Those cheering an escalation of more Mideast wars got their wish tonight as a Trump Authorized Strike Killed Iran’s Soleimani.
Qassem Soleimani, leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ foreign wing, was killed in a strike on his convoy in Iraq, an attack his Iraqi allies blamed on the U.S.
Top Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes was killed alongside Mr. Soleimani when their convoy was struck on the road leading to Baghdad International Airport.
Their deaths are likely to mark the beginning of a dangerous new chapter in the rivalry between the U.S. and Iran. Earlier this week, supporters of an Iran-backed militia attempted to storm the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
Iran Card
https://twitter.com/HelenKennedy/status/1212926363847577600
Expect Iran Reaction
Word About Patriotism
Hooray for the Military Industrial Complex
Vigorous Revenge
Dangerous Escalation
Oil and Gold
Blood on Everyone’s Hands
https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/1212934185876373506
My Comment
If you seek war with punishing, illegal sanctions, it’s easy enough to get.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Been reading your work for a while Mish and this is the first time I think I have something productive to add to the conversation. A man serving as Iran’s no 2 after the supreme leader himself, just so conveniently taking a car ride in an unstable country, one day after his adversary was attacked and thier embassy threatened. The car carrying the man so easily picked off and identified. The answer to how the US did this, is they made a deal and this shmuck was part of it. He was a hard liner preventing Iran from transitioning into a softer stance and even putting down a popular movement at home. Trump made a deal with some element of the Iranian government. After some sabre rattling and a few more bloody noses, this will be the first step to the resolution of the Iranian terror regime.
What a convoluted mess over there!
I wish we were not involved at all, but we are. Not Trump’s decision to be there. And the “Swamp” has resisted his efforts to end our involvement. War is too profitable.
That said…this IRANIAN general was in IRAQ. Not in his home country.
Why?
The US Embassy in IRAQ was attacked.
IRAQ government and military apparently did little or nothing to stop it.
Why not?
IRAQ is increasingly under the control of IRAN.
Let’s just get the hell out.
The geopolitics is as much about Shia vs Sunni as anything.
No winning that battle. Only death for everybody.
Iraqis were already protesting Iranian intervention in their country.
Those who really follow news already know that Iran has been wracked by anti-government protests for a while, a protest that has killed thousands already. They may have been looking for a distraction by looking for conflict in the area.
@ stillCJ I’m not
” Soleimani had arrived in Baghdad on a normal flight from Lebanon. He did not travel in secret. He was picked up at the airport by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes, the deputy commander of the al-Hashd al-Shaabi, an official Iraqi security force under the command of the Iraqi Prime Minister. The two cars they traveled in were destroyed in the U.S. attack. Both men and their drivers and guards died.”
From another point of view at
Rather than attack US or Israel, the best way for Iran to exact retribution for Soleimani’s death is to work with Iraq in redoubling efforts to eliminate Netanyahu’s ally, the Islamic State, in Iraq and Syria.
Nothing would upset Bibi and his supporters more than for Iran to have a clear route to Lebanon, whose water Israel covets but cannot obtain thanks to Hezbollah, which Iran supports. And, it was for Bibi and his re-election that Trump acted.
Iran needs the support of Russia. Putin is a diplomat and Iran should turn to him for advice. Putin supports Israel but not to the extent of violating international law, unlike US ‘leaders’.
“Suffering Drought of Dead War Heroes, America Happy to Find Untapped Supply in Iran”
I am really impressed not only with the accuracy of the surgical strike on the terrorist, but also the intelligence that pinpointed his location. It might give the mullahs something to think about. “He that would have peace, let him prepare for war”.
If this is what you wanted, why not just support Hillary or Jeb in 2016? You could have had MIGA that way too, and it wouldn’t have taken three years!
I cannot stand the Bush’s, and we all know what happened with Hillary when the Libyan embassy was attacked. What a stupid question!
Jeb and Hillary would have attacked Iran too, they were total warmongers. Is that even debatable? Trump may as well have retweeted Hillary’s “we came, we saw, he died” this morning, it would have been fitting.
I’ve got another stupid question for you: Why did Trump fire Bolton only to carry out his greatest wish? A lot of people are thrilled with Trump right now: the deep state, ISIS, Israel, the Saudis, the neocons, the MIC, etc. Did you support Trump in the hopes that he would renege on his rhetoric about ending the wars? If so, good call, you were smarter than a lot of other people who actually took him seriously.
