President Trump has been steadfastly assuring the world that the United States government does not wish to start the war it has already started by assassinating Iran’s top general.
“We are a peace-loving nation and my administration remains firmly committed to establishing peace and harmony among the nations in the world,” Trump said in a speech at his luxury Mar-a-Lago getaway on Friday. “We do not seek war, we do not seek nation-building, we do not seek regime change, but as president I will never hesitate to defend the safety of the American people.”
“We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war,” the president added.
To be clear, in no way is any part of this a thing. Assassinating a nation’s most senior military official, and then claiming that you do not wish to start a war with that nation, is not a thing.
America is at war with Iran currently. What that war will end up looking like is anyone’s guess right now, but there is no question that a war has been initiated. If any nation had assassinated a top US general via airstrike and then openly admitted to it, the US would immediately be at war with that nation. Without question. An extreme military retaliation would be in the works within minutes of the announcement, and the entire political/media class would fully support that retaliation in whatever form it took.
This may come as a surprise to some Americans, but that same principle holds true for other nations as well.
“His departure to God does not end his path or his mission, but a forceful revenge awaits the criminals who have his blood and the blood of the other martyrs last night on their hands,” Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement on Friday.
And, I mean, of course. Of course “forceful revenge” from Iran is in the mail. Only by the most bizarre American exceptionalist mental contortions could this not be blindingly obvious. The question isn’t if Iran will retaliate with extreme force, but when and where. Nobody with any functioning matter between their ears would expect anything else.
We're at war with Iran. It's not a potentiality any more. It just happened. Adjust your frame of reference accordingly
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) January 3, 2020
And of course the US government is now spouting completely unsubstantiated claims about General Qassem Soleimani, and of course the mass media are uncritically repeating those claims as fact, and of course the propagandized masses are regurgitating what their perception management screens have told them to believe. Trump administration officials are claiming without any evidence at all that Soleimani was plotting “imminent attacks on American diplomats and military personnel”, even going so far as trying to marry him to the 9/11 attacks and a host of other unsubstantiated excuses.
Anyone who believes any of this is a brainwashed imbecile. Because of the US government’s extensive history of lying to manufacture support for preexisting military agendas, the only sane response to unsubstantiated US government claims about targeted nations is absolute skepticism. That skepticism should remain in place until mountains of independently verifiable proof of the claims made has been provided. This is the only acceptable level of evidence that critical thinking permits in a post-Iraq invasion world.
This should be extremely obvious to everyone. The fact that it isn’t is the result of generations of increasingly sophisticated propaganda manipulating the way people think about war, what it is, and how it works. My social media notifications are currently flooded with Trump supporters assuring me that Soleimani was a “bad guy” and Trump is therefore a “good guy”, and that assassinating the top military official of a sovereign nation is a perfectly sane and acceptable thing for a government to do.
“I Oppose Interventionism, But-” But Nothing. Stop Being A Pro Bono CIA Propagandist.
Wrote this last year about apologists for Trump's warmongering, and it applies equally to the "but Soleimani was a BAD GUY!" propaganda line they're regurgitating today.https://t.co/GICxN6pzVW
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) January 4, 2020
Don’t do this. Don’t advance war propaganda narratives for the US government.
Those who spread war propaganda are participating in that war just as much as those who actually go and fight in it, only they’re playing a far safer, far more cowardly, and far more dishonest role. A man who flies to Iran and murders Iranians with firearms is at least engaging in the war in a way that he will have to grapple with existentially for the rest of his life. A man who regurgitates Fox News propaganda on Twitter will then eat a pizza, have a wank, go to bed and sleep like a baby. But they both facilitated mass murder based on lies and American supremacist imperialism.
The war that Trump has started must be opposed forcefully and aggressively. Do everything you can to wake people up to what’s going on. This could get very, very ugly.
I’m going to keep following this important story and publishing regular updates as it unfolds. I encourage everyone else to pay close attention to it as well. Trump’s war with Iran should be front and center for everyone who cares about humanity.
_____________________
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131 responses to ““We Do Not Seek War,” Says President Who Just Started A War”
Americans are BS artists, and this dude is the biggest BS artist of them all.
Everyone expects Iran to retaliate but it might be wiser to refrain from a similar attack/revenge assassination. Think about it. Iraq is very likely getting ready to kick the U.S. military out of its country, which means America will no longer be able to keep troops in Syria. The Afghanistan war – or America’s involvement in same – might be ending fairly soon. America has lost the world PR battle with Iran, which might help Iran get relief from some of the U.S.-imposed sanctions (other nations might not be as willing to be bullied by America now). All of these are great outcomes for Iran and they get them without firing a shot and keeping the moral high ground. Plus, if Iran did respond with a major military strike, it probably would guarantee a war with America, a war which Iran could not win. Even if it didn’t “lose” this war, it would suffer great loss of life and destruction.
Considering all of the above, do nothing. You win. America probably loses. That is, don’t do what everyone expects.
Iran has better sense than to launch an all-out, in-your-face military response. But they’re also not about to let this incredibly short-sighted assassination go without some kind of retaliation. The Iranian government will be patient and work out the best response. It won’t necessarily happen in the Middle East; amerikan embassies & consulates in just about all other countries are now in open season.
There will be a false flag if Iran does nothing.
Thanks to the Fed and the Quantitative Easing, the US ultra-wealthy have been awash in more money than they have brains, and Fracking became all hot, not that long ago – so the idiots dived into fracking and made the US THE NUMBER ONE OIL PRODUCER IN THE WORLD! Yay! Except fracked fields only produce for two years, and don’t produce much profit. The Fracking World in the US is dead and blowing away in the wind. The only hope for bringing potential fields on market which would now by unprofitable, is by spiking the price of oil. Taking Venezuela off the market helped. If the US could cut the 30% of the world’s oil supply and 25% of its natural gas flowing through the strait of Hormuz, that would make a lot of Frackers happy.
Video from Iraq (Jan 4, 2020).
.
