Last night, Sean Hannity repeatedly signaled that he has inside information about U.S. plans for escalating military action against Iran – and he didn’t mind spilling it on national television. This is not the only time we have seen such hints.
As I’ve previously reported, Hannity closed the disturbing interview with Iran war hawk Nikki Haley by suggesting inside knowledge of further escalation: "I think Rouhani and the mullahs, they need to go to the refineries. Just go visit. Hang out there for a few days.”
During his monologue earlier in the show, which was nine and a half minutes of war fever, Hannity more overtly indicated that he possessed inside information. Apparently, the chickenhawk was just too excited about the upcoming war he’s been salivating for to keep from boasting. Not too excited to say whether his own military-aged kids will be enlisting, though. More on that in my next post.
Hannity also fashioned himself as a military expert:
HANNITY: And no, we can't and we won't be going with boots on the ground in Iran. That's not going to happen. And, frankly, it's not necessary.
Instead, the president has been clear: we will strategically take out the mullahs’ ability to continue this reckless behavior, this saber-rattling, these attempts to bribe other countries or get paid or blackmail other countries. They are not gonna be able to disrupt the lifeblood of the world's economy, oil, as much as they have been trying.
Now, we are not -- and let me be clear -- I do not support boots on the ground. After Vietnam and Iraq and the swamp creatures, they send our brave men and women, our national treasure door-to-door, endless wars, and then they say "never mind" -- those days must forever be over. I've been saying this for some time.
This is about what I've been calling the next generation of weaponry, offensive and defensive, much of which is already at our disposal. In other words, that can and will be utilized to strike Iran's dictatorship where it will hurt them the most. They've got three major oil refineries and we know where they are. They have nuclear facilities, we know where they are.
We know Iran's terrorists network. Maybe even the mullahs themselves, maybe the mullahs - they're so brave - maybe President Rouhani, maybe he and the mullahs can hang out in one of those three major refineries. Good luck if they do, because at this very moment, I can promise you, the United States military has the power to wreak total, complete havoc to this hostile regime in Iran.
And, by the way, they can do it in a control room right here, in an air-conditioned room in Tampa, or maybe Nevada, anywhere in the continental United States, and they can do so in a matter of minutes. That's a fact.
My suspicions about Hannity were first aroused when he called into his show Friday night, the night Soleimani was killed. The supposedly vacationing host had garnered an astonishing amount of information that he claimed to have confirmed from a large array of sources in a very short period of time.
CNN’s Oliver Darcy's Spidey sense is also tingling. In last night’s Reliable Sources newsletter, he wrote, “It's fair to ask: Has Hannity been briefed? Does he know more about the US' plans with regard to Iran than some members of Congress?”
According to The Daily Beast, Trump couldn’t resist blabbing to his pals at Mar-a-Lago over New Years about the “big” response to the Iranian regime that they would learn of very “soon.” So it would hardly be a surprise if he told all to his unofficial chief of staff and Bedtime BFF Hannity.
You can watch Hannity look a lot like an armchair general below. Underneath, he also hints at knowing the U.S. will bomb Iran oil fields at the end of the Haley interview. Both videos are from the January 6, 2020 Hannity show.
“All in the Valley of Death rode the six hundred.” None of these chest-thumping, flag hugging moral cowards will be missed!
I’m wondering if those sneaky Iranians may not be playing cat and mouse with the spoiled manchild who wanted to create an alternative shiny object. By hitting the stuff (aka the inanimate and costly war toys) while also avoiding hurting people (aka the living, from birds to humans), they hit the GOPers right where it hurts the most.
In any case, it is the Iranians who are sounding like Americans as one after the other talks about values and principles that the USA did everything in its power to spread after WW2, the aim being to avoid a WW£. It is the Iranians who seem to have read the Constitution of the USA. Whether or not they are to be believed is relevant because I’m hearing the right words from the “wrong” side.
This whole mess brought to mind the sort of pie-in-the-sky attitude revealed by Saint Ronnie’s gleefully announcement on the development of what he called a “humane” bomb. Meaning one that killed all living things but left the infrastructure and other stuff intact, ready to be used almost immediately due of fast-dissipating radioactivity. That’s pretty much this administration’s idea of an “acceptable” nuclear bomb.
They know that this entire mess was instigated by the Pence White House out of its panic and desperation to distract everyone from the ongoing impeachment. They know that the Iraqis begged Pence’s group NOT to launch strikes as they would lead to extreme anger in the country. They know that the protests at the US Embassy were more than justified. They know that the additional US strike at the airport was an obvious attempt at provocation. And they know the launches this past evening were Iran’s attempt to save face more than anything else.
The real question is what Pence will do now. His childish spokesman appears to have no clue where to go from here. My fervent hope is that everyone just stands down at the moment with the rocket strikes and that Iran takes the rest of this up with the UN and the International Criminal Court.
2. Iran bombs Saudi oil facilities in retaliation for the retaliation for the retaliation.
When the Mideast is an ash heap, someone will try to figure out how this cluster-f*ck started.