2020-01-03, 03:29
|
Link #1 |
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
|
The Iran/Iraq situation.
World Holds Its Breath After An American Strike In
Iraq Kills Top Iranian Commander: "U.S. military strike on a pair of SUVs near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq has killed Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Quds Force, the division of Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responsible for militant and terrorist activities outside of the country. It is difficult to imagine that the Iranian regime won't feel compelled to take some form of action against any and all powers it holds responsible, possibly beyond the United States, to include its regional allies and partners, such as Israel and Saudi Arabia. This, in turn, could easily prompt responses from those actors, creating a dangerous spiral of escalation, at least in for the near future. "At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization," a statement from the Pentagon said. "General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region." This statement also blames Soleimani and the Iranian government directly for directing the rocket barrage on the K-1 base in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Dec. 27, 2019, which killed a U.S. contractor and wounded a number of American troops. Kata'ib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia, which the United States has also designated as a terrorist group, carried out that strike." "Whatever happens now, it is safe to say that the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, and likely beyond, has dramatically and fundamentally changed in ways that are still very much unfolding." See: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...nian-commander |
|
|
|
2020-01-03, 18:40
|
Link #2 |
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
|
New Details About Strike On Top Iranian Commander Emerge
As Americans Are Told To Flee Iraq: "U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iran's Quds Force, posed an "imminent" threat and that a drone strike that killed him and the other occupants of two SUVs outside of Baghdad International Airport in Iraq "saved American lives." At the same time, repercussions from the unprecedented U.S. military operation are being felt, with the increasing possibility that the Iraqi government might order American forces out of the country and the State Department itself urging American citizens to leave as soon as possible. The United States has also formally decided to send thousands more troops to the region to bolster security as countries throughout the Middle East brace for any number of responses from Iran and its proxies. A drone under the control of the Joint Special Operations Command, reportedly an MQ-9 Reaper, carried out the mission. The Iranian regime has now confirmed that Soleimani along with four other members of the country's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), died in the strike. The Quds Force is the part of the IRGC responsible for conducting and coordinating terrorist and militant activities outside of Iran. "Highly classified information from informants, electronic intercepts, reconnaissance aircraft, and other surveillance" went into the planning of the strike, according to The New York Times. "I can’t talk too much about the nature of the threat," Secretary Pompeo said in an interview on CNN's "New Day" on Jan. 3, 2020. Pompeo did describe the threat as "imminent" and stressed that it was directed at American interests in the Middle East, but declined to elaborate. “It was the time to take this action so we could disrupt this plot... The risk of doing nothing was enormous, the intelligence committee made that assessment," he added. “We will do our best to release everything we know that’s appropriate that doesn’t put anyone at risk."" See: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...d-to-flee-iraq |
|
|
|
|
2020-01-04, 10:07
|
Link #5 |
|
AS Oji-kun
Join Date: Nov 2006
Age: 74
|
One of the best analyses of the situation I've read from NY Times writer Rukmini Callimachi: https://twitter.com/rcallimachi/stat...21769777909761
__________________
|
|
|
|
|
2020-01-04, 11:21
|
Link #7 |
|
Banned
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: A city with a small mountain in the middle
|
When this nightmare of a presidency will be over, I just hope that the next POTUS will be less indulgent towards Trump compared to how Obama was indulgent towards Bush 43 about the idea of selling the predecessor to the International Court of Justice over war crimes. Upon charges of committing war crimes (public admission of a crime) and of open support towards people who committed war crimes (the situation with the former SEAL who posed with a dead boy's body), those should be enough to get his fat ass in jail.
|
|
|
|
|
2020-01-04, 22:33
|
Link #8 |
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
|
Trump Threatens Attacks On A Symbolic 52 Iranian
Targets If Tehran Strikes Back: "Since the targeted assassination of Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani just two days ago, the rhetoric between Washington D.C. and Tehran has taken a massive turn for the worse. Now, with Iran indicating that it is looking to exact a major toll on the U.S. over Soleimani's death in the coming days and weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump has drawn a red line that will be nearly impossible to step back from if the Iranians do decide to act." "The message adopts a tone similar to what we hear from actors such as Iran when it references symbology with the targeting plan and the inclusion of cultural sites that are important to the Iranian people, which are symbolic by there very nature. It is important to note that what Trump is describing could be a war crime, depending on the exact nature of the targets he is talking about. Deliberately striking targets with no military value is prohibited under the Geneva Conventions. At the same time, his message puts forward a crystal clear warning as to what will result from any significant reprisal. Regardless, some will cheer this as being as tough as possible on Iran and talking in terms of strength that some say is the only language they understand. At the same time, it does set up an inflexible situation that would likely lead to an all-out war if Iran forces Trump's hand. In other words, we are in the realm of brinksmanship of the highest level now." See: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...n-strikes-back |
|
|
|
|
2020-01-05, 20:13
|
Link #10 |
|
18782+18782=37564
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: InterWebs
|
Americans calls themselves the world police while really they are just the biggest bully in the neighborhood. They declared war on terrorism while being the one spreading the most terror, and fabricating lies as their justification. I feel sorry for the soldiers serving in the US army. They didn't die serving the country, they are serving the self-interests of the American ruling class.
__________________
|
|
|
|
|
2020-01-07, 23:47
|
Link #17 |
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
|
Iran Strikes Back: Missiles Rain Down On American Forces In Iraq:
"Details are still coming in, but Iran has launched a missile attack against U.S. forces in Iraq, including Al Asad Air Base, in retaliation for the American drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, a top Iranian commander, last week. A major rocket barrage on Al Asad, which sits around 115 miles west of Baghdad, may have also preceded the strikes. U.S. President Donald Trump has already threatened a major response, including potential strikes on cultural sites, against Iran in the event of any such attack. Al Asad, also known as Ain Assad, hosts a large number of U.S. military personnel, as well as significant numbers of fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and drones. It is also the base that U.S. President Donald Trump traveled to in 2018 in his first visit to Iraq. Iranian-backed Iraqi militias, as well as Iran itself and its other regional proxies, had vowed to retaliate against U.S. forces throughout the Middle East over the death of Soleimani, who had been head of the Quds Force, last week. The Quds Force is responsible for providing aid and assistance to foreign terrorist and militant groups and otherwise conducting covert activities outside of Iran. The exact scale and scope of the attack is unclear, but Iranian state media has confirmed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, of which the Quds Force is a part, carried out the attack. Reports say that as many as 10 ballistic missiles may have been launched toward Al Asad. There are also reports that additional missiles were fired toward Erbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region. U.S. defenses there may have shot at least one of these down. The U.S. military, as well as the U.S. State Department, makes heavy use of portions of the airport in Erbil and the U.S. consulate there is a major diplomatic facility." See: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...forces-in-iraq ========================= Unconfirmed via Al Hadath: The downed Ukrainian aircraft outbound from Tehran was accidentally shot down by Iranian AA units.: https://www.reddit.com/r/syriancivil...ned_ukrainian/ https://fox40.com/2020/01/07/ukraini...after-takeoff/ Last edited by AnimeFan188; 2020-01-08 at 00:09. |
|
|
|
|
2020-01-08, 10:43
|
Link #20 | |
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
|
Quote:
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
