;)
Thursday
Jan022020
The Commentariat -- January 3, 2020
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Zeke Miller, et al., of the AP: "The United States is sending nearly 3,000 more Army troops to the Mideast as reinforcements in the volatile aftermath of the killing of an Iranian general in a strike ordered by ... Donald Trump, defense officials said Friday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity..., said the troops are from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. They are in addition to about 700 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne who deployed to Kuwait earlier this week after the storming of the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad by Iran-backed militiamen and their supporters."
Erin Durkin of Politico: "New York City is bracing for the increased risk of a terrorist attack after the killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani by U.S. forces in Iraq, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday.... The NYPD will deploy additional, heavily armed officers at prominent sites around the city, officials said.... While the city has thwarted numerous terror plots in the nearly two decades since the Sept. 11 attacks, de Blasio said a conflict with a powerful state actor was different than anything confronted before."
Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Congressional Democrats are raising alarm over the lack of consultation from the Trump administration ahead of a deadly military strike against Iran's top general, which lawmakers called 'reckless' and a 'massive escalation' against Iran.... The sudden strike sets up a debate in Congress next week on whether Trump needs to seek authorization to respond to expected retaliation. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) ... called on Congress to act immediately to curtail Trump's military authority before he sparks another war in the Middle East...[:] 'Trump's 'maximum pressure' campaign has made the region less stable, divided us from key allies, and is driving our adversaries together. Congress must act to stop President Trump from entangling America in yet another unnecessary war in the Middle East.'"
Burgess Everett of Politico: "Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer have made zero headway on designing a bipartisan set of rules for ... Donald Trump's impeachment trial more than two weeks after their first face-to-face meeting on the matter.... In a rare Friday session, the two Senate leaders presented diametrically opposed views of how a Senate trial should go. Majority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.) continued making his case for starting a trial and considering witnesses and documents later, while Minority Leader Schumer (D-N.Y.) reiterated that Democrats are unwilling to agree on a trial's contours without a plan on whether new evidence will be introduced. The clashing viewpoints increases the possibility that McConnell seeks to build a partisan set of impeachment rules with the votes of 51 of his 53 senators."
Morgan Chalfant & Brett Samuels of the Hill: President Trump on Friday said Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the powerful Iranian military leader killed in a U.S. air strike on Thursday, 'should have been taken out many years ago' and that he was 'indirectly responsible for the death of millions of people.' Trump addressed the decision to launch air strikes that killed Iran's most powerful military commander in a pair of tweets that marked his first public comments on authorizing the action. 'General Qassem Soleimani has killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time, and was plotting to kill many more ... but got caught! He was directly and indirectly responsible for the death of millions of people, including the recent large number ... of PROTESTERS killed in Iran itself,' Trump tweeted Friday morning. 'While Iran will never be able to properly admit it, Soleimani was both hated and feared within the country. They are not nearly as saddened as the leaders will let the outside world believe. He should have been taken out many years ago!' the president wrote." ~~~
... Mrs. McCrabbie: One difference between a president and a president*: when Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Ladin, President Obama made a solemn address to the nation as soon as practicable. When a drone killed Iran's top military operative and his associates, Donald Trump sent out a couple of inelegant tweets.
Alex Thompson of Politico: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign announced Friday that it raised $21.2 million in the fourth quarter -- significantly less than progressive rival Sen. Bernie Sanders' $34.5 million haul over the same time period. Warren's fundraising total -- less than the $24.6 million she raised in the previous quarter -- is the latest sign that the grassroots energy behind her campaign has dimmed in recent months as she faced attacks from rivals and spent several weeks trying to explain her position on Medicare for All."
Elena Schneider of Politico: "Sen. Amy Klobuchar raised $11.4 million in the final three months of 2019, her strongest fundraising quarter since launching her presidential campaign."
Paul Krugman: "... Australia's summer of fire is only the latest in a string of catastrophic weather events over the past year: unprecedented flooding in the Midwest, a heat wave in India that sent temperatures to 123 degrees, another heat wave that brought unheard-of temperatures to much of Europe. And all of these catastrophes were related to climate change.... While it will take generations for the full consequences of climate change to play out, there will be many localized, temporary disasters along the way. Apocalypse will become the new normal -- and that's happening right in front of our eyes."
