What a coincidence that the same day a Fox “straight news” anchor suggested it was time to “stop talking” and “start acting against Iran” an American air strike in Baghdad killed a powerful Iranian general, Qassim Suleimani.
Here’s how The New York Times described Suleimani’s significance:
The general was a figure of intense interest to people both in and out of Iran.
It is not just that he was in charge of Iranian intelligence gathering and covert military operations, and regarded as one of its most cunning and autonomous military figures. He was also believed to be very close to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — and seen as a potential future leader of Iran.
He was considered the most effective military intelligence official in the region.
What this really means is a huge escalation of hostilities with Iran. Commander Bone Spurs has probably just bungled or wagged the dog into another unnecessary and potentially disastrous war.
That brings me back to Fox News. I wrote earlier today about “straight news” anchor Leland Vittert’s war mongering on America’s Newsroom:
VITTERT: Look back in history over the past 40 years. Iran has never really acted like a normal country. The couple of times they have was not because of a show of force, it was because of an act of force by the United States. When is the time to stop talking, as everybody seems to be doing, and start acting against the people who have tried to take over the U.S. embassy, who’ve shot down our drones, who are mining tankers?
I also wrote:
I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts, as my mother used to say, that Vittert’s hard push for war was directed from above. If nothing else, you can see him looking down, as if reading notes, while he speaks. Hardly the demeanor of someone feeling bellicose. The point is, if I am right, we can expect more of this kind of dangerous rhetoric from Fox personnel.
Well, I thought there would be more banging the drums for war before Bone Spurs actually started one.
Did Fox have advance knowledge of Trump’s decision? Was the network trying to influence Trump into taking that action? Or was Vittert merely on the same page as Commander Bone Spurs? I report, you decide.
Whatever the cause of the synchronicity, one thing we can be sure of is that Fox News will be cheerleading the war and demonizing anyone who dares to question Bone Spurs. Which is why we all need to raise our voices NOW and refuse to be silenced about this huge blunder.
By the way, Newsweek drew to my attention that yesterday, Fox’s Andrew Napolitano just happened to predict Trump would start a war with Iran in 2020 – and be reelected.
Watch Vittert promote military action against Iran below, from the January 2, 2020 America’s Newsroom.
Where to start?
As John pointed out America’s biggest security threat told his sub-sub-sub-genius son, Con Jr., details on this pending action who, in turn, telegraphed the attack on Twitter. Where’s the Fox News outrage? Cue cricket chorus.
MSNBC played a 2011 clip where Citizen Grievance threw an absolute fit that Obama was about to wag the dog and attack Iran to boost his pre-reelection poll numbers. Sorry, Donny, you saw yourself in your crystal ball. See impeachment too, loser?
This strike is pure (evil) genius. So we showed Iran! End the surrogate war and slaughter some actual Iranians. We’ll teach them to threaten the US Iraq embassy. Wave the flag and brag our staff remain there still. Forget DoS just announced all US citizens should stay away from it like the plague and not use it. Too unsafe now. Really?
Liar-‘N-Thief’s promise to his MAGA cult of no more useless foreign wars and he’ll pull back American troops in harm’s way? Kiss that goodbye, MAGA cultists. In addition to the ~4,000 troops reported Trump is deploying, MSNBC reports even more are on the way including Marines in a task force cruising across the Mediterranean (my old job in the Navy – thank goodness I’m out!).
I won’t become an alarmist and predict an overt war. I also hate to disappoint all the Evangelical Trump cultists who see Revelations unfolding and hope Trump is the “chosen one” ushering in the End Times (note most of the earthly major actors in Revelations are pawns of Satan). It isn’t that either. However, nobody’s a winner in this endless tit for tat violence between the US and Iran. Obama took a small step towards building trust and deescalation. Wrecking ball Trump gleefully trashed that and is escalating the conflict. Unfortunately, it’ll be infinitely more difficult now to put us back onto the road of peace in the Middle East. All because Iranian leaders tweaked Trump’s fragile ego prior to all of this with some public insults.
Tell the truth (which has never been a characteristic of the current administration) I really doubt that Pompeo actually saw any Iraqis “dancing in the streets” at the news that Suleimani had been killed. If only because I don’t think he’d accept to get anywhere near a street in any country in the Middle East. Nope, only a helicopter will do and the higher it flies the better.
A nice “little” war is what President Reagan wanted when the USA took over …. Grenade …. one of the smallest, most remote islands in the American hemisphere. The worst that happened in retaliation was the sound of jaws dropping all over the world: “Whaaaaaat? Grenade??? gimmeeabreak!”
Copy-cat Trump – who’s always got to be the biggest, bestest, most whatever – decided to outdo Reagan by picking on two of the largest and most heavily armed countries way out in the middle of the Middle East. And one of those countries is really really close (perhaps already there) to having its own nukes and long-range ballistic missiles. Talk about stooooopid, Donnie!
About a third of American adults will probably cheer until they also realize that it is they and theirs who will have to do the fighting. The first nation to actually use nuclear weapons (possibly the USA under this administration) will throw the whole planet back to a world where water no longer flows out of a tap, light no longer comes on at the flick of a switch, and food rots before it can be eaten.
Small groups of people who already live off the land in remote areas (Amazon basin? Africa? Indonesia?) will tell tall tales about a fantasy world where life was good. Even though there were some evil, god-like people who could kill others with a bang from a distance, come and go as they pleased in big metal birds, etc..
I wouldn’t be taking any bets on the chances that Jared, Eric, Donald or Ivanka will be anywhere near any fighting but it is somewhat a consolation to know that they won’t be able to escape the consequences either. What gets my goat, however, is that none of those idiots will realize that the whole mess is their fault. The Trumps are never wrong, you know.
RANT OFF (not really).
And let’s be clear about the chain of events here. Following another disastrous year for the Pence White House, capped by Pence’s childish spokesman getting himself impeached, the Right Wing has gone into full wag-the-dog mode and launched multiple provocative actions in the Middle East. Against the repeated urging of the Iraqi leadership (who we effectively installed there after we invaded in the early 2000s), the Pence White House murderously bombed multiple targets. As a result, a large number of protestors stormed the US embassy in Baghdad – a reaction the Iraqi leadership had predicted would likely happen, and apparently did not oppose, given that their citizens were angry about the Americans’ behavior. And then the Pence White House responds to the protests by launching another attack – this time against not only Iraqis but also a higher level Iranian. And now we not only have Iraq infuriated but Iran as well.
Of course, I wouldn’t expect the result to necessarily be the whole USA rallying around the flag – particularly when the situation is this blatant. It’s more likely that the Right Wing outlets like Fox News will frantically wave the flag and their arms, but everyone else will calmly step back and then continue with the normal coverage of the continuing impeachment of Pence’s childish spokesman.
If anything, the latest behavior just clarifies the urgent need for EVERYONE to show up and vote in November.
