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Bin Laden Has Won
The Giant blinked. American power does not have the capability to deal with this situation in a way that won’t end badly. As I said earlier, Islamic Civilization has intergenerational aspirations. Iran are not the “madmen” the neocons portray, but based on many recent articles by experts, it’s clear that they do have enough of a long view to be willing to sacrifice the well being of the current generation for the long term prospects of their civilization. Eternal Western hegemony in the Middle East is not consistent with that long-view, but neither is national suicide. However, now the US has shown weakness.
Why is the US in this position? Bin Laden. He baited Bush and Bush bit. The national media has not yet reconciled with how expensive the War on Terror/Iraq has been. If you compare cost to benefit, you get an exhausted empire out of ammunition and without a purpose. The military has bombs and the ability to drop them, but they lack the ability to achieve anything anymore as a result – other than more pain. Bush’s war and what has followed has turned much of Middle East against the US, completely. Bin Laden’s big strategic objective.
Isn’t it interesting how that works? Did George Bush hate our freedom as much as Bin Laden did?
Prediction: Trump is talking about the “big expensive base” as a prelude to asking for some oil concessions, which will be nothing other than a face-saver as the US leaves Iraq.
Pompeo’s Gulf of Tonkin Incident
Gareth the Great in the American Conservative:
The fingerprints of Pompeo are all over this provocation to war. In a striking parallel to the deception that accompanied the Gulf of Tonkin crisis in 1964—in which the American public was told about an attack on a U.S. ship that never happened, precipitating the Vietnam War—Pompeo and his allies carried out a complex deception in regard to the Soleimani hit. They claimed they had to kill the second most popular leader of Iran with no advance notice to Congress because the Iranian general was planning a massive attack that put the country in “imminent” danger. Trump officials have so far not provided any evidence publicly to back up this version of events. In fact, when briefed by DoD officials Wednesday, Democrats complained about the lack of hard evidence presented, leaving them unconvinced there was an imminent threat. Republican Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY., said the briefing was “less than satisfying.”
Sen. Mike Lee Will Support War Powers Resolution Regarding Iran
Because of the insane briefing that Pompeo and them gave to the Senate.
.@SenMikeLee
: “It is not acceptable for officials within the executive branch of government…to come in and tell us that we can’t debate and discuss the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran. It’s un-American. It’s unconstitutional and it’s wrong.” pic.twitter.com/fVSE6b3EM0— CSPAN (@cspan) January 8, 2020
Conservative Vets Group: ‘Bring Our Troops Home!’ Ron Paul interviews Dan McKnight
A conservative veterans group dedicated to bringing US troops home from pointless overseas conflicts is making waves in the Republican Party. Bring Our Troops Home founder Dan McKnight joins today’s Liberty Report to discuss their recent successes in heavily red states. On today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:
Lara Logan is a Disgusting Liar
She’s on Fox News now pretending Iran was in on the September 11th attack and backed the Islamic State.
What a horrible, terrible, dishonest person.
Ratcheting Down
Wednesday morning Trump announced new sanctions on Iran rather than sending in the B-52s in response to Iran’s missile attack response to America’s killing of their top general Qassem Soleimani. So that’s wrong but sure could be worse.
Then he declared that the UN Security Council powers must help him negotiate a brand new better nuclear deal to replace the last one; a total non-starter, and he must know that. So that just amounts to filler and bluster.
Trump then emphasized America’s energy independence from the Middle East. A great line about how now we’re leaving would have gone great right there. #Hope #Change
Surprisingly, he also emphasized Iran’s help in the fight against the Islamic State as a continuing opportunity for cooperation, which is another signal toward de-escalation.
This entire crisis has been precipitated by the Trump government, with a possible assist from ISIS. Americans of all political persuasions should make their voices heard now: We oppose conflict and support the U.S. taking all opportunities to talk to Iran and diffuse this crisis.
And remember the Horton rule: attack the left from the left and the right from the right. In other words, when calling or otherwise addressing Republicans, be conservative in your opposition and the other way around too.
Iranian Plane Crash
As Tom Woods pointed out in this great speech 10 years ago, when there’s an earthquake, hurricane, plane crash or other major disaster in Iran, we all feel terrible and grieve for the loss of life and donate to charity over it and the rest.
But then we’re supposed to just turn right around and cheer threats of war against these very same people.
Last night, while Iran was firing missiles at U.S. targets in Iraq and many people around the world were fearing the breakout of a new war between our countries, a civilian airliner fell out of the sky on take-off from the Tehran airport, killing more than 170 people. (All indications are that it was mechanical failure to blame.)
Humanity grieves for them. Let us please keep in mind the individual rights to life and dignity that all individuals hold and maintain the spirit of commonality we all feel from the crash as a barrier to a new war.
Podcasts
