WAR?

I just saw a map of our troop deployments in the ME. We have more troops in Kuwait (13k) than in Afghanistan (12k).

Why? What's happening in Kuwait?

transshipment (or whatever you call transshipment when it's people) and probably logistics.  Anyhow, relatives who were deployed to Iraq came and went through Kuwait.

Iran is apparently lobbing missiles into Iraq at one of our bases. Iran claims 30 dead so far.

f*ck

So, yeah. War.

BREAKING: #Iran Air Force has taken off from its bases. (Mehr News Agency)

This is now Missiles and Air. https://t.co/Jr7xSfrALP
— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) January 8, 2020
 

No US casualties, but there are Iraqi casualties.

drummerboy said:

Iran is apparently lobbing missiles into Iraq at one of our bases. Iran claims 30 dead so far.

f*ck

I wouldn't pay much attention to that "30 dead" claim.

No US personnel hurt or killed according to CNN.   Both sides now signaling clear deescalation.

Trump is going to pat himself on the back for this at every one of his rallies.    

I hate him.

There's an eerie optimism that this is going to be their only retaliation.  I'm guessing there could be independent actors that will attack our troops that Iran can easily distance themselves from.

Good summation of Trump and Iran by Mehdi:

Ok, looks like we're stepping back from open warfare. Both sides get to claim some kind of victory here.

The insidious part is how Trump is using this situation to demand the other signatories of the Iran nuclear deal also back out. 

Nice rant by Mike Lee about the lack of information at the briefing and the admonition to avoid debating the topic.

Yeah, Lee was kinda pissed.

John Kerry just tore Trump about 7 new orifices on the Lawrence O'Donnell show, talking about the JCPOA.

It was a beautiful thing to watch. If you can find the video of it, highly recommended. And educational.

Pompeo is laying out the Iranian strategy.  Feels like we're a few steps closer to a full war.

It seems the we are reneging on the agreement with Iraq to remove our troops when they request.

WASHINGTON — The State Department on Friday rebuffed the Iraqi government’s request to begin discussions on pulling out troops, saying that any American officials going to Baghdad during a state of heightened tensions would not discuss a “troop withdrawal,” as the Iraqi prime minister had requested. Instead, discussions would be about the “appropriate force posture in the Middle East.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/world/middleeast/us-troops.html

Goodbye, the sold fiction that we're there for their democracy. Goodbye the illusion that Iraq's democracy would be allowed to chart its own course. 

Hello, eternal occupation.

@drummerboy

 I've never seen Lawrence that quiet. I wondered when Kerry was going to run out of steam but he was relentless. Impressive.

Uh db, that avatar is a little scary. I miss Boris and Natasha.

Morganna said:

@drummerboy

 I've never seen Lawrence that quiet. I wondered when Kerry was going to run out of steam but he was relentless. Impressive.

Uh db, that avatar is a little scary. I miss Boris and Natasha.

 +10

A snippet of Kerry:

Morganna said:

@drummerboy

 I've never seen Lawrence that quiet. I wondered when Kerry was going to run out of steam but he was relentless. Impressive.

Uh db, that avatar is a little scary. I miss Boris and Natasha.

 that's my imminent war face

drummerboy said:

Morganna said:

@drummerboy

 I've never seen Lawrence that quiet. I wondered when Kerry was going to run out of steam but he was relentless. Impressive.

Uh db, that avatar is a little scary. I miss Boris and Natasha.

 that's my imminent war face

 And, what do you call your newest avatar?

RealityForAll said:

drummerboy said:

 that's my imminent war face

 And, what do you call your newest avatar?

21st-Century Schizoid Manx

drummerboy said:

 that's my imminent war face

Well from Morgan Le Fay Cat Rescue, your new avatar is highly adoptable and put a big smile on my face.

Morganna said:

Well from Morgan Le Fay Cat Rescue, your new avatar is highly adoptable and put a big smile on my face.

 Good, I didn't mean to frighten the clientele.

Morganna said:

Well from Morgan Le Fay Cat Rescue, your new avatar is highly adoptable and put a big smile on my face.

 Wow. We adopted two kittens from you about 6 years ago!!! Had no idea it was you. My wife did the whole thing and I just showed up with her to get the "kitten"....but they were only two left and they were hugging each other so we took them both! Wonderful person you are Morganna.

drummerboy said:

Morganna said:

Well from Morgan Le Fay Cat Rescue, your new avatar is highly adoptable and put a big smile on my face.

 Good, I didn't mean to frighten the clientele.

Cats are very judgmental, which is how I interpreted the new avatar.    

So it sounds like the briefing to congress did or did not mention imminent attacks on embassies - now they say it was 4 embassies.  I just saw someone make a good point, that IF this were the case - we should at least have warnings sent to the embassies and/or military backup/readiness to address this possible situation.  This proof would at least corroborate that the Trump team took these threats and protection of our embassies seriously.

In response to the plane that was shot down.  With the current travel ban - there are no direct flights to the US.   So, isn't it safe to say that any Americans looking to fly from Iran would need to use a Canadian bound flight?  Seems like if they were to target any flight flying out of the area to inflict harm on Americans - this one would be a good gamble.

Morganna said:

Well from Morgan Le Fay Cat Rescue, your new avatar is highly adoptable and put a big smile on my face.

 I learned from watching Jeopardy the other night that Morgan Le Fay was a character in "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court". I read that in HS but did not remember.

Why is cat rescue named after that character?

Jaytee said:

 Wow. We adopted two kittens from you about 6 years ago!!! Had no idea it was you. My wife did the whole thing and I just showed up with her to get the "kitten"....but they were only two left and they were hugging each other so we took them both! Wonderful person you are Morganna.

 Yes me unmasked! Who did you adopt? Post pictures, we could use a thread drift LOL