The Raging War Boner Party is at it again. They just can’t stop getting us involved in Middle Eastern wars based on false pretenses, the little rascals.
For the past three years we’ve had to deal with numerous nauseating Golf of Ton-King incidents, but now we’re back to the banal, garden-variety Gulf of Tonkin bullshit.
Because — surprise! — the casus belli for our latest military adventure was apparently (hie to thine fainting couch, anon!) a lie.
This insightful analysis from Rukmini Callimachi, a New York Times correspondent who covers ISIS and Al Qaeda, should give you pause — if, for some crazy reason, you weren’t already up to your ears in pauses:
2. In fact the evidence pointing to that came as three discrete facts: a) A pattern of travel showing Suleimani was in Syria, Lebanon & Iraq to meet with Shia proxies known to have an offensive position to the US. (As one source said that’s just “business as usual” for Suleimani)
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) January 4, 2020
4. And finally, a) and b) were read in the context of c) Iran’s increasingly bellicose position towards American interests in Iraq, including the attack that killed a U.S. contractor and the recent protest outside the American embassy.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) January 4, 2020
6. One official described the planning for the strike as chaotic. The official says that following the attack on an Iraqi base which killed an American contractor circa Dec. 27, Trump was presented a menu of options for how to retaliate. Killing Suleimani was the “far out option”
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) January 4, 2020
8. It was after the embassy protests that the president, according to one US official, chose the Suleimani option, but the problem at that point in time is that American intelligence did not know his precise whereabouts. They scrambled to locate him, says the official.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) January 4, 2020
10. Since the strike, Iran has convened its national security chiefs. Chatter intercepted by American intelligence indicates they’re considering a range of options. Cyberattacks, attacks on oil facilities and American personnel and diplomatic outposts have all been cited so far.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) January 4, 2020
12. Another is attacks on American diplomatic and military outposts not just in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, but as far afield as UAE and Bahrain. The official I spoke to was particularly concerned for American troops stationed in Iraq, some of whom are co-located with Shia militias
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) January 4, 2020
14. In 2019, America has been denied airspace and access to operations in Iraq to go after ISIS at the behest of Iran-backed groups. The US has also been told to stop communicating with Sunni tribes. These are important setbacks that have already weakened the US’ posture in Iraq
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) January 4, 2020
16. A likely outcome of the recent strike is that small, out-of-the-way outposts for special operations forces will be deemed too vulnerable and will be eliminated. Fighting ISIS is no longer the priority if the outer wall of the US embassy is being attacked.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) January 4, 2020
17. Before I go back to the pool let me just say the obvious: No one’s trying to downplay Suleimani’s crimes. The question is why now? His whereabouts have been known before. His resume of killing-by-proxy is not a secret. Hard to decouple his killing from the impeachment saga.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) January 4, 2020
In other words, more bullshit from the war party.
This kind of garbage would be shocking if it weren’t so mundane. It’s the same old script: Elect a Republican president, get more inequality, more war, more lies, and eventually a sputtering economy.
When the fuck will we ever learn?
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