It’s kind of too bad that this administration has less credibility than Joe Isuzu or Tommy Flanagan, the Pathological Liar because we really can’t rely on the word of anyone, including the Secretary of Defense.
Defense Secretary James Mattis on Friday disputed a news report that the U.S. is preparing military action against Iran, calling it “fiction.”
Australian outlet ABC News published an article Thursday saying the United States could initiate a missile strike against Iran as early as next month.
“I have no idea where the Australian news people got that information,” Mattis told reporters. “I’m confident it is not something that’s being considered right now, and I think it’s a complete – frankly, it’s – it’s fiction.”
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also denied the report, which cites unnamed Australian officials.
“It’s speculation,” Turnbull said, according to The Straits Times. “It is citing anonymous sources.”
Sure, it’s speculation based on sources who won’t go on the record. But it’s not too hard to get a fevered imagination when the president is tweeting out stuff like this:
To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2018
Also, it’s not like Trump didn’t just hire John Bolton to be his national security advisor. John Bolton has told every national security advisor to serve since the Cretaceous Era that we should bomb Iran down to the triceratops.
I kind of doubt he’ll fail to forcefully advocate for that now that he’s in charge.
Yeah, I suppose he’ll advocate for it.
But surely this is relevant. [Bolton’s]pronouncements on both issues [N. Korea and Iran] are at odds with the assessments of U.S. intelligence agencies.”
So where was Bolton during the North Korean love fest? Playing with his yoyo, apparently. I wonder why.
Bolton’s another one of Cheney’s old Team B/PNAC stooges. CIA ain’t gonna let that happen again.
I wonder what Putin would have to say if the US bombed his main ally in the middle east? Perhaps he would lob a few missiles at the Israeli nuclear weapons bunker in the Sinai and watch half that desert go up in smoke. Ah but Israel doesn’t have any nuclear weapons so that couldn’t have happened? Maybe it was just a nuclear test gone wrong. Ups, sorry, my bad.
Bullies tend to pick on the small guy with no big friends. Trump had better be careful. There will be no “coalition of the willing” next time around. At least not one including any states not under direct US imperial control.
This presumes that Russia considers Israel an enemy. Bibi cultivates Putin just as much as he does Trump.
Trump does not care about a “coalition of the willing.” He does not care what other countries think or in the merits of multilateral-ism.
Somehow I doubt Trump cares what Russia thinks about this. And I doubt Russia will lob any missiles at Israel. My guess is Trump will start some kind of limited missile attack and then declare victory and expect Putin to pick up the pieces. Maybe not. Just guessing here. I don’t think Trump worries about Russia. The freaking problem though is Iran may not get the joke and then who knows. Trump wants to impress his gulf allies. And warn Iran to stay the hell away. It may be worth some money to him.
We’d have done it 18 months ago if Hillary had won.
“Vote for Hillary” they told me “and you’ll get a warmonger with a cabinet full of corrupt bankster types.”
I voted for her, and you know what, that’s exactly what we got.
Nice take on the old Goldwater-Johnson joke!
What joke?
Who’s telling jokes?
We bomb Iran they retaliate by pulling the trigger on the cyber attack they’ve set up against us already.
Agreed. I can see DC going dark for weeks if not a couple of months or our 50 yr old air traffic control system crashing. Bolton nor any of the other walking dead in the WH will bother to consider building up our cyber defences prior to an attack.
Bolton is a profoundly stupid person, not his intellectual capacity but his extremely poor judgement and his decades old reputation as a real asshole. A missile strike would be even stupider than in the far smaller DPRK. Iran long ago hardened and scattered their critical facilities over a wide area including sites very close to civilian centers. Even though Mattis really doesn’t like Iran, I hope he realizes that an attack on Iran would be both pointless and create a huge blowback.
I don’t think Trump wants a war with Iran. He wants to help his gulf allies including Israel and warn Iran away from Syria or parts of the Mideast. Bolton may want war but he will have to settle for a limited bombing run. And then rely on Russia to calm the waters. If that fails, no telling where we go from here.
I can see that. (His) talk is cheap.
I feel Mr Trump is about as anti-war a president as we have ever had. (Not from a good place – it’s cowardice – but that’s the result.)
Perhaps he brought Bolton in as a way of reconnecting to the neocon faction of the Republican party … like a Hapsburg marrying the Hungarian princess. If so, that shows more cunning on Mr Trump’s part than I expected. The reality is/will be that Bolton has no more important job than knitting a pair of socks for Vladimir Putin, but the story arc might help the regime for a few months.
All speculation.
When? Now we wait for the go ahead from Vladimir. Picking the target. And then bombs away.
I’d rest a lot easier if he weren’t constantly rattling the nuclear sabers. It all really bothers me, but this experiment we’re currently running of throwing a loaded shotgun into a room full of toddlers just to see what happens is totally freaking me out. Other, more rational, countries long ago rendered their royalty relatively toothless, something we should adopt methinks if we all want to see tomorrow.
I think it is mostly BS on his part.
His strategy is to create confusion and anxiety and then exploit the situation. A lot of it must be for domestic consumption – it still works here, maybe because it’s non-stop.
Internationally, they would get crazy talk in doses. That could give the audience time to sober up from the anxiety rush. He would have to do something else there – maybe intermittent rewards. There is some sign of that (Korea, EU trade negotiation). That may be the way his negotiation strategy in life works.
The problems for us in the US are how to disengage from the crazymaking stuff and then deal with the real harmful things that the regime seems to be up to. They don’t have much of a plan or a strategy which in fact makes that much more difficult.
Dealing with all the crazy shit they throw out is like Lucy on the candy factory assembly line.
If we attack Iran, I think the shit is really going to hit the fan domestically and internationally. The vast majority of Americans are opposed to it, something like 80% I read. Does this lunatic dare do it? If he does, the blow-back will be extraordinary.
Of course, he’ll do anything to save his own ass.
When do we attack Iran? When Mueller’s report drops, or any of the other two investigation streams presents overwhelmingly devastating evidence, leaving the republicans no room to continue to spin away their refusal to not exercise their Constitutional duty to deal with Trump, that’s when.
Some say if war on Iran happens that will be the end for a lot of Trump supporters, who believed yet another lie, that he would not start a war. But I guarantee, once war on Iran is announced, you will see Trump supporters flow down from the hills, up from the hollows, and out of middle America diners, wearing their MAGA hats and waving flags, frothing at the mouth…”Its War, Its war I tell ya…” they’ll shout. Happy and excited to sacrifice what’s left that Trump and the GOP hasn’t already taken from them — their lives, for their Orange Fuhrer.
And if that happens, I will say this: let these so-called white working class “real Americans” who believe NFL players kneeling at the national anthem are unpatriotic while at the same time ignoring the unpatriotic at best, treasonous at worst, betrayal of their president when he sells out the nation right before their eyes in the service of an adversary do the bulk of the fighting then.