Pompeo is clearly failing as Secy of state; time to fire him.
5
Maybe, just maybe, Trump is on the verge of realizing that, in foreign affairs, what goes around, comes around. Pompeo wants to organize an international coalition to confront or resist or do something about Iran. If he expects the Europeans to be on his side, I expect he'll find them less than willing. Who's left? Who hasn't Trump and/or Pompeo insulted or belittled aside from MbS and his murderous thugs, a slew of tinpot dictators, and Putin? Doesn't sound much like a powerful coalition. does it?
27
So the Saudi bombing campaigning in Yemen has killed over 5,000 people, many of them women and children in markets and everybody is outraged that those people struck back? And none of the media, even NYT and NPR has connected these two together? The arrogance that we all have is shameful. When will we ever learn that bombing and killing will never ever end up in a good outcome. This is all so depressing.
12
..., Ukraine must feel so much better now knowing that the United States happily will go to war with Iran for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia because of the still unverified attack from a third party while Russia’s annexation of Crimea is a-alright.
4
The Trump administration has distorted and lied about too many things for me to take anything it says at face value. All of this reminds me of the non-existing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
It does not matter if the drones were made in Iran. American bombs land in Yemen on a regular basis. That does not mean American planes are dropping those bombs.
The Houthis claimed responsibility as soon as the drones landed. I'm willing to believe they may have flown them to Saudi Arabia since Saudi Arabia has been starving and bombing Yemen for four years.
This is no terrorist attack. It is retaliation for the on-going damage Yemen is suffering because of Saudi attacks.
It is not our war and it would end if Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. would stop attacking Yemen.
11
Of course it's an act of war. In case Mr Pompeo hasn't noticed, Saudi Arabia has been waging war in Yemen since 2015 (with much US support), and now the war is coming home to Saudi Arabia.
BUT ... it's not the United States' war and certainly not provocation for the US to get more deeply involved to to attack Iran.
7
And where is Congress...has anyone heard from them lately? Crickets! Man, I wish I had a job that paid me to do nothing.
War and threats of retaliatory was are NEVER an answer. How many years ago did the computer tell Matthew Broderick that the only way to win was NOT to play the game?
I can almost bet the farm that if all nations had women leaders, there would not be even threats of war. Additionally, our planet would not be in mortal danger, children would be educated, birth control would keep the population at a level that the earth can sustain, and we would have quiet and effective sustainable energy. Remember that when you go the polls next November and don't kid yourself that single issue votes or those elicited from false fearmongering will make your life better or keep you safe.
7
This is why people love Donald Trump so much. His gut instinct on everything from federal judges, illegal immigration, religious freedom, environmental regulation and when to use military power is spot on. The man has 2020 vision to win in 2020.
“If it was up to me, I’d let (Iranians, presumably, the 40 or so linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, to join the 84 already getting visas) come,” Mr. Trump said Wednesday. “I would certainly not want to keep people out if they want to come (to United Nations in New York).”
(The State Dept statement said that Pompeo and MBS) “discussed the need for the international community to come together to counter the continued threat of the Iranian regime.”
A President out of the loop with his State Department. A Secretary of State out of his gourd --- resorting to a public plea to the international community FOR an undeveloped "counter" to a "threat" that Pompeo re-cast as ceaseless.
5
If the world was not so dependent on Middle East oil and gas this would be a back page story. So, to all the naysayers on the subject of clean, renewable energy I say put the cost of war in your calculations (along with human extinction due to climate change) and re-calculate the cost of carbon based energy. It is unwise for the world to depend on a region so fraught with tensions and conflict to be a foundation for our economic viability.
6
Yemen and Iran would have opposing missile trajectories (one is south and the other is NE). Since Saudi missile defenses were used, they were locked into the trajectory so why aren't they discussing that? Israel has previously blocked radar transmissions to prevent anti-missile defenses like when a nuclear facility was bombed in Syria....perhaps there is some behind the scenes action going on here to embolden the anti-Iran agenda.
3
According to Pompeo's logic, the US has therefore been at war with Yemen by virtue of its supplying Saudi Arabia with military support. So who's the real aggressor?
9
The height of hypocrisy isn't it? But then, while I love my country and the people that make it great, that is the U.S. gov't usual M.O.
3
Why is Pompeo acting like the National Security Advisor or the Secretary of Defense when he is the Secretary of State : read diplomacy. And why do we have to defend Saudi Arabia, after all, they've bought $ billions worth of weapons from us as Trump so conveniently reminds us.
8
"War" is no longer simply defined by blowing things up and directly killing people. Trade war, cyberwar, economic sanctions war and the like wreak just as much havoc and inevitably lead to retaliation. And that's not obvious?
5
A war would cripple Saudi Arabias oil production.
1
Is Mr. Pompeo confused ?
Saudi Arabia has been at war with Yemen for year.
Maybe the lopsided nature of the conflict caught him off gaurd.
10
There are too many things that don't add up as with most US or Saudi stories:
1.) If one really assumes that the drones and cruise missiles came from Iran, why are they not labelled in Farsi? I have been in Iran way too many times to believe that any items, especially military items, they use are being labelled in any other language than Farsi.
2.) If the attack really came from the North or North-West, it must have crossed a heavily guarded area in this the 5h fleet of the US is stationed and in which a number of British warships are stationed. Plus it must have crossed an area in which tons of Patriot and other anti aircraft installations are placed (you can see them when flying over the area in civilian aircraft). How come theses many systems, billions of USD worth, have not detected the drones and cruise missiles? One of the could have failed, but all of them?
3.) If the producer of any weapon will be held responsible for an attack some else has done with this weapon, why isn't the US already a nuclear wasteland? It is, after all, the major arms exporter on this planet and thus should have been attacked many times for all the attacks itself and the buyers of its arms have committed using US made and delivered weapons? If the US logic here was valid, then the US would have to be the target of a decade long "fire at will" attack by all those victims of attacks committed by using US weapons.
Sorry, none of the items of the US and Saudi story make any sense.
10
The US has done more than produce weapons for Saudi Arabia's years long war with Yemen; it has assisted it via intel, training Saudi pilots and other ways. We do everything but drop their bombs for them.
7
While i recognize the restraint we have shown, I think the Saudi's, not the U.S., should launch an attack and destroy substantially more than the oil feed Iran attacked. The fact that this went through some of our small bases is embarrassing.
An act of war yes, but not against America. The Saudi's are not our allies — they are trading partners. We have no formal defense agreement with them. Suddenly Trump seems to believe in alliances and is asking for support from our old friends - friends he snubbed and mocked. Our allies should cold shoulder him.
12
If Trump asks the Iranian leadership, not just once but two or three times, if they are responsible for this attack, and they "strongly deny" any involvement, well, you have to believe them. It's the Trump way.
5
Yes, it's an act of war, but an act of war between the Yemeni's and Saudis. The Yemeni's have been starved, bombed and butchered with the US-supplied weapons for years. Don't they have a right to respond? And why do we have to go to war against Iran?
The US is probably the biggest arms-supplier to the world. If the victims of those high-tech weapons were to follow the administration's logic, half the world would be in war with us!
10
Please triple check any facts presented by Crown Prince MBS, and then wait 4-6 weeks until the real truth comes out. How can we trust the government of Saudi Arabia that lied for weeks about the Khashoggi murder?
10
The USA should not further enter into this proxy war in the Yemen and should stop any support of the Saudis. Our national interests are in withdrawal from these wars in the Middle East between Iran and its neighbors with the exception of course of Israel. By all means the Saudis should be told plainly that we will not support any aggression on their part toward any other power. Period. I am thrilled that Pompeo is looking to strengthening alliances in dealing with this situation.
2
Mr. Pompeo has finally learned something from Trump: The art of distraction. He came down from the plane in Riyadh airport and the first thing he said to journalists there was: this was "an act of war" by Iran. From that point on, all the journalists wanted to know was whether the US was going to war against Iran, and nothing else.
By using Trump's distraction strategy, Mr. Pompeo successfully managed to skate around the most embarrassing issue in this incident. That is, why several - I think five - US anti-missile systems that have been installed in Saudi Arabia by the US, each one costing the Saudis billions of dollars, were completely useless in this case? No doubt the Saudis want to know why these highly expensive systems all failed to protect them against the incoming missiles.
9
“If it was up to me, I’d let them come,” Trump said. He seems to think everything else--even things the US Constitution specifically says are the responsibility of Congress, not the President--is up to him, why not visas?
