Is the naive, militarily challenged, foreign policy neophyte, Trump starting a war with Iran?

Everyone??? Aren't you overstating? Everyone I knew thought Trump was acting like an idiot with his mindless threats.

In his interview with Time, Trump described what kind of provocation he believes would justify military action. "I would certainly go [to war] over nuclear weapons."

We already had an agreement with Iran that permanently barred Iran from making a nuke. Trump trashed it!!!

Trump, once again, is acting like an idiot.

 

And in Florida he said he would not invade Iran but would take out their bomb making capability.

 

If it works once, it can work again.

The Times reports, "The Trump administration is telling Congress about what it says are alarming ties between Iran and Al Qaeda, prompting skeptical reactions and concern on Capitol Hill.

"Briefings by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, backed up by other State Department and Pentagon officials, have led Democrats and some Republicans to ask whether the administration is building a case that the White House could use to invoke the war authorization passed by Congress in 2001 to battle terror groups as legal cover for military action against Iran."

"Statements tying Iran to Al Qaeda or the Taliban by Mr. Pompeo and other officials point to the potential for the administration to justify invoking the 2001 authorization, some lawmakers say. And when asked in recent weeks by lawmakers and journalists whether the administration would use the 2001 authorization, Mr. Pompeo has deflected the questions," the Times added.

If all that sounds familiar, that is because it is.

June 17, 2004, Bush, in a brief appearance before reporters, was asked why the administration insists that Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda had a relationship. The President answered:"The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al Qaeda, because there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda." http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/17/Bush.alqaeda/index.html

Bush's statement turned out to be a lie, along with the two other lies the Bush administration used to convince Americans invading Iraq was warranted. One lie said that Saddam had WMD's. He had none in March 2003, the month the U.S. invaded Iraq. The other lie was that Saddam had a connection to 9/11. There was none.

 

Thank you. You helped prove my point.

I said earlier, "Of course, he listens to the military because he doesn't know a damn thing about the military. In a situation like Iran, he has to listen to the military."

 

But earlier, you said he does not listen to his advisers. You need to get your story straight.

 

Speaking of vetting, Pompeo had to visit CentCom headquarters. Why? That is not the job of the secretary of state. That is a job for the secretary of defense. Oh, we don't have one. We haven't had one for six months, and acting secretary of defense, Patrick M. Shanahan, quit, effective immediately. It seems he and his son beat his estranged wife. His son beat her up with a baseball bat in 2011.

The White House didn't know about that?

TRUMP: No, we have a very good vetting process. And you take a look at our Cabinet and our Secretaries — it’s very good. But we have a great vetting process. Honestly this guy can be very funny sometimes in a tragic sort of way.

 

Provide the quote where I said that.

Actually, I said that he does listen to his advisors because they are all lapdogs. They say what Trump wants to hear. Sound familiar?

I got an idea. Why don't you pay attention to what I do say, rather than imagining what I said, and then go from there.

 

The House is sending Trump a message: If he wants to take any military action, he has to get permission from Congress first.

The House voted Wednesday to repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which was passed in the days after 9/11, and gave President George W. Bush the authority to go to war with al-Qaeda and any related organization. For the past 18 years, presidents of both parties have used this same 2001 congressional war authorization as justification for wars all over the Middle East.


The vote is particularly significant now, as Trump administration officials briefed Congress Wednesday on what they said are connections between Iran and al-Qaeda. Trump’s administration has been escalating tensions with Iran, leading to mounting concern on Capitol Hill that the administration is itching for war.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-poli...ouse-democrats-vote-repeal-9-11-aumf-war-iran

 

The military is not always right Sandy.

 

Because most of what you say is not worth the paper it is written on. By the way, do you now believe the US Navy believes Iran is responsible? Or do you still believe Iran?

 

The Bush administration never claimed that Saddam Hussein was connected to the 9/11 attacks and you well know that.

 

Because you say stuff like insisting the defunct nuclear agreement with Iran "permanently barred Iran from building a nuclear weapon when it did no such thing.

 

Al Qaeda is a militant Sunni Islamist multi-national organization founded in 1988[35] by Osama bin Laden. Al Qaeda's origins are Arabic.

Iran is Persian and Shi'a. Al Qaeda holds Shi'ism to be heresy, and considers even Shi'a civilians to be legitimate targets for acts of violence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda#Ideology

"Trump administration officials briefed Congress Wednesday on what they said are connections between Iran and al-Qaeda."

How is that possible?

 

Yes, it did, and I am not going to waste my time on finding out for you.

 

No it didn't. By the time we invaded Iraq, it was clear who was responsible for 911.