The comments are idiotic:
“rivalry between US and Iran”
Yes. The US has an army of occupation and CIA supported terrorist proxies, trying to destroy the Iranian state, just like Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. And Iran is trying to control their bridgeheads in California and New York and overthrow the current American regime by armies of proxy homeless pooping on the sidewalks.
“Everybody in Middle East has blood on their hands”
Doubtful, a lot more victims than murderers. But the Americans have the most blood on their hands of everybody, with all their nefarious machinations to destroy every secular state in the region. Talk about a transparent attempt to shirk culpability for war crimes (Yes. According to international law, aggression is the root of all other war crimes, and therefore the worst. Aggression means acts of war, like bombings, invasions, drones, political assassinations, etc, what the rogue nation par excellence considers day to day business as usual)
“No one sheds tears over Soleimani”
Not what I have read. He is a highly educated and cultured man, humble and amicable, worshipped by his troops, loved by many he meets, and admired by the people. I think more tears will be shed over him than any of these sycophantic propaganda-journalists.
The lesson Trump has taught Iran seems obvious — Even though they consider nuclear weapons to be haram, America is forcing their hand. It’s impossible to be safe without them.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/09/30/the-shadow-commander?verso=true Qassem Suleimani has been waging war against the US and its allies for over 20 years.
Maybe this all goes back to Clarks revelations about all the countries on the US hit list. They are just taking jabs at Iran while racking their brains on how to get rid of them. It doesn’t seem to matter who is president. There is an agenda and it keeps advancing.
After that hit,Trump should evacuate that Embassy or watch it get leveled,he says this no Benghazi,wrong this exactly like Benghazi and once they destroy that embassy and kill everyone,the MSM won’t protect and defend his ass the way they did Obama.
“…,the MSM won’t protect and defend his ass the way they did Obama.”
The MSM has been attacking Trump since the day he won the election. It is rather a moot point.
Regime change doesn’t work in the ME. The citizens are by and large religious extremest and have been thoroughly brainwashed into thinking the US is satin.
I would prefer we get out of the ME after crippling their ability to build nukes and not allow Muslims into our country. If we’re as evil as they say, why would they want to come here anyway?
This is really, really bad. I can’t believe people are actually cheering on this act of war. Have you learned nothing from history? Iran isn’t Iraq, nor are the Iranian people your enemy. For fuck’s sake, get out of the region. Wasn’t that the premise of the Trump presidency?
Republicans can’t even process the idea that Shiites and Sunnis are different even though they’re both Muslim. You think they can handle Middle East policy? GWB gifted Iraq to the Shiites, we’re just living with the mess.
it was. Also, even if Iran is like Iraq: the US will then easily defeat an army only to discover the country will never be under US control whatever they try. Terrorism will rise, Civil war will rise, Corruption will rise just like in Iraq. Death and Destruction for no purpose other than political gain. At least Bush believed he was doing something right, while making the huge mistake of attacking Iraq.
The US has not won a war since WW2, in which the Russians broke the back of the German military. Only the war against Japan can be considered an American victory. The Iranians will not be easily defeated.
I believe you are correct about Bush, even though he was a horrible president he was a patriot and love the US not an apologist like Obama. The Iranian population is not Arabic and are probably the most secular and pro western country in the middle east. Probably the only country in the area that could function under a free democratic government.
Meanwhile Hillary is dying from her degenerative brain disease, right Mish? Oh I forgot, you bought the Russian fake news and helped elect Trump. This is your mess, some of us remember your 2016 behavior.
To state the obvious, Trump reacted to a direct challenge to his manhood:
It would have required more subtlety than he has to do anything else but respond to this unusual challenge in a big way.
“Trump’s tweeting of the American flag was childish. Sorry that was not patriotic”
That’s what 4-time draft dodgers do – to show you how tough they are.
The Turkish Armed Forces is the second largest standing military force in NATO, after the U.S. Armed Forces, with an estimated strength in 2015 of 639,551 military, civilian and paramilitary personnel.
The Army boasts a strength of approximately 315,000 soldiers, 3,778 tanks, 7,550 armoured fighting vehicles, 1,013 self-propelled guns, 697 towed-artillery pieces, and 811 multiple-launch rocket systems.
The Turkish Air Force has an active strength of 60,000 military personnel and operates approximately 635 manned aircraft including 245 F-16’s(2019)
As of 2015, the navy operates a wide variety of ships, including; 16 frigates, 8 corvettes, 13 submarines, 23 missile boats, 28 patrol boats, 32 mine countermeasures vessels, 29 landing ships, and various auxiliary ships.