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Zachary Cohen, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump ordered an airstrike at Baghdad International Airport that killed Qasem Soleimani, a key Iranian military commander, in a 'decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad' that was intended to deter 'future Iranian attack plans,' the Pentagon confirmed Thursday.Soleimani -- the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force unit -- and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis -- the deputy head of the Iran-backed Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) -- were among those killed in the attack early Friday morning local time, according to a statement from the PMF, which said the pair 'were martyred by an American strike.' The assassination of the top military leader marks a major escalation in regional tensions that has pitted Tehran against the US and Washington's Gulf Arab allies in the region. Soleimani was revered in Iran, where three days of national mourning have declared. In a message published to his official website, the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed revenge for the killing, saying that 'harsh revenge awaits the criminals' involved." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times has live updates here. The Guardian's liveblog is here. ~~~
~~~ Breaking at 9 pm ET Thursday. Falih Hassan & Alissa Rubin of the New York Times: "Iraqi state television reported Friday that the powerful commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, was killed in a strike on the Baghdad International Airport early Friday. Iranian and American officials have not confirmed the death of General Suleimani. The strike killed five people, including the pro-Iranian chief of an umbrella group for Iraqi militias, Iraqi television reported and militia officials confirmed. The militia chief, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, was a strongly pro-Iranian figure. The public relations chief for the umbrella group, the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, Mohammed Ridha Jabri, was killed as well." Update: "The United States carried out the strike, the Pentagon said." ~~~
~~~ Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The killing of the powerful commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, in a drone strike on Friday sharply divided congressional leaders along party lines and reignited a debate over whether Congress should curtail the president's war powers. The strike, which the Pentagon said President Trump ordered and was 'aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans,' was a significant escalation in the administration's pressure campaign against Tehran.... According to Speaker Nancy Pelosi the strike was carried out 'without the consultation of Congress.' 'American leaders' highest priority is to protect American lives and interests,' Ms. Pelosi said in a statement. 'But we cannot put the lives of American service members, diplomats and others further at risk by engaging in provocative and disproportionate actions. Tonight's airstrike risks provoking further dangerous escalation of violence.'... Other lawmakers, like Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico, accused Mr. Trump of bringing the nation 'to the brink of an illegal war with Iran.'" ~~~
~~~ Zachary Basu of Axios: "Republican hawks like Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) celebrated the assassination of a designated terrorist whose activities in the Middle East have led to the deaths of hundreds of U.S. service members. Democrats, meanwhile, warned of the potentially destabilizing effects of the operation and demanded answers about the use of force without congressional authorization." ~~~
~~~ AP: "Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that ... Donald Trump has 'tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox' with the targeted killing of Iran's top general in an airstrike at Baghdad's international airport. The former vice president joined other Democratic White House hopefuls in criticizing Trump's order, saying it could leave the U.S. 'on the brink of a major conflict across the Middle East.'" ~~~
~~~ Andrew Exum in the Atlantic: "The United States is now in a hot war with Iran after having waged war via proxies for the past several decades.... I do not know of a single Iranian who was more indispensable to his government's ambitions in the Middle East [than Qassem Soleimani]." ~~~
~~~ Daniel Byman in Vox: "The killing of Suleimani, the long-time head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF) is likely to prove a watershed in Washington's relations with Iraq and Iran and will substantially affect the overall US position in the Middle East. The blowback may be huge, and much depends on how well prepared the United States is for Iran's response and that of its many proxies in the Middle East. Based on the Trump administration's record in the region, there is reason to be worried.... With Suleimani's death there will be hell to pay -- and because of Quds Force's reach, Iran will have multiple theaters in which to attack the United States.... In the strike that killed Suleimani, the United States also reportedly took out the head of the pro-Iran militia Kataib Hezbollah, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and several other senior pro-Iran figures in Iraq. Kataib Hezbollah was responsible for numerous attacks on US and Iraqi forces, often at Iran's behest.... This, too, will not go unpunished: In addition to wanting to please Iran, pro-Iran militias in Iraq will be angered by al-Muhandis's death and the arrests of their leaders and eager to avenge them." ~~~
