Trump greenlights killing of Iranian General Soleimani

wing2000 said:

...but leave a few tank brigades in place to keep their oil.

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Good idea.

Trump's notification of Congress -- by tweet:

“These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner,” Trump tweeted from his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., late Sunday afternoon. “Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...53b740-2ffe-11ea-9313-6cba89b1b9fb_story.html

The House's response to Trump -- also by tweet:

House Foreign Affairs Committee ✔ @HouseForeign

"This Media Post will serve as a reminder that war powers reside in the Congress under the United States Constitution. And that you should read the War Powers Act. And that you’re not a dictator."

https://twitter.com/HouseForeign/status/1213953699371982853

Netanyahu: "The assassination of Soleimani isn't an Israeli event but an American event. We were not involved and should not be dragged into it."

America who?

essentialsaltes said:

Netanyahu: "The assassination of Soleimani isn't an Israeli event but an American event. We were not involved and should not be dragged into it."

America who?

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Nice faithful ally we have there.

GoldenBoy89 said:

Nice faithful ally we have there.

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...seems like a prudent stance. Fact is, Israel was not involved...

wing2000 said:

...seems like a prudent stance. Fact is, Israel was not involved...

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Nor are they our ally.

Desk trauma said:

Nor are they our ally.

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Considering how Donald treats our allies, it's an extremely prudent stance.

Hmmm...if they’re not an ally of the US and played no part in the assassination, one wonders why he had to make such a declarative statement...

GoldenBoy89 said:

Nice faithful ally we have there.

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Israel, the ally that murdered our soldiers for sympathy points.

gym_class_hero said:

Imagine the Russian reaction if the USA was equipping and funding dudes using IEDs to kill and maim Russian troops...

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Remember the mujaheddin in Afghanistan? How about the present conflict in Ukraine?

...and storming the Russian embassy

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That we have not done.

Kaon said:

People are sending their children to war because of the reasons you listed. It is a system that is built for that purpose.

Privileged people don't go to war, so you exploit the lower classes for your military. That has always been the case. So, while it is the decision of the individual, the parents (who will forever be parents) are sending their children to war because we are at war. I would say the same thing if it was Trump's kids, or Bill Gate's kids - but they would never send their children to war. They don't have to.

So, while we may think we can handle "more war," really, we are just sending more kids to war for poor decisions on behalf of a leadership that wouldn't do the same.

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I found out that a boy who used to be a member here, he left in Dec., had enlisted in the Reserves out of honour for country & family tradition. Not even out of money for college bc he got a full scholarship to GA Tech. It's just what every boy in his family has always done. His brothers are in active duty.

He's a Republican who constantly got crap from ppl old enough to be his grandpa on here bc he doesn't support Trump, would never vote for that man. Of course the Trump loving grandpas get to enjoy social security & and cheer on Trump when he comes on Fox News from their recliners while the young actually sacrifice for their country.

Trump dodged service. He ordered the assignation from his golf resort in between eating ice cream, tweeting, playing golf. But he'll still call the Republicans who do serve "human scum" bc they don't support him, precisely for this very reason. His incredible callous ineptitude with zero strategy that causes harm & chaos.

The world is a safer place and as a former Marine I’m glad we have a President who knows that peace through strength is the best route. He’s no Reagan but he’s better than his predecessor or the choices on the other side of the aisle.

TLK Valentine said:

...especially as he's probably going to be leading "Operation Payback," or whatever it'll be called in Urdu.

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Farsi. Urdu is the language of Pakistan.

DaisyDay said:

Farsi. Urdu is the language of Pakistan.

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I always get those mixed up...

On the day the U.S. military killed a top Iranian commander in Baghdad, U.S. forces carried out another top secret mission against a senior Iranian military official in Yemen, according to U.S. officials.

The strike targeting Abdul Reza Shahlai, a financier and key commander in Iran’s elite Quds Force who has been active in Yemen, did not result in his death, according to four U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

U.S. military operations in Yemen, where a civil war has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, are shrouded in secrecy. U.S. officials said the operation against Shahlai remains highly classified, and many declined to offer details other than to say it failed.

Officials at the Pentagon and at military commands in Florida were monitoring both strikes and had discussed announcing them together, had they gone well, officials said.

“If we had killed him, we’d be bragging about it that same night,” said a senior U.S. official, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a classified military operation.

Another senior official said that the two strikes were authorized around the same time and that the United States did not disclose the Shahlai mission because it did not go according to plan. The official said Shahlai may be targeted in the future, though both countries have signaled an interest in de-escalating the crisis surrounding the killing of Soleimani.

gym_class_hero said:

The world is a safer place and as a former Marine I’m glad we have a President who knows that peace through strength is the best route. He’s no Reagan but he’s better than his predecessor or the choices on the other side of the aisle.

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Well to be fair Obama did kill a lot more people with drones that Trump.

How did it become acceptable to assassinate one of the top military officers of a country with whom we are not formally at war during a public visit to a third country that had no opposition to his presence? And what precedent has this assassination established on the acceptable conduct of nation-states toward military leaders of countries with which we might have strong disagreement short of actual war — or for their future actions toward our own people?

Op -ed by former Senator Jim Webb
When did it become acceptable to kill a top leader of a country we aren't even at war with?

Iran will pursue war-crimes charges against President Donald Trump at the International Criminal Court in the Hague over the January 3 assassination of its top commander, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, outside Baghdad's international airport, according to Gholam Hossein Esmaeili, the spokesman for Iran's top judicial authorities.

Shortly after Soleimani's death, Agnes Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions, tweeted that the bar for lethal action by a nation claiming self-defense — as the Trump administration has repeatedly claimed — is extremely high and requires an imminent threat that the US has so far failed to identify.

"The targeted killings of Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al Muhandi most likely violate international law [including] human rights law," she wrote. "Lawful justifications for such killings are very narrowly defined and it is hard to imagine how any of these can apply to these killings."

The White House statement "mentions that it aimed at 'deterring future Iranian attack plans,'" she wrote. "This however is very vague. Future is not the same as imminent which is the time based test required under international law."

The hague? Lol.