Trump says he halted U.S. strike on Iran over possible casualties

[rooster59]

Trump says he halted U.S. strike on Iran over possible casualties

 

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Orlando, Florida, U.S., June 18, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/Files

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he called off a planned military strike against Iran because it would have been a disproportionate response to Tehran's downing of an unmanned U.S. surveillance drone, adding that more sanctions have been imposed.

 

"We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights (sic) when I asked, how many will die," Trump wrote in a series of morning tweets. "150 people, sir, was the answer from a General.

 

"10 minutes before the strike I stopped it, not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone. I am in no hurry."

Trump said U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran were having an effect and, without mentioning details, said more were added Thursday night.

 

Iranian officials told Reuters on Friday that Tehran had received a message from Trump warning that a U.S. attack on Iran was imminent but that he was against war and wanted to talk.

 

Trump's tweets did not address whether he had sent a message to Iran's leaders but repeated his attacks on the deal secured by his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. He also reiterated his stance that Iran would not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons.

 

The escalating tensions come after Tehran on Thursday said it had shot down an unmanned U.S. military surveillance drone with a surface-to-air missile following a spate of attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf region.

 

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and David Alexander; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Trott)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-06-22

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[Thailand]

OK

[Somtamnication]

That is impossible. All military options and casualties, both in war zones and collateral, are discussed, reviewed and prepared for presidential briefings. He did not listen to them.

 

Now, one more reason to not add the USA as a world partner; you cannot believe them anymore!

[Tug]

More likely a moment of clarity realizing how he and he alone would have been responsible for starting another war in the Middle East imo I think he might be starting to realize how out of hand things have become under his administration 

[ezzra]

Trump is playing with the Iranians just like a cat plays with a mouse before the final act, admittedly, no one wants war, least of all Iran, but Iran being Iran with it's well known passion for rhetorics and death and destructions proclamation to anyone whom they don't like, and Trump being Trump, he will hold on as long as he can before he will have to strike back, casualties or not, just to maintain and show who's boss here...

[simple1]

3 minutes ago, ezzra said:

well known passion for rhetorics and death and destructions proclamation to anyone whom they don't

Just as easily talking about trump. trump is unfit for Office.

[observer90210]

It takes many things to start a war...but it takes real balls to Stop it !!.....like the Donald or not...hats down to him on this one....in fact he seems to be the first president or one of the rare US presidents in history to have done so....well done Donald !

[bendejo]

He does not want to compete with TV images of body bags being unloaded from cargo planes.

He does not want to have to face the aggrieved parents of the dead soldiers during his re-election campaign.

And who knows, maybe he is smart enough to know what a neocon is (probably not, he'd have to read boring, egghead political analysis periodicals to learn about that) that he is being manipulated by a cadre with an agenda.  Fox has been playing into the neocon thing since day 1, but saying the word on that network is taboo, even to denying there is such a thing.

Any hint of him being a peacemaker, diplomat etc is laughable.  The nearest he comes to Churchill is when his buddy gave him the hat, thats it.

 

 

Edited June 21, 2019 by bendejo

[pegman]

This clown repeatedly attacked Obama for "telegraphing" military action. Then once president he messaged Syria about airfield bombings now again the Mad Mullahs.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/03/29/trump-says-u-s-will-leave-syria-very-soon-despite-his-promises-not-to-telegraph-military-moves/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a919e457d900

[OneMoreFarang]

So he didn't think about or ask about casualties before he ordered the attack?

Normally people would expect that the so called commander in chief should be aware that most military actions cost lives.

But then again, there is not much normal about this moron.

 

[OneMoreFarang]

39 minutes ago, Tug said:

More likely a moment of clarity realizing how he and he alone would have been responsible for starting another war in the Middle East imo I think he might be starting to realize how out of hand things have become under his administration 

It seems these moments don't happen very often in his life.

[heybruce]

A casualty estimate would have been a prominent part of any military option explained to Trump. 

 

Either Trump ordered the strike without paying attention to the casualty estimate then asked at the last minute (possible), he was not nearly as close to an actual strike as he claims (claiming to be ten minutes away either for dramatic effect or because he was clueless about the strike timeline), or a combination of the two. 

 

I think a combination of not understanding what he was ordering and not being as close to an actual strike as he claims is the most likely explanation for this strange behavior.

[OneMoreFarang]

10 minutes ago, observer90210 said:

It takes many things to start a war...but it takes real balls to Stop it !!.....like the Donald or not...hats down to him on this one....in fact he seems to be the first president or one of the rare US presidents in history to have done so....well done Donald !

He ordered those attacks. And he obviously didn't think about or care to ask how many people will possibly die when he ordered it.

And as an afterthought possible dead people came to his mind - long after he ordered the attack and possible start of the big war.

And you praise him for that? No more questions.

[Tug]

8 minutes ago, observer90210 said:

It takes many things to start a war...but it takes real balls to Stop it !!.....like the Donald or not...hats down to him on this one....in fact he seems to be the first president or one of the rare US presidents in history to have done so....well done Donald !

Before Donald we and our allies had a treaty with this nation Donald chose to break it and try to destroy Iran’s economy that’s how we find ourselves here it that’s balls to start something it takes wisdom to avoid starting something in the first place 

[heybruce]

10 minutes ago, observer90210 said:

It takes many things to start a war...but it takes real balls to Stop it !!.....like the Donald or not...hats down to him on this one....in fact he seems to be the first president or one of the rare US presidents in history to have done so....well done Donald !

He didn't stop a war, he held back on starting one.  At least for now.