~~~ Wendy Sherman, in a USA Today op-ed: "It is ... Donald Trump's failed policy toward Iran that has brought us to this combustible moment. Iraq is a tough country under any circumstances, made more so after the 2003 U.S. invasion that upended the Middle East and cost so much in U.S. lives and treasure. But Iraq also created strange bedfellows. The U.S. troops worked alongside Iraqi and Iranian militia to destroy a common enemy, the Islamic State terrorism group. And even as Washington was confronting Iran over its nuclear program and malign behavior elsewhere, we maintained an uneasy coexistence in Iraq, where Tehran holds considerable sway. That uneasy balance was destroyed when Trump withdrew from ... the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear deal.... Like much of Trump's national security and foreign policy, his Iran approach is tactical and not strategic. The results have been devastating to U.S. interests.... If the Trump administration really understood the dynamics of Iraq, it might have anticipated a move like the attack on the U.S. Embassy. Administration officials might have worked more closely with the Iraq government to think through the best way forward. Instead, in essence, Trump walked into Iran's trap." ~~~
~~~ Wagging the Impeachment Dog. Juan Cole: "The madman in the White House has been sulking and raging for weeks about his impeachment proceedings, tweeting manically on some days more than 100 times. With the release by JustSecurity.org of unredacted emails on the Ukraine scandal showing that Trump personally (and illegally) withheld congressionally mandated military aid to an ally, the Republican defense of the president is collapsing.... It is extremely suspicious that Trump has abruptly begun trafficking in the sanguinary merchandise of all-out war just at this moment when his throne is on the brink of toppling." Read on: Cole looks at possible reactions in the Middle East against the U.S.
Clear direction from POTUS to continue to hold. -- OMB Associate Director Michael Duffey in an e-mail to acting Pentagon Comptroller Elaine McCusker, August 30, 2019 ~~~
~~~ ** Kate Brannen of Just Security: "Last month, a court ordered the government to release almost 300 pages of emails [related to the Ukraine scandal] to the Center for Public Integrity in response to a FOIA lawsuit. It released a first batch on Dec. 12, and then a second installment on Dec. 21..., but ... several [documents] were partially or completely blacked out. Since then, Just Security has viewed unredacted copies of these emails, which begin in June and end in early October. Together, they tell the behind-the-scenes story of the defense and budget officials who had to carry out the president's unexplained hold on military aid to Ukraine. The documents reveal growing concern from Pentagon officials that the hold would violate the Impoundment Control Act, which requires the executive branch to spend money as appropriated by Congress, and that the necessary steps to avoid this result weren't being taken.... The emails also show that no rationale was ever given for why the hold was put in place or why it was eventually lifted. What is clear is that it all came down to the president and what he wanted; no one else appears to have supported his position.... Instead, officials were anxiously waiting for the president to be convinced that the hold was a bad idea." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The even bigger takeaway [from Brannen's report] may be how much ... was obscured.... Many of the redaction choices are puzzling and even suspicious. The redactions include repeated references to legal problems with withholding the aid, basic questions about that subject, and warnings that waiting until too late in the fiscal year (which ended Sept. 30) might mean that some of the funds would never get to Ukraine.... Much of the evidence establishing ... internal disagreements [within the administration] was redacted from the emails that were released, for reasons that aren't terribly clear and raise all kinds of questions.... What's more, the internal discord and the worry about the funds never being released seems to have potentially weighed on the decision to release them Sept. 11, less than three weeks before the end of the fiscal year.... Real questions need to be asked about these redactions and how OMB was handling this whole thing." ~~~
~~~ Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) seized on newly released emails surrounding President Trump's decision to delay aid to Ukraine, arguing they underscored the need for witnesses and documents as part of an impeachment trial. 'The newly-revealed unredacted emails are a devastating blow to Senator McConnell's push to have a trial without the documents and witnesses we've requested,' Schumer said in a statement. 'These emails further expose the serious concerns raised by Trump administration officials about the propriety and legality of the president's decision to cut off aid to Ukraine to benefit himself,' he added." ~~~
~~~ digby: The unredacted e-mails obtained by Just Security "offer more proof that the president himself was directing the bribery scheme, using hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money hostage to help his re-election campaign. Trump is always dancing as fast as he can, creating new scams to cover for the old ones. He's like Bernie Madoff only with the nuclear codes. This one was particularly idiotic and totally unnecessary but because he has a very sever personality disorder, he was seduced by the idea that since the Mueller Report didn't deliver a lethal blow, the could get away with doing what he did in 2016, only with all the power of the presidency behind him. His sycophants and accomplices no doubt reinforced his self-destructive impulses.">
Maxwell Tani of the Daily Beast: "Paul Manafort said he used Fox News host Sean Hannity to receive backchannel messages from ... Donald Trump while prosecutors investigated him for financial crimes, according to newly released memos from former special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Among the several hundred pages of memos published by BuzzFeed News on Thursday, which contain summaries of FBI interviews with key Trump administration and campaign officials, the Fox News anchor's alleged role as an unofficial messenger between the president and his former campaign chairman comes into sharp focus.... At the time, Hannity dismissed criticism of his close relationship with Manafort...." ~~~
~~~ The BuzzFeed News report, by Jason Leopold & others, contains more nuggets. The docs, however, are heavily redacted, including "a 31-page [set of notes on an] interview that is completely redacted -- including the name of the person being interviewed."
