Iraq 3.0

[Steeltime]

 

[Tim Steelersfan]

SNS >> Twitter

Sent from my SM-N950W using Steeler Nation mobile app

I posted that Twitter feed soon after Spike posted his. Speculation was that it was speculation. Just sharing what I'd read. Sorry that Spike was right, someone died.

 

[Spike]

Spike was right

This should be engraved on every wall of the SN cathedral

 

[Steeltime]

This should be engraved on every wall of the SN cathedral

Okay, you made a good call on that one, Spike, but I submit that TSF's full quotation should be used:

Sorry that Spike was right

Now THAT I can get behind.

 

[Superman]

Can anyone enlighten me as to why it is terrifying? If it were China or perhaps Russia, sure. That's a bit more scary.

All I will say is this. If we are gonna do this, do it full bore, no bullshit rules of engagement outside of the Geneva Convention, and even then as long as they are abiding too. The minute they stop abiding, remove the safety features from all weapons and bury them. It is war. You don't pussyfoot around trying to fight nice. That is why we are still in Afghanistan and Iraq some 20 years later. Help those ******* meet their god. Lord knows they are going to be trying to help you meet yours.

Point is, it can't be any of this half-assed bullshit where politicians cry every time we hammer the bad guys.

Sarge is on record as saying we should release the Ogre.

 

[Superman]

Could happen. They just need to active the two plus agents they have in our govt

doubtful that President Trump would ever have Omar and Tlaib to the White House.

 

[Steeltime]

doubtful that President Trump would ever have Omar and Tlaib to the White House.

I say yes to this, and add AOC and whoever that fourth one is (nobody knows her, nobody cares).

Plant a gun on one or all of them. Have the Secret Service yell, "Freeze!!" Of course those stupid crunts cannot follow a simple instruction, start wagging their gums, and BLAM!!

Four less traitors.

 

[Ironcitysteelers]

No worries, General Nancy and her botox army will take over from here.

Nancy Pelosi says House will vote to limit Trump's war powers on Iran as tensions grow

WASHINGTON – On Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House of Representatives will vote this week on legislation to limit President Donald Trump's military actions on Iran in the wake of increased tensions between the two countries after Trump ordered an airstrike killing top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani last Thursday

In a letter to Democratic members of the House, Pelosi said the "provocative and disproportionate" airstrike on Soleimani "endangered our servicemembers, diplomats and others by risking a serious escalation of tensions with Iran. " Pelosi thanked lawmakers for their "patriotic leadership" during the tense period.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...n-iran-as-tensions-grow/ar-BBYE4bf?li=BBnb7Kz

Yeah, sure. That kind of "patriotism" used to get you the end of a rope.

“They demand answers” to why will killed this **** are you kidding the **** out of me. We killed a ******* bad guy, who was ordering the targeting of our folks! JFC what has the dims become.

 

[JMM]

“They demand answers” to why will killed this **** are you kidding the **** out of me. We killed a ******* bad guy, who was ordering the targeting of our folks! JFC what has the dims become.

 

[Steelworth]

Pro tip from a guy who marched in involuntary Soviet parades: don’t confuse the numbers of marchers in Soleimani’s funeral procession with support for the regime. When you live in a dictatorship, showing up isn’t an option. You either march or get harassed, arrested, or killed.

Len Khodorkovsky
@MessageFromLen

 

[Steelworth]

From the WaPo (of all places):

Don’t believe Iranian propaganda about the mourning for Soleimani
By Masih Alinejad
Jan. 6, 2020

Masih Alinejad is an Iranian journalist, author and women’s rights campaigner. She hosts the Tablet talk show on Voice of America’s Persian service.

Over the next few days, it will be hard to escape footage of huge crowds gathering in Iranian cities to mourn the death of Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian general killed by a U.S. drone strike. For anyone watching, I have one piece of advice: Don’t take what you’re seeing at face value.

This past November, thousands of Iranians took to the streets across the country to protest against the regime, in the biggest challenge to the clerical rule in 40 years. According to Reuters, more than 1,500 people were killed by security forces, including units of Soleimani’s Revolutionary Guard, and at least 7,000 have been arrested. The Internet was shut down for five days. Tehran has yet to release official figures of its own, which suggests the death toll may have been even higher.

The protesters had harsh words for Soleimani and his foreign adventures, chanting against Iran’s involvement in Syria and its support of Hezbollah. That came as a shock to the regime, which portrays Soleimani as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s adopted son.

Of course, people across the political divide are concerned about war. Nobody wants President Trump to bomb Iran’s cultural or historical sites as he threatened in a tweet on Saturday. I myself denounced the tweet on Fox News on Sunday.

