Trump ALMOST started a war with Iran - Only reason it didn't happen was b/c of leaks

[Phokus]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/12/us/politics/national-security-council-turmoil.html?_r=2

Turmoil at the National Security Council, From the Top Down

Last week, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was exploring whether the Navy could intercept and board an Iranian ship to look for contraband weapons possibly headed to Houthi fighters in Yemen. The potential interdiction seemed in keeping with recent instructions from Mr. Trump, reinforced in meetings with Mr. Mattis and Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, to crack down on Iran’s support of terrorism.

But the ship was in international waters in the Arabian Sea, according to two officials. Mr. Mattis ultimately decided to set the operation aside, at least for now. White House officials said that was because news of the impending operation leaked, a threat to security that has helped fuel the move for the insider threat program. But others doubt whether there was enough basis in international law, and wondered what would happen if, in the early days of an administration that has already seen one botched military action in Yemen, American forces were suddenly in a firefight with the Iranian Navy.

The U.S. obviously doesn’t and wouldn’t have any legal right to seize another navy’s ship in international waters, which would be an act of war. If another government attempted this against an American or allied ship, we would correctly view it as completely unjustified aggression. It is lucky that Trump didn’t stumble into a war with Iran in such a reckless way, but it seems that the plan to attack an Iranian vessel was “set aside” mainly because it happened to leak. If it hadn’t, the U.S. might have already fired the opening shots in a new war.

We need the leaks to keep this up. This man is unfit to be POTUS.

 

[raildogg]

America has a reality TV show star as its President.

From the article:

"New Trump appointees are carrying coffee mugs with that Trump campaign slogan into meetings with foreign counterparts, one staff member said."
"Nervous staff members recently met late at night at a bar a few blocks from the White House and talked about purging their social media accounts of any suggestion of anti-Trump sentiments."

Seems like reality TV, right?

About Iran:

"Last week, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was exploring whether the Navy could intercept and board an Iranian ship to look for contraband weapons possibly headed to Houthi fighters in Yemen."

So it appears that America's neocon ways are still around. After all, it didn't stop with Obama while he bombarded the Middle East and Afghanistan so of course it will continue now.

I don't believe that this sort of stuff is just pure accidental. Too much is at stake for these sorts of things to happen.

 

[Jhhnn]

I really don't think that Iran would escalate even if that did happen. I rate the notion as fear mongering.

Trump already handed Khameini a huge propaganda victory which will undoubtedly sell very well in the region-

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/02/ayatollah-khamenei-donald-trump-170207114954347.html

I doubt that Trump's policy wrt Bibi & the settlers will do much to gain friends & influence people, either.

 

[pauldun170]

Take a civil war and inject Saudi Arabia into it

Yemen, one of the Arab world's poorest countries, has been devastated by a war between forces loyal to the internationally-recognised government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and those allied to the Houthi rebel movement.

More than 6,800 people have been killed and 35,000 injured since March 2015, the majority in air strikes by a Saudi-led multinational coalition that backs the president.

The conflict and a blockade imposed by the coalition have also triggered a humanitarian disaster, leaving 80% of the population in need of aid.
....
The conflict has its roots in the failure of the political transition that was supposed to bring stability to Yemen following an uprising that forced its longtime authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to hand over power to Mr Hadi, his deputy, in November 2011.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29319423

Officially known as Ansar Allah (Partisans of God), the Houthi rebels began as a theological movement that preached tolerance and peace in the early 1990s, according to Ahmed Addaghashi, a professor at Sanaa University and author of two books on the movement, Houthi Phenomenon and Houthis and Their Political and Military Future.

Addaghashi told Al Jazeera that the Houthi movement originally held a considerably broad-minded educational and cultural vision. A religious group affiliated with the Zaydi sect of Shia Islam, the Houthis maintain a stronghold in the northern province of Saada.

"The group started as a gathering called the 'Believing Youth Forum' in the early nineties," Addaghashi said.

"Then, it fell into internal strife between two lines; the first called for more openness, while the second urged sticking to the traditional legacy of the Shia sect."
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/yemen-houthis-hadi-protests-201482132719818986.html

So why the hell are we involved with a civil war on the side of a Saudi "We secretly aid the people that attack you" Arabia?