Jonathan Chait: "... the publicly available reporting all fits a pattern that suggests Trump used antitrust enforcement against CNN's corporate owners as retribution for its coverage [of him & his administration]. And Trump's tweets suggest, even as the courts stymied him, that he is determined to keep up economic pressure on CNN. Three years into his presidency, he is not giving up on his Orbán-like ambition to discipline and control independent media. Where things might stand after another five years is a question that ought to preoccupy those voters who wish to preserve American democracy.... Last year..., the House Judiciary Committee told the White House to turn over documents relating to the merger [of AT&T & CNN]. The White House flatly refused. So if there's proof that Trump ordered the Justice Department to block the merger, that evidence is being withheld."
AP: "The US government has started sending asylum seekers back to Nogales, Mexico, to await court hearings that will be scheduled roughly 350 miles (563 kilometers) away in Ciudad Juárez.... Until this week, the government was driving some asylum seekers from Nogales, Arizona, to El Paso, Texas, so they could be returned to Juárez. Now, asylum seekers will have to find their own way through dangerous Mexican border roads." --s
Abby Goodnough, et al., of the New York Times: "In September, President Trump, the first lady and two of his top health officials gathered in the Oval Office to announce they would take what Mr. Trump called 'very, very strong' action against the fast-growing epidemic of teenage vaping: a ban on the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes. Groups representing thousands of vape shops around the country quickly mobilized.... Around the West Wing, polling data was circulated that had the imprimatur of one of Mr. Trump's pollsters, John McLaughlin, showing that in battleground states, the president's supporters opposed regulations against vaping. But the poll was commissioned by a vaping industry group.... On Thursday, the administration announced a policy that reflected a partial victory for the industry groups, but also seemed aimed at appeasing parents (including the crucial voting bloc of suburban mothers) and public health officials worried about nicotine addiction among teenagers. Federal officials said they would forbid the sale of most flavored e-cigarette cartridges, but would exempt menthol and tobacco flavors, as well as flavored liquid nicotine sold in open tank systems at vape shops.... An F.D.A. review process is now underway, with manufacturers required to submit applications by May to try to prove that the products are not a public health risk. That means that some of the products targeted under the enforcement action announced Thursday could ultimately be approved and re-enter the market -- a possible reason Mr. Trump may have referred to the ban [on New Year's Eve] as temporary."
Daniel Strauss of the Guardian: "More than two hundred members of Congress have urged the US supreme court to reconsider the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling which legalized abortion nationwide. The appeal came in an amicus brief in a Louisiana case, and was signed by 205 Republicans and two Democrats, and calls on the high court to revisit the ruling, which affirmed that access to safe abortion is a constitutional right." --s
Presidential Race
Holly Otterbein of Politico: "Bernie Sanders raised more than $34.5 million in the final three months of 2019, a substantial sum that exceeds the two other Democratic presidential candidates who have announced their hauls so far in that period. The Vermont senator, who disclosed the amount Thursday morning, brought in a total of about $96 million last year from more than 5 million contributions. The campaign's average donation was $18." (Also linked yesterday.)
Steve Holland of Reuters: "... Donald Trump's re-election campaign raised $46 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, a major haul that was boosted by a surge of donations in the wake of the Democrats' impeachment bid, a senior campaign official said on Thursday.... The $46 million for the fourth quarter was the amount raised only by the Trump re-election campaign. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence typically headline fundraising events that benefit both the campaign and the Republican National Committee. The amount raised by the RNC for the fourth quarter of 2019 is expected to be released soon." (Also linked yesterday.)