 

He also held back in a manner that suggests he's not fully in control of things in his administration.  That's not encouraging.

[bristolboy]

12 minutes ago, observer90210 said:

It takes many things to start a war...but it takes real balls to Stop it !!.....like the Donald or not...hats down to him on this one....in fact he seems to be the first president or one of the rare US presidents in history to have done so....well done Donald !

That's like congratulating someone for first banging their head against the wall and then stopping it. What about if he had never created this situation in the first place?

[OneMoreFarang]

1 minute ago, bristolboy said:

That's like congratulating someone for first banging their head against the wall and then stopping it. What about if he had never created this situation in the first place?

Except he was on the best way to bang some other people's heads against the walls.

Maybe he should try to bang his own head to the wall. He can't make things much worse. And if it doesn't work: Bang again, and again, and again.

[bendejo]

2 hours ago, pegman said:

hen once president he messaged Syria about airfield bombings

That was him helping the Russians.  His whole strategy on Syria has been in deference to the Russians.  The media has been too caught up in the tweet outrage of the day for the past 2+ years to cover this.

Recall when he said "we're done with Syria" and the Pentagon said "what the <deleted>?"

 

America first!  After Russia.

 

 

[stevenl]

31 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Trump is playing with the Iranians just like a cat plays with a mouse before the final act, admittedly, no one wants war, least of all Iran, but Iran being Iran with it's well known passion for rhetorics and death and destructions proclamation to anyone whom they don't like, and Trump being Trump, he will hold on as long as he can before he will have to strike back, casualties or not, just to maintain and show who's boss here...

Do you really believe that?

[rabas]

2 minutes ago, stevenl said:

33 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Trump is playing with the Iranians just like a cat plays with a mouse before the final act, admittedly, no one wants war, least of all Iran, but Iran being Iran with it's well known passion for rhetorics and death and destructions proclamation to anyone whom they don't like, and Trump being Trump, he will hold on as long as he can before he will have to strike back, casualties or not, just to maintain and show who's boss here...

Do you really believe that?

Yes, since his stated objective, many times now, is to push the Irani back to the negotiating table to replace the flawed nuclear deal.

[bristolboy]

And he also lied about imposing additional sanctions on Iran in the wake of the incident.

[neeray]

I'm sure most members on TVF know who George Conway is. Here's what he tweeted about the 10-minute-genius. I particularly appreciate his second tweet.

 

George Conway @gtconway3d

Trump didn’t realize UNTIL TEN MINUTES BEFOREHAND that a planned airstrike would kill over a hundred people and would therefore be grossly disproportionate to the loss of a UAV?
To say this is amateur hour would defame amateurs.

 

George Conway @gtconway3d

Resign. If you didn’t know this until it was almost too late, you’re even more of an idiot than people think you are. Do the country and the world a favor. Go back to real estate, where the worst you can do is kill banks. https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1142055388965212161 …

[simple1]

1 hour ago, pegman said:

This clown repeatedly attacked Obama for "telegraphing" military action. Then once president he messaged Syria about airfield bombings now again the Mad Mullahs.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/03/29/trump-says-u-s-will-leave-syria-very-soon-despite-his-promises-not-to-telegraph-military-moves/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a919e457d900

Easy to blah blah when not in power. Different when you own outcomes

[user68677878]

As to the real state of the Nation- San Francisco: man caught dumping  20 lbs of human excrement in plastic bag on street corner cited for using non-biodegradable plastic bag.

[habanero]

1 hour ago, bendejo said:

He does not want to compete with TV images of body bags being unloaded from cargo planes.

He does not want to have to face the aggrieved parents of the dead soldiers during his re-election campaign.

And who knows, maybe he is smart enough to know what a neocon is (probably not, he'd have to read boring, egghead political analysis periodicals to learn about that) that he is being manipulated by a cadre with an agenda.  Fox has been playing into the neocon thing since day 1, but saying the word on that network is taboo, even to denying there is such a thing.

Any hint of him being a peacemaker, diplomat etc is laughable.  The nearest he comes to Churchill is when his buddy gave him the hat, thats it.

 

 

They don't show body bags coming off of cargo planes anymore. Vietnam was a long time ago. 

Coffins draped in American flags maybe!

[soalbundy]

1 hour ago, observer90210 said:

It takes many things to start a war...but it takes real balls to Stop it !!.....like the Donald or not...hats down to him on this one....in fact he seems to be the first president or one of the rare US presidents in history to have done so....well done Donald !

He was probably more worried about losing, another Vietnam wouldn't look good on his CV as the most popular president of all time.

[ballpoint]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Except he was on the best way to bang some other people's heads against the walls.

Maybe he should try to bang his own head to the wall. He can't make things much worse. And if it doesn't work: Bang again, and again, and again.

I bet Mexico would gladly pay for that wall.

[soalbundy]

11 minutes ago, simple1 said:

Easy to blah blah when not in power. Different when you own outcomes

As this self proclaimed genius is finding out. Trade wars are good and easy to win.

[AlexRich]

He only learned ten minutes before launch because he had a doctor’s appointment ... those bone spurs playing up again.

 

A war with Iran is hardly a great idea going into an election year. The military could crush the Revolutionary Guard initially but would get bogged down in a Vietnam scenario ... and experience serious terrorism at home ... but I suspect Trump is now surrounded by the sort of people who will bounce him into conflict.

[soalbundy]

1 hour ago, bristolboy said:

That's like congratulating someone for first banging their head against the wall and then stopping it. What about if he had never created this situation in the first place?

He thought it would be a good distraction until somebody said "what about if we lose''?