But what to make of the crowds of flag-waving mourners streaming across TV screens? Without doubt, Soleimani had support among hard-liners and regime loyalists. The regime is not taking any chances, though. In the city of Ahvaz, where large numbers of people turned out to mourn Soleimani, the government has forced students and officials to attend. It provided free transport and ordered shops to shut down. According to videos sent to me by people inside the country, the authorities are making little kids write essays praising the fallen commander. First-graders who didn’t know how to write were encouraged to cry for Soleimani.

Some Iranians have compared the funeral services for Soleimani to those held for the Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich, the Butcher of Prague, killed by Allied agents during World War II.

Soleimani was not a benign official. In 1999, he was among the Revolutionary Guard leaders who demanded that then-President Mohammad Khatami crush university student demonstrations or face the consequences. Current Supreme Leader Khamenei praised Soleimani for his staunch defense of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, who has killed hundreds of thousands of his own people. Few Syrians are mourning him.

The media in the Islamic Republic is heavily controlled. Public gatherings are allowed only if they are pro-regime. Critics are jailed or shot. (Even I, living outside the country, have received a death threat on Iranian national TV for my coverage of Soleimani’s killing.) So it’s not hard to use all the tools and resources of the state to stage a funeral procession.

I have more than 4 million followers on various social media networks, and I have received thousands of messages, voice mails and videos from Iranians in cities such as Shiraz, Isfahan, Tehran and even Ahvaz, who are happy about Soleimani’s death. Some complain of the pressure to attend services for him.

There are many Iranian voices who think Soleimani was a war criminal, but Western journalists rarely reach out to them. Ironically, the Western media is more skeptical of such state-organized events in other countries, such as Russia or North Korea, but seems to leave its critical sense at the border when it comes to the Islamic Republic. While it’s true that Western correspondents face daunting conditions when it comes to reporting the truth from Iran, that shouldn’t excuse the many times they’ve shown unwarranted gullibility toward the official version of events.

Remember all the articles that predicted how Iranians were going to unite in resistance to President Trump’s sanctions? The same analysts who missed November’s protests are now predicting Iranians will rally around the flag.

This sorely underestimates the anger and resentment over the crackdown. The authorities forced many families to pay blood money in order to receive the body of their loved ones from the morgue. Some even had to sign official forms waiving the right to hold a public funeral as a condition of getting bodies returned.

Two weeks ago, the parents and nine other family members of Pouya Bakhtiari, a 27-year-old engineer who was killed during the protests, were arrested to stop them from having funeral services. Two days later, on Dec. 26, thousands of security forces using armored cars, water cannons and even helicopters were deployed to stop mourning ceremonies for some of the victims.

These families of those killed are not mourning Soleimani. In 2009, the Revolutionary Guards led the crackdown on the so-called Green Movement protests against the disputed presidential election. Many of the mothers of those killed in 2009, in 2017 and in 2019 are rejoicing about Soleimani’s death. How do I know? Because they’ve sent me videos of themselves, speaking to the camera, dancing, or even sharing cakes and sweets.

I and others have been saying for years that the current repressive conditions in the country are not tenable and that more protests would break out. We were right. And I’ll say it again: Don’t be fooled. Iran will see more anti-regime protests.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/01/06/dont-believe-iranian-propaganda-about-mourning-soleimani/

 

[Ironcitysteelers]

Pro tip from a guy who marched in involuntary Soviet parades: don’t confuse the numbers of marchers in Soleimani’s funeral procession with support for the regime. When you live in a dictatorship, showing up isn’t an option. You either march or get harassed, arrested, or killed.

Len Khodorkovsky
@MessageFromLen

Shot I heard they were passing out gas gift cards to all that showed up. There it is.

 

[Ironcitysteelers]

 

[Steelr4evr]

The common thread of communism and radical islam. Oppression!

You will love me or else!

I thank my lucky stars I live in the best country on earth.

That poor country went to **** after the Shaw.

 

[Steelworth]

It's refreshing to get the perspective of some of the best and brightest military minds in the world on the subject:

Petraeus Says Trump May Have Helped ‘Reestablish Deterrence’ by Killing Suleimani
The former U.S. commander and CIA director says Iran’s “very fragile” situation may limit its response.
BY LARA SELIGMAN | JANUARY 3, 2020
Gen. David Petraeus

As a former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and a former CIA director, retired Gen. David Petraeus is keenly familiar with Qassem Suleimani, the powerful chief of Iran’s Quds Force, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad Friday morning.

After months of a muted U.S. response to Tehran’s repeated lashing out—the downing of a U.S. military drone, a devastating attack on Saudi oil infrastructure, and more—Suleimani’s killing was designed to send a pointed message to the regime that the United States will not tolerate continued provocation, he said.

Petraeus spoke to Foreign Policy on Friday about the implications of an action he called “more significant than the killing of Osama bin Laden.” This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Foreign Policy: What impact will the killing of Gen. Suleimani have on regional tensions?