2
Pompeo is working for SA. He crossed his fingers when he took an oath to defend the US Constitution. Just like DJT.
5
Up until now, I thought that if there were an incoming missile, we would know about it before it struck and at least know where it came from. Now I don't think that anymore. How, with all of our extremely expensive spy satellites and such in place for decades and paid for by the US taxpayer, not to mention all of the attention to Reagan's Star Wars plan and the like, is it so hard to know exactly what happened here? Google Earth has the whole planet covered for anyone to see, but no one caught this?
5
If Iran is indeed found to be responsible for the attacks, or for providing the drones and missiles, which seems to be the case, it would constitute an act of war; between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
It's been a tragic comedy watching successive Republican regimes gradually ratchet up their Middle Eastern war targets. We started with a small campaign to get a lot of untrained draftee Iraqi soldiers out of Kuwait with a massive military presence....piece of cake. Then we moved on to the Neolithic Taliban who lacked any weapons beyond the infantry squad level....18 years later they're still winning. Next was Iraq...soundly defeated the US with a government in place that's close to Iran and a major source of ISIS recruits. Now these windbags want to fight Iran. If we didn't have the determination to defeat the Taliban's Stone Age warriors, or Iraq's untrained draftee army/insurgents, what chance do we have with a country like Iran?
4
We sold the Saudis enough toys for them to take care of it by themselves. Trump and Pompeo: please stand down.
6
It was an act of war, but not against the US.
5
Saudis were already at war in Yemen, so an act of war during a war is not unusual.
11
Pompeo could be talking about war but what's clear is the fact that Iran was complaining with the requirements of the nuclear agreement and if there's a country looking for war it's the U.S. Also, looking for war has been the staggering increase in armament supply to Saudi Arabia and the ferocious backing of Israel expansionism. Add to this the U.S. erroneous framing of the Middle East in an unexpected way crushing out secular minded governments such as the Iraqi and Syria's own, opening the doors as a consequence to Iran. Please, do not forget the almost entire closing of U.S. Embassy in Baghdad by Pompeo giving the permission to Israel to bomb over Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
8
YES, but like them all, he hasn't the foggiest idea what he is saying.
1
Note to Congress: please remove this President. He has foolishly led us to the brink of yet another Middle East war. No credibility. No ability to anything but create chaos around the world. He is way out of his depth. We cannot wait another year. He must go now.
8
Perhaps I'm ignorant, but doesn't Saudi Arabia have a military? Haven't they been devasting Yemen, didn't their head organize a murder and dismemberment of an AMERICAN? Why don't they just handle this situation? Time to grow up. And time to wean the world off the teat of oil, oil, oil, and go electric. Then tell the Saudis to go chase themselves.
11
There is still no solid evidence Iran is responsible for the Saudi attacks, yet Trump is going to substantially increase Sanctions. The direction of the attack is meaningless since since the drone can steer themselves. I do not trust the Saudi regime that denied cutting up an journalist and is starving millions in their genocide in Yemen are going to blame their enemy Iran, since they have been caught with their pants down in fighting Yemen.
The US does not want to admit that it has sold the Saudi’s billions in military equipment that can be defeated by drones that cost thousands of dollars. And that US corporation are still pushing this stuff around the world. The drone equipment can be purchased on the black market by the Yemen Houthis from items sold to the Saudis by the US. It does not take a mega multibillion dollar corporation to make these drones anymore. The Houthis are in a poor country but that does not mean they do not have very smart people. This is a David VS Goliath moment that the US and Saudis are just coming to gripes with - and also US military equipment corporations.
“Mr. Trump tweeted on Sunday that the United States was “waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!””
Proof that Trump is a puppet of the Saudis.
214
The nasty part of me wants to think the strike was the work of the USA to blame Iran and continue to demonize Iran for the sake of Israeli politics. Yes, it is a thought I would only have under the Emperor Trump gang.
69
@Jonathan I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Israelis were responsible for this attack as well as the attacks on tankers in the gulf. I'm sure Israel would love to see a war between Iran and the U.S.
11
"But the attack showed that Iran, which has spent years building a network of allied armed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, can hit Saudi Arabia in its most sensitive spots, and in a way that gives Iran a level of deniability."
Chomsky's Propaganda Model in full effect here. Look how easily the Times slides into framing this attack as if it's unquestionably the work of Iran, thereby parroting the official US government stance (for which there has been no evidence shown, by the way).
Don't expect the Times to actually look into any of the baseless assumptions they're regurgitating here; you will be sorely disappointed. They all want to play newspaper reporters when their jobs consist entirely of paraphrasing State Dept press releases. If you want investigative journalism you have to look elsewhere, folks.
8
This has all the hallmarks of a Gulf of Tonkin incident. Or a Nessie sighting in Loch Ness. And it’s brought to you by the same political party that sold the world on WMDs in Iraq.
No need to spill more American blood in another desert. Especially for the Saudis, who are not our friends to begin with. Besides, they’re flush. They can outsource this without any help from us.
7
Impeach Pelosi for not impeaching Trump. Then impeach Trump.
6
In Afghanistan and Iraq, the US military’s escapades in the Middle East have proven to be a fruitless and costly debacles. It’s time to let the Saudis, Iranians and Israelis settle their disputes, and continue the shift to the pacific wisely begun by Obama.
6
This can of flaming worms came spilling out of Yemen. While we dutifully played our part, this is in fact an Arabian mess. If the oil sheiks want to play great power games in the region, let them take full responsibility for that.
We don't need another war. We're not exactly riding a winning streak.
5
We have a defense treaty with Saudi Arabia? News to me.
6
Destroy oil facilities, bad.
Kill journalist, ok.
Great friends in Saudi Arabia
I'm too old, but regardless, I am not fitting for Saudi Arabia!
4
The U.S. has pulled out of many international agreements, which includes breaking its word and reneging on the fully working Iran Deal after laborious six-nation talks conducted over years. Now it wants to build a "coalition?" The Trump administration is about to discover the limits of isolationism.
6
An act of war against whom? Not the US! So why are Trump, Pompeo, Hook, etc. talking about war? This is more madness from The Trump crazy house
8
An "act of war" against Saudi Arabia, not the USA so why are we involved. Why is Iran our business. Stupid Trump sanctioned Iran such that they have nothing to lose and they have no reason to be compliant with any norms.
7
The SA military budget is the third largest in the whole world. Iran is not in the top 15. Even if it is an act of war, SA can fight its own war.
5
US economic blockade on Iran is an act of war. An unprovoked aggression on behalf of Saudi Arabia and Israel.
What did Trump and Pump(aka Pompeo), MBS and Bibi expect the Iranian to do? cry uncle?
Anyway, Iran is a sovereign nation and is free to take side on the Saudis' war in Yemen just like the US is free to take the side of the Saudis in that war. They are also free to provide military support to their friends in the region just like the US, the Saudis, the Emiratis and the Israeli are doing.
Iran played a major role in defeating ISIL, propping up Iraq and Syria and keeping their government in place. What positive roles have Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Israel, US played in the region?
8
And if it is an act of war, it isn’t our war.
5
Yeah, let’s intervene. I’m sure everything will turn out exactly the way we think it will with zero blowback or geopolitical consequences...
8
So if you accept Pompeo's statement that it's an Act of War against Saudi Arabia, since when does that mean it's an Act of War against the United States of America? Last time I looked Saudi Arabia is not a part of the United States.
8
The Saudis claim that the international community needs to come together to counter the continued threat of the Iranian regime is laughably preposterous and ludicrous.
7
A strike that made it unnoticed and undetected through Saudi and American defenses? This whole thing reeks of false flag. I'm just curious who all is in on it. And even so, why are we even sticking our big dumb imperialist noses in it? Not our country, not our place.
6
Saudi Arabia is NOT our friend and ally. We have no good reason to fight their wars. They are our enemy. They are the problem.
I don't believe a word this administration says about Saudi Arabia and Iran.
22
Seeks a coalition?? Sorry, those days are over. Trump has alienated pretty much any Country that might join us in any so called “coalition.” So give that one up.
And this crisis along with the China conflict over trade are both created by Trump. And the third listed....North Korea.... has been turned into a veritable clown show by Trump. So the solutions lie with one action. Getting rid of Trump one way or the other. Impeachment would be the preferred solution. And you don’t have to be A foreign policy expert to figure that one out.
14
Just remember, Trump&Co, Saudi Arabia is NOT part of the United States.
It's an entirely different country.