Sarah Abdallah:
> Wow. Happening today in #Iraq:
> Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis attend #Soleimani’s funeral, the man who crushed ISIS across our region, and protest against the US military presence on their soil.
> It’s time for US troops to leave both Iraq and #Syria.
https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1213521547790405633
.
And this is in Iraq, before the ceremonies in Iran the next days.
People around the world will not believe the absolutely pathetic, insane, vomit-inducing request Donald Trump made of the Iranians, – after Trump ordered the criminal murder of the #1 fighter against barbaric mercenary terrorists in the Middle East, and hero to millions, General Qassem Soleimani.
https://alethonews.com/2020/01/04/us-asked-iran-for-proportionate-response-to-suleimani-assassination-irgc/
Very understandable,
Trump does not want a war, I am sure of that.
Because in a war against nationalistic Persians, the multi-ethnic West cannot match the patriotism of a more homogeneous people like the Persians.
In the West, which is now multicultural, you can’t have the patriotism necessary for a war as it was the case in WW1 and WW2 where the population of the West was more homogeneous; so it was easier to lift up the patriotism of the people.
For some things, diversity can be strength but when it comes to war, it is not the case.
I pray the Rosary to hasten the Return of Jesus, which return is very near according to prophecies, because I am really fed up of those days of Noah we’re in.
Pretty much all of our biggest problems share one thing in common. The last eight chairmen of the Federal Reserve Bank, the CEO’s, Presidents and VP’s of all the major media networks, the wealthiest donors pulling the purse strings of both Democratic and Republican parties, and the neo-conservative warmongers still driving US foreign policy in the Middle East – they all come from the same tribe…
This tiny cabal of plutocratic billionaires killed the Kennedy’s, they stole nuclear secrets from the United States to make the bomb, they orchestrated the 9/11 psy-op – and then became its sole beneficiary, and they’re killing off the native population in the land they occupy, while they use sexual blackmail to elevate kiddie fuckers into positions of power in Western democracies.
The root of our problems is not hard to see, were just not allowed to talk about it, because they smear and deplatform anyone who points out the obvious as an “anti-semite”, a “conspiracy theorist,” or a “white supremacist”, and unfortunately such name-calling is effective in scaring people away from the truth-tellers. For me, these names are a Badges of Honor….
Right on, Bobby Fischer. You nailed it. My deep concern is for the average innocent member of that tribe who will get swept up when the peasants come out with their pitchforks against the elite and influencers of that tribe who are causing all the mayhem you enumerate through their primary control of the two intertwined forces of Money & Narrative. Oh, but we can’t name any names. That would be anti-semitic. They’re f___king us and their weaker brethren over but oh, it would be so impolitic and impolite to name the perps.
I recon enough states/nations have that nerve by now. Thats also why ordinairy people have to say ENOUGH right now !
Problem is most of the pundit class (Caitlin included) still think it is the WASPs that wield all or the predominant power. Not anymore. The tribe elite now outflanks the WASP elite. Do the math. Pinpoint who is disproportionately in power in Finance and Narrative (media, academia, hollywood, publishing). Do the math. It ain’t the 1% WASPs anymore. Don’t go by what I say. Do the math yourself.
NO, You hyper intelligent idiot, the effin u.s.a. is NO LONGER the centre of the universe, or of the “power”, the rest of the world, is NO LONGER listening to your nonstop lies ! You people are on the verge of being kicked out all together And you keep on doing your best to facilitate it yourselfs ! STOP the pathetic bickering amongst you and START , STOPPING YOUR OWN SELFDESTRUCTION !
And I also find it funny that people bravely fight amongs each other, but at the same time even here feel the need to self censor, by not writing the word “fuck” outright !? STOP, bloody morons, it fucking doesn t matter anymore who’s the fucking blame or how you fucking write that ! ITS THE RIGHT TIME NOW TO ALL WORK TOGETHER TO PREVENT A EFFIN WW3 , JUST 0,5% OF THE POPULATION NEEDS TO BE KICKED OUT BY THE REST OF US !!!
I’m with you Bobby. Nothing to add, you nailed it.
The root of the problem is that we’re not allowed to talk about the problem. We’ve granted the most genocidal, racially supremacist tribe of the last century the protected status of eternal victims that can never be criticized by anyone, and so their chosenite elites have taken over everything – the media, central banking, politics, US militarism, Hollywood, etc. We are forced to treat these psychopaths as innocent victims, the truth about the wildly disporoportionate power that they exercise has been rendered hate speech, and so any serious discussion of geopolitics is literally impossible. I wonder if Caitlin recognizes that the conditioned avoidance reflex of the public never to say or even think anything negative about Jews, lest one be labelled an “anti-Semite” or a “Nazi” is the product of a long-term “brainwashing” program of our Zionist controlled mass media? If only we weren’t such a bunch of brainwashed zombies who would rather allow extinction-level threat to humanity run amok than ever risk being called an anti-semite by God’s chosen lunatics.
First they came for the “anti-Semites” and I did not speak out…
Bobby Fischer rocks! He is someone who clearly went off-reservation to search for truths beyond the official narratives.
Check this bit of shocking truth out. I beg you to refute it. (Note: censoring it is not refuting)
https://www.unz.com/article/vulture-capitalism-is-jewish-capitalism/
Hi Helen,
Right on Bobby Fischer.
https://russia-insider.com/en/watch-zionists-pittsburgh-assault-anti-war-protesters-criticizing-israel/ri28129
Your embassy located in a country from which you have been steadily withdrawing peacekeeping forces has just been attacked and one or more of your citizens have been grotesquely murdered. You have excellent intel that this aggressive action against your legally defined territory definitively amounts to a surrogate terrorism action organized, orchestrated and paid for by an unfriendly neighboring country. In charge of that neighboring country are fanatical theocratic leaders who have long and continually expressed total hatred of you and anything even remotely like you as expressed through continuing but now trite chants of “Death to the Great Satan!”. These same theocratic leaders have a long history of such unsociable behavior, continually pressing their influence beyond their own borders. This intel also happens to include travel details of their chief organizer of surrogate terrorism who is coming into the country to meet up with the leader of the local “militia” forces who actually committed the embassy attack and who are definitively aligned with, and probably being supplied and paid by the unfriendly neighboring theocratic country. This person in question is widely recognized as famous for killing thousands of enemies, albeit mostly in the absence of any declared war. This is, if you will, a terrorist’s terrorist from a terrorist country coming to organize further terrorism involving your embassy and possibly a coup of that country’s government. What do you do?
