Iranian General Sulemain and others reported killed in Baghdad airstrike

[Thelxi]

The stakes are getting a bit higher now. It doesn't matter what the intricate politics are of it all. Having Trump, an above average guy who has done the most for any attention, fame and validation he could get for decades now, and heir of almost half a billion dollars, making actual war decisions after he spent years removing all guardrails and training wheels around him, is a precarious situation. It's one thing to have a zealot cunt like Nikki Haley regurgitate bizarre bullshit at UN assemblies, but it's another to be ordering airstrikes and overtly challenging Iran.

[Draco-Onis]

A lot of people freaking out like this is the start of WW3……News flash it's not going to be. It won't even be Iraq 2.0 or anything down that road. I suspect Iran to rattle their sabers make some aggressive actions in the straight of Hormuz with renewed harassment of ships passing through. They might try and get one of their militia groups to do something but that’s about it from my view. Anything too aggressive they risk an even worse retaliation from the US. The US doesn’t have to invade Iran to cripple them all they have to do is use naval and air assets to cripple destroy key military sites and infrastructure Iran. Sure Iran can lash back as US military assets in the process but at the end of the day, they can’t strike the US mainland in any meaningful way while the US can strike Iran. Russia and China won't come to save Iran like some people seem to think. They are not going to risk a major war over Iran it’s just not going to happen. They will rattle their sabers and send money and weapons to Iran but that would be about it.

ROFLMAO so you are saying Al Qeda managed to pull off 9/11 but Iran will not be able to do anything to US mainland yup that's realistic /s

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Exactly this. Some people here need to stop being bloody afraid of everything and realize that US is far more powerful and capable than Iran and Iran know it very well. That's why there won't be any war, because Iran vs US would be ended in matter of days and Iran knows it.

Just like Iraq right? I mean that went so well /s

[Rumred]

ROFLMAO so you are saying Al Qeda managed to pull off 9/11 but Iran will not be able to do anything to US mainland yup that's realistic /s

And how did that work out for Al Qaeda? How many more members did they and the Taliban lose? If anything that example highlights why Iran would not do such a thing. Doing so yeah they kill thousands of Americans and that would be bad. They end up with their government toppled and Iran turned into a warzone. Who really wins that scenario? Hint it isn't the Iranian government.

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Just like Iraq right? I mean that went so well /s

You are confusing the war and the occupation. The government of Iraq under Saddam was destroyed. Saddam and his sons are dead. The insurgency that came after was an issue but the war itself to topple the government of Iraq was a relatively easy affair.

[Draco-Onis]

And how did that work out for Al Qaeda? How many more members did they and the Taliban lose? If anything that example highlights why Iran would not do such a thing. Doing so yeah they kill thousands of Americans and that would be bad. They end up with their government toppled and Iran turned into a warzone. Who really wins that scenario? Hint it isn't the Iranian government.

Are you high? Al Qaeda is still around and now we got ISIS out of it which is far worse than them, we are spending trillions of dollars in a war with no end in sight. Did you learn nothing from history or are you believing the mission accomplished bullshit Trump is selling?

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You are confusing the war and the occupation. The government of Iraq under Saddam was destroyed. Saddam and his sons are dead. The insurgency that came after was an issue but the war itself to topple the government of Iraq was a relatively easy affair.

We fought the insurgency for years there was never a conventional war to begin with Saddam went guerrilla warfare pretty much out of the gate.

[Skroe]

Are you high? Al Qaeda is still around and now we got ISIS out of it which is far worse than them, we are spending trillions of dollars in a war with no end in sight. Did you learn nothing from history or are you believing the mission accomplished bullshit Trump is selling?

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We fought the insurgency for years there was never a conventional war to begin with Saddam went guerrilla warfare pretty much out of the gate.

Not entirely accurate. The war budget nowadays is mostly a slush fund to sidestep the Budget Control Act limits on the defense budget top line. It’s basically the overflow pool. About $15 billion of it are spent directly on the actual “war” every year now. The big ticket war spending is many years behind us and the debt it was financed on largely paid off over the last five years.

The wars were tremendously expensive but the spending on them is not some linear thing.

[ParanoiD84]

One thing is for sure this is a massive blow to iran there will never be someone like him there again, think he would be the next ruler too what a fine dictator he would have become

[Rumred]

Are you high? Al Qaeda is still around and now we got ISIS out of it which is far worse than them, we are spending trillions of dollars in a war with no end in sight. Did you learn nothing from history or are you believing the mission accomplished bullshit Trump is selling?

