Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took to Fox News Sunday to sell us on a war with Iran – which the Trump administration is provoking even as it pretends to try to avoid one – and to dishonestly blame Barack Obama.
Host Chris Wallace failed to challenge Pompeo's insistence that oh, no, the Trump team doesn't want a war with Iran but preventing Iran from getting nukes is more important. That's quite a load of hooey given that Iran was in compliance with the nuclear agreement Trump withdrew from before he began pressuring that country with sanctions and threats.
Wallace did note that Iran has responded to Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign with more aggression, not less.”
Pompeo had the nerve to blame Obama:
POMPEO: Well, remember, Chris, where we took over. We took over from an administration that allowed Iran to create enormous wealth, build their missile program, a clear pathway to a nuclear weapon system. This is where the Trump administration came in.
So, we wisely withdrew from the JCPOA and put in place an economic pressure campaign, one that continues
FACT CHECK: Trump took over from an administration that struck the nuclear deal (the JCPOA) with Iran not to produce nuclear weapons. If Pompeo and Trump really cared about keeping Iran from producing nuclear weapons, it would have stayed in the agreement.
It’s worth pointing out that not even Pompeo claimed that Iran had not abided by the JCPOA.
Somehow, Wallace missed those points or else chose not to challenge Pompeo on them.
Wallace did ask, “How far is President Trump prepared to go?"
POMPEO: Chris, President Trump has been unambiguous, Iran will not get a nuclear weapon. That's the goal, that's the objective of our entire campaign with respect to Iran and to create stability throughout the Middle East as part of that effort.
Got that? Pompeo wants to "create stability throughout the Middle East" by starting a new war.
That’s nothing less than the kind of lies that led us into an unnecessary war with Iraq. And since the lies are coming from the Trump administration, you can best believe that Fox will do its part to promote them as truth.
God help us that we don’t get fooled again.
Watch Pompeo’s dangerous, dishonest warmongering below, from the June 16, 2019 Fox News Sunday.
What we do know is that the Pence White House is hell bent on getting into a full military showdown with Iran as soon as possible – because they’re hoping they can play the card of fooling the country into re-electing them under the flag of “We’re at war, we better keep the guys who are in office and not change horses in the middle of the race!”
This is based on their terror at actually needing to run for re-election knowing how weak and unpopular they are across the country. Anything that will be a big distraction is a good idea to them – and yes, even if that means that thousands of young Americans die in the process.
My hope is that the continuing skepticism from the rest of the country and the world will restrain the actual Defense personel from automatically doing what these war-fanners demand of them.
Orange Donald has delivered on massive tax cuts for his fellow millionaires/billionaires. Now comes a totally bogus war with Iran.
Unlike Iraq (a hodgepodge of warring clans), Iran is a real country with real military power. But that won’t matter to Orange Donald, Pom Pom Pompeo nor Talking Toilet Brush Bolton. The mere thought of an Iranian war causes Bolton to excitedly sprout a tiny woody.
Prepare for massive destruction to Mideast oil supplies. Gasoline will be $10 a gallon by late Summer, assuming you can find it in the massive lines at the gas station.
Look at what have we become.
Here Pompeo is polishing his boss’ apple, nothing more. Donald “All Options Are On The Table” Trump has been anything but unambiguous.
More importantly is Trump’s ‘winning’ in Iran looks a lot more like total failure. The big complaint about Obama’s agreement with Iran was it just bought 10 years before opening the door for Iran to develop nuclear weapons. However, we’re learning today Trump’s one-trick diplomatic pony of maximum pressure has only accelerated Iran’s nuclear ambitions with Tehran announcing it is just a step away from weapons grade uranium and a mere 10 days from reaching stockpile limits:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-us-tensions-tehran-says-will-break-key-nuclear-deal-uranium-limit-in-10-days/