I would stop interfering in other countries and divert most of the military expenditure towards rebuilding my own country, which is falling into ruin precisely because of that military budget.
And keep the one worthwhile promise you made being our troop home
Here within does the madness lay:
This “enemy” called Iran by many….was a product of the Federal Empire’s making. The US CIA created this. For those who aren’t too keen on history, I direct you to Operation Ajax.
By 1952, England was losing it’s grip on the control of Iran’s oil. England had repeatedly beseeched the help of America, to no avail. President Truman would have none of it….since he was tits-deep in the Korean War. But all that changed by 1953. Truman was out…..and the Republican Dwight Eisenhower was in. England pitched the notion to Ike, in the form of the “Iran will become Communist!” lie. Eisenhower fell for it hook, line and sinker. He authorized the CIA to assist British MI6, in what was called Operation Ajax.
It was, quite succinctly, a coup d’etat…..and it worked. Elected leader Mohammed Mosaddegh was ousted, the Shah was reinstalled, the oil was handled….and the road was paved for the Ayatollah to take power in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. And *POOF!* here they are today….still in the Middle East….playing Shock and Awe Monopoly for their oil….fighting enemies that they created.
Star-Spangled, Premium Unleaded Bullshit.
Blame Hillary?
Here’s an easy answer: Get the fuck out of countries where you’re not wanted and do more to mind your own business.
lloyd–you kill the bastard, which is what we did!
Three points of clarification, to push back on the disinformation that the Dems are pushing.
One: An illegal act of assassination does not become legal if one gang of criminals informs another gang of their intentions.
Two: Obama was NOT a force for peace. After Cheney was shut down by a NIE from all agencies in 2007 (a real NIE, not the Brennan Fake of Jan, 2017) and by CentCom Commander Admiral Fallon, who declared “No war on my watch”, the US ruling class and the imperial media dropped the ”Iran is trying to make a nuclear bomb” fake news that the Bush administration had been pushing.
But when Obama came in in 2009, he picked up the gauntlet and started in talking the Cheney trash talk as if nothing had been disproven.
Admiral Fallon was gone and the media fell into line.
The nuclear deal was set up to fail. It was NOT a move of peace, since it was based on false propaganda in the first place.
Three: US imperialism is not based on the whims of the president, nor does the US go to war because of the personal desires of whatever puppet is in the White House.
The US did not destroy Yugoslavia (starting in 1991) because of a blow job in 1998, Bush did not invade Iraq because Saddam tried to kill his daddy, and the US did not assassinate Soleimani because of an impeachment (which is stalled in the House anyway).
US foreign policy is based on imperialism and control of resources, especially oil. It is simplistic to think otherwise.
Paula, you wrote: it is simplistic to think that US foreign policy is based on imperialism and control of resources. Well, in the Middle East US foreign policy is dictated by the Israelis. They’ve got Americans fighting their wars all over the place. Please investigate Oded Yinon.
Paula, I meant simplistic to think otherwise . . .sorry for that type.
This past summer I read “Manufactured Crisis” by Gareth Porter. He shows (and without a doubt) that year after year another round of Iran-is- about-to get-a -nuclear-weapon was concocted out of nothing over and over again. By the end of the book one actually gets bored because it is simply the same story retold. By the way, John Bolton started saying Iran will have a bomb in three years in 1993. It was all nonsense.
Europe and the US were maneuvering to get Middle Eastern oil long before there was an Israel. Israel was formed in order for the UK, and then the US, to have a stronghold in the Middle East.
There is no reason for Israel to want the US to start a war with Iran. Iran cannot reach the US, but Israel is conveniently right there, and is a tiny country, easily destroyed.
Do people ever use their reasoning abilities, or do they just parrot what they are told?
Easily? Besides the fact that they have the undying loyalty of the US to support them – militarily or otherwise, they are also known to possess nuclear weapons (even though they have not been forced to reveal it). They have more than one Trump card to play.
While I agree that unilateral control of resources is a primary motivation for the US empire, Israeli colonialism is also a primary driver of US foreign policy in the ME. It is a symbiotic geo-strategic situation with both the US and Israel benefitting. As Israel grows in size and strength, the US foothold strengthens as well. Subverting any rivals to these goals is the reason Israel wants us – and we are willing – to do its dirty work in Iran and the other regional nations that oppose Israeli and US expansionism and oppression in the region
Paula, when you write “There is no reason for Israel to want the US to start a war with Iran” it is obvious you are not aware of Oded Yinon and Clean Break. Walk down that path and you will change your perspective.
Amen! The damned States are ALWAYS putting their arses where its not wanted. The bully in the schoolyard syndrome. Trump makes me want to vomit as he so glibly lies to the American people. Does this fool think we are stupid? He IS wanting to start a war. He is diverting or at least TRYING to divert the attention from his impeachment. Then there’s the policy which declares that the current president during war can not be ousted. Get ON with the impeachment and chuck the war mongering snake in jail!!
So exactly when does the asteroid hit earth.
the silverlining is, the US just lost the entire arab world, and Israhell firsters just lost their entire foothold in the middle east. the rest of the world is united against the US of Israhell. not too shabby as Trump’s achievement. whether intended or not is irrelevant.
I cried, Ms Johnstone, I am so sick of people dying, starving babies, caged children…we get so lost in the nonsense of war justifications, resource exploitations defence, capitalist rhetoric, we forget people die. They die for the sake of a buck. They die for war, for imperialism, for politics….they die. You are so right, human beings die. And, no one has made any effort to stop it.
let’s try to die for the right reasons and causes.
after living for the righteous causes first.