David Petraeus: It is impossible to overstate the importance of this particular action. It is more significant than the killing of Osama bin Laden or even the death of [Islamic State leader Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi. Suleimani was the architect and operational commander of the Iranian effort to solidify control of the so-called Shia crescent, stretching from Iran to Iraq through Syria into southern Lebanon. He is responsible for providing explosives, projectiles, and arms and other munitions that killed well over 600 American soldiers and many more of our coalition and Iraqi partners just in Iraq, as well as in many other countries such as Syria. So his death is of enormous significance.

The question of course is how does Iran respond in terms of direct action by its military and Revolutionary Guard Corps forces? And how does it direct its proxies—the Iranian-supported Shia militia in Iraq and Syria and southern Lebanon, and throughout the world?

FP: Two previous administrations have reportedly considered this course of action and dismissed it. Why did Trump act now?

DP: The reasoning seems to be to show in the most significant way possible that the U.S. is just not going to allow the continued violence—the rocketing of our bases, the killing of an American contractor, the attacks on shipping, on unarmed drones—without a very significant response.

Many people had rightly questioned whether American deterrence had eroded somewhat because of the relatively insignificant responses to the earlier actions. This clearly was of vastly greater importance. Of course it also, per the Defense Department statement, was a defensive action given the reported planning and contingencies that Suleimani was going to Iraq to discuss and presumably approve.

This was in response to the killing of an American contractor, the wounding of American forces, and just a sense of how this could go downhill from here if the Iranians don’t realize that this cannot continue.

FP: Do you think this response was proportionate?

DP: It was a defensive response and this is, again, of enormous consequence and significance. But now the question is: How does Iran respond with its own forces and its proxies, and then what does that lead the U.S. to do?

Iran is in a very precarious economic situation, it is very fragile domestically—they’ve killed many, many hundreds if not thousands of Iranian citizens who were demonstrating on the streets of Iran in response to the dismal economic situation and the mismanagement and corruption. I just don’t see the Iranians as anywhere near as supportive of the regime at this point as they were decades ago during the Iran-Iraq War. Clearly the supreme leader has to consider that as Iran considers the potential responses to what the U.S. has done.

It will be interesting now to see if there is a U.S. diplomatic initiative to reach out to Iran and to say, “Okay, the next move could be strikes against your oil infrastructure and your forces in your country—where does that end?”

FP: Will Iran consider this an act of war?

DP: I don’t know what that means, to be truthful. They clearly recognize how very significant it was. But as to the definition—is a cyberattack an act of war? No one can ever answer that. We haven’t declared war, but we have taken a very, very significant action.

FP: How prepared is the U.S. to protect its forces in the region?

DP: We’ve taken numerous actions to augment our air defenses in the region, our offensive capabilities in the region, in terms of general purpose and special operations forces and air assets. The Pentagon has considered the implications the potential consequences and has done a great deal to mitigate the risks—although you can’t fully mitigate the potential risks.

FP: Do you think the decision to conduct this attack on Iraqi soil was overly provocative?

DP: Again what was the alternative? Do it in Iran? Think of the implications of that. This is the most formidable adversary that we have faced for decades. He is a combination of CIA director, JSOC [Joint Special Operations Command] commander, and special presidential envoy for the region. This is a very significant effort to reestablish deterrence, which obviously had not been shored up by the relatively insignificant responses up until now.

FP: What is the likelihood that there will be an all-out war?

DP: Obviously all sides will suffer if this becomes a wider war, but Iran has to be very worried that—in the state of its economy, the significant popular unrest and demonstrations against the regime—that this is a real threat to the regime in a way that we have not seen prior to this.

FP: Given the maximum pressure campaign that has crippled its economy, the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, and now this assassination, what incentive does Iran have to negotiate now?

DP: The incentive would be to get out from under the sanctions, which are crippling. Could we get back to the Iran nuclear deal plus some additional actions that could address the shortcomings of the agreement?

This is a very significant escalation, and they don’t know where this goes any more than anyone else does. Yes, they can respond and they can retaliate, and that can lead to further retaliation—and that it is clear now that the administration is willing to take very substantial action. This is a pretty clarifying moment in that regard.

FP: What will Iran do to retaliate?

DP: Right now they are probably doing what anyone does in this situation: considering the menu of options. There could be actions in the gulf, in the Strait of Hormuz by proxies in the regional countries, and in other continents where the Quds Force have activities. There’s a very considerable number of potential responses by Iran, and then there’s any number of potential U.S. responses to those actions

Given the state of their economy, I think they have to be very leery, very concerned that that could actually result in the first real challenge to the regime certainly since the Iran-Iraq War.

FP: Will the Iraqi government kick the U.S. military out of Iraq?