The British Army numbered 230,000 in the 1980’s, circa 150,000 by the 90’s and is now down to around 60-70,000.
Europe barely has any military to speak of, other than NATO.
Often wondered what would happen if Erdogan decided to deploy the Turkish Military…maybe gonna find out soon?
Not too sure about your election chances? Economy hanging by a burning thread? No problem, start a war. It’s worked for generations and never loses it’s potency.
Those sophisticated arms used by US to blow up an army leader labelled as terrorist (missiles, drones) are not new. All the states involved in that war have them now in their arsenal including IRAN, I would not go out of my bunker would I be the Kurd Army commander as an example or even a US official visiting the US Army. Dont forget IRAN; IRAK ; SYRIA consider the US occupation army and their allies (Kurds, SDF, Al quaeda) as terrorists too.
As I pointed out recently Iran, if they go on that way, will be flattened down before their nukes will be ready. That is a condition of survival for Israel.
Of course if one state allied (with IRAN ) provide them with some serious defensive dispositions trough supplying a nuclear defense missiles system (like NATO-US are doing for many European State bordering Russia ) this Iran military assets destruction program would be impeded.
I dont think Russia or China would do such a think. They dont judge extremists clerical states reliable and also have intern problems with the religious extremists.
If the USA starts a real war with Iran, Israel and SA will be recruited to do much of the heavy lifting through air power. I doubt we would send any real land force as the country wouldn’t be happy about that in an election year.
Let’s get Saudi involved. They will be overrun by Iran (they can’t even defend against hapless Houthis) and the oil price will go to the moon.
Additionally war is a great way to get reelected. If this provokes an attack by Iran which kills a lot of US service members or civilians,.the impeachment hearings will die on the vine. Trump is doing all he can to stay in power just as Michael Cohen said he would.
FWIW I posted a comment a couple of weeks ago predicting a wider war in the middle east in the 2020s. Well 2020 is here and the escalation is happening.
This is no different than the diversion Clinton tried to use by firing missiles in Afghanistan in the summer of 1998 while under impeachment hearings. Trump is doing the same thing. This is a diversion.
Silly comment, this strike has been in the works since the attack on Saudi oil fields. The Iranian orchestrated theater at the US embassy in Iraq was what green lighted the operation. Clinton was responding to the 225 deaths in two separate embassy bombing by Osama bin Laden. There is nothing Trump can do without out being labeled.
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Corrected
Wash rushing to fix dinner and inadvertently mistyped headline
It won’t be war – Iran leadership is already having to kill its own people to keep in power – they opt for war with US it’ll be quick.
LOL, a cakewalk maybe?
You should start acting like your last name
“My Comment (by Mish): “If you seek war with punishing, illegal sanctions, it’s easy enough to get.” Yet the war with Iran was decided long ago by Zbig Brzinski, Mish. This is just a continuation of the same policies. Obomber got us into Libya, Syria, and Yemen after Bush in Afghan/Iraq. 9/11 was a Mossad action to get the U.S. into mideast to fight their war for them. Zio’s win now, but it won’t end well for them and their synagogue of satan.
I don’t think this is the start of a new war, but it is still dangerous and unnecessary. The US should get out of the Middle East.
Not nescessarily a direct war with Iran, question is if this is a parting shot as US leaves Iraq due to turmoil and rejection , or is it US looking to stir up trouble to justify reinforcement and open conflict.
Possibly a combination with US fighting a retreat while open to engage Iran directly.
There goes anything left of Trump’s credibility in the middle-east as far as peace is concerned , and from people in the west that were hoping for that peace.
Unfortunately, it looks like war with Iran is finally happening. This will dwarf Iraq and Afghanistan, or any of the other Forever Wars.
Whether Trump allowed himself to be dragged into this or he was itching for it all along, the result is the same. None of the Q-tards or 4D chess fans can claim Trump will end the wars or avoid new ones any longer.
Mish, I doubted you in your thread about Trump’s election chances. If this new war gets anywhere near as ugly as I think it will, everything is up in the air. Russia and China can’t afford to stay completely on the sidelines because they know they’ll be next in the regime change queue. This whole situation is totally idiotic, but the MIC and their Israeli and Saudi buddies have been angling for this for quite a while.
