That photo isn't the funeral crowd  ......    it's last months opening of the new Tesco Lotus store in Tajrish Bazaar.

23 minutes ago, legend49 said:

And you believe what the MSM writes, LOL.

My references were from a ME expert, military news site, and an Israeli news org. No MSM! So you solved the MSM problem another way, by not reading! lol

 

Well, I a bit out of touch with the politics here so I won't comment on who did what, when and how. What concerns me is that here we are planning trips and possibly building colonies on nearby planets. Maybe we should think of turning them into battlefields instead and start the way we intend to end up...fighting.

Hey Kuwait are you ready for a nice new big US Airbase??

Maybe the US should leave Iraq and let them all fight it out until the dust settles again.

  I am sure that the ISIL group and a few tribal leaders would love that to happen.

Oh did everyone forget the terrorist group??

Geezer

saber rattling

20 minutes ago, TKDfella said:

Well, I a bit out of touch with the politics here so I won't comment on who did what, when and how. What concerns me is that here we are planning trips and possibly building colonies on nearby planets. Maybe we should think of turning them into battlefields instead and start the way we intend to end up...fighting.

 

12 hours ago, klikster said:

Call me crazy, but IMHO, Trump's "knee jerk" reaction will likely cost thousands of innocent lives. I'll bet he figured that wartime presidents are more likely to stay in office.

 

Imagine the horrendous price that may be extracted for such a stupid tactic/scheme.

Kneejerk reaction?????  All he did was authorize the  termination of a terrorist enemy of the west, who had been on the hit list for 10+years. His response to iranian threats, is in the language they understand. He is getting good advice from  his security & defense experts.

The most interesting part is Iran’s biggest backer Russia has not said much at all and I do not think even condemned the attack.

 

perhaps the thank you phone call from Putin to Trump few days prior to strike was not only to thank for the tip off .

 

Soleimani did upset Putin a few times In Syria , perhaps this strike was in agreement with Russians 

12 minutes ago, gaikhao said:

Kneejerk reaction?????  All he did was authorize the  termination of a terrorist enemy of the west, who had been on the hit list for 10+years. His response to iranian threats, is in the language they understand. He is getting good advice from  his security & defense experts.

No, he assasinated a foreign army general, the iran govt is not a terrorist organisation. 

 

The guy was not on the hit list at all. He was also helping fight isis. Isis are happy he is gone. Other presidents had the opportunity to take him out before but the same security and defence officials you comment on said it was a bad option.

 

Is the good advice he got from the same security and defence officials he has spent the last year saying they are the deep state and cannot be trusted and accepts putins word over theirs?

10 hours ago, rabas said:

You are crazy.

 

Trump's "knee jerk" reaction came only after 13 attacks on US forces in Iraq in the last 2 months, eventually causing casualties and one dead contractor. The military recognized the nature of attacks had changed and were now meant to kill rather than harass. [ref 2] Trump asked the military to draw up a list of options to deter Iran. One of the options was Soleimani but that was rated as risky and Trump chose a lesser option. [ref 1]

Before that happened, Iran backed forces (Soleimani?) then attacked the US Embassy and Trumps decision was to switch the the riskier option of getting Soleimani, [ref 1] probably because he was the master planner. Also note Israel was consulted in advance. [ref 3]

 

So your post is more knee jerk than Trump. The shame. You have been betrayed by MSM.

 

Refs. See the NYTs lady reporter who specializes on ISIS (decision process) https://www.nytimes.com/by/rukmini-callimach (look at her twitter, lots of info look for her 2 sources)  and prior attacks here https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/01/05/iraqi-troops-killed-in-attack-by-isis-as-rockets-fall-in-green-zone-iraqis-say/

 

Israel was consulted in advance.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/tv-israel-likely-warned-of-us-plans-to-kill-soleimani/

 

Is so convenient to overlook the fact that the US military presence in Iraq is the result of an unjustified invasion  based on false premise. Is there any honesty in trying to justify that by claiming the Iraqi population was saved from  a terrible Dictator? The  same Dictator that the West supported in  the  1980's  war against Iran despite his reputation? Is there any validity in trying to claim that Iraq  is now in a  more stable and democratic  situation and suffering for it's  people  has ceased?