 

You lose.

https://www.leadingtowar.com/claims_facts_iraqnotinvolved.php

 

I wondered when somebody would question that. It took a while, probably because most readers know that when I say something it is true. I have never found it advantageous to lie or make up stories like some.

This was written days before Trump withdrew the U.S. from the JCPOA.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was adopted in October 2015 and formally implemented on Jan. 16, 2016, by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States — and Germany and Iran.


Iran agreed to constraints meant to ensure that its nuclear program will be used only for peaceful purposes, such as energy production. In exchange, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations agreed to lift a broad range of sanctions on Iran. U.S. allies say the Iran deal has helped maintain stability. Critics of the deal say that the broad lifting of sanctions has enabled Iran to increase its influence in a volatile region and that the accord does not restrict Iran from developing ballistic missiles. [But they don't question the permanent nuclear ban]

"Nevertheless, President Trump's statement indicates either abject confusion over the parameters of the JCPOA or a willful misinterpretation of that deal," said Alexandra Bell, senior policy director at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. "Either way, it is dangerous, as Iran will never be 'free to go ahead and create nuclear weapons.' "


As a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has pledged not to develop nuclear weapons — ever. In agreeing to the JCPOA, Iran recommitted itself to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Bell said. "The NPT is of indefinite duration and serves as the underpinning for the entire global nonproliferation regime," she said.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-fact-check-trump-iran-deal-20180508-story.html

Countless sources say the same thing. Too many people believed Trump's lies. The world may pay a price for that.

 

It helps to read your own sources.

Overview:

The Bush administration and the U.S. intelligence community knew immediately after 9/11 that Iraq had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks and that al-Qaeda was solely responsible. Yet for months before the Iraq war, and even after the war began, the administration repeatedly implied that there was a connection between Iraq and the attacks of 9/11, leaving a majority of the U.S. public with that mistaken belief.

I was a columnist at the time. I wrote extensively about the Iraq war. I remember it like it was yesterday.

 

I did?

Cheney restated his claim that "there was a relationship between al Qaeda and Iraq that stretched back 10 years. It's not something I made up. ... We know for a fact that Saddam Hussein was a sponsor -- a state sponsor -- of terror. It's not my judgment. That was the judgment of our [intelligence community] and State Department."

The former vice president said in 2004 that the evidence was "overwhelming" that al Qaeda had a relationship with Hussein's regime in Iraq, and that media reports suggesting that the commission investigating the 9/11 attacks reached a contradictory conclusion were "irresponsible."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/01/cheney.speech/

 

I did. And my link in its first sentence says clearly that the Bush Admin. never claimed Iraq was involved in 9-11

Although the Bush administration made no outright claim that Iraq was connected to the attacks of September 11,

 

Your fault for not looking closely at Trump's revolving door of advisors and inner circle people.
I believe that you were around while all this chaos was and is going on.

 

Trump has been remarkably sanguine about Iran. What's up?

 

Yet for months before the Iraq war, and even after the war began, the administration repeatedly implied that there was a connection between Iraq and the attacks of 9/11, leaving a majority of the U.S. public with that mistaken belief.

Last word on the subject. Back to Iran, and the similar activity by the Trump administration.

Uh-oh!

"Washington (CNN)Iran's downing of a US drone takes the bitter foes one step higher in a cycle of escalation that could soon overwhelm each side's reassurances that they have no desire to tumble into war.

"The showdown with Iran has now become the grave foreign policy crisis for President Donald Trump that many analysts have long predicted and into which the administration is entering without any obvious end game in mind.

"Trump responded to the downing in an ominous fashion on Thursday morning by tweeting "Iran made a very big mistake!"

"But in an appearance in the Oval Office a few hours later he appeared to suggest that the order to down the drone came from a rogue element of the Iranian military."

"I find it hard to believe it was intentional," Trump said, seemingly looking for a way out of direct confrontation with Iran.

Sounds like Trump is finally beginning to realize what he did when he trashed JCPOA that permanently barred Iran from making a nuke. He suddenly is beginning to see the repercussions from the bellicose remarks from Pompeo and "regime change" Bolton.

A week ago I warned about a foolish mistake by a local commander in the dangerous environment created by the Trump administration. You can push a nation just so far, and, at some point, something will explode.

Maybe that is what happened here. I remind everyone no one has been hurt or killed ... yet.

 

If a majority of American people decide to reach the wrong conclusion it is hardly the responsibility of the administration to correct them.

As for Iran, no one cares if they shoot down the U.S. drone now and then. But if they hit a U.S. ship with a missile wouldn't you agree the U.S. has a right to retaliate against Iran?

 

I know I've asked at least twice, #236, #244, what the odds are that Trump goes to war with Iran? Why are the people so convinced we're heading for war don't want to answer that?