And do we , the USA, even have a mutual aid treaty with Prince Bonesaws?
I was not aware that we do.
23
Doesn’t seem credible to me, and in a situation like this I actually trust Trump a lot more than those around him to not start a war. Trumps a con artist and a liar, and likely a future convicted felon, but he DOES see war for what it is. Whether or not he supported the Iraq war initially or not, he was not blind to its causes, failures, and the mess it created. He also understands that full-scale regional war in the middle east would be awful for everyone, US included, and has the potential to spark a global conflict. I don’t like the man but I’ll give him that, and right now it’s important. Trump wants money and fame, not war. Will that be enough? It’s anyone’s guess now.
4
Definitely an act of war. Just not against the United States.
12
And how many made-in-USA bombs and rockets have the Saudis dropped on Yemeni people to create a humanitarian crisis that makes the bombing of Saudi oil a minor event in comparison, no lives lost.
Will the USA come out of this alive? Physically, yes, but otherwise?
Only-NeverIn Sweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
21
An act of war on who? Not us.
15
Saudis vs. Iran? Wow. Here are two ugly scorpions. Put 'em in a bottle and let 'em sting. Maybe these berks will make less trouble for the rest of us.
7
“The intelligence community has high confidence that these were not weapons that would have been in the possession of the Houthis.”
Trump has told us on more than one occasion, including siding with Putin over election hacking, that The intelligence community is not to be trusted.
Can’t have it both ways.
10
Saudi Aramco has an interesting history.
The US used to be partners with them.
1933 (as California-Arabian Standard Oil Company)
1944 (as Arabian-American Oil Company)
1988 (as Saudi Arabian Oil Company/Saudi Aramco)
For a 51% of the shares of Saudi Aramco, the US will defend The Kingdom for 30 years.
There’s a win win for ya.
4
Of course, the easiest solution would be for the Saudis to withdraw their forces from Yemen. The Houthis obviously would have an interest in maintaining that peace and that, in turn, would take the Iranians out of the picture.
I know... peace; what a bizarre concept.
18
Sounds like a repackages Iraq War 2...
And why is anything happening between Iran and the Saudis a so-called 'act of war' involving the USA?
15
We’ll be happy to defend Saudi Arabia.
Let them pay off our national debt.
Now there’s the deal of the century.
8
That would be great, but I highly doubt the House of Saud could come up with $22 trillion. If anyone it would be them, no doubt, but that’s an enormous amount of money.
3
@RS
Another opportunity.
We can lend them the money.
2
@New World
In order to "defend Saudi Arabia" we would have to send our troops (your neighbors' sons and daughters) to get killed. Let their princes do the fighting; there are too many of them anyhow.... or do they all have "bone spurs"?
6
Act of war? Against whom? Is Saudi Arabia part of the US? Is it a part of NATO? Where’s the evidence? Is the US then not a party to genocide in Yemen, since weapons manufactured here are used indiscriminately against civilians there? How did we Americans get to be such a lazy ignorant nation, with no ability to question our own elected leaders as to the moral consequences of actions taken in our name?
35
Saudi 's have a pact with Pakistan that we will come to theur aide if they are attacked. First they tried it when they attacked Yeneni's rebel and know they have urgently requested Prime Minister to stop-over on his travel to United Nation.
They want to gut others but have no stomach to do anything when there is a chance to get gutted.
America should continue to enrich themselves by selling weapons to Saudi's but tell the Saudi's to fight a war themselves. Peace will prevail not only in the Middle East but Americans will suddenly find Taliban becoming docile and easy to deal.
American so called intellects need to study as to how Pakistani controlled blood thirsty Pakistani Taliban, sure force had a big role but on that tipped the scale was Pakistan cut off the flow of money. Pakhtoon has more lust for money than anything,
Trump is giving headache to CIA and, rightly so, but he needs to educate them by sending these bureaucrats to war zones with minimal security and high level of secrecy and make them learn firsthand as to what is going on. before they continue to make more stupid decision
2
pompeo?!! he is just a mouthpiece for the saudis and inept trump who has never served in the military
15
15 of the 19 terrorists who perpetrated 9/11 were Saudi Arabians. How can we have normal relations with Saudi Arabia, ever? Please tell me what I am missing. Please tell me. Please. BB
23
If this was an act of war, then it is a war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. So lets let Saudi Arabia defend or respond as it see fit. According to Trump, we have oil independence so what do we need from the Saudis. As Trump likes to say, they have the money so let them pay for their war. How about drafting a few of the royal family into the conflict?
13
If 45 goes to war with Iran, it will be sometime in 2020. Now, way too early before the presidential election in 2020. If he starts now, and the war doesn’t go well, then his war is a drag, the Democratic candidate will run on getting us out of it. Also, 45 will come across as restraint, like he is now. John Bolton’s problem is not that he isn’t hawkish enough, but it is that he is not smart enough to know when, 45 would argue.
In my opinion, 45 will be a war president, which war, you may ask, well, that depends on the timing and world events.
Of course Congress has a say here, but a president can go to war if that president believes it is warranted.
3
Have we signed a collective defense treaty with Saudi Arabia that no one has told me of? Does this mean the next time Saudi Arabia sends 19 people to take out 2 buildings and 3,000 people we should bomb Iran? This administration is chomping at the bit to take on Iran, no matter what the cost. And all because President Obama and partner European nations signed a treaty with Iran.
20
Trump declared war on Iran by unilaterally and unjustifiably renouncing the nuclear deal (not an act of war) and then imposing an embargo on Iran (a clear act of war according to international law).
Now look at how the U.S. propaganda (I can't call it anything nicer) is reported at face value without ever mentioning our embargo that is seriously damaging Iran's economy.
20
For such clever creatures, we certainly cohabitate this planet in a most primitive manner.
More self inflicted pain, suffering and misery coming up folks.
6
Assuming Iran really is involved, these are "acts of war" against Saudi Arabia, not the USA. When did we become bodyguard to MbS and his regime? Does it even register with the administration that MbS tortured and slaughtered a US legal resident and prize-winning journalist?
18
Where is congress with this act of war I hope they laugh them out of Washington. It is not even on our land . Check out Pompeo with a blood test he must be smoking some of the Middle East specialty’s .
12
Once again the Times is ratcheting up war talk, repeating government talking points, and failing to ask critical questions like, oh I don't know, where is the evidence that Iran was behind these attacks, or what might be the motives of govt officials who are so eager to go to war? A scary number of reader comments seem to have already accepted that we are going to war with Iran, or at least that it might be a good option, and then go on to blame Trump for leaving us with this option! This is insane. You all need to wake up. Our country was corrupt long before Trump took office. Trump is just a puppet/useful idiot for a corrupt Pentagon and military establishment intent on doing the dirty bidding of big oil and other moneyed interests in the middle East.
11
First there was a coalition countering Iran composed of the US, the Brits, French, Germany, China and Russia. Trump withdrew from the agreement. Second, having withdrawn is any country willing to join a second coalition with max sanctions already in place against Iran?
Trump woke to a hard reality day two. A 15% rise in oil prices required a outbreak of no war talk to calm. A wider conflict with US involvement when our facilities were not attacked, skating on thin ice. An attack on Iran will further shake oil prices as Saudi facilities remain at risk. Higher gas and prices rippling through the US economy, possible recession during the election cycle can turn one into a pacifist in a hurry.
If Trump covets a Nobel Prize solve this one. Call a timeout, get everyone to the table resolve the oil conflict, get a new agreement with Iran sanctions lifted reparations paid to the Saudis. Saudis agree to a political settlement in Yemen money to rebuild the country. Iran and Saudi Arabia begin bilateral talks on regional stability including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A bellicose brooding Trump could pivot to reality, avert a crisis and lay the foundation for a more stable prosperous Middle East.
1
I would say that what is going on in Yemen with our support is an act of war.
17
So the US invades Iran, thousands of causalities result and the usual regional destabilization and chaos and Trump wins a second term in office because he's a wartime president (maybe beyond if he eliminates term limits)?
Who's going to stop this? A piece of paper from the 18th century? Nancy Pelosi? Nadler and the endless committee grumblings? The Republicans themselves?
Literally laughing about that.
1
Wait, a drone attack is an act of war?
In that case, how many countries have we attacked as an act of war?
Strange how the rules only apply is one direction.
20
It may be an "Act of War" against Saudi Arabia. It's not one against us.
I don't want one more American soldier killed for oil. Let them decide what they want to do. They have plenty of money and plenty of weapons that we sold them. No more mideast wars to protect oil.