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We fought the insurgency for years there was never a conventional war to begin with Saddam went guerrilla warfare pretty much out of the gate.

The question is are you high? The government of Saddam was destroyed that is a fact. Al Qaeda and Taliban have taken FAR more losses than the US has including the 9/11 attacks. They are still around yes but if you are wanting to argue they came out of this affair in any way other than far worse off than the US you are smoking some damn good shit.

The Iranian government if it pulled off some 9/11 attack which I doubt they could not on the US mainland anyway but it would result in the destruction of the Iranian government. Their nation being turned into a war zone and thousands if not millions of their people killed or displaced during a long drawn out insurgency. Yes the US losses troops and yes the US pours money into it. End of the day the US could throw its hands up and leave allowing the insurgency to take over. The old Iranian government is still gone and their losses are still far higher than the US suffers. So tell me why Iran would go down this road?

[Skroe]

They are welcome to try, it will be the end of them.

For all their bluster they know very well to not do nonsense like that. They are not suicidal, that's why they instead spread all these proxies all around. They play a long game and they are doing really good (except this uncharacteristic, hamfisted embassy blunder), seeing some fools here go as far as defending Iran oblivious to all they do.

Eh, nonsense. Israel could stretch its reach to strike Iran for a day or so, but it’s power projection is as limited as everyone else’s that isn’t the US. It couldn’t sustain a large conflict versus Iran, much less “end them”. It doesn’t have the anywhere close to what it would need.

[Draco-Onis]

Not entirely accurate. The war budget nowadays is mostly a slush fund to sidestep the Budget Control Act limits on the defense budget top line. It’s basically the overflow pool. About $15 billion of it are spent directly on the actual “war” every year now. The big ticket war spending is many years behind us and the debt it was financed on largely paid off over the last five years.

The wars were tremendously expensive but the spending on them is not some linear thing.

You are talking about the straight conventional fighting but according to the CBO the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the whole shebang so to speak is around 3 trillion.

[ati87]

No, US is not in the wrong here. There are things you just don't do.

Iran was effectively given free reign for the shit they do in Middle East, it's almost shocking how US enabled them for all these years to the point where it got into whole mess like Yemen war, orchestrated in big part by Iran's growing appetites in the region.

Attacking US embassy, however? That shit was taking things way too far in US books and rightfully so. It is genuinely Iran foolishly fucking it up right there. They got a bit too ahead of themselves.

It would be mistake to not respond to it and response done here is what should be done, anything less than that would result in far more dead people long term.

First, Iran is in Iraq based on the invitation, including that militia, of the iraq government so what do you consider ''free reign''? Iran furthermore is, unlike the US, actually located in the US.
Second the embassy ''attack'' was after the fact that the US bombed that Iraqi government recognized militia.

Everybody that isn't a warmonger sees what is going on. The Trump admin has been pushing for a war with Iran since day 1 and is forcing a situation that Iran has to respond to so that Trump has his justification. The Trump admin is blaming Iran for everything including those that we know that they aren't involved with based on eye witnesses.

The Iraq war was a action that only retarded people though was justified and now you have the same type of people who use the exact same argument to push for a war with Iran.....the country that is much larger and will be more unified then Iraq if they ever get invaded by the US, Israel or SA.

[Ara Myrr]

No, US is not in the wrong here. There are things you just don't do.

I'm sorry, are you familiar with all the crap the US pulled in the middle-east?

[Gaidax]

Just like Iraq right? I mean that went so well /s

The actual Iraq war literally ended in days. I am talking about war than concerns regime itself, not what comes after.

This is what Iran's leaders in their frilly dresses think about. Saddam and his regime were done in literally in a blink of an eye. Whatever comes next comes next, but Khamenei and his bootlickers at the top won't be alive to see it and they know it.

[Draco-Onis]

The question is are you high? The government of Saddam was destroyed that is a fact. Al Qaeda and Taliban have taken FAR more losses than the US has including the 9/11 attacks. They are still around yes but if you are wanting to argue they came out of this affair in any way other than far worse off than the US you are smoking some damn good shit.

The Iranian government if it pulled off some 9/11 attack which I doubt they could not on the US mainland anyway but it would result in the destruction of the Iranian government. Their nation being turned into a war zone and thousands if not millions of their people killed or displaced during a long drawn out insurgency. Yes the US losses troops and yes the US pours money into it. End of the day the US could throw its hands up and leave allowing the insurgency to take over. The old Iranian government is still gone and their losses are still far higher than the US suffers. So tell me why Iran would go down this road?

