I believe this is YouTube/Twitter personality Sargon of Akkad (though this is a different YouTube channel from his main one) on the big nothingness of Iran’s retaliation:
“It looks like the Iranian regime is actually so impotent they couldn’t kill a single American.”
“This was just the yappy dog, yapping.”
(Hat tip: Poster TheWanderingJewels on this Instapundit thread for Stephen green linking yesterdays’s Iran piece.)
Tags: Foreign Policy, Iran, Iraq, Jihad, Military, Sargon of Akkad, video
Ugh, please. Their attack on the Saudi oilfield shows they can strike with great precision. Even moreso downing a drone.
They needed to save face, they had to do something. They also didn’t want to cross any red lines (taking those seriously, now) and start an open war.
Sheesh, think of it this way – the regime who fights through Hezbollah, Hamaz, and the Houthis (proxies) and chants “Death to America” tweeted about appealing to international conventions of warfare, self defense, and not escalating.
When has Iran EVER claimed they want to not escalate?!
(this is the point where I put my conspiracy hat on, btw)
Trump’s “all is well” tweet gave away the game. Really? Iran fires missiles, and he tweets “all is well”?! I would give nonzero odds he approved of the strike.
(end conspiracy)
The most troubling part of this story (aside from the Boeing airliner – that’s a nightmare) is that our bases in Iraq either didn’t have missile defenses, or didn’t have them turned on. If it’s the former … yeah, that’s not a good look for us.
Aside from that … Iran clearly overstepped their bounds (events leading up to this), received a righteous spanking (we killed Mister Salami), and after a tantrum gave an symbolic parting shot while taking their ball and going home.
Assuming this is over (as “over” as things get between USA and Iran, that is), this is just about the best outcome I could have wished for (aside from that civilian airliner: that’s still a nightmare).
I said all that to say … seeing as this was a symbolic move to avoid humiliation and save face … let’s please not rub it in too much. Now’s not the time.
Well, one other troubling tidbit. Hearing about the earthquakes in the vicinity of their reactors? Yeah, that made my hair stand on end. A buddy of mine said the quake was 10km deep, which assuaged my concerns. Assuming the USGS is telling the truth (back to conspiracy fears, here we go again …)
… and for anyone wondering why a tremor there frightens me, watch this:
Minute Physics – How to Detect a Secret Nuclear Test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daZ7IQFqPyA
I will admit … I’m no expert. This tweet takes a different opinion, and I respect it:
https://twitter.com/MassDara/status/1215016762535743490
… it keeps bugging me. During the first Gulf War (kicking Iraq out of Kuwait, protecting Saudi Arabia) I remember Saddam firing Scud missiles at our positions in Saudi Arabia, and those Scuds were almost always defeated by our Patriot Missiles.
So now … we don’t similarly protect our bases with the same or better, especially within the Iranian sphere of influence? I mean, that was ~ 30 years ago.
… and now I see this headline + lede:
Wait, what?!