13
If they are "an act of war" then that is Saudi Arabia's problem, not ours, let them deal with it.
11
Saudi Arabia, with the aid of The United States, has been attacking Yemen for years. Starving Yeman's children with embargoes, relentlessly bombing their homes and infrastructure.
I don't condone acts of war, but Yemen's response was predictable.
Not a word from Russia or China, but there is little chance that those two super powers will let the balance of power in the Middle East be changed over a few busted pipes.
9
How about a summary of events surrounding Iran/Saudi Arabia:
The Trump regime has no idea what it is doing in the Middle East. It is blinded by Saudi bling and hatred of President Obama.
5
Why Saudi Arabia wasn't able to detect or defend its refinary? Because they just found out that all that 400 billion dollar arms they bought from Mr. Trump was made by Hasboro and some even by now defunct Toys R Us. Popmpeo is there to apologize.
5
There are despicable murderers on both sides. But it’s hard not to feel some satisfaction for the Saudi predicament which they brought on themselves.
9
Didn't Trump just fire someone for being too war-friendly?
3
@jhanzel
Yes, that is Trump in a nutshell, helter-skelter.
he does not know any better, he will say anything to make himself look good but his words have no real meaning.
6
Reminds me of George W. Bush, who claimed to have clear evidence that Iraq was building weapons of mass destruction.
10
Wow, the world’s problem? A coalition? The incompetent in the White House created this problem - his job to deal with it.
11
Pompeo is a fundamentalist evangelical who welcomes the apocalypse so he and other fundamentalists can be raptured into heaven. There is nothing he would like more than to be a divine agent in facilitating or even hastening that a bit. Trump is not a fundamentalist and so he may be our only hope that these idiots will not precipitate global war. We have to hope that Trump is more partial to his properties than he is to the fate of his soul in Pompeo's preposterous theology.
6
@odd-1
Like I've said many times. What makes Pompeo any different than an ISIS member? Both are living for the afterlife.
Not my kind of people.
8
When we mollycoddle with murdering barbarians, we too become them.
14
These are the critical types of situations that demand a solid well organized White House with one voice, with great hope that the voice speaks truthfully,
Sadly, the Trump tweet machine, his lack of clarity and the impossible task of determining if there is a single policy in play here all muddy the waters and cause probably most Americans to be very skeptical, Not good when a possible war is on the horizon,
For sure, Trump fortunately is not a John Bolton or a Pompeo, otherwise we'd probably be in far deeper, But he is not blameless, and unilaterally with no world support pulling out of the treaty, then putting the screws harder and harder to Iran he has created huge instability,
The complexity goes on, because we now have to ask exactly whose war is this?
4
Perhaps, Mr. Secretary. but against whom?
If Iran fired weapons from its territory then this was certainly an act of war against Saudi Arabia.
However, unlike Kuwait in 1990, when there were real American strategic interests secondary to our dependence on foreign oil, where is the risk to America now?
Does the US have a treaty in place to defend or join Saudi Arabia in the event of attack? Is there some form of NATO where an attack on one is an attack on all? You would be hard pressed to find any other nation in the world running to the defense of Saudi Arabia. They have created as much discord in this world as any other nation and have given the world nothing of positive value - ever!
Just as with the Iran - Iraq war, when the rest of the world was at relative peace, these are two bad players and the world may be better off if they are entangled with one another in pursuit of regional dominance.
4
Thankfully for us and the rest of the world this is not occurring during Trump's second term. He probably wouldn't think twice about unleashing fire and fury on the Iranians based on questionable intelligence if it an election outcome wouldn't be effected.
9
Of course it’s an act of war. Why do we have to get involved? Saudi Arabia has brought this on themselves. We’re under no military obligation to fight their battles. They need to make peace with their enemies.
12
Here's an idea: How about a coalition of the U.S., Russia, China, Germany, the U.K., France and the E.U., coming together to do a deal with Iran. Now, that would be quite an accomplishment!
10
Um, not an act of war on us. If attacked, Iran promises to take out Saudi oil facilities. Concentrates the mind, if not that of Pompeo.
9
Why are these developments reminding me of the Widmark-Poitier Cold War thriller "The Bedford Incident"?
2
If Liz Cheney is so adamant to go to war with Iran she is not doing this out of deeper thought about America's future well being. Just like George W Bush who wanted to measure up in his fathers eyes and went to war with Iraq she is doing the same and justify going to war with Iran.
If she is so eager then her kids and their cousins need to be shipped out first and face the consequences and taste of war.
What is telling about Dick Cheney is when he heard on 9-11, despite housed buried deep in Earth reinforced concrete bunker and heard one plane was heading for White House he ordered instantly to shoot down any airplane flying. While Bush and Rumsfield hesitated. I want to know from 9-11 commission as to how many times the Vice President Dick Cheney needed to change his pants in the bunker?
His daughter belong to the same clan.
8
Good grief! Who on the planet would ever believe Liz Cheney would ever permit any child of hers or her warmongering family and friends ever to serve in the US military??!!
Not going to happen— other people’s kids, fine to go fight in some war she might want!
3
Is Pompeo taking a play from Cheney's playbook? There has not been any definitive proof that Iran was behind this, but the White House is rattling sabers. Are we going to hear about long-aluminum-tube sightings next? Or will Pompeo have a staffer call the newspaper with some hot tip, to plant a lie, and then use the subsequent breaking news as justification for an attack?
7
Trump declares military strikes against Iran. His advisors tell his this is the courageous and politically savvy thing to do - it traps the Democrats into a "Love America or Leave it" box. Does any Republican in the House or Senate dare to to counsel Trump about how easy it's to start hostilities and once the firing begins, all the "Plans and Strategy" go out the window? (And Trump's case, there is NO Strategy).
$4.7 Trillion to "win" the Iraq War over oil that had NOTHING TO DO WITH 9-11 ATTACKS. (And many of the perpetrators of the 9-11 attacks were Saudi terrorists.)
This is folly and a financial disaster. Trump's thin skin ego seeks to pin medals on the chests of US military for a war driven to shore up Trump's abysmal performance as POTUS. What's next? Declaration of martial law from Generalissomo Trump for what? Saudi Arabia's direct payments into Trump's offshore bank accounts?
Republicans and FOX News crow over this! American digs its hole into oblivion faster and deeper as our adversaries watch grinning and smiling away.
4
Congress needs to step in ...
7
We haven’t seen anything like this since the Saudis took down the Twin Towers on 9/11.
7
@Stephen Johnson spot on. It was not Al Qaida nor Taliban, it was Saudi Arabia.
4
Okay - logically it was an act of war - but what is achieved by calling it out as such? We and Israel and Saudis and UAE have been waging an undeclared cold war with Iran for years. We can whack Iran in any number of ways without calling it warfare. We can cause their ICBM to explode on the launch pad, we can damage their centrifuges with Stuxnet. We can wage economic warfare and weaponize the dollar and the SWIFT system. We can boycott all those who do business with Iran. At the end of the day, what is the goal? Iran is ideologically driven to foment revolution and movements harmful to US interests and those of our allies. We should by now know how to make Iran bleed through wars of attrition and support those proxies who can sting Iran. The Sunni-Shia civil war is not winnable - it is only manageable if we Iran something to lose or gain. Open conflict would be a disaster for the region and Iran and create potentially catastrophic refugees and energy crises. At some point, Iran will provoke Israel and war will explode - we should be working to degrade Iran's capabilities to wage war and we should strike at their war making capabilities and do so clandestinely without attribution. Iran seeks to provoke conflict, we should answer with their provocations with more viruses, explosions and accidents but we should not engage in open warfare directly.
1
Every administration has to have a boogeyman to blame. Iran is the choice of this administration. But let’s not take our eye off the ball - nothing is getting resolved with Iran or North Korea. Both are back to building weapons and the Trump administration has accomplished zip, nada, nothing.
9
Remember that Trump has shared nuclear technology with the Saudis, and that Saudi Arabia started the war against Yemen using American armaments. We have interfered enough, let the Saudis fight their own wars.
14
I don't care who launched the attack. We don't have a mutual defense treaty with Saudi Arabia. They have plenty of weapons. Why don't they fight their own battles?
14
As I understand it, the Saudis were the ones who were attacked. Are they calling it an act of war against them?