An internet friend emailed me an article that he found very interesting titled; The Line in the Sand by Eric Striker
Some of the Democrats are tepidly complaining about a technicality, that the decision to kill Soleimani was made without congressional authorization, but they are merely reading a script written for our fantasy democracy. Most of the Democrats voted in favor of the $738 billion dollar military budget, as well as to strip a provision that would’ve specifically banned a unilateral war with Iran. They were in on it. Please read this different article here:
https://www.unz.com/estriker/the-line-in-the-sand/
Obama and Bush also used drone attacks during their admins.
Hell, Obama drone bombed American citizens! Including a 15 year old child. Talk about impeachable offenses!
I am not defending Trump here, I just find it ironic that there are SO MANY offenses that ALL these presidents have committed and yet they are trying to impeach based on some bullshit that they and the media made up. *eyeroll*
What is it that the ‘Bard’ said? All the worlds a stage? Methinks not much has changed in the halls of power since that time. They certainly are all players – and it is US that they’re playing!
Assassinations are illegal, even if bipartisan.
Illegal under both national and international law.
I agree with you 100%. But we must finally disabuse ourselves of any notion that the amerikan government will obey ANY law that hinders it’s obsession to expand it’s empire everywhere it can.
Israel will fall, due to the US’s insistence on stirring the cauldron in the Middle East.
the zionists have been prepping Ukrain and some other places as their next and more-resource-rich homebase. israhell will shut its store front soon.
Your assertion makes no sense whatsoever. It seems you are unaware of the sizable, fanatical neo-Nazi Ukrainians there. So you think they’re just gonna invite the Israeli government to set up shop militarily in Ukraine? Yeah….. be sure to let me know when that happens.
Israel has been armed well by the U.S. If Iran wants to hurt the States Israel will be it
The undeniable truth is that for all his posthumous neocon demonization as the most evil man on the planet, the silver-haired Soleimani played a key role in the defeat of the barbaric death-cult ISIS and other al-Qaeda affiliates in the Middle East. He helped mastermind secular, Christian-protecting, Syria’s against-the-odds survival in the face of a ferocious onslaught by some of the most powerful countries in the world, who unleashed an alphabet soup of jihadist proxies and death squads to try and achieve a violent ‘regime change’. Soleimani’s reward for fighting the groups that have targeted western civilians around the globe- including American citizens on 9-11, and British tourists in Tunisia in 2015, was to be blown up right at the start of 2020. Remind me again, who are the terrorists here? Please read this fine article here:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52795.htm
The propaganda does not have to be “sophisticated” anymore. Just keep repeating the stupid lies enough times, and the predictable effect on the gullible public is guaranteed. Is there any other cure for ignorance but honest desire and efforts to discern the truth? These are plainly absent in the thoughtless US public. Mass ignorance is the enemy we must defeat if we want a better world. Caitlin’s blog and others are our weapons.
Well said…this is a civil war of hearts and minds!
Take this one step further Mike, it is my honest opinion, that the endless repetition of the lies, has a unforseen side effect ( unforseen by the perps ) that by now Everybody knows its all lies, from stupid to brilliant, from left to right, from rich to poor, Everybody knows ! So the paradigm,”money will make ya happy” has allready shifted. Nobody, in his/her right mind, in his/her heart, believes the bullshit any longer ! For us to even stop the war, we just need to say ENOUGH !
As much as I wish it was true, I’m not convinced “Everybody knows!”. And what difference would it make anyway if everyone knew but was too cowardly “to say ENOUGH!”?
intimidation and fearmongering has long replaced lies and spins.
Succinct and accurate, Mike. The truth will set us free. The ruling sociopaths know that, which is why they do everything in their power to keep us deceived. And by controlling the press (or the narrative, as Caitlin puts it), they easily have that power. One side of that power is unrelenting propaganda, and the other is unrelenting censorship. We are subject to both, which keeps us subjects of the ruling sociopaths.
If honest historians, scholars, and writers permit the neo-fascists around the world to alter history, future generations might find themselves sitting in parks next to statues of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo, while reading books praising the extermination of the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere, the virtues of the American Confederacy and the slave culture, and the statesmanship of Donald Trump. Please read this fine article here:
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/01/04/fake-history-is-changing-global-perceptions-of-reality/
We have to never forget that the ruling elites run countries strictly for their own interests. It is what Sir Thomas More wrote 500 years ago in his book “Utopia”:
“Therefore I must say that, as I hope for mercy, I can have no other notion of all the other governments that I see or know, than that they are a conspiracy of the rich, who, on pretence of managing the public, only pursue their private ends, and devise all the ways and arts they can find out; first, that they may, without danger, preserve all that they have so ill-acquired, and then, that they may engage the poor to toil and labour for them at as low rates as possible, and oppress them as much as they please; and if they can but prevail to get these contrivances established by the show of public authority, which is considered as the representative of the whole people, then they are accounted laws; yet these wicked men, after they have, by a most insatiable covetousness, divided that among themselves with which all the rest might have been well supplied…”
And in our days, we are living a stronger version of that, because it is the return of the days of Noah just before the return of Jesus, which return I pray the Rosary to hasten because I have seen more than enough bullshit.
Very sad but very true, Caitlin. The most evil empire in world history is about to start another unnecessary war.
Most evil. That is a stretch.
The US keeps stretching, though. What’s the body count now? What will it be next year? (If there is a next year.)
correct. that title belongs to Israhell.
http://www.johndayblog.com/2020/01/to-stop-war.html
Always the voice of reason:
Lindsay Graham Tells Trump To ”Crush Iranian Economy’ By Targeting Oil Refineries After Assassination’
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/graham-tells-trump-crush-iranian-economy-targeting-oil-refineries-after-soleimani-killed
Tom Luongo has a good synthesis of the situation: (Again, think Obi Wan Kenobi.)
Like it or not Trump executed the man most responsible for the systemic destruction of ISIS and neutering of Al-Qaeda in Syria and Iraq. He’s also a man, over the years, who has fought the U.S. to a standstill across the Middle East.
