Iran (Disclaimer-- the war, not the country)

[Axtremus]

@jon-nyc said:

I saw some excerpts describing the damage some have taken, and many of the troops were evacuated before the war, knowing these would be targets. But they’re all (or almost all) still being used for aircraft sorties, which means they’re nowhere near obliterated. It’s not hard to disable a runway with a bomb.

"Obliterated" in the same sense that Trump has obliterated Iran's nuclear capabilities last year.

[Daniel]

No. Abandoned.

I don't understand a kind of cheerleading for an illegal war led by Trump of all people and one where the American military are being used in a mercenary capacity.

[Daniel]

@Axtremus said:

@jon-nyc said:

I saw some excerpts describing the damage some have taken, and many of the troops were evacuated before the war, knowing these would be targets. But they’re all (or almost all) still being used for aircraft sorties, which means they’re nowhere near obliterated. It’s not hard to disable a runway with a bomb.

"Obliterated" in the same sense that Trump has obliterated Iran's nuclear capabilities last year.

They did not have nuclear capabilities. They had a nuclear program for industrial development. Their program was being inspected by the international nuclear agency. This is how we know.

This pretext was bullshit. The rationalizations given for 2.0 were bullshit.

[jon-nyc]

You don’t enrich uranium to 60% for industrial use.

[Daniel]

Yes, actually, you do. And, that's not the point. The point is Iran was not an eminent threat to the US, and therefore, this is an illegal war of aggression.

[AndyD]

Actually... 20% is all that's needed for nuclear reactors

A dozen US soldiers are reported injured on a US base overnight, so the bases aren't all abandoned.

Yemen fired a missile at us last night so they are fair game.

You can't negotiate reasonably with fanatical terrorists who have been chipping away at our democracies since 1979 and before. They don't care about anyone else, have nothing to lose except power.
Trump needs to learn this, and also the true meaning of obliterate.

Perhaps the time has come to give these murdering fanatics of Iran a fair warning and then go 'Bomber Harris' on their butts: You sink any one ship and we'll obliterate any one of your 140 cities, plus of course the area from which the missile was fired.
Operation Meetinghouse#2

[Daniel]

I will look up the assessments of the international monitoring agency.

Iran allowed inspections of its nuclear program. Israel has never allowed them.

Again, every US intelligence agency (and there are a lot of them) said Iran posed no imminent threat to the US.

So, again, it was a war of aggression, an illegal war.

Again, it was Israel that influenced Trump's decision.

Anyone who bought the "weapons of mass destruction" lie given as a pretext for the US invasion of Iraq is equally incorrect about the war on Iran.

This war is backfiring on the US and the global economy. The US should stop acting as a mercenary force for Israel.

Israel is a genocidal, ethno-supremacist state, operating on a theocratic belief that God chose it to expand its territory through mass killing.

Let them fight their own wars with their own blood and treasure.

I am surprised anyone would follow Trump concerning this war. We've complained about him for ten years but now he's competent, rational, and has moral authority?

If you want to be a Zionist, be one. If you want to be a Neocon, be one.

But, don't expect everyone to agree with an illegal war and crimes against humanity, because you'll be waiting until hell freezes over.

[AndyD]

And Germany posed no imminent threat to Britain, but we still declared war because it was the right thing to do. We could have sat on our hands rearming until our Pearl Harbour moment occurred.

Interesting that you are so confident knowing Trump's mind that he is so totally influenced by Israel. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

It is surely naive to believe the Iranian regime is a peaceful one with no nuclear weapon ambition. Look how many types of missiles they have already amassed, look how they have fired them at all their neighbours, even at their supposed friend Yemen.
Look how they located their nuclear research, not openly above ground, but in the deepest caverns out of sight and reach.

An Iranian regime which terrorises its own people, kills them openly in thousands on the street when they protest at the imposed fanatical religious laws; a regime which publicly hangs homosexuals, a regime which stones to death women prisoners under the pretext of them having committed illicit relationships.

I'll happily support anyone with the morals or means or will to help the people of Iran, who after all is said, wish for the democratic freedoms, human rights, education and opportunity we enjoy.
The right to speak and protest and elect as you or I may.

[Daniel]

Oh, but we can't. The UK and US have made laws making criticizing the state of Israel a criminal offense. This is a direct, de facto violation of the US Constitution. It is no more right for the UK government to have done this in a free society. Now I ask-- were these aberrations resultant of the influence of the state of Israel? Or were they influenced by do-gooders who happened to be so taken by the welfare of Jews in free societies that taking away free speech in those societies became an Orwellian agenda? In addition, the United States Constitution includes the separation of church and state. Citizens in our countries are legally prohibited from expressing negative political opinions about a foreign state? What kind of madness is this?

[Axtremus]

Link to video

[Daniel]

I've said pretty much said what I wanted to say about it. It's an illegal war. It constitutes multiple crimes against humanity. It was ill advised. It's backfiring militarily. It isn't and never was in the interests of the US. It's wreaking havoc on the global economy. It's especially objectionable to me that US service members are being required to fight and die in it. That's all.