6
@Bob. No, the Saudi's have not accused Iran. That is the news that I've heard, so why is Pompeo going on so...hmmmm
5
Yes, bombing Saudi s oil facilities IS an Act Of War. However, it is not on US, it is on Saudi. Saudi has tons of American weapons. Let them take care of it.
4
Just think if they were trustworthy enough to be a member of NATO.
3
No one can believe anything our government says.
14
I'd like to see Pompeo comment on this, because it's an incredibly strong point being made:
"...The US Fifth Fleet is responsible for “securing” the entire Middle East and in particular the strategically important Persian Gulf waterway where a third of all globally shipped oil is daily transported. It is the world’s premier chokepoint for oil trade.
Is it really plausible that a swarm of drones and cruise missiles allegedly transiting from Iran across the Gulf within a few hundred kilometres of the US Fifth Fleet – with all its warships, radar, satellite and detection technology bristling – were not detected in flight heading for Saudi Arabia?
If Iranian drones and missiles were detected then we can be sure US officials would be blaring the information, categorically pinpointing the incriminating evidence."
https://sputniknews.com/columnists/201909181076833041-uncle-sam-scapegoats-iran/
5
Trump just said he does not want war with Iran. Trump previously said he wanted to be a war president. Trump has lied over 3,000 times so far in this administration. I don't believe him. I wouldn't believe him if his tongue was notarized and his hand was on the Bible.
7
Trump is not holding meetings with the appropriate American agencies to discuss what the strategy going forward should be.
He is conducting these serious matters without proper advice and on an ad hoc basis. It is ridiculous. He is the worst person to do this because he doesn't read, accept intelligence reports and is a profoundly ignorant man.
The greatest nation on earth has become a kakistocracy.
A kakistocracy is a system of government that is run by the worst, least qualified, and/or most unscrupulous citizens.
9
After reading the article below, without any sort of national or political bias, it's incredibly difficult to argue with the authors points. Which, of course, means that what Pompeo and others are telling us is a bold-faced lie. Im disgusted and very nervous.
https://sputniknews.com/columnists/201909181076833041-uncle-sam-scapegoats-iran/
5
Of course Trump and Pompeo are lying. They have too much to lose not to bow low to yhe Saudis.
And all that “evidence?” All could be manufactured— and we should never, ever think that the Trump wouldn’t do exactly that.
1
New sanctions? Can this president ever get anything right the first time?
4
Trump is to much of a coward to go to a war which there is no winning to aid the terrorists of Saudia Arabia. He won't go to war he'd lose so much support that he be back to trying to sell steaks and vodka from Chernobyl.
3
@Travis
This time Trump wouldn’t fear war, since he wouldn’t have to fake bone spurs to avoid going and possibly catching a bullet, or get pushed in front of a tank (probably by soldiers in his own regiment).
4
And the Saudis had nothing to do with the death of the Washington Post repoter who was tortured, killed and butchered. Who would believe a word the Saudis or the Trump administration says.
12
How can ANYBODY believe Trump, Pompeo, or the Saudis??!! All that so-called evidence could easily be fabricated, and “sold” to naive audiences. We and the world cannot, and should not, trust this crew further than we could spit!!
8
Iran know Trump is the typical bully with a big mouth and a scared little boy inside. They also know there is an election next year and will continue hit and run tactics and Trump will do nothing. The Iranians got rid of Carter and now they will get rid of Trump’
3
So, tell me again, why die we well all of those weapons to the Saudis?
5
It doesn’t matter what Pompeo says, liberal media here has already laid the foundation for Iran to do anything it wants with complete impunity against Saudi Arabia, starting with the Times’s anointing of Khashoggi sainthood, to MSNBC’s campaign for long suffering Iranian martyrdom due to Trump’s Obama nuclear treaty cancellation. With the right friends, Rouhani need fear no enemies, they’ll cover his tail.
Saudi America is NOT the United States of America...how can a strike against a foreign country be an act of war against the United States. When did Donald Trump become the sole decisionmaker for America? Where is our democracy! Where is Congress! Where are the democrats! This man is a dangerous travesty who thinks he is our king...get him the heck out of there before he kills us all.
6
@Ardyth
Sad to say when it comes to Israel or Saudi Arabia most of our elected officials fall in line.
3
Only a fool would believe a word out of the mouths of Trump and Pompeo. This dangerous duo would threaten to blow up the world in order to say they saved it.
6
This Pompeo guy is a total lapdog for MBS. Ye have lost all credibility now at this stage.
7
For those who support Trump and his hardliners, take careful note of the words “act of war”. And be ready to strap on a pair combat boots, and go and fight and possibly die for Trump, and his asinine hardliners.
7
From the explosion on the Maine to the Gulf of Tonkin incident to the bogus Weapons of Mass Destruction, the US has consistently used 'acts of war' to influence public opinion in favor of aggression.
Let it produce definitive evidence that Iran launched the attack. Are we to be misled and believe that the US surveillance system did not track drones or trace their trajectories?
Until then, reasonable people should have zero reason to trust this administration.
13
Using Trump’s reasoning of Iranian weapons being used makes the strike of Saudi’s oil facilities Iran’s war. Thus Yemen must be the USA’s war since the Americans supply support to the Saudis. And then to add to this type of reasoning: the Saudis denied their their leader’s involvement in the killing a journalist and jailing women activists, just as USA denied the capturing and torturing at black sites outside our country’s boundaries in the “forever wars”.
It never seems to never end. Before this, most of us can recall Colin Powell testifying in front of the UN Assembly about Iraq “mobile rocket launchers, with photo support that was later deemed fallacious, but only after we had committed our military to a long war of destruction.
8
@Teacher
Funny you should mention that, I saw Colin Powell do an interview, where he said, when he made the case for war at the U.N. he knew it was a lie, but he went forward with the administrations lie. Seems the republicans like lying to the public about anything, the weather, the economy, “acts of war” everything.
6
The Saudis have been indiscriminately killing thousands in Yemen for months now through their bombing campaigns. I think they started this war, and they shouldn't be surprised that the enemy is fighting back now. The USA has now business defending Saudi Arabia, and no business threatening Iran. This is not our war, and we should stay out of it.
13
War looms brightly on the Trump reelection agenda. I'm sure pollsters have told him he'd see a bump in his approval ratings by bombing Iran. The man loves a media event, a really big show, the art of the deal regardless of who suffers. Besides the machinations of the Saudi regime (and Israel?) to drag us into this conflict, our domestic situation makes this a no brainer for the President. Let's hope other voices prevail and we don't embroil ourselves in yet another war with no end in sight.
8
The Saudis have bought millions and millions of dollars worth of fabulously destructive weapons from the US. In doing so, they have endeared themselves to Donald Trump, yah, and poured mega-bucks into his gauche hotels. So now they think it's payback time: save us from Iran. They may have just discovered their bought and paid for pal pulled the big con and has just declared bankruptcy on his debts.
10
folks are not treating this whole business serious enough by joking that we are getting our instructions from the saudis and thinking it funny. well is that not the purpose of mr pompeo visit? and if we don't perform we could well have another 9/11 on our hands. and then who would attack then? maybe jordan they don't have much of an army. hey yea jordan would qualify lets do it.
4
The Saudis have committed hundreds of "acts of war" against other sovereign countries, including murdering Khashoggi and others on foreign soil. In any case, the Saudis should be perfectly capable of deciding who is making war on them. Whoever it is, they are not making war on the United States.
16
Of course Trump and Pompeo will seek Congressional approval for this "act of war." (I am not holding my breath) And will they lie and try to blackmail UN Security Council delegates as Bush did in 2003? (see Official Secrets).
12
This certainly makes things seem simpler.
Fire Pompeo.
18
Anybody can light up a few barrel of crude and car tires and create enough smoke visible by satelite in order to push price of oil up and blame the convenient antagonist and sell more weapons to the Arabs. Pompeo is there to pump more sales. These smoke screens are for domestic consumptions and for those that pay the price at the pump -the people.
6
Act of war? Saudis are killing women and children in yemen, and once yemen responds back, they are not happy? They also killed a journalist in cold blood, cut him piece by piece while he was still alive , they are supporting extremists all over the world and also supported 9-11 terrorists, most them were saudis by the way. And these people are our allies and friends? Which petro international company Pompeo working for? Or who? Neocons? If he wants a war, let him go fight, not some poor guy from lower middle classes. Can he even run for mile is another story. Or has the courage.
11
The meteoric rise of Pompeo from failed businessman in Kansas to failed diplomat is 2nd only to his best buddy’s similar astonishing bulldozing of the American public. This insanity must be stopped by our voices & votes.
