President Defends Actions

[Jostler]

11 minutes ago, ReneeIW said:

Amen. I cant imagine how worried the families are right now waiting to hear if there are any casualties. I would think he would have put out a video statement. Tweeting all is well is not sufficient under these circumstances. 

I hope "All is well" and "so far so good" are indicating no US personnel were killed or injured....but I agree, failing to  address the issue of casualties specifically is inadequate and insufficient.

I really don't know what to  make of that tweet....Trump was loudly  proclaiming he'd respond if Iran attacked just a few hours before they did.  I'm guessing one of two things happened.  Either  he ordered a response and will talk about it in the  morning, or he's taken this opportunity to de-escalate. 

I really don't have a clue which is the  more likely.  The whole situation kinda closed out the day in a way that feels very odd to me.

Even if there are no US casualties, the failure to address Iraqi casualties seems awfully boorish behavior.

Edited January 8, 2020 by Jostler

[Jostler]

After a lot of rather belligerent talk out of various  Iranian officials, ie:

1. Stating they made no distinction between the US and Israel....later another Iranian official specifically  identified Haifa (Israeli port city) as a target if there was any escalation.   I don't know how to read that but as an intentional attempt to drag Israel into  all this ..Israel doesn't take direct threats lying down.

2. Promised retaliation on any regional government that allowed the US to attack Iran from their soil.  Think Quatar, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain or Saudi Arabia. 

3. Finally released a communique that indicated this  had been their response to Soleimani's death and specifically stated their response was "complete".    That's about the only thing I heard out of Iran that was remotely conciliatory.

 

The complete radio silence coming from the Iraqi government itself is unexpected. 

Then the ambiguous tweet from Trump .... it all just feels odd.

Given who we're dealing with i expected Trump to move fast and hard, and he still might have.  There were reports earlier (I  didn't mention for lack of corroboration) that  six F-35's lifted off from the UAE.  I guess we'll find out in the morning

Edited January 8, 2020 by Jostler

[BeauJangles]

4 hours ago, Jostler said:

Pentagon has confirmed Irbil has been hit

Thanks for the update, brother. Much appreciated. 

[ReneeIW]

There was just a Boeing plane crash in Iran with a 180 people on board.

so I don’t know what’s going on now. Maybe it’s not related? Hmmm

[Jostler]

6 minutes ago, ReneeIW said:

There was just a Boeing plane crash in Iran with a 180 people on board.

so I don’t know what’s going on now. Maybe it’s not related? Hmmm

i'd heard that too.   It was announced by  Iranian authorities as a 'technical failure' so I didn't bother to dig much.  When i did  dig just now, the first video  of the crash I found showed a plane on fire far above the ground...sigh.  

 

 

[ReneeIW]

3 minutes ago, Jostler said:

i'd heard that too.   It was announced by  Iranian authorities as a 'technical failure' so I didn't bother to dig much.  When i did  dig just now, the first video  of the crash I found showed a plane on fire far above the ground...sigh.  

 

 

Thanks for posting the video. That’s a big coincidence. I’m sure there will be conspiracy theories tomorrow. Looking forward to the president’s statement tomorrow. Praying for the souls lost on the plane.

[Jostler]

1 minute ago, ReneeIW said:

Thanks for posting the video. That’s a big coincidence. I’m sure there will be conspiracy theories tomorrow. Looking forward to the president’s statement tomorrow. Praying for the souls lost on the plane.

there are other videos of the crash site on that same twitter feed....that was a VERY hard crash.  I didn't see a tail section or a wing...no big parts visible...that plane was pulverized by the impact

[Jostler]

Well conspiracies will have plenty of fodder to work with.  This is the official twitter feed of a news outlet in Amman, Jordan

Google Translate renders the first tweet as:

 

" # Iran - News of the Ukrainian plane crashing as a result of its injury"

" By an Iranian missile by mistake "

_____________________________

 

Given that the Iranian Prime Minister tweeted a "reminder" of the Iran Air airliner that was shot down by the USS Vincennes in 1988....yeah...plenty of conspiracy fodder.

 

Rouhani points to US downing of Iranian airliner in response to Trump threat

Quote

 

Rouhani called attention on Twitter to the 290 people killed when a U.S. Navy cruiser shot down a civilian plane in 1988 after Trump said the U.S. has targeted 52 sites to strike in Iran for the 52 U.S. citizens taken hostage by Iran in 1979. 

Those who refer to the number 52 should also remember the number 290. #IR655
Never threaten the Iranian nation.

— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) January 6, 2020

The Iranian president was referring to the incident when Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down over the Persian Gulf.

 

 

Edited January 8, 2020 by Jostler

[BeauJangles]

8 hours ago, ReneeIW said:

There was just a Boeing plane crash in Iran with a 180 people on board.

so I don’t know what’s going on now. Maybe it’s not related? Hmmm

Yes, I also heard this and am making attempts to find out any information on it. 

8 hours ago, Jostler said:

The Iranian president was referring to the incident when Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down over the Persian Gulf.

I'm sorry this is a unintentional misquote, brother. Not sure where this was posted so I entered if here. This comes somewhat as a shock, but I suppose it's typical terrorist tactics. Thanks for posting this. 

[other one]

just got back from the "Y" and my morning swim....   sounds like a lot going on this morning.