Saturday, January 04, 2020

Gaslighting Terrorism

update your notebooks:.................


.................. headsup AceofSpades

excuse my sarcasm, but when Obama killed terrorists with drones, there was no problem, but now with Trump it's an act of war?

can you say "gaslighting" children? pretending you didn't say something completely different in the past, and when someone says "but... but"  you tell them they are wrong, or worse, saying you are crazy or forgetful.

So WTF was the guy doing in Iraq in the first place (and why didn't that government arrest him, especially given the huge anti government demonstrations in Iraq against Iran's influence in their government, where the "militias" under this guy's influence managed to kill quite a few of these demonstrators?

from NBC News: November 2019


In Baghdad last week, protesters were pictured burning an Iranian flag. Some protesters have accused Iran or its proxies of being behind a violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators in the Shiite holy city of Karbala this week, where at least 14 protesters were reported killed and more than 100 injured, according to Amnesty International. The government maintains that one person was killed, and denies involvement in the violence.
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Kuya didn't know anything about Benghazi, so we watched 13 hours on the TV last night.

I had to point out a lot of the "hints" about the government's abandoning the people there in the film (usually merely noted in comments). Yes, the film makers didn't dare go against the official story: For example, even Snopes claims that Admiral Ham's sudden departure had nothing to do with his attempt to disobey orders to rescue those being besieged in that episode.

and I had no answer to him about why the government delayed the rescue: Actually it's not political per se.

I worked as a doc for the government, and bureaucrats "follow the book".

A person might have cancer but keeps missing appointments or refuses and exam... without proof, you can't just refer her to a non federal hospital for diagnosis by a specialist, because the local IHS hospital can treat her, never mind that the appointment is six weeks away... or maybe: Well, she has to reapply to get an appointment, even though that might take a few weeks.


So in Benghazi, the problem was not Obama per se (because similar problems occur in both parties and at the state level) but the bureaucratic mindset:

if the "book" says that the local militia will rescue you, and that outside interference (even a life saving rescue) is not allowed for fear of a diplomatic incident, well, DUH.

Here, Trump instead sent in the marines without asking, and then killed those who were behind the raid (rather than kill the nincompoops who were brainwashed into the attack).

Yes, this is not rule of law.

But one has to ask: WHAT rule of law, when the local government has been infiltrated by Iran and didn't bother to protect the embassy as required by international law? Why not? were they afraid, or outnumbered? Maybe they need to take lessons from the Philippine police

So does anyone think that they would have been arrested and given a trial, with a corrupt government?

The US needs to get out, but that doesn't mean letting an enemy country to use their paid bullies to take over Iraq.

why do I say enemy? The Persians and Mesopotamians have been fighting for over 3000 years, so one doesn't expect peace in that area to come quickly or easily.
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update: StrategyPage discusses what Iran's proxies are doing in nearby countries of Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza (i.e.Hamas and Hezbolla).

Lots of bombs being aimed at Israel:

The immediate threat is about 10,000 short-range rockets in Gaza and over 40,000 in southern Lebanon,,,. Since 2013 Gaza has been using components smuggled in from Iran to build longer range (75 kilometers) rockets. These were initially unguided but there are now upgrade kits that add GPS guidance.

The press rarely covers this: they only condemn when Israel strikes back.

a long and nuance discussion.


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