Those were his pertinent crimes.
This is the most dangerous escalation of Trump’s administration. Nothing he’s done to this point compares with killing Solemaini and taking immediate credit for it.
Nothing he’s done is more tone deaf or disproportionate to whatever crimes were the proximate cause. And nothing he could have done would be more galvanizing of resistance to U.S. occupation of Iraq and Syria.
https://tomluongo.me/2020/01/03/trump-point-of-no-return/
There seems to be a fallacy that nothing leading up to the assassination of Soleimani plays any part in the rush to contempt of Trump, that Trump started this whole mess. I’d say rush to judgement but there isn’t any evidence of reasoning in this post.
Caitlin, I love your writing, your very good at the conscious or habitual use of fallacies as rhetorical devices is prevalent in the desire to persuade when the focus is more on communication and eliciting common agreement rather than on the correctness of the reasoning. The effective use of a fallacy by an orator may be considered clever, but by the same token, the reasoning of that orator should be recognized as unsound, and thus the orator’s claim, supported by an unsound argument, will be regarded as unfounded and dismissed.
Ther is evidence of grammatical gobbledegook in your post. You make zero sense, except it appears you’re saying Caitlin is wrong here. So you are carrying water for Trump’s lies, corporate media lies, and war pig lies everywhere. This either makes you feel good or you’re some agent of the war machine. In other words, as Caitlin puts it, “a brainwashed imbecile.”
There is evidence of grammatical gobbledegook in your post. You make zero sense, except it appears you’re saying Caitlin is wrong here. So you are carrying water for Trump’s lies, corporate media lies, and war pig lies everywhere. This either makes you feel good or you’re some agent of the war machine. In other words, as Caitlin puts it, “a brainwashed imbecile.”
Whether or not Ms. Johnson uses dodgy rhetorical flourishes, the facts themselves suffice to form an opinion.
Someone needs to create an app that can translate this kind of convoluted blathering.
Israel is thanking trump big time. he will get american’s to fight the wars that israel instigates for Oded Yinon. If you don’t know what Oded Yinon is, I submit you don’t have a global picture of what’s going on.
Israel will fall, due to the US’s insistence on stirring the cauldron in the Middle East.
Inshallah
The present fight is about who will be expelled from Iraq; Iran or the U.S.. Not a greater world war. This is bigger than Trump, but unlike previous Presidents, he’s more than just window dressing.
Its all up to the Iraqis for the next week or so. Ideally they will have to vote to expel both the US and Iran or become the battleground of a U.S.-Iraq proxy war. The next best option and the most workable and doable is to expel the U.S. from Iraq first, then appeal to China, India and Russia to have Iran back off next.
Given the Eurasian tilt of that best case (for Iraq) scenario, Pompeo’s faction therefore figures the U.S. needs to militarily remove Iran from Iraq. Iraq will not have the balls or unity to stop them. Iran, certainly does not have the power to do so.
The U.S. has been at war with Iran since the August, 1953 CIA coup that ended the democratic Iranian government of Prime Minister Mohamed Mossadegh. The U.S. has been at war with Iraq since Gulf War I in 1990. There will be no true peace unless the West accepts true indigenous sovereignty, which our politically dominant elites will not.
The Iranians didn’t take to kindly too being imperialized and expelled all Americans in the 1978 Revolution. Unfortunately, rather than restore genuine democracy, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeni took the opportunity to purge all rivals to power, and install his theocracy. The 1978 coup was also notable for the Iran hostage crisis, when Iranian students occupied the U.S. Embassy.
It appears Soleimani is being implied to have attempted a similar U.S. Embassy occupation crisis in Iraq. Whether true or not is uncertain; making the threat is within Soleimani’s psyops toolbox. The actual commission of the act is too great an escalation for Soleimani’s known record of action.
This present fight is about who will be expelled from Iraq, not WWIII.
Iraq can’t allow diplomatic guests on her soil to be assassinated any more than their embassies occupied or threatened with occupation. Therefore both the U.S. and Iran must leave. However, the U.S. must leave first because they will act unilaterally to remove Iran and ignore Iraq’s interest in peace and sovereignty, whereas Iran has very limited power despite being right next door. With the U.S. gone, the Iraqis can focus on their Iran issues.
Still, things may cool off surprisingly quickly as the U.S. seeks to stabilize their gain in Iraq.
Trump usually leads with three steps forward, takes the prize, then waits, taking no steps back without the prize in hand. Not the best solution, but the Deep State has figured out, in impeachment versus peace, peace loses every time with Trump.
What a load of rubbish. You seem to deliberately IGNORE the FACT, Iran is in both, Syria and Iraq by their invitation.
The U.S. is there ILLEGALLY, and are an OCCUPATION military. Why should the Iraqi’s kick out their ALLIES, who have assisted them fight and beat the U.S. supported/funded/trained/financed terrorists who have butchered the Iraqi and Syrian peoples ????
Clearly, you are putting the cart before the horse.
In this situation, the wishes of the Iraqi people carry littlr weight.
The U.S. is also there by invitation.
Of course, setting up the Islamic State before being kicked out the first time around kind of tarnishes that invite.
Point being, for the U.S. and Iran to be fighting a proxy war on Iraqi soil, is plain wrong.
Can you please elaborate who exactly invited US to Syria and Iraq? And do not even attempt to look Iran as guilty as the USA regarding the proxy war in Iraq. Iran did not conquered Iraq on false pretenses.
Iran does not occupy Iraqi territory for what is it now? 18 years?
In your original posts you are making a lot of claims that do not stand basic scrutiny.
“Given the Eurasian tilt of that best case (for Iraq) scenario, Pompeo’s faction therefore figures the U.S. needs to militarily remove Iran from Iraq” how exactly is it the best scenario for Iraq? At best it is just maintaining status quo, and the status quo is as follows, Iraqis are being killed in their own country by occupying forces with impunity on almost daily basis in most cowardly way possible. Tell me what exactly is the difference if IED kills innocent people or drone strike kills innocent people, yet US is still trying to claim some moral high ground which is insane.