You miss the point taking over buildings is not toppling a government or the end of a war, Iraq was a war zone for decades with no structure or leadership we won the booby prize. Instead of fighting just Al Qeda we now got ISIS, Taliban and Boko Harram, the Taliban is about to get a deal in Afghanistan they will be part of a legitimate government while we run with our tails between our legs.

Have you seriously learned nothing from Iraq?

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The actual Iraq war literally ended in days.

Conventional warfare is long gone only morons an idiots think they won by taking over buildings like Bush did.

[Skroe]

You know that the US is in the wrong right? Not kneeling down to the US is hardly a reason to start a war.

Iranian backed militias, organized and supplied by this guy, sacked part of our Embassy.

This may not be a wise course, but there is no universe in which the US is in the wrong for doing this. In fact it has shown remarkable patience in restraint given the drone downing and the cruise missile attack on our ally.

It’s past time to remind Iran about consequences. We have to be mindful of escalation, but it’s a massive mistake to stick to inaction. They’ll only grow bolder if we do.

Make no mistake, we are here because didn’t impose the costs we should have earlier.

[Gaidax]

I'm sorry, are you familiar with all the crap the US pulled in the middle-east?

I am as critical of US as every other guy, it does not mean I automatically consider everything they do ever as the worst thing there is. It's really simple, there are literally no white as snow friends of justice players in the Middle East. Everyone has their own skeletons in the closet, whether it's US, Iran, Israel, Turkey, Syria, Saudis... you name it.

That does not change the fact that Middle East will be better off without Iran stirring shit up with their proxies in every hot spot there nowadays. In between US and Iran? I most certainly pick US, despite their massive blunders in the region.

[Draco-Onis]

Iranian backed militias, organized and supplied by this guy, sacked part of our Embassy.

This may not be a wise course, but there is no universe in which the US is in the wrong for doing this. In fact it has shown remarkable patience in restraint given the drone downing and the cruise missile attack on our ally.

It’s past time to remind Iran about consequences. We have to be mindful of escalation, but it’s a massive mistake to stick to inaction. They’ll only grow bolder if we do.

Make no mistake, we are here because didn’t impose the costs we should have earlier.

To what end? what is the plan? Do you think the orange idiot thought this through?

[Machismo]

They are welcome to try, it will be the end of them.

For all their bluster they know very well to not do nonsense like that. They are not suicidal, that's why they instead spread all these proxies all around. They play a long game and they are doing really good (except this uncharacteristic, hamfisted embassy blunder), seeing some fools here go as far as defending Iran oblivious to all they do.

Then, your entire justification is, "might makes right." Everything you said in your previous post is shown to be disingenuous.

It's not about morality, it's about having the most nuclear weapons at their disposal.

[Draco-Onis]

Then, your entire justification is, "might makes right." Everything you said in your previous post is shown to be disingenuous.

It's not about morality, it's about having the most nuclear weapons at their disposal.

Meh his stance is all non Israelis should be wiped off the face of the earth and he wants the US to do it for him.

[Machismo]

Idk where people keep getting this “free” to do whatever crap. Sure Iran can retaliate however it wants but the US or whoever Iran attacks can respond however it likes that is how this works. Thie issue is the US can retaliate far harder and in more meaningful ways than Iran can and Iran knows this. So sure they could bomb the Tel Aviv airport but they will have to deal with the response. Just like the US is ready to deal with Iran's response whatever it might be but they are betting that Iran doesn’t choose to escalate any further as it stands to get hit harder in return.

Great, then any attempts to argue based on some imaginary moral high ground are pointless and disingenuous. That's exactly the point I was getting at. This wasn't about Iran being evil, it's about them not having as many guns as Israel and the United States.

So, any attempts to push a moral high ground are utter bullshit.

[Gaidax]

Eh, nonsense. Israel could stretch its reach to strike Iran for a day or so, but it’s power projection is as limited as everyone else’s that isn’t the US. It couldn’t sustain a large conflict versus Iran, much less “end them”. It doesn’t have the anywhere close to what it would need.

You don't need full scale war to put Iran back in its place, it's plenty vulnerable as is and any war that opens up will be closed pretty fast and most likely not in Ayatollah's favor and they know it.

I certainly don't think Israel can "destroy" Iran or needs do that, but can definitely do enough damage to its fragile ass leadership even with limited conflict. The Supreme Dickhead there is very aware of their position, that's why they work tirelessly to setup all these backdoors around just to have deterrent.