Is it be ignored that Iran has been an effective ally in the efforts to stop ISIS?

Can it be denied that American initiated interventions across the greater ME have only achieved or assisted destabilization and escalated conflict and mortality?

In terms of modern technological warfare is there any plausible justification by the US in placing  more rather than less foot soldiers in proximity to a provoked adversary? Or are they considered dispensable collateral in the  greater undeclared strategic interest in monopolizing that which  keeps the worlds wheels turning?

 

 

Watched some of the funeral process on Al Jazeera.  Thousands of Muslims attending a funeral of a person responsible for death and destruction? Thought all religions were about peacemaking and brotherhood and humanity?  Why would religious people honor a war monger?  Christians do the same of course

35 minutes ago, BestB said:

The most interesting part is Iran’s biggest backer Russia has not said much at all and I do not think even condemned the attack.

 

perhaps the thank you phone call from Putin to Trump few days prior to strike was not only to thank for the tip off .

 

Soleimani did upset Putin a few times In Syria , perhaps this strike was in agreement with Russians 

Just listened to Nikki Haley talk. She pointed out that neither Russia, China, nor any of the other ME countries are saying anything. The only ones protesting are the Iran regime and the US Democratic party, she said.

 

3 minutes ago, rabas said:

Just listened to Nikki Haley talk. She pointed out that neither Russia, China, nor any of the other ME countries are saying anything. The only ones protesting are the Iran regime and the US Democratic party, she said.

 

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesrodgerseurope/2020/01/04/russia-condemns-killing-of-irans-soleimani-watches-oil-price/#5c4d438c5445

9 minutes ago, rabas said:

Just listened to Nikki Haley talk. She pointed out that neither Russia, China, nor any of the other ME countries are saying anything. The only ones protesting are the Iran regime and the US Democratic party, she said.

 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/france-russia-and-china-condemn-slaying-of-soleimani-as-a-destabilizing-act/

13 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

Definitely much much bigger than Trump’s inauguration crowd. Enough reason for Trump to get into a jealousy fit to launch the air strikes. This man is not a normal thinking person. 

Trumps inauguration crowd were there voluntarily...

 

 

1 hour ago, Sujo said:

No, he assasinated a foreign army general, the iran govt is not a terrorist organisation. 

 

The guy was not on the hit list at all. He was also helping fight isis. Isis are happy he is gone. Other presidents had the opportunity to take him out before but the same security and defence officials you comment on said it was a bad option.

No. The Iran QUDS and Soleimani are (were) terrorists. And Soleimani was even banned from leaving Iran by the UN Security Council.

 

Also under 2231, which was adopted unanimously and passed under Chapter VII (i.e. with the powers of enforcement) of the U.N. Charter, the Council banned Soleimani from any travel outside of Iran.

 

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/01/03/around-the-halls-experts-react-to-the-killing-of-iranian-commander-qassem-soleimani/

 

In paragraph 14 of his December report, Guterres (sec Gen UN) noted the following: “Information from Iraqi media outlets suggests that Major General Soleimani has undertaken travel inconsistent with the travel ban provisions of the resolution. I call upon all Member States to diligently implement the restrictive measures imposed on the individuals and entities on the list maintained pursuant to resolution 2231.”

 

So Trump diligently implemented the restrictive measures imposed on Soleimani pursuant to resolution 2231. Really hard to say assassinated with a serious face.

 

19 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/france-russia-and-china-condemn-slaying-of-soleimani-as-a-destabilizing-act/

 Not really , very tamed language 

Moscow warned that the killing of Soleimani would boost tensions across the Middle East, calling it “an adventurist step.” The foreign ministry said Soleimani “served the cause of protecting Iran’s national interests with devotion. We express our sincere condolences to the Iranian people.”

14 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

24 minutes ago, rabas said:

Just listened to Nikki Haley talk. She pointed out that neither Russia, China, nor any of the other ME countries are saying anything. The only ones protesting are the Iran regime and the US Democratic party, she said.