“The 1978 coup was also notable for the Iran hostage crisis, when Iranian students occupied the U.S. Embassy.
It appears Soleimani is being implied to have attempted a similar U.S. Embassy occupation crisis in Iraq” the fact that he is being implied does not make it true, as you rightly noticed, but seem to give benefit of the doubt to US claim. You ignore the fact that couple of days earlier US conducted airstrikes in Iraq killing civilians, and yet again making Iraqis enraged. The fact that such events rarely make even news says a lot about official media and the frequency of such event, they are too common to be even reported by the press. somehow people in US and more generally, the west consider is a natural occurrence. There is literally zero evidence Suleimani had anything to do with protests, or attack, as pres likes to call it, at US embassy. Knowing that he was an accomplished tactician, one of the best in the entire Middle East, I would say if he was involved the attack would be much more effective.
“This present fight is about who will be expelled from Iraq, not WWIII” and how do you know that? There is absolutely no foreseeing what is going to happen next.
US has just murdered Iranian national hero, Suleimani was a legend in the Middle east, loved by his allies, feared by enemies, respected by both. He had connections to half of armed militia groups in the Middle East, which he advised, trained and funded as part of his job. Middle East countries are big on honor code and Iran will loose face, and its stand if they do not retaliate, they are honor bound to do that. The moment Iran attacks US military the war drum in the USA will intensify to a crazy level. It does not have to be Iran though. Any attack on US military even conducted by one of the groups Suleimani supported will be framed as attack by Iran. The best case scenario is US war with Iran, which will break US and cause unparalleled chaos and destruction in the Middle East and all over the world. Millions will die. Millions will try to escape the conflict and Europe will be flooded with refugees. That will destroy Europes economy and give rise to every right wing wacko there is there. World wide chaos is ensured. The worst case scenario includes involvement of Russia and China, and that may lead to most spectacular fireworks display world has ever seen. Unfortunately there would be very few left, if any, to tell their kids about it.
You are So effin right and there is No reason why, any other country in the world, wouldn’t use this elaborate trick to, Not have to go to the United Nations, to start a war And claim the moral high ground !
The U.S. was invited to Iraq, obviously, not the other countries.
Common sense context too much trouble to apply?
Actually, the first American (or Anglo-American, same difference) military operations in Iran occurred in the early 1940s.
Agreed, but one has to set a timeline somehow.
Technically, Western imperialism is always at war at home and abroad.
The system can’t conceive of normal human relationships outside adversarial and deadly competition.
And here, ladies and gentleman, is how the narrative matrix works. Once it defines the rules of the game, it lets people play the game with their own capacity for reason. That helps people feel satisfied that they have, in fact, played the game with a rational and sober technique. Really, it’s the game rules that are fixed.
And whom, pray tell, are “The Iraqis?” The rules of the narrative is that there is a single coherent ruling body of politicians who are both inclined towards peaceful liberal democracy and who command the trust and majority of the people. That duck won’t even fly at home. Trump exemplifies the pretense that one merely needs to get rid of the advocate of evil and satanism (Obama) and let the People’s Leader rule in total harmony. Yah. Worked in Iraq. Not.
Wars are not the rational products of profoundly insightful leaders making wise and considered decisions. It’s usually when some politician way over his head makes challenging threats to his opposite on the other side, and whoo-bang, down the slope we go.
Has anyone considered that Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, likely every bit a nasty son-of-a-bitch, might have been the cork in the bottle that prevented Iran from slipping down the war slope – in Iran’s best interests? Brig. Gen. Ismail Qaani is considered more cautious and bureaucratic, says the NY Times. Those are the kind of by-the-book limp-dick generals who slide into war. Did Trump just take out the most powerful opponent of US-Iran war? Maybe he’s a baby-eater, but isn’t America’s interest first, not getting rid of foreign bad guys?
Trump’s justification for this attack is on par with the Nazi justification to invade Poland; two lawless countries. The Nazis probably made a better effort.
Stop it!! Blaming this on a president, or a party, or any other individual component of the US Sociopaths In Charge is playing into the hands of the sociopaths. It distracts from the fact that they are ALL to blame. There is no innocent, or even blameless party. The Military Industrial Congressional complex consists of every political player that can be bought, which means all of them, for practical purposes. Throw in the Zionists and others allegiant to Israel and its insane aggression, and here we are.
Its true; this isn’t really about Trump, except for his clumsy style that drives people up the wall. Israel does determine U.S. policy. Nevertheless, the justifications are on par with those used by the Nazis. They are not that different from those used by other administrations, though, and I did not mean to suggest they are.
At this point I have to say the Nazi analogy is overused and I have mixed feelings about using it.
As far back as at least the American Revolution, there was an unwritten rule among combatants that you don’t kill the commander in the field of battle. That’s why generals could be seen directing their troops while sitting astride a horse behind the front lines —easy targets for anyone equipped with a rifled barrel on their long gun to pick off. The reason they felt relatively safe doing so was that it was that both sides understood that if commanding officers were fair game and one were slain, there’d be nobody to surrender or order a retreat, and all conflicts would be fought to the death. Please read this article here:
https://thiscantbehappening.net/trump-hit-on-iranian-commander-puts-a-target-on-his-own-and-top-us-generals-backs/
Speaking of targeted assassinations, let’s not forget the masters. “Rise and Kill First” by Ronen Bergman shows that the Israelis have executed over 2700 people in their 70+ years of existence carried out in lieu of actual war. Do the math. That adds up to 3.2 persons per month. In other words, the Israelis have been assassinating almost one person once a week every week since the founding of their democracy (cough cough) in 1948.
Trump is a lying sack of excrement.
the world has always known that part of him. that was his selling point to many of his supporters, whose goal has always been “if we the people can’t take it over, we’ll blow it up any way we can” rhetorically of course, and Trump was that weapon of mass destruction, so to speak.
