this dude is great and it angers me that he has more journalist integrity than any mainstream "news" outlet on either side of the spectrum.
Unlike the other conquerors, Emperor Cyrus' tomb has stood untouched for over two and a half thousand years. He could have never imagined its explosive demise at the hands of a grotesquely stupid and orange liar throwing a tantrum on a magical service allowing leaders of nations to scream at each other across the globe.
Massive crowds in the city that had some of the largest protests in Iran just a few months ago.
After reading the New Yorker article on the guy from 2013 it just underscores how complicated all this shit is.. Generally not in favor of interventionist foreign policy, but when Iran is trying to influence countries in the area like Syria (sounds like Qud Force was largely responsible for propping up the Asaad regime in the early part of the Syrian Civil War), Iraq, Lebanon etc. what is the appropriate response? Ideally I'd say we have no responsibility to be involved in the affairs of those countries, but obviously there's a point where it feels morally necessary to do so, ie genocide or use of chemical weapons on civilians.
That being said I don't think assassinating Soleimani was a necessary or prudent measure - seems the intel indicating an imminent attack was pretty thin and I don't think it'll have much effect on the Iranian regime's actions anyway.. Just put more people in danger.
Sanders 2020.
That being said I don't think assassinating Soleimani was a necessary or prudent measure - seems the intel indicating an imminent attack was pretty thin and I don't think it'll have much effect on the Iranian regime's actions anyway.. Just put more people in danger.
Sanders 2020.
Oh give me a break. Yeah US is in those countries because of morality and shit. Jesus.
If you don't think the assassinating is smart, why repeat the justification that the people who did it give for it?
LOL, they bombed a fucking hospital, why would they stop at cultural sites if there's even the slightest hint of potential military targets hiding there - which is also against the Hague Convention btw.
Part of the reason that narrative was so easy to buy is because almost everyone living here has been indoctrinated into the American exceptionalism-nationalism ideology that painted all of our actions as looking out for the world and being the good guys with no nuance. Americans by and large don't think of the US as being an evil country despite our incredibly sordid history since its inception.
soleimani's body has been brought back to iran. ahwaz is the first city where they're having a funeral for him.
When is the US gonna bomb Saudi Arabia since you know something something evil regime something something influence
America ignores it because it's helping to perpetuate said genocide and profits from it.
Which is why I'm so baffled at so many posts here trying to invoke moral superiority as the reasoning for these bombings
America ignores it because it's helping to perpetuate said genocide and profits from it.
Which is why I'm so baffled at so many posts here trying to invoke moral superiority as the reasoning for these bombings
soleimani's body has been brought back to iran. ahwaz is the first city where they're having a funeral for him.
in before German tabloid BILD calls it a hate march organized by the mullah regime.
his second funeral is now going on in Mashhad, another city in Iran. tomorrow there will be a bigger one in Tehran (the capital), and then the day after a final one in Kerman (his birth place) where he's going to be buried. each day is a holiday in the respective city so people can attend.
twitter is full of reports that the iraq parliament has voted to expel US forces from the country. waiting for a better source.
They tabled the vote and it is expected within the next hour if i understand correct.
Manu Raju @mkrajuTop military adviser in Iran says his country's response to the United States will certainly be a military response "against military sites...It was America that has started the war. Therefore, they should accept appropriate reactions to their actions."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/05/middleeast/iran-soleimani-khamenei-adviser-intl/index.html … "The only thing that can end this period of war is for the Americans to receive a blow that is equal to the blow they have inflicted. Afterward they should not seek a new cycle," Hossein Dehghan said
The only way Iran will negotiate with the US is if Trump is tried in Iran, the adviser tells @fpleitgenCNN. "There is only one way: first Trump must be tried in our own court, he should punished for the crime he committed. Then we could negotiate."
The only way Iran will negotiate with the US is if Trump is tried in Iran, the adviser tells @fpleitgenCNN. "There is only one way: first Trump must be tried in our own court, he should punished for the crime he committed. Then we could negotiate."
7:58 AM - Jan 5, 2020
I'm feeling both sad and astonished by what is happening.
Assassinating a foreign military leader in a drone strike, and afterwards claiming commitment to de-escalation is like slapping someone and shouting no punch back. There is no way Iran can not retaliate proportionately, since Trump had already backed them into a corner.
If and when they do retaliate, escalation by hitting 52 new targets is completely irresponsible - and now that I think of it, exactly what Trump wants to do.
Assassinating a foreign military leader in a drone strike, and afterwards claiming commitment to de-escalation is like slapping someone and shouting no punch back. There is no way Iran can not retaliate proportionately, since Trump had already backed them into a corner.
If and when they do retaliate, escalation by hitting 52 new targets is completely irresponsible - and now that I think of it, exactly what Trump wants to do.
Last part is NEVER happening and Iran knows it.
US leadership can conduct all war crimes and no one nowhere will ever hold them responsible.
There are reports that Kurdish members of parliament are going to abstain from attending the vote.
If true I continue to be baffled by their decisions when time and time again the US betrays them. This is only going to increase sectarianism against them.
It would be impressive if it wasn't such an incredibly low bar.
Basijihis second funeral is now going on in Mashhad, another city in Iran. tomorrow there will be a bigger one in Tehran (the capital), and then the day after a final one in Kerman (his birth place) where he's going to be buried. each day is a holiday in the respective city so people can attend.
Did the vote already happen ?
Lots of things at stake here, will watch for sources too
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