Saudi Arabia and Egypt fear the civil war threatens the globally-important Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal because Yemen sits on the narrow Bab el-Mandeb strait through which much of the world's oil shipments pass.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/who-are-yemen-s-houthis-what-do-they-want-n665636

If Houthis get succeed and get rid of their scumbag government, then that means a Iran might have a friend in the region.

Last week, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was exploring whether the Navy could intercept and board an Iranian ship to look for contraband weapons possibly headed to Houthi fighters in Yemen. The potential interdiction seemed in keeping with recent instructions from Mr. Trump, reinforced in meetings with Mr. Mattis and Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, to crack down on Iran’s support of terrorism.

In other words, Trump and his band of merrry jerkoffs want "Publicity stunt" to counter the Navy fuck up where the boat ran out of gas in Iranian waters and Iran boarded the boat
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/30/politics/iran-navy-capture-investigation-report/

That is how shallow and stupid this administration is. Their top concern is ratings and "looking" macho.
They allowed a mission with blatant flaws to go through because they wanted their Rambo America World police moment and got people killed. Now thereis an example of creating an incident all because of Trumps retarded view of the incident. the view he was parroting off with on the campaign trail

 

[1prophet]

So why the hell are we involved with a civil war on the side of a Saudi "We secretly aid the people that attack you" Arabia?

Oil, the king of fossil fuels, the reason for multi - trillion dollar wars, environmental disasters, global warming, hundreds of thousands if not millions dead, global instability, terrorism, refugees, Wahhabi Islam spreading like wildfire, etc., etc.,

but Nuclear power is the bogeyman we are all told to fear.

 

[senseamp]

Trump is waiting for (and if he is an astute student of Putin, orchestrating) his Reichstag fire moment to go on the attack against his political opponents.

 

[raildogg]

Oil, the king of fossil fuels, the reason for multi - trillion dollar wars, environmental disasters, global warming, hundreds of thousands if not millions dead, global instability, terrorism, refugees, Wahhabi Islam spreading like wildfire, etc., etc.,

but Nuclear power is the bogeyman we are all told to fear.

Who is behind this then? Some puppet politician that comes and goes or massive conglomerates and other elites?

 

[HomerJS]

Create instability in Middle East. That causes oil futures to go up, causing oil and gas prices to go up. Once Trump got the sanctions lifted Russia can work with Exxon to drill wells and make use of those oil lease rights purchased in 2011. This makes Putin richer and Russia more powerful.

IMO - That was the plan. Shit coming out in the news with investigations may cause all that to collapse.

 

[Grooveriding]

Trump is waiting for (and if he is an astute student of Putin, orchestrating) his Reichstag fire moment to go on the attack against his political opponents.

A Reichstag event would probably need to be something that happened at home, not abroad, in order to be effective for him. I don't see how he has the apparatus at his disposal to effect something like that. US Intelligence agencies are apparently working against him and revealing all the information they have about his team's treason with Russia. I think they'd be all over him for something like that and it would make the job of tossing him a lot easier than it already looks to be for them.

 

[senseamp]

Can you really say that intelligence agencies are working against him, with Comey in charge of the FBI?

 

[Grooveriding]

Someone is giving the information about all these contacts between Trump's staff and Russian agencies to the media. It's obviously accurate as well since they had Flynn resign within the hour of it being revealed he'd discussed sanctions and Trump knew about it for three weeks already.

Who knows which one it is. But, with it being calls, transcripts of calls and the like - my guess would be the NSA or an agency with access to the NSA's data. Some group in these agencies are out to get him and have the information to do it.

Trump is a slimy piece of crap, before or after his presidential move. The amount of dirt those agencies could dig up on him is probably immense. I'm surprised his elusive tax returns have not been leaked. Maybe it's an issue of them not being able to be legally published by a media outlet. I'm sure their contents is available to the intelligence community though and they are aware of anything of value in them pertaining to Russian connections.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Iran needs a good ass kicking, and they will soon get one.

 

[Phokus]

Iran needs a good ass kicking, and they will soon get one.

Maybe we should send you to the front lines first?

 

[pcgeek11]

They didn't "almost start a war".