As a student of history I‘m reminded of the many warmongering leaders who sold their acts of aggression as the steps toward peace. Looking at Donald Trump’s face as he spoke that way it’s so apparent that this man doesn’t understand the first thing about peace. My wish is that the people could wake up to the truth and put up Tulsi to face him in November. Wouldn’t be a contest. Trump’s biggest break in 2016 was that he ran against and evil deranged warmonger who was Cruella DeVille pretending to be Snow White.
https://biblicisminstitute.wordpress.com/2020/01/04/trump-the-assassin/
Old men, who at the end of their lives are husks of human beings.
Old men, who wouldn’t recognise Love or Life if they got slapped in the face by them.
Old men, who are searching for some kind of ultimate-violent- orgasmic high before they shuffle off to the void.
Old sick men
Praying mantises have the right idea.
Hey!!! I always sleep like a baby after a wank too! After pizza? Not so much. Especially if I decide to eat the whole thing and follow it up with ice cream covered in chocolate topping and sprinkles. Are we talking about “deplorables” here Caitlin?
And despite Pompeo tweeting everywhere last night that the United States ‘is committed to de-escalation’… Earlier today, they launched another airstrike on a PMU convoy in North Baghdad, killing 6 medics.
Hours after this psychopath was babbling about the US being committed to de-escalation.
Assassinate Soleimani, then hours later murder 6 medics. Incredible.
I am shocked at the sheer recklessness of all this.
And thank you for pointing out the bleeding obvious: anyone believing the bullshit from Trump, Pompeo or Esper is a brainwashed imbecile.
And yes, there are horrific bushfires in Australia right now, with massive devastation, but was out around Melbourne yesterday afternoon and today, and I heard no one – not a single person mention Iran, Trump or War.
Wake the hell up.
Orwellian American Logic, Vietnam War era: We will destroy a village in order to save it.
Orwellian American Logic, War on Terrorism era: We will start a war in order to prevent it.
Woodrow Wilson had ‘the war to end war’, so he beat out Orwell by a bit.
and Truman saved lives by mass-murdering the japanese with two nukes, though japan wanted to surrender long before…
Japan did not want to surrender before the atomic bombs. What is your proof? Provide links, please.
The fact is that Japan desperately sought a type of truce with the USSR in a hopeless attempt to stall an unconditional surrender. Instead, Stalin fulfilled a pledge to FDR & Churchill and formally declared war on Japan and that was when the truly evil Japanese military realized the game was truly up.
Friend, you absolutely nailed it.
Hey Trump! “Liar, liar, pants on fire!”
at least he didn’t say he killed out of human rights concerns. that is Soros crowd’s specialty and monopoly.
But what about Trump’s and Pomp-asses declaration that it was to prevent further Iranian attacks and presumed deaths of amerikan troops and contractors? Wouldn’t that qualify as “human rights concerns”?
Did Israel provide the doctored intelligence for Trump?
Tulsi Gabbard is the only anti-war Presidential candidate among the war-prone crowd. She calls President Donald Trump’s terror attack against Qasem Soleimani, “an act of war.” How would the US react if Iran would have killed Mark A. Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff? They would have also considered it an “act of war.”
Tulsi Gabbard calls this terror attack “short-sided, damaging, and dangerous” for the country. As the first female combat veteran, she calls on Trump not to listen to his neocon advisers who got the US into the mess in the Middle East in the first place. Gabbard reminds Trump to keep his promise to bring American troops home. Instead, Trump increased the presence since he became president.
So far, the US has not presented any hard intelligence of an imminent Iranian attack. Did they perhaps rely on doctored information of the Israeli Mossad? For two decades, it’s known that Benjamin Netanyahu wants to drag the US into war with Iran. Did President Trump walk into the Mossad trap? Elucidation of the role of Israel behind the scene is urgent.
israhell firsters have held a gun to his and his family’s head all along. why would they need to produce anything to make Trump do their bidding?????
Hello, I am your Zionist Israeli American Fascist President. I am not continuing endless wars … I am continuing endless Imperialistic opportunities for those with incomes over $100,000,000 per year. I encourage all of you Goyim to invest heavily in Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and a host of other job available industries I am helping expand to increase the Fascist States of America GNP.
Please continue to watch the informative networks owned by other Zionists such as CNN, MSNBC, FOX, and all other three letter channel affiliates. They will keep you informed of how you should think. Most of you have done well to this point, those 10% who do not follow what we “the Privilege say” .. we have internment camps coming in the next five years to intern you and help you to adjust to our way of thinking. Have a happy New Year.
The internment camps may sound very cosy and hunger-allaying to the millions of homeless people in the USA. Our dear leaders Raytheon, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, etc are working tirelessly around the clock to keep American Penthouses and luxury villas prosperous and safe.
“All war is a symptom of man’s failure as a thinking animal.”
John Steinbeck
Perpetual war requires a lot of clever and cunning thinking. All war is a symptom of man’s failure to recognise his divinity.
“Perpetual war requires a lot of clever and cunning thinking”…. correct. But “a lot” is still relative to the level of stupidity of the propagandized masses
Ok I’ll bite: The USofA is not at war with Iran–Israel –you know that little rogue state on the Mediterranean Sea chock-full of Yahweh’s finest– is at war with Iran, along with anyone else who is not adequately kosher. I did listen to Donald’s little speech–not bad considering the circumstances–so we are going after those who put American’s lives in danger–I’m with you Donald 100%–with Israel putting, not only Americans but literally every citizen of the planet–including jews–at extreme risk– let’s roll brother–tel aviv–here we come!!!
The people who created Israel and persecuted the Palestinians are the very same people who control the western financial system and who enrich themselves by profiteering from endless war. They are not Yahweh’s finest. They are the ones who worshiped the golden calf on the journey out of Egypt. Yahweh’s finest were murdered or ostracized by these people.
Right-on Step they are the supreme impostors–Genghis would be proud!
Yet there is also no reason to think that Iran would be surprised, or silly enough to immediately commit suicide, which is what these people want . The Iranians are hardly novices at this game, they have been hard at it since 1980 and still going strong, against all odds.