DP: The prime minister has said that he would put forward legislation to do that, although I don’t think that the majority of Iraqi leaders want to see that given that ISIS is still a significant threat. They are keenly aware that it was not the Iranian supported militias that defeated the Islamic State, it was U.S.-enabled Iraqi armed forces and special forces that really fought the decisive battles.

 

[Ironcitysteelers]

 

[Stewey]

Democrats call for flags to be flown half staff.

https://babylonbee.com/news/democra...-flown-half-mast-to-grieve-death-of-soleimani

WASHINGTON, D.C.—At a press conference held on Capitol Hill Friday, mourning Democrat leaders called for flags to be flown half-mast to honor the death of Qasem Soleimani.

Flags were spotted flying at half-mast around the country, notably at The Washington Post, The New York Times, and in front of several celebrities' homes. The celebrities went out and bought an American flag for the first time just to fly it at half-mast for this important time of grief.

"The grieving process is painful but necessary," said Rep. Ilhan Omar. "As a nation, we need to stop and grieve this great, austere, revered religious scholar. He was one of the good ones."

In a rare moment of unity with The Squad, Pelosi gave each of the girls a hug, telling them to just "let it all out" in their time of sadness.

Ocasio-Cortez didn't seem to know what was happening but adjusted her glasses to look smart.

A teary-eyed Barack Obama was also seen solemnly lowering the flag in front of his seaside mansion. "To think, this all could have been prevented with a few pallets of cash." He sighed and stared off into the distance, a look of pain and regret on his face. "If only Trump had targeted a U.S. citizen with a drone strike instead."

Later, Democrats clarified they meant we should fly the Iranian flag at half-mast, not the "offensive and problematic" American flag.



Disclaimer: This is Satire.

 

[Ironcitysteelers]

You got to be ******* kidding me.




Oops. Missed that last part

 

[Stewey]

Iran says they are going to blow up the white house. I would like to see them try that....

So would Madonna.

Lest we forget.

 

[Stewey]

Leftys.....

 

[Steelworth]

New York Times Obituaries:

 

[Steeltime]

The Babylon Bee is a must-see site for me. The thing is freaking hilarious, every day. Stupid Snopes - both the fat chick and the bloated *****, err, ex-husband - ran a "fact check" on the site.

Repeat. Snopes RAN A FACT CHECK ON A SATIRE SITE.

 

[Steeltime]

Why am I not surprised??

“Making fun of Democrats and leftists is beyond the pale” was essentially the message from CNN’s “disinformation” reporter Donie O'Sullivan. The reason for his ire was the wildly popular conservative Christian satire site The Babylon Bee’s parody entitled “Democrats Call For Flags To Be Flown At Half-Mast To Grieve Death Of Soleimani.” O'Sullivan claimed without evidence, “A lot of people sharing this ‘satirical’ story on Facebook don’t know it is satire.” Moreover, he lamented, “This is the same number of engagements the top NY Times and CNN stories on Facebook had over the past week.”

But O'Sullivan’s self-serving objection is just the latest in a long line of Leftmedia pundits bemoaning the Bee’s successful and creative satirical engagement of news and politics, a field of entertainment it loudly celebrated when the butt of the jokes were conservatives and Republicans.

“Making fun of Democrats and leftists is beyond the pale” was essentially the message from CNN’s “disinformation” reporter Donie O'Sullivan. The reason for his ire was the wildly popular conservative Christian satire site The Babylon Bee’s parody entitled “Democrats Call For Flags To Be Flown At Half-Mast To Grieve Death Of Soleimani.” O'Sullivan claimed without evidence, “A lot of people sharing this ‘satirical’ story on Facebook don’t know it is satire.” Moreover, he lamented, “This is the same number of engagements the top NY Times and CNN stories on Facebook had over the past week.”

But O'Sullivan’s self-serving objection is just the latest in a long line of Leftmedia pundits bemoaning the Bee’s successful and creative satirical engagement of news and politics, a field of entertainment it loudly celebrated when the butt of the jokes were conservatives and Republicans.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/677...ail.4788&utm_campaign=digest&utm_content=body

 

[Spike]

Lookout!

Trump is coming!





Stampede during Soleimani’s funeral procession kills at least 35, state TV reports

At least 35 people were killed and another 48 injured in a stampede Tuesday that broke out during a funeral procession for the Iranian general killed last week in a U.S.-led airstrike, according to Iranian state media.

The incident occurred in Gen. Qassem Soleimani's hometown of Kerman, in southeastern Iran, according to Iran's state media. The report quoted the head of Iran's emergency medical services, Pirhossein Koulivand, according to the Associated Press.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/iran-s...erman-mourners

 

[Steeltime]

Stampede during Soleimani’s funeral procession kills at least 35, state TV reports