Jennifer Medina & Matt Stevens of the New York Times: "Julián Castro, the former housing secretary who was the only Latino candidate in the Democratic primary, said Thursday he would end his bid for the presidency, capping a yearlong campaign where he struggled in polls but remained a policy pacesetter on immigration and fighting poverty." The Guardian liveblog has several items related to Castro's withdrawal from the race, beginning @9:12 am ET."> (Also linked yesterday.)
Meredith of the BBC: "Hillary Clinton is to be the new chancellor of Queen's University, Belfast (QUB). The former US secretary of state is the university's 11th chancellor and first woman to take up the post.... While the role of chancellor is mainly a ceremonial one, securing Mrs Clinton will be seen as a coup for Queen's. The chancellor often presides at graduation ceremonies and is also an ambassador for the university abroad."
Way Beyond the Beltway
Australia. Miriam Berger of the Washington Post: "Australia's prime minister visited families devastated by the wildfires. It did not go well.... Residents of the ravaged town [of Cobargo in New South Wales] were angry, their homes and livelihood suddenly incinerated in a fiery flash. On Thursday, they vented that frustration at visiting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who cut short his tour of the fire-hit residents amid their barrage of criticism.... 'How come we only had four trucks to defend our town? Because our town doesn't have a lot of money, but we have hearts of gold, prime minister,' one woman in a Led Zeppelin T-shirt walking a goat shouted at the prime minister." (Also linked yesterday.)
International Incident. Simon Denyer of the Washington Post: "Turkish police detained seven people Thursday, including four pilots, on suspicion of having helped former Nissan executive Carlos Ghosn escape Japan and transit through Istanbul on his way to Lebanon, Turkey's state news agency reported. An investigation has been launched into Ghosn's 'illegal arrival' Turkey after he escaped house arrest in Japan, according to the Anadolu news agency. The four pilots were believed to have traveled on the private jet that brought Ghosn from Japan on his way to Beirut. Two employees of a private ground handling company and the operations manager of a private cargo company were also detained. Turkey has close relations with Japan, while Japanese businesses are significant investors in the country.... Meanwhile, Japanese prosecutors raided Ghosn's now-vacated house in Tokyo on Thursday, as they sought clues to how he evaded their surveillance, slipped out of the country and arrived in Lebanon." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Ben Dooley of the New York Times: "Carlos Ghosn, the fallen head of the Nissan-Renault auto alliance..., walked John Lesher, a Hollywood producer behind the Oscar-winning 2014 Michael Keaton film, 'Birdman,' through the plot of his own story, describing what he sees as his unjust imprisonment by Japanese officials and his struggle to prove his innocence, said people familiar with the discussions. The theme was redemption. The villain was the Japanese justice system. The talks were preliminary ... but Mr. Ghosn was preparing to deliver a shocking plot twist. Mr. Ghosn, who was facing a trial later in 2020, fled Japan for Lebanon this week.... All the elements of a Hollywood-style thriller are there: a private plane whisking a fugitive into the sky, multiple passports, rumors of shadowy forces at work and people in power denying they knew anything about it."
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Reader Comments (15)
"Politico" answers the fundraising question I raised yesterday:
It has the totals.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/02/democrats-2020-huge-donor-windfall-093034
Remember how some people thought that Trump would start a war if things got too intense for him?
Well.....
I'm absolutely sure that the military has been closely tracking this guy (Solamani) for years. Who, in the military, would precipitate an open act of war for no reason? This looks like Trump to me. Of course he would never think this would be followed by years of asymmetric war.
Has congress been called back to discuss a declaration of war? No. I think this act is designed to flummox the House, and of course to create a diversion from his impeachment: he can do anything he wants.
In a way, I long for the days when he thought dropping the mother of all bombs in the middle of nowhere was a pretty good distraction.
@Victoria -- Early today by Bangkok time (which would be evening yesterday by EST) there was word at Al Jazeera and Balloon Juice that the Pentagon had announced that "At the direction of the President" they did it. At that point no officials were making any statements.