 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/france-russia-and-china-condemn-slaying-of-soleimani-as-a-destabilizing-act/

Granted your point, but your references are from the day after. Nikki's comments were today that most everyone is rather quiet. As the ex-ambassador to the United Nations I do trust her view.

 

40 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Trumps inauguration crowd were there voluntarily...

They were there voluntary which explained why the crowd was small. 

Well looks like Donald is doing a fine job of recuting new enemies for us as he gets us run out of Iraq he must be jealous of that crowd size tho

As a sociological and psychological professional for 30 years I cannot help but sit and wonder about how and what is happening here in this latest action or reaction.

I do not purport to 'know' rather I hold a dimly lit image and hope more light can be shed. 

 

I wonder, and I'm just imagining and exploring options here so let us sit with what I am offering and bracket away our knee-jerk jingoistic reactions ... if we actually examine the assumed-hegemony that white cultures; USA and others have towards the whole world then maybe we might be able to see how our actions on the world stage <deleted> people off.

Believing it is right to do as we do and please (clear in the language of US politicians and even ordinary folks who have the chance to speak and be heard) i.e. that the consequences of economic and other actions around the world do not harm, impinge upon and cause fear and anger responses. That through an entrenched cultural attitude of 'we are right'  wei.e. have a right to do as we please and to hold a position of privilege in relationship to others e.g. telling ourselves it was right to attack Iraq - twice (without declaring war I might add which is part of what we so called 'civilized' people have written into UN Law as decent and proper). when the sub-text of these catastrophic actions were about global influence and control, oil, and creating wealth through war.

To believe it is the right of ANY group of people to move about the world and subdue by whatever means others will always end in push-back by the receivers, bringing pain trauma discord and harm to people.

What is the thinking, the sub-text of believing one has the right to kill a member of another sovereign countries political leaders (or anyone for that matter), no matter how terrible they are? 

I have heard no dialogue from Americans as a whole (liberal do-gooders,  or those nasty fascist extreme right wingers as they are named) around what has caused people to hate the US so other than to return to the tried and true idioms of; 'they hate us because we are righteous Americans (westerners), we are free they are not, we are Caucasian they are not, they are infidels we are not, we are with God they are not, they are jealous because we are shiny and clean, they don't look or speak like us, they are ignorant savages because they don't pray to Allah or drive Fords eat Twinkies and love American football etc etc.

To have 'state sanctioned terrorism' (what a catchy phrase) ... I wonder has this been turned into an even more impersonal inhuman acronym? supported by states e.g. Iran's actions through the hands of this now deceased person, Putin and the murdering of journalists, the attacking of the Ukraine by proxy, the supporting of States such as Saudi Arabia with its cruel and inhuman treatment of its own people ... the list can go on can it not?

Forcing people into myriad forms of slavery (slavery to western systems norms and mores just as much as hijab wearing). Blowing up embassies, stabbing people in the street, drone strikes all over the middle east and Afghanistan, Africa etc. Sanctioning the slow state structured genocide of the Palestinian people. Justifying said genocide because through desperation from the crushing state processes in Israel and the Bank these nasty Arabs lash out in the pains of madness ... then we are righteously outraged that they harm 'righteous folks'.

Believing in our very beings it is ok to control other nations through whatever means one rationalises e.g. cyber hacking, industrial espionage (damn those nasty Chinese doing what the US has been doing for hundreds of years!), being rich and they poor, Putin with his actions on the world stage and home front). Such behaviours I would suggest can only cause hurt, fear, and reactive protective anger and are always myopic and grossly selfish in nature. The nature of such actions is obvious in the reactions of those receiving them.

Some would say if the US (and others I might add) minded their own business and did not try to be the sheriff of the world, to 'use' the whole world as its personal 'thing' then we might have local conflagration not global ones, that the rhetoric of 'keeping the peace' in the world is nothing more than a blind to justify an insatiable desire for the creation of power and wealth across the globe buoyed up by our white righteousness.

How much money was generated by the ongoing war against terror since the first Gulf War? How many nations in our world now rely/exist on a war based economy and have by their own design no option (as they see it) but to continue along this path?

