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Iran Iran So Far Away

Axios
Rebecca Falconer

January 5, 2020 11:14 ET

Pelosi announces war powers vote in bid to limit Trump on Iran

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced in a letter Sunday that the House “will introduce and vote on a War Powers Resolution to limit” President Trump’s "military actions regarding Iran."

What she’s saying: In the letter addressed to Democratic colleagues, Pelosi states, “Last week, the Trump Administration conducted a provocative and disproportionate military airstrike targeting high-level Iranian military officials. This action endangered our service members, diplomats and others by risking a serious escalation of tensions with Iran.”

  • The letter continues:

"As Members of Congress, our first responsibility is to keep the American people safe. For this reason, we are concerned that the Administration took this action without the consultation of Congress and without respect for Congress’s war powers granted to it by the Constitution.

This week, the House will introduce and vote on a War Powers Resolution to limit the President’s military actions regarding Iran. This resolution is similar to the resolution introduced by Senator Tim Kaine in the Senate. It reasserts Congress’s long-established oversight responsibilities by mandating that if no further Congressional action is taken, the Administration’s military hostilities with regard to Iran cease within 30 days.

The House Resolution will be led by Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin. Congresswoman Slotkin is a former CIA and Department of Defense analyst specializing in Shia militias. She served multiple tours in the region under both Democratic and Republican Administrations.

I greatly appreciate the solemnity with which all of our Members are working to honor our responsibility to protect American lives and values.

Thank you for your patriotic leadership during this difficult time."

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The story below that one is worth noting also; Trump is threatening to levy sanctions against IRAQ if they ask us to leave.

Trump warns he may hit Iraq with sanctions, doubles down on Iran threat

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Only Trump would think that “be-our-friends-or-else” could be an effective foreign policy.

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@Keaton_James
And he still fails to understand that sanctions levied by us and only us don’t scare countries. Other nations are not going to back us up in this insanity, and it takes a united front for sanctions to really work.

Iraqi prime minister says Qassem Soleimani was in Iraq to ‘discuss de-escalating tensions between Iran and Saudis’ when he was killed - and claims Trump had asked for help mediating talks after embassy attack

  • Iraq’s caretaker prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, told his parliament in Baghdad on Sunday that US strike on Soleimani was a 'political assassination’
  • Abdul Mahdi claimed that Soleimani was due to meet with him on the same day that he was killed by a US drone near the Baghdad airport early on Friday
  • The outgoing Iraqi leader says that Soleimani was supposed to bring him Iran’s response to a Saudi proposal for de-escalating regional tensions
  • Saudi Arabia, a regional rival, blames Iran for an attack on the kingdom’s oil facilities in September
  • Abdul Mahdi also claims that President Trump called him and asked him to mediate talks with Iran after the US embassy in Baghdad was nearly overrun
  • Supporters of the Shiite group Kataib Hezbollah scaled the walls and barreled through security at the US embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday
  • Abdul Mahdi said he personally intervened to defuse the embassy crisis and that the American president thanked him for doing so
    Soleimani was in Iraq to 'discuss de-escalating tensions with Saudis' when he was killed, PM says | Daily Mail Online

Saudi Arabia says it was not consulted on Soleimani strike, urges calm

Kingdom, vulnerable to possible reprisal attacks after American drone strike targeting top Iranian general, reportedly sending prince to US, UK to plead for restraint

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This thread offers a window into the utter chaos Trump has unleashed through his incompetent, blundering, and illegal move in Iran.

It is very much worth reading:
















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Remember how they said killing Soleimani would put an end to everything?

Yeah, that was never true.

Iran’s general replacing Soleimani vows revenge for US killing

http://a.msn.com/01/en-us/BBYEmOv?ocid=st

This is escalating in a very bad way. Hassan Rouhani is the current president of Iran. This post references Iran Air Flight 655: An A300 shot down by the US, in thePersianGulf, on July 3, 1988. All 290 people on board died.
image

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CNN

Top general says letter suggesting US would withdraw troops from Iraq was a ‘mistake’

By Zachary Cohen, Barbara Starr and Ryan Browne, CNN

Updated 4:58 PM ET, Mon January 6, 2020

The top US general said Monday a letter suggesting the US would withdraw troops from Iraq was released by mistake and poorly worded, telling reporters “that’s not what’s happening.”

Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley sought to address the confusion that began after the leak of a letter to the Iraqi government from US Command in Baghdad suggesting US troops would be withdrawn from the country.

“That letter is a draft. It was a mistake, it was unsigned, it should not have been released … (it was) poorly worded, implies withdrawal, that is not what’s happening,” Milley said.

“It’s an honest mistake … it should not have been sent,” he added.

OMG. The level of incompetence is just staggering. This is what happens when you have a President who couldn’t care less about doing a professional job of anything. Just blast it out there. Typos? Reviews? Approvals? Doesn’t matter. BUT it does matter. We’re talking about a world on the brink of war. Every word, every punctuation mark is crucial. I’m so weary of having a buffoon for a President and Commander in Chief. :clown_face:

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This clip from VEEP comes to mind.

https://youtu.be/0pjISXu-CT4

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I needed that! – a little comic relief in the midst of all this stress. And so spot on!

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In case you missed it…

"We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base [in Iraq]. It cost billions of dollars to build… We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it." – Donald J. Trump, Air Force One, January 6, 2020

Compare and contrast…

“Mexico is going to pay – they know it – Mexico is going to pay for the wall, and that’s an easy one.” – Donald J. Trump, Portland, Maine, Aug. 4, 2016

“Mexico will pay for the wall, OK, believe me, they will pay for the wall.” – Donald J. Trump, Jacksonville, Florida, Nov. 3, 2016

"[Mexico is] going to pay for the wall, and they’re going to enjoy it.” – Donald J. Trump, Nashville, Tennessee, May 29, 2018

:rofl:

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Iran state TV: Tehran fires at Iraqi base housing US troops

Iran state TV says Tehran has launched “tens” of surface-to-surface missiles at Iraq’s Ain Assad air base housing U.S. troops over America’s killing of a top Iranian general.

State TV described it early Wednesday as Tehran’s revenge operation over the killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

U.S. forces could not be immediately reached for comment.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE.

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LA TIMES

January 7, 4:40pm PT

Iran fires missiles at two U.S. bases in Iraq

Irbil base hit as well according to LA Times.

Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles that targeted at least two military bases used by U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq, the Pentagon said Tuesday night after Iranian state television said the barrage was the opening of Tehran’s “revenge” for the U.S. killing last week of a top Iranian general.

The U.S. has not confirmed any casualties from the attack on bases in northern and western Iraq, according to Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.

“It is clear that these missiles were launched from Iran,” Hoffman said in a statement.

The missiles hit the Asad Air Base, one of the largest U.S. facilities in Iraq, which houses both Iraqi and U.S. forces, in western Iraq. They also struck a base in Irbil, in the Kurdish-governed north of the country.

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Fake news spreads fast. This fact check thread is legit and helpful. :point_down:

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All is well

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The worst part about this for me is that Trump is refusing to say what sort of casualties we have, meaning military families here are waiting in the dark to find out if their loved ones are safe.

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All indications are the crash of a Ukranian airliner bound from Iran to Ukraine is unrelated to recent tensions and due to mechanical failure.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-08/boeing-737-carrying-180-people-crashes-in-iran-state-media-says


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Following Trump’s speech today. He opened with Iran never having nukes and stated that no Americans were harmed and we should all be grateful.

All indications are that this was according to Iranian plan, though he seems to be taking credit for it.

Now he’s talking about sanctions and telling lies about the Iran Nuclear Deal. He’s blaming Obama for the missiles last night, for giving Iran money. He still hasn’t spoken of their course of action.

Note that Trump in the middle of this propaganda just had to bring up Iran’s “untapped potential”, because it always comes down to money.

Trump states he is going to ask NATO to get more involved in peace in the Middle East, but then immediately goes on to brag about the economy, energy independence, our military, and our “big, powerful, and fast” missiles.

He said he wants peace… and now he’s leaving without taking questions or actually outlining any sort of real plan besides “asking NATO to step in.” And that’s it.

All told it was kind of underwhelming and low-energy. There wasn’t much there, but it at least wasn’t the worst case scenario we expected. The only notable thing here is his plan to ask NATO to step in (though NATO does play a more major role there now) and blaming Obama for them having these missiles (which is not at all the case).





There’s a winner from the US-Iran crisis, and it’s ISIS

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