13
We "were blessed no Americans were killed in the attack"....how many Americans were near? No Saudi injured either. A commenter on another article showed the pictures of the damage and he's right, looks like precisely placed explosives planted on the tanks. So, here we go into a proxy war for the 9/11 killers. How low we have sunk.
9
We do not need a war with Iran! Let the Saudis handle their own problems. Donald Trump was 55 years old on 9/11. Does dotard not remember that Saudis attacked us? Is he trying to one-up Obama for taking out bin Laden? The latter is my conclusion.
8
@Jambalaya
Let’s not forget that Iran has weapons of mass destruction as does Syria, as well as the Saudis. We don’t need the oil that they have, the U.S. is the second largest producer of oil in the world, fighting and dying their THEIR oil isn’t something ANY U.S. service personnel should be dying for.
1
This reminds me of that "act of war" when Pearl Harbor was bombed, President Roosevelt declared December 7, 1941 "a date which will live in infamy," and then backed it up with increased sanctions on Japan.
@Dan88
Except, the Japanese did in fact bomb the a U.S territory, and a military base along with several Navy ships. So that was definitely an act of war. But your history is wrong, in the sense that Roosevelt had long shut of the oil and levied sanctions at the Japanese prior to their act of war. Roosevelt had done that in retaliation to Japan invading China, for their oil and other natural resources, you see the Japanese islands have no natural resources of their own. The Japanese way of thinking that was a humiliation that couldn’t be stood for, and the military at the time, felt that if they destroyed the U.S. Navy that the US would lose its will to fight, what they didn’t count on was our manufacturing capabilities. For example by the end of the war, some 300,000 planes had been built, 7 million 5 ton trucks which most went to the Russians, in that WWII footage from the Russian front, all those trucks you see, were U.S. made. Sadly, our politicians have given away all our manufacturing, by giving them tax breaks to move out of the country instead of tax breaks for STAYING IN THE U.S.
2
We have a sanctions coalition to deal with Iran, we had a non-nuclear agreement with Iran, we had the IAEA monitoring Iran 24/7, we were at peace with Iran. Donald Trump threw all that away for no rational reason whatsoever.
We need to get rid of the problem, and the problem is Donald Trump as president.
35
Whatever this turns out to be, how do you like Trump easing gasoline mileage requirements on new cars?
Obama understood that improved gas mileage reduces our dependence on Middle East oil while reducing CO2 emissions.
Trump, not so much.
18
Maybe, but it wasn't against us. Stay Out.
4
The attack on the Saudi oil facilities, "if" by Iran is an act of war. But the slaughter of thousands of civilians by Saudi bombers in Yemen is not? It is and act of..... What, pray tell?
Oh, I forgot. The loss of oil is much worse than the loss of (non-white, non-American) human lives.
19
Standard operating procedure for cowardly ear mongers
Add in a a visit to the murderous Saudi regime and this admin is going to melt and really unravel when civil disobedience kills their war effort
And re election
8
1. This crisis is Trump’s doing. He pulled the US out of the accord with Iran and sided with Saudi Arabia in its merciless attacks against the Yemeni civilian population.
2. By putting Iran against the wall with his belligerent statements and punishing measures, he has given the Iranian hard-liners a boost in their own political scenario they would not have had otherwise.
3. Pompeo is now recruiting neighboring countries which are on the frontlines of any Iranian repulse. Moreover—he is reported as saying this in another item in this issue—he had the gall to talk about recruiting European allies, meaning NATO, one has to presume. But NATO is the organization that Trump has been kicking like a football since his 2016 campaign and after.
4. Europeans, totally against pulling out of the Iranian accord, can certainly be expected to play diplomatically deaf and dumb.
5. General McCaffrey in an MSNBC interview pointed out that the US has always been Saudi Arabia’s ally. If Trump doesn’t jump into defend it when half its oil production has been reduced by the Iranian attack, our allies and other countries will realize that the US is not a relieable ally/partner.
To sum it up: NOW Trump and Pompeo are realizing the cost of being stupid!
6
If this rises to act of war, how about the crown prince's killing of a Washington Post reporter. Very troubling times.
13
Just because we like Saudi fossil fuels doesn't mean we should send our youngsters to war and make them fossils.
13
Let me get this straight. Our intelligence services UNANIMOUSLY agree that RUSSIA cyber-attacked our elections. That's an act of WAR... against US... ie the US. Trump shrugs, and when they persist, he defends Putin, attacks our services' credibility, and lately even tries to prosecute some of our services' leaders.
Now, our intelligence services say it LOOKS LIKE it was the Iranians. No credibility issues!! Pompeo says this is an act of war!!! against who?? Ah... Saudi Arabia, who attacked Yemen, apparently because the Saudis don't like their version of Islam (see Rep Chris Murphy's history on twitter) We have no defense treaties with SA, but we have supplied them with weapons to attack Yemen. Hey! They pay cash!. (See trump quotes)
We should go to war with them? Pompeo seems to belong to heretical Christian cult that thinks they should help along the return of Christ by promoting apocalyptic wars. Conflict of Interest? Much???
Never thought I'd agree with Trump on anything, but restraint by him seems like one of the few sane things he's done lately
5
Bush/Cheney comes to mind.
"Fool me once"
5
Let's hold the Saudi's responsible for the Kashogi dismemberment while we're at it.
18
“The US is working to build a coalition....”
Nobody believes us! When you constantly lie you have no credibility! What a bunch of bozos.
9
Here we go again with the tired Republican 'weapons of mass destruction' smokescreen. It's an old fabrication that's always proved false but it always amazes me at how many flag waving saps it sucks in. Probably has a lot to do with the fact that it won't be them or their own kids dying over there.
6
US out of ME
1
Let Trump go to war with Iran. That will be the end of him even with his racist base.
4
"he said the United States was working to build a coalition to deter further attacks."
Um, weren't we in a coalition, but he pulled us out of it?
Idiot!
13
This is exactly like the Cold War nuclear brinksmanship movie, "The Bedford Incident," starring Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier as a fixated cruiser captain pursuing a Soviet sub in the Arctic, and a reporter covering the mission.
It's a classic cat-and-mouse sort of thriller, with the sub skulking around, repeatedly just barely eluding the cruiser with its determined captain. The drama peaks when the sub is trapped under sheets of ice preventing it from replenishing oxygen; Widmark becomes exultant at having cornered his increasingly desperate, suffocating quarry.
An on-board adviser to the captain, a former Nazi U-boat commander, urges the captain to back off, arguing that the enemy's desperation to survive will inevitably lead to real shooting.
The German's psychological observations uncannily fit this escalating conflict. One party maniacally determined to starve, corner, trap his enemy, and the other's desperation that can only be relieved in violence,
4
Just send MBS’s hit squad to deal with it.
4
Pompeo must be another liar like Trump.
8
Congress needs to protect America from Mr. Trump, Pence, and Pompeo.
Those fine fellows are hell bent on starting the Apocalypse.
7
Trump and Pompeo may well want war, just a little closer to the election. Pence and wife want the Apocalypse, imagining they head off to heaven or something like that.
NONE of their families, of course, would ever serve in the military—their sons and daughters would surely qualify for deferments based on bone spurs!
6
Trump should not be sucked in by the war mongers.
You have a choice:
A couple of trillion $ or so completely wasted and benefiting not one actual average US citizen, but destroying yet one more country with the attendant refugee problem and buying a lot of bombs
or
a heck of a lot of new high schools, roads, bridges and other useful things.
Think wisely and don’t let the enemies distract the public with a war from the corruption about to be exposed.
3
These people have zero credibility. So let me understand this, we believe a regime that says they have irrefutable proof that these drones were launched by Iran, and its the same regime that took a Saudi journalist prisoner in their own embassy for crying out loud, homogenized him in a Waring blender and then told us they have no idea what happened, except most of it was captured on audio? they are not only completely corrupt they're completely incompetent. And so are we if buy into this bull.
9
Trump has essentially put sanctions on the farmers of the midwest and they aren't awfully up and arms about losing their farms and other businesses over it. Why would he think that Iran would crumple just because he tries to tighten the screws a bit more.
4
The unspoken thread running through this article is malevolent Iranian behavior over many decades that poses inimical threats to US interests and those of our allies. Much of the commentary I read here suggest to me that Americans have no idea that the United States is a global power, and that our tax dollars support the expansion of American hegemony and dominance throughout the world. I suppose that, in the final analysis, this is why only a handful of people are privileged to be involved in our national security decision making. Judging by most of the comments I read here today, the US public does not have a clue what is going on in remote parts of the world.