Wonder if the Pretender's dim brain sees any connection between scrapping the Iran nuclear agreement and his additional provocation of "maximum pressure" applied to Iran's economy and people to its stepped up efforts to flex its military muscles in the Middle East?
Or to his own mounting domestic political difficulties.
More to the point perhaps is that if it did, it wouldn't matter.
Combine stupidity with a transactional punch--counterpunch approach to governance (to business? to life?) and this is what we get...a guarantee of a series of reasonless fistfights fought in the dark, leading to who knows what.
Thinking about all those goons at The Intercept, Wikileaks, Snowden, etc. that claimed that Drumpf, despite his vanity and idiocy, would be preferable to Neo-con warmonger Hillary Clinton.
I'll admit it. I never imagined the Orange Menace would be an utter failure at such a monumental scale as to threaten the very foundations of society and international order more generally. Holy shit. And he stands a better than 50% chance of reelection because of a juiced stock market and lots of mediocre jobs.
Safari: I think we all underestimated the stupidity, ignorance, impetuousness, narcissism, egotism, scariness, popularity among the rubes and repugs in general, and complete abdication of responsibility and adult activity amongst those around him, of trumposity and all it entails. Jesus weeps. The CEO of America wags the dog again. The idiots in congress don't even deserve a mention.
So much for the "calm leaders" at the Pentagon restraining trump from sheer madness. It looks as if they were as successful as Pompeo, Bolton, and Esper were when they tried to talk trump out of holding up the Ukraine assistance.
Any competent people left at the State Department have their work cut out for them.
I hope all the wingnuts (and their kids and their grandkids) are rushing off to the armed forces recruitment centers to sign up for the war they have been aching for.
It seems to me that trump and the wingnuts don't understand that the best way to achieve security is to make sure other people don't want to harm you. Once you have to start defending against all possible attacks, and these days that's very many indeed, even going down the street to your favorite hotel becomes a multi-million dollar event.
Now that trump has declared open season on high-level adversaries, his enablers had better watch their backs. I hope Pence and Pompeo and McConnell and Esper and all the rest have stocked up on snacks. Thanks to the actions ordered by their boss, they may be spending a lot of time at home.
Perhaps a sheerly mad thought, Nisky Guy, and one that might embarrass me later today, but right now I'm not sure I'd be foursquare againt the looney leaders here and elsewhere taking one another out, one by one, and leaving the rest of us in peace.
The Jennifer Rubin's headline in the Wapo: "Trump has raised strategic incoherence to new levels with Soleimani’s killing" says it best. Trump is floundering and he'll continue doing crazy as a distraction. He doesn't have a plan. He never did for anything.
I had planned to post New Year’s greetings for one and all at RC today.
Since first hit with last night’s “Breaking News” - then following it into the wee hours - flashbacks of yellowcake, Niger and wag-dogging have flooded my being. The pathway here? Readily traced. As repugs smugly “celebrate” their flagrant ignorance of the magnitude: diplomats, military, civilians (‘men, women and children!’). Our entire World.
I fear the hand-basket has landed.
DiJiT has advocated assassination/decapitation from the first. Recall that he was talked out of assassinating al-Assad shortly after his inauguration.
We always (since about 1995) have the capability of dropping pinpoint death from the sky, in any country that doesn't have good Anti-aircraft missile defense. Aside from dodging the AAMs, ensuring that the target is confirmed is the major obstacle. The proliferation of identifiable personal signals (phones, On-Star, etc.) makes that easier.
So why have we not used overt assassination to solve more of our problems abroad?
Maybe because the blowback is always/always more costly than the immediate benefit. And the blowback reverberates for years.
@Patrick, that's probably Vlad's plan.
Trump seems to think that the old redneck legal defense of "He needed killing" is valid.
Look for more chest-thumping and bomb dropping from Fatty. He must recall that the Decider positioning himself as a president on a “war footing” made him virtually invulnerable to domestic complaints (recall warnings that people, ie Americans not cool with Bush’s made up war, better be careful what they say). He’ll want some of that for himself. If he can get a good war going somewhere (Iran, Iraq, Madagascar, Aruba, it doesn’t matter) he can wrap the flag around his fat traitor’s ass and tell Democrats to pound sand, declaring that it would be treason to impeach the great Donald while he “stands up for ‘merica”, dammit.
The solution to getting caught betraying your country and violating your oath of office? More of the same.
Lots more.