It will be interesting to see how Trump’s boss feels about that, after all Tsar Valdimir is a pretty close ally to Iran. Erdogan in Turkey has snuggled up to Putin as well, and has even threatened to kick us out of Ismir and possibly all of Turkish bases. There will be no successful war against Iran without our Turkish access to the west of Iran. Not to mention the implied threat that Turkey may not allow us to leave Ismir with our nuclear weapons that are housed there, which would make Turkey a nuclear power on par with Israel. I am pretty sure though that the US and EU would be so against such a theft that they might try to take them by force (well the EU would want to argue about it for 20 years then offer to buy them back). I say if Turks kick us out and don’t allow us to remove our weapons that the Pentagon hits the self destructs, giv eTurkey 24 hours to comply and say if we are not allowed to retrieve them in 24 hours they will be self destructed. No more city of Ismir, half of Turkey rendered radioactive, and the cloud conveniently floats over Teheran before dissapating.
Seriously? Putin is Trump’s boss? Turn off CNN, it’s warping your brain.
Trump does acquiesce to two foreign leaders, Netanyahu and bin Salman. Every other leader is subject to sanctions and angry tweets.
Good riddance. A message sent, I wish it was a parting gift on our way out of thiat unending shithole. Those people because of centuries of inbreeding are incapable of being governed by a democracy and only brutal dicktasters like Sadam and Khadaffi are able to control a high strung moronic population. Let them kill each other off but it would be nice to leave a few bodies behind of the worst of the worst.
The story I read claimed that Soleimani was killed in Baghdad.
What was he doing in Iraq? Visiting relatives I presume.
Visiting, like say a US general might visit Germany while on duty and with the agreement of Germany.
He’s been to Iraq often, Mr. Grumpy.
Indeed he was the general in charge of the branch of their military that projects Iranian force outside the borders of Iran. I do believe that we fought two wars in Iraq, first when they invaded Kuwait and then when we ousted Saddam. How many Americans dead and wounded whether you agree with the false instigation for the war, or not, we paid the price for getting rid of Saddam Hussein.
Now, after all that we allow Iran to simply take it over? I mean nation building was always going to fail, but we could have prevented Iranian takeover in all but name. Remember that the Iraqis fought a far longer and much bloodier war with Iran to a stalemate than it ever did with us, now the Iranians just waltz in and take it all. Okay, if the Iraqi people wish to be annexed by Iran I say let them and may their Islamic paradise be all they hoped for.
Iran is rapidly becoming the violent rogue we always knew it would be, growing bolder by the day, attacking Saudi oil infrastructure, storming the American embassy in Baghdad, and trust me I refused to vote for Carter because I was in the military in 1978 and 79, it was humiliating to simply allow the Iranians to storm our embassy and hold the staff hostage for 440+ days, that was the main reason I voted for Reagan though I hated Reagan, Carter was worse. We should have put Iran down like the mad dog it was then, instead we have had more than 40 years of them spreading death and growing their “caliphate” which is just islamic bullshit for conquest.
So much wrong with this post. If we didn’t want Iranian influence in Iraq, why did we take out Hussein? The Shia majority was bound to be friendlier to Iran after gaining power.
The Iraqis sent to fight Iran in the ’80s were Shia and Kurds who didn’t want to be there. They went through the motions, which is why we greenlighted Saddam’s use of chemical weapons to aid the effort.
Also, who says Iran attacked the Saudi refinery? The media has been preparing the US public for a war with Iran for the past year using stories like this, much like the WMD fiasco in Iraq.
If we wanted Iranians to like us in the ’70s, we probably should have refrained from overthrowing the democratically elected Mosaddegh and propping up the Shah dictatorship for the previous 25 years. Do you seriously believe Iran is upset for absolutely no reason?
With hindsight it can now be confirmed that America’s ‘putting down of mad dogs’ only makes things worse ! America’s outrageous and murderous ‘achievements’ in the ME are unjustified, CRIMINAL and nothing to be proud of, like you seem to be …..
The forces that “project Irainian force” are the PMUs whose main achievement and claim to fame is to have beaten ISIS, the US CIA backed proxy terrorists.
Just like Saudi Arabia. I am not a supporter of Iran but have to laugh that we think the other countries in the middle east do business much differently. Saudi Arabia has directly killed more Americans and we gush at what a great ally.
Soleimani was in Baghdad because the current government of Iraq, which the US helped come to power, is supported by Iraq’s Shia majority and needs help against Bibi’s ally, the Islamic State.