2
War declared before the next presidential election? Is this beyond the realm of speculation or the conclusion drawn from past actions?
3
What is our role in this fight other than profiting from selling jet fuel, munitions and weapons to the Saudi and its Gulf allies?
We do not get our oil from the Gulf, being the world's largest producer. Rather, our allies (European and Asian) and our Chinese rivals do. Since President Trump has spent the last 2 1/2 years, criticizing them, it would seem our fearless leader would tell them to deal with the situation.
3
Seth Abramson details the big picture of the inevitability of Trump's pursuit of war with Iran. "Proof of Conspiracy: How Trump's International Collusion Is Threatening American Democracy." They are acting out their script.
4
Even if true, I assume the saudis with their tens of billions in weapons can take care of themselves? It’s not like any US citizens or assets were attacked nor does the US have mutual defense agreements with the Saudis.
5
"Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono told reporters Wednesday that he has not seen any intelligence indicating Iran was behind the attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities over the weekend, contradicting Saudi and Trump administration claims about the incident." commondreams.org 2019/09/18.
As usual, what this administration says is not necessarily so. And even if it were true, in what way is this our fight? The only thing remotely implicating US security interests is the global price of oil - which is simply not a factual basis for either military or even diplomatic action. Not. Our. War.
6
Act of War? What did they do to us? Did they kill or damage our oil supply? No, they attacked a known enemy Saudi Arabia. They stopped oil to their customers in Asia. Yes, it raised oil prices everywhere but that happens when Russia or Saudi decreases oil supplies to drive up the price. Is that an Act of War?
WE have no interest or business in this, its between the two old enemies and they must work it out.
5
There is no logic or a strategic reason for United States to go to war with Iran on behalf of Saudis. Saudi Arabia is armed to its teeth and can take care of itself and for once can fight a war on its own soil. There is enough oil resource in US today to quickly replace any loss from Middle East.
3
If the use of Iranian weapons by Houthis makes the attack an act of war by Iran, does the use of US weapons by Saudi Arabia in Yemen make that an act of war by the US? There were numerous war crimes committed. Just wondering.
8
Since when do we have a mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia ?
This from a President who threatens to ignore our NATO mutual defense obligations ?
8
It seems to me that Saudi Arabia is doing its best to have the US do the Saudi's dirty work for them. Saudi Arabia is a little man with a big friend; they're picking a fight with the neighbours and then cowering behind the US when things get serious. The US should really disengage from the Saudis and from the Middle East in general.
4
"The intelligence community has high confidence that these were not weapons that would have been in the possession of the Houthis."
Really? Is this the same intelligence community that our president has declared wrongfully determined with way more than "high confidence" that Russia interfered in the 2016 election? How is it they got that wrong but got this right. Anything from the US intelligence community is "fake news."
3
Western nations need to band together with a resounding NO to joining this coalition and wait out the war hawks together.
6
So how many people still believe that we would go to Saudi Arabia to defend democracy, freedom and goodness? I have a bridge to sell you.
We fight to defend wealth, and loads of it. Our kids fight and die for corporate, inherited and unfathomable wealth. It is not yours. It is not mine. It is theirs.
7
Not an act of war against the US or its assets. More like an act of terrorism, as if that's better. As the world's new leading oil producer, I thought we were somewhat less spring-loaded to go to war to defend mid-east oil and the property of the wealthy Saudi family with American lives and treasure. Trump has his own business arrangements with MBS though. Let the Trump family finance his war to help his friends, the butchers of Khashoggi.
5
Mr. Pompeo,
Tone it down. The US has claimed that Iran violated the Six Power Iran Nuclear Deal when in fact Trump withdrew from from the agreement and intensified US economic sanctions against Iran and other trading nations. Iran had kept its end of the bargain.
Subsequently, we claimed Iran downed a US military drone that we said was in international waters, but which they said had intruded into Iranian airspace.
Then, we claimed that Iran was seizing oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and attempted to seize an Iranian oil tanker in the hands of tiny Gibraltar. When the governing authority in Gibraltar denied our claim, that Iranian ship was set free.
Now we claim that Iran was responsible for the drone attack on the Saudi oil fields. Iran denies it but the Yemeni Houthis whose people have been suffering from Saudi bombings with American munitions and devastation by American fueled Saudi jets and whose Yemeni children are starving from Saudi induced starvation have claimed they were responsible for the Saudi attack. Yemen shares the Arabian peninsula with our great friend Saudi Arabia, whose leader MBS ordered the murder of a lawful US resident, Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist, who was killed and whose body was dismembered in the Saudi embassy in Turkey.
The Arabian peninsula is a war zone. Let's not start another war like the ones in Iraq, that were supposed to be quick, easy, paid for by others, and with a certain outcome.
No lies! No wars! No more!
5
This is none of our business. Let the Saudi’s deal with it. Without our troops, weapons or money.
5
How about calling Trump's backward fuel efficiency and anti-clean-air-and-water ideas an act of war?
6
Cyberattacks against Americans in America are an act of war. What are they doing about that?
If we are such a great producer of gas since he's all for destroying the environment, why do we have to defend the Saudis. They are not our friends.
Remember 9/11
3
I’m fairly certain we do not have any signed treaty obligating us to protect Saudi Arabia. Let’s not forget where most of the 9/11 hijackers came from, and a Saudi plane managed to fly when all other flights were grounded. We should not even slightly contemplate US forces, military armaments, treasure, absolutely nothing. Just because Trump admires brutal dictators who spend money at his hotels and properties, does not make our military or country beholden to his goon squad of frenemies.
7
Saudi Arabia was attacked. Shouldn't this be Saudi Arabia's problem and Saudi Arabia's response?
1
Good thing "bone spurs" are inherited.
Therefore, no problems for the Trump or Kushner boys if there is a war!
3
Let the Saudis fight their own battles. Certainly they have enough weapons - bought from the U.S. and anyone else who will arm them - to take in any comers, don’t they?
2
Risk millitary lives on the word of the Trump administration, I think not. Operation bone spur will not take place, war in the middle east would hurt his slim chances in 2020. Are we locked and loaded or did he say mocked and bloated. Impeach him.
2
Well we went to war on weapons of mass destruction which turned out to be non-existent. I guess real weapons of minor damage is just as good a "casus belli"
1
Is NYT implying that bombing oil fields by another country isn’t an act of war?
An act of war on whom? The USA was not attacked, The Saudi’s were. What happened to no more proxy wars? As far as I know,we have no treaty with the Saudi’s that compels us to respond if they are attacked. Stop this endless spillage of American (and Arab) blood!
yeah, Pompeo, NO ONE was killed. The tanks were not bombed by missiles but suffered slight damage. The Saudis fabricated a weak story, like the one they did about Jamal Kashoggi. This is a pathetic scheme cooked up by MBS to rope the US into attacking Iran, saving the Saudis from doing anything. Why was nothing detected on radar? Because the attack originated in SA.
5
Let Saudi Arabia attack Iran then. Leave us out of it.
1
Even if these actions are acts of war, an important question emerges: Whose war is this?
217
@StanC
Exactly on point, StanC. Iran or Yemen bombs Saudi Arabia, and this is the fight of the US?
Have we gone down the rabbit hole?
Thanks,
William
24
@StanC Whose war is it not: the United States.
20
@StanC Not against US.
8
Vladimir Putin and MBS now run American foreign policy. So much winning.
5
I totally agree with Pompeo. Saudi Arabia should declare war on Iran & invade! Perhaps the Saudi's could utilize their house servants & foreign construction workers as conscritpts.
5
What would Mike Pompeo think if Saudi nationals commandeered USA aircraft and flew them into the Twin Towers and by a narrow miss, the U. S. Capitol? Would this be an act of war? So let's see, the Saudi's bomb Yemen indiscriminately.....killing not just 'rebels' but many innocent civilians.....is that an act of war by the Saudi's? And then let's see a de facto Saudi leader, MBS, decides to cut off the head of a Washington Post reporter....is that an act of war?
6
Donny should stick to weather forecasting.
4
'“We’re working to build out a coalition to develop a plan to deter them,” Mr. Pompeo added.'
You had one. The deal your brain-dead boss pulled out of. Now you want a do-over?
8
so now we are protecting Saudi Arabia?
the ones who attacked us on 9/11 and who hacked a Washington journalist into pieces?