TDS is running rampant in this thread.

 

[brandonbull]

I thought that Saudi Arabia and Iran are basically at war over which version of Islam is better. Seems like the Saudis have had a lot of long established puppets in the US due to all the money they have poured into the US to advance their agenda. Iran has gotten into the game with their recent collection of puppets. Now we seems to have rogue agents in our intelligence services going political.

 

[zinfamous]

Now we seems to have rogue agents in our intelligence services going political.

Since Trumpsters are so unwilling to defend this country from their own fascist desires, who then is left? Seems the IC are the only entities capable of letting the actual facts be known.

I know it sucks to be so horribly wrong at times, but you'll eventually come around.

 

[brandonbull]

Since Trumpsters are so unwilling to defend this country from their own fascist desires, who then is left? Seems the IC are the only entities capable of letting the actual facts be known.

I know it sucks to be so horribly wrong at times, but you'll eventually come around.

Bubble life must be great. The only fascist I have seen are the left leaning individuals that wish to impose their way of thinking on others via any means necessary, and are ok with foreign governments openly proclaiming that they will spend the necessary funds to block our court systems to prevent enforcement of the laws of the United States.

 

[dphantom]

I thought that Saudi Arabia and Iran are basically at war over which version of Islam is better. Seems like the Saudis have had a lot of long established puppets in the US due to all the money they have poured into the US to advance their agenda. Iran has gotten into the game with their recent collection of puppets. Now we seems to have rogue agents in our intelligence services going political.

They are at war with each other via Yemen as the proxy. Syria is the other proxy.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

No biggie, they'll get the Isrealis involved.

 

[bshole]

Iran needs a good ass kicking, and they will soon get one.

Another keyboard hero wanting to destabilize one of the last remaining stable countries in the Middle East. America is becoming perhaps the most evil country on the planet. We deserve to lose and we should lose.

 

[momeNt]

This forum is rapidly becoming a purveyor of tinfoil hats.

 

[Jhhnn]

Bubble life must be great. The only fascist I have seen are the left leaning individuals that wish to impose their way of thinking on others via any means necessary, and are ok with foreign governments openly proclaiming that they will spend the necessary funds to block our court systems to prevent enforcement of the laws of the United States.

Meanwhile, Repubs have elevated gerrymandering & voter suppression to a twisted art form & a Trump mouthpiece makes this proclamation-

The end result of this, though, is that our opponents, the media and the whole world will soon see, as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned.

https://www.democracynow.org/2017/2...owers_of_the_president_will_not_be_questioned

 

[zinfamous]

Bubble life must be great. The only fascist I have seen are the left leaning individuals that wish to impose their way of thinking on others via any means necessary, and are ok with foreign governments openly proclaiming that they will spend the necessary funds to block our court systems to prevent enforcement of the laws of the United States.

Man, you really haven't been paying attention, have you? I think you are thin on history, my friend.

It's as if you are actually OK with this minority rule we've been living under through the last 6 years. "The left suppressing everyone!" Hey, guess what Sherlock: when the GOP has control of nearly 70% of all elected seats in the fucking country, where do you think the left has the room to suppress you or anyone else?

They don't. The things that you hate about yourself and your life are a result of GOP meddling, and they've convinced you that the left is to blame.

Maybe you're OK with roughly 38% of voter support winning 70% of the elected seats in a nation, but democracy is not OK with this.

 

[brandonbull]

Man, you really haven't been paying attention, have you? I think you are thin on history, my friend.

It's as if you are actually OK with this minority rule we've been living under through the last 6 years. "The left suppressing everyone!" Hey, guess what Sherlock: when the GOP has control of nearly 70% of all elected seats in the fucking country, where do you think the left has the room to suppress you or anyone else?

They don't. The things that you hate about yourself and your life are a result of GOP meddling, and they've convinced you that the left is to blame.

Maybe you're OK with roughly 38% of voter support winning 70% of the elected seats in a nation, but democracy is not OK with this.

Again, bubble life must be even better than I thought. Not sure what I hate about myself or my life. I'm a poster on this forum so that means I make eleventy millions a year, have a super hot wife, and an IQ of 345.

 

[senseamp]

If it's true, thank you, leakers.