Sow the missile dish , reap(er) the COLD whirlwind
https://counterinformation.wordpress.com/2020/01/03/major-general-soleimanis-assassination-isnt-going-to-start-world-war-iii/
US Reality TV Geopolitics & the Cult of Personality – A Russian View
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/01/russia-soleimani-iran-us-strikes-iraq.html?utm_campaign=20200103&utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily%20Newsletter
Both Trump and Netanyahu, need a diversion, but many will die because of their criminal insanity. Trump is mad and on heat.
I hope the Iranians make the war, very, very,very personal.
Trump Towers, Mar-al Lago, etc, etc, make their personal property the target, bring the suffering to the criminals!
But,
are good ol’ yankee boys stupid enough to rush to defend a burning Trump Tower? Probably!
No, only the real Fox new watching, rabid Trumptards will rush to assist.
So why is the on-water=matters secrecies PM of Australia only calling up reservists to fight fires (those not already doing so)? Is it because he’s already promised our frontline Defence Forces to Trump as Offence Forces? The spy satellite installation at North West Cape and Pine Gap here in Australia already make this country complicit in Trump “Star Wars-like” movie murders in Iraq. Retribution for his and that country’s foolishness puts us in danger unless our “leaders”: pull us out of Syria/Iraq/Afghanistan at once – shut down those drone-directing installations here in Australia – boot out the US “rotational” military base in the NT and deny them further access to any naval or other military visits! But do we have leaders mature enough to understand any of this. Nope! Bring on Armageddon and the Rapture – that’s what we’ve got leading us – bizarre sect-beholden climate-change denialisms! Honestly – Heaven help us!
Jim, dare I say it ? I support your post One hundred percent. I’m a veteran of the Vietnam conflict, and this year I turn 70. I’m totally fed up with the bullshit and one sided propaganda churned out day after day, to justify the ILLEGAL, MURDEROUS actions of this Terrorist state the U.S.A. and the total idiodicy of Australians sucking up to the Yanks under the mistaken belief, that should we ever be threatened by outsiders, they’ll come to pull our chestnuts from the fire. ???? Should such an event ever occur, (and I can see certain bases in Australia being obliterated as first strike, in any war, communications are the first target) there’s going to be a hell of a lot of radiation and contamination floating around in Australia, courtesy of our great mates the Yanks. What are Australians going to do then ???? Lucky there’s no bush or forest left to burn.Or was that the plan ?
I’m fed up with it all, and call on the protagonists, especially the Yanks, to BRING IT ON. Cut to the chase, BRING IT ON, let’s see how it ends up.
Ever since the UK and USA removed Australia’s elected prime minister Gough Whitlam in 1975, Australian prime ministers have kowtowed to the banksters and warmongers. They have willfully become American presidential haemorrhoids, dragging our country into fights with people who are not our enemies.
Continuation of Cheney’s propaganda:
https://truthout.org/articles/lies-about-iran-killing-us-troops-in-iraq-are-a-ploy-to-justify-war/
I met a man once who claimed that the prosecutor lied when he told the jury that the defendant cut off his girlfriend’s head, then had sex with her. What really happened he said, was that he had sex with her, cut off her head, then put it in a bag, took it to a bar where he took her out of the bag and ordered them both a drink. The people who run Washington are just like the way the prosecutor said. These people; Trump and Pelosi too, and so many more are just like that.
Project for the New American Century, PNAC, released Sept 2000, said the US needed to overthrow seven mid east nations, but to do so would require a New Pearl Harbor. PRESTO….”Unequivocal 9/11 Nukes” at principia-australia(.)org and the OBL scapegoat. Obombie & Reptillary launched Operation Zero Footprint to overthrow Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt and Libya. Then launched Timber Sycamore to divert captured Libya weapons to overthrow Syria, They staged fake gas attacks in Baghdad, Aug 2013, but before they could mount invasion, Putin intervened. All WMD were delivered to US and incinerated. Then the White Helmets staged fake gas attacks in Shayrat, April 2017 and Douma, April 2018. Both resulted in massive attacks. Soleimani killed ISIS in Syria. Russians killed ISIS in Syria.
“We killed hundreds of Russians in Syria” ~ madman Pompeo, nuff said
we had to destroy the general in order to save him. some things never change.
We are living the return of the days of Noah; so most people are of bad faith. The only thing they care about are their social status and their assets… and add to that power for those belonging to the ruling elites.
In short, the 21st Century society is decadent.
And it is so much the case that it is now very difficult to mobilize people against war.
And you are right. We cannot know the truth because of this decadence and this bad faith dominating our time.
The good news is that the return of Jesus is very near because He told us that at His Second Coming, it will be similar to the days of Noah and there we are:
“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;” (Matthew 24:37-38)
I pray the Rosary to hasten the Glorious Return of Jesus because I do have seen enough.
Seems like the time is ripe for a major false flag attack on US to blame Iran..
in order to justify the upcoming invasion and looting of Persia.
Any pending conflict with Iran will likely look nothing like Iraq or Afghanistan. Time to hang onto our hats. We are in for a wild ride…..
This was It !
The assassination of a high ranking foreign official, in a other country, was exactly what started WW1 !
DUH !
Television President wages peace wars against the planet.
So he’s not even a teensy bit concerned that anyone who wants to, could send a drone over Mar El Lago and take him out just like they took out Soleimani etc? If I were a global leader today, I would be a bit worried about all the people out there with weaponized drones.
Very effin right ! Just like the treatment of Julian Assange, should worry every journalist on the planet, for this treatment can come from any country now !
It is Un-believable that the states really think that they have the right to behave like utter morons, while at the same time think nobody else has the nerve (?) to do so aswell !
and who has the nerve, I wonder? I can only think of one person right now – Chelsea Manning. Her courage to singlehandedly stand up against the gigantic power-structure out to destroy her is super- human and without equal.
and who has the nerve I wonder? I can only think of one person right now – Chelsea Manning.
sorry about the unintended repeat