Why Is Israel Bombing Iran? Is Trump Going To Bomb Iran?
And why is John Fetterman all for it?
Last Friday, Israel began bombing Iran, and Israel claims to have killed 11 generals. Israel is calling these strikes “preventative,” and is claiming that Iran has violated its Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons by enriching too much uranium. But, and, Israel is not going after just nuclear facilities, but individuals in leadership, and also a gasfield and an oil depot. Follow the latest!
Israel does not have the bunker-busting bombs that would actually take out Iran’s nuclear program, but the US does. And it would seem that what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu actually wants is not some kind of non-proliferation agreement, but total regime change. That is what he told the Iranians, anyway.
And now President No More Wars is contemplating More Wars, surprise. As soon as Israel bombed, Trump was on the phone with Putin, asking him what to do.
“We’re not involved in it. It’s possible we could get involved,” he told ABC News on Sunday. And then today he TruthSocialed that maybe we already are involved?
“We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran. Iran had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesn’t compare to American made, conceived, and manufactured ‘stuff.’ Nobody does it better than the good ol’ USA.”
And he swanged his wang some more.
“We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there —We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.”
Oh, so it’s “we” now? And what are he and Boozehound Pete Hegseth going to do? Guess we will all find out!
Israel claims that its attack is related to some new development, but an attack has been planned for a while. Though Iran has been enriching uranium since the US first gave them some in 1967, and has not built a bomb with it yet, back in April, the New York Times reported that Israel was itching to bomb them anyway, and Netanyahu brought plans to Trump that would have required US help. Trump seemingly said no, buuuut the US intensified attacks against Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, and moved a second aircraft carrier, missiles, missile batteries and a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system into the Red Sea, which are not things one does if the aim is less involvement. And the US dispatched a half-dozen of those B-2 bunker-bombers to an island base in the Indian Ocean, just in case of something.
Rather mixed messages. Would Israel have surprise-attacked without the support of the US? Or did Netanyahu pull an ask-for-permission later? Unclear!
Anyway, Vice President Butthair has X’ed a whole essay about it now.
Look, I'm seeing this from the inside, and am admittedly biased towards our president (and my friend), but there's a lot of crazy stuff on social media, so I wanted to address some things directly on the Iran issue:
First, POTUS has been amazingly consistent, over 10 years, that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Over the last few months, he encouraged his foreign policy team to reach a deal with the Iranians to accomplish this goal. The president has made clear that Iran cannot have uranium enrichment. And he said repeatedly that this would happen one of two ways--the easy way or the “other” way.
Second, I've seen a lot of confusion over the issue of “civilian nuclear power” and “uranium enrichment.” These are distinct issues. Iran could have civilian nuclear power without enrichment, but Iran rejected that. Meanwhile, they've enriched uranium far above the level necessary for any civilian purpose. They've been found in violation of their non-proliferation obligations by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is hardly a rightwing organization.
It's one thing to want civilian nuclear energy. It's another thing to demand sophisticated enrichment capacity. And it's still another to cling to enrichment while simultaneously violating basic non-proliferation obligations and enriching right to the point of weapons-grade uranium.
I have yet to see a single good argument for why Iran needed to enrich uranium well above the threshold for civilian use. I've yet to see a single good argument for why Iran was justified in violating its non-proliferation obligations. I've yet to see a single good pushback against the IAEA's findings.
Meanwhile, the president has shown remarkable restraint in keeping our military's focus on protecting our troops and protecting our citizens.
He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment. That decision ultimately belongs to the president. And of course, people are right to be worried about foreign entanglement after the last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy.
But I believe the president has earned some trust on this issue. And having seen this up close and personal, I can assure you that he is only interested in using the American military to accomplish the American people's goals. Whatever he does, that is his focus.
HA HA HA, earned some trust on this issue! Also the claim that they’re enriching uranium to make bombs, just trust me, where did we hear that before? Oh right, Colin Powell and Dubya, with Iraq. The IAEA did say that they were concerned about the amount being enriched, that is true. But Iran has let inspectors in, by all accounts there’s no evidence they have tried to build a single weapon with their uranium, and the US and Iran had been having talks in Oman until Israel crashed the party. Literally. With bombs. And then Iran fired back.
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And now the IAEA is saying everybody should STOP FUCKING BOMBING before they IRRADIATE US ALL.
The sane universe is in agreement that it wants nothing to do with getting involved in escalating a Middle East conflict. Who wants a bunch of angry hostage-loving terrorists coming after them now?
Senator Tim Kaine introduced a bill to curb Trump’s war-making powers, and in the House Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna announced plans to introduce a resolution for the same, which Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she would sign onto also. And Sen. Bernie Sanders also introduced a separate bill, cosponsored by Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen, on Monday, which would prohibit the use of federal funds for “any use of military force in or against Iran” without congressional approval, with the exception of self-defense.
But at least one Democrat senator is all for the US regime-changing Iran with bombs. John Fetterman! And he went on Fox News to say so, and hanker for taking Iranian leadership out.
What is going on with Fetterman? New York magazine detailed how he became an extreme pro-Israel war hawk after his stroke, which intensified after Hamas’s October 7 attacks. And anti-immigrant, co-sponsoring the Laken Riley Act, even though his wife came to the US from Brazil as an undocumented immigrant.
Sounds like the marriage has not improved; Fetterman just spent his 17th wedding anniversary publicly dining with Steve Bannon and Breitbart’s Matt Boyle at Butterworth’s, the DC restaurant that has become a right-wing hangout. Is he losing his mind? Influenced by his Fox-watching father? Nobody knows.
Anyway, back to Iran, remember in 2011, when Trump Tweeted and would tell anybody who would listen that Obama wanted to start a war in Iran to win the election?
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Projection, every damn time.
And then Obama made a non-proliferation deal with Iran, in spite of the Republicans doing all they could to sabotage it, and Trump pulled out of that agreement practically the minute he was elected. But Iran stayed in the deal, along with France, Britain, and Germany, and continued, as it has done since 1967, to not build any bombs. And then, in January of 2020, Trump aggressed upon Iran, ordering the assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani for reasons unclear. President of Peace!
Right-wing hawks have been wanting to bomb Iran forever, which seems kind of ungrateful after the Ayatollah politely waited to release American hostages to help Reagan get elected, and then Reagan snuck them some weapons.
Anyway, all of this is frightening stuff. Especially with Boozehound Sec. Def. Pete Hegseth with his fingers on the bomb buttons, and senile grandpa Trump seemingly confused about what to do. Maybe Putin can talk him down from starting World War III? Wouldn’t that be ironic!
Thank goodness at least Chaka Khan is leading meditation online now. Chaka Khan, take me away!
OPEN THREAD!
[BBC]
In my new place the floor is a bit uneven. I assembled my desk chair, sat down in it and rolled backwards halfway across the room. It did give me a giggle, but now I have to remember to not push back too much when getting up from the desk unless I want to chase my runaway chair.
The Gas Station. Number 1 in a series maybe.
https://substack.com/@ziggywiggy/note/c-126924852?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2knfuc