Sadly I have witnessed time and time again the myopia that is bred in to us as humans. Yes of course we see the world through or eyes (subjectively - this is the nature of existence, and I am mindful that some of what I have written here will be seen as that myopia) mostly, only in occasional instance do we have the opportunity through circumstance (usually not self developed) to see how others feel about the impact of our behaviours on them.

I have no crystal ball I simply ponder, reflect, chew, and share these rising and ebbing moments about current events in the hope that we here who read the posts surrounding this might sit and actually see how quick we are to 'know' to reject and project without chewing slowly and allowing other ways of seeing 'our world'. Perhaps we will develop more consciousness more presence and change in more inclusive ways. I doubt it but it's worth pondering.

 

So trump tears up the iran agreement. Then assassinates a general.

 

Tell me how his iran policy has made it safer.

30 minutes ago, Tug said:

Well looks like Donald is doing a fine job of recuting new enemies for us as he gets us run out of Iraq he must be jealous of that crowd size tho

New enemies? Was Iran or iraq good friends prior?

16 minutes ago, Sujo said:

So trump tears up the iran agreement. Then assassinates a general.

 

Tell me how his iran policy has made it safer.

You gave him too much credit. He has no policy, no strategy and no understanding of the consequences. He is smarter than the Generals, more intelligence than his intelligence agencies and a genius. In short, he is a mad and crazy old man. 

 

15 hours ago, RickBradford said:

I suppose it is no surprise that the BBC paraded a conga line of fawning reporters calling Suleimani a "charismatic hero" with "cult status" and lauding his "brave exploits".

 

They could hardly have been more complimentary if they had been talking about Martin Luther King.

 

Their scorn was reserved for US "miscalculation" and "rogue adventurism" and even introduced viewers to the "outrage" expressed by .... Hezbollah.

 

Whereas this guy was responsible for organizing para military and terror groups to murder citizens of countries his country didn't like.

 

He was a butcher who promoted torture and murder of those his Shia Muslim fanatical government didn't like in an attempt to increase their own power and influence.

 

Treating these people with condescending kindness or trying to bribe them like Obama and more lately Macron doesn't work. They won't be diverted from what they see is a holy war and see attempts at appeasing them as weakness.

33 minutes ago, BestB said:

New enemies? Was Iran or iraq good friends prior?

 Guess he forgot about the Iran / Iraq war that dragged on and on.

 

Saddam's mistake was invading Kuwait for it's oil. Bush snr's mistake was not taking him out the first time.

 

Obama's mistake was thinking he could bribe and appease them. 

 

Trump, for all his issues, was justified in taking this warmongering jackal out. Even Merkel says so.

 

The only whinging and whining seems to come from left wing liberals, fanatical Shia Muslim organizations, and left wing friendly media.

This will escalate as is the plan. They need unrest and war in the entire region as it pushes up the price of oil. The only reason America has any interest in the Middle East is to make money!!!

Why are American Military personnel even in lraq?

 

14 hours ago, JHolmesJr said:

Love it.

 

Exorcise Trump

 

Canonise the biggest murderer of men women and children in recent times.

Really the biggest murderer of men women and children in recent times. How many women and children have been murdered in the Yemen by the Saudi air force using American military hardware, or perhaps in Iraq or Afghanistan under many presidents.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks

 

Talking of Saudi Arabia I seem to remember that when 9/11 happened 2,977 fatalities and over 25,000 were injured. The perpetrators were I believe from Saudi Arabia and were Al Qaeda terrorists, and nothing happened to SA afterwards.

 

Trump is a hypocritical liar and I would not believe a single word he says.

 

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/why-pences-falsehood-about-soleimani-and-911-matters

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/05/us/iran-world-war-3-draft.html

https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-attacks

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/us/politics/pence-iran-factcheck.html

18 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“Crazy Trump, don’t think that everything is over with my father’s martyrdom,” Zeinab Soleimani said in an address broadcast on state television.

Surely  love......its the  will  of alllahhhhhhhhhh

15 hours ago, billd766 said:

IMHO it is the USA that needs to be on a very short leash.

 

A war mongering POTUS that needs to be exorcised ASAP.

100% agree. I have said this before. IMOP the US is the greatest threat to world peace.