We want to attack Iran instead?
could someone please explain the logic other than trump is a traitor to the US as is Mr. Pompous....
6
Okay, it’s an act of war against the Saudis! Who, by the way, have been at war with Yemen!
Mike Pompeo and Donald Trump, THIS IS NOT OUR WAR! ( excuse the yelling, folks)
4
I suspect that if the three cruise missiles that fell short are opened up and examined, DNA inside will be found, and once tested, will be discovered to be associated with a religious sect known as the Syrrannites.
It is an act of war. Between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi Rebels.
Has nothing to do with us. And don't tell me Saudi Arabia is an ally because they are only an ally in the demented mind of Donald Trump and his crooked son in law who owes big money to them.
12
Remember the Maine, Tonkin Gulf and WMD?
6
Hey Mikey, my kids aren't going to fight this war. We are tired of you neocons provoking conflicts. Let Saudi Arabia handle their own problems. Stay out of it. Did you get the hint, the people of this country have turned against the colonial wars of the GWB administration.
6
If only this Administration had a shred of credibility.
They have none whatsoever.
4
I am not automatically going to believe the Saudi and American governments when they say that the Houthis have neither the sophistication nor the weapons to have launched the attack.
Do they think the Houthis are a bunch of yokels unable to get weapons from Iran?
2
Pompeo, Trump and Trump's son need to be in the first wave to attack Iran. If not, Pompeo needs to keep his yap shut.
7
Pompeo said it was an act of war. Dump Trump. Vote blue no matter who
6
And what does Pompeo call the butchering of a Green Card holding journalist in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul? Butchering as in butchering with knives, meat cleavers and bone saws. The audio tapes played to the CIA's head.
Pompeo, I hope you don't find yourself in the wrong side of the Saudi butchers in some consulate somewhere.
Act of War indeed!
5
Act of war on who? Saudis? America's oil?
2
Trump and Pompey are children in the world of real-politic.
Disaster awaits.
Those that voted for this mental lightweights should be Apologizing!!! and working hard fir a Big Blue Wave in 2020 to return the USA to sanity.
4
War on who, Mikey? Not us. Keep out of Saudi wars.
3
"Working to build a coalition". What a joke! From the coalition breaking Administration.
Every day more ridiculousness !!!
4
Put Trump on the front line with a gun. Let's see how the coward fights.
6
Reminds me of Mrs. Clinton equally deranged promise to obliterate Iran should they attack Israel.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/clinton-threatens-to-obliterate-iran/
But of course, opposing that attack would have been sexist.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
1
@Rev. E. M. Camarena, PhD Sexist or not, I am wondering if you might point out when President Hillary Clinton made that statement Rev.
2
@Dan88 I read it. She was mocking. Apparently the guy above doesn't know what the word mocking means.
1
@Sharon Conway: Nice try. Read this:
QUOTE: Sen. Hillary Clinton today defended her statement that the United States would “obliterate” Iran if it ever launched a nuclear strike on Israel. “Why would I have any regrets?” she told George Stephanopoulos and group of Indiana voters on ABC’s This Week. “I am asked a question about what I would do if Iran attacked our ally, a country that many of us have a great deal of, you know, connection with and feeling for.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/clintons-obliterate-iran_n_100031
Or is Huffington Post right wing propaganda?
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
1
Attack on Saudi Arabia is an "act of war" on US? How long are we going to make the world hate us for cuddling, spoiling and protecting murderous dictators of Saudi Arabia?
7
Are we supposed to believe in a case that was built by a US Intel from a Saudi Intel that built the Kashoggi cover-up that that same US intel swallowed up hooves and saddle included ?
Seriously !?
Where are the dismembered clues about Iran's malevolence !?
2
Tea Party war monger Mike Pompeo cllas the attack on Saudi Arabia an "Act of War".
How did we get here?
1. The world was at peace, with a minor war in Yemen.
2. 05/18/18Trump pulls USA out of the P5+1 JCPOA.
3. Trump sells $100 billion in armaments to BFF MBS in KSA.
4. Trump places huge sanctions on Iran which world ignores.
5. KSA wantonly kills Yemeni men, women & kids in air strikes.
6. Iran puts missiles on Abqaiq, wiping out 6MBPD capacity.
7. Trump blathers some more …
8. 'Evangelical' Pompeo talks about "act of war".
This is where Trump has taken us, folks.
Is it worth the journey?
Does it serve American interests, whatsoever?
3
Pompeo, the first act of war was Trump's stupid withdrawal of the nuclear agreement. The second act of war was your stupid sanction on Iran's oil industry. The third act of war was the KSA's 4 year attack on Yemen's citizens that you Pompeo and Trump are guilty of war crimes for helping Saudi Arabia. You Pompeo have no clean hands in this matter as this Houhti retaliation against Saudi Arabia does not involve an attack on the US. The US has no vital interest in the ME. Israel has 200 nukes, oil is plentiful, and global warming demands less use oil in the world.
3
I just can’t understand how he’s not ashamed of making that statement.
First it’s not his country.
Second, they have zero credibility right now.
Third... chill dude. It’s not of your business. Or is it?
5
Impeach this war monger now. When he illegally bombed Afghnistan last year Putin warned us of catastrophic events that will come our way. Why are the GOP always for killing innocent women and children in other lands. Dirty ,toxic oil is no reason to start WWIII. Our fake churches say nothing about this and they are an accessory to these crimes . The Republican ideology is violent and needs to end.
3
Relax. The US does not need Saudi oil. You guys have plenty, in fact you export a lot. 40% of the oil imported in the US comes from ...Canada.
Also, it’s been a while since our secret service has chopped up a journalist. From time to time, we, of course, massacre some US hockey teams. And, very infrequently, we send a kid to New-York to beat Serena.
So, the choice is yours: buy more Canuck oil and live in peace or, well, you know your options.
1
@Skiplusse. Absolutely the best comment in the NYT about our mess in the ME. I needed that after getting depressed and angry over the other commentators.
Thanks, I needed that this evening. JB
The article refers to increased sanctions, not war.
You wouldn’t know that if you just read the comments.
@EGD
Maybe the point is that he is crying wolf, and won't answer an act of war with military strikes. Acts of war, unlike "attacks," aren't a spectrum. They are or they aren't.
No, no, no...we all know where this is heading. NO
2
Trumped up war.
2
Dumb or dumber? Either these are fake sanctions to appear Trump's doing something or he lied that he put maximum sanction pressure on Iran when he walked out on the six nation Iran nuclear containment pact. Nothing Trump has said or done about Iran has made anyone anywhere safer than we were before he walked out on the Iran nuclear containment pact.
3
AN ACT OF WAR. Is Saudi Arabia America's 52nd state (behind Israel)?
2
Election year, anybody
1
Trump is trying to build a case for going to war against Iran. This may be so that he can get re-elected as a ‘war president ‘ but in any case, how could any American believe anything this lying president says, ever? He must think we are stupider than dirt.
1
Only a fool would believe anything the Saudi's say.
That said if the Iranians did do it then good for them for doing to the Saudi's what we, at a minimum, should have done to them after 9-11.
5
someone please dispense Pompeo's afternoon drug regimen please.
Trusting the Saudi's and or this administration is a fool's errand.
2
This administration is a complete failure.
7
Trump is probably still upset with Iran for viciously killing a Washington Post journalist. No, wait, I'm sorry that was the Saudi's under the probable direction of Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman
5
Mike "Warmonger" Pompeo needs to be VERY careful about who is creating an "Act of War".
Last time I checked --
1. Economic embargoes that strangle a country are an "Act of War"
2. And, genocide and deliberate bombing of civilians (Yemen) are an "Act of War" (Saudi's using USA equipment/bombs).
3. Oh yeah-- how about Cyber-Warfare against Iran -- that is an "Act of War".
Americans are NOT as stupid as Crazy Trump and Warmonger Pompeo think. We know from recent history that our government and leaders LIE all the time about "facts" -- and this has gotten us into how many wars???
Most Americans who take the time to get educated -- via multiple news sources - including Mainstream USA, plus Fox News, Al Jazeera, BBC, etc. -- know that Pompeo's trip to the Middle East is all about building Mid-East Dictators support for another unjust war --and further isolate Iran -- and drive them in the OPPOSITE direction that the world desires.
3
An act of war AGAINST THE SAUDIS! Don, you may love the dresses and hats and bone saws but this has nothing to do with us...oh, yeah, our next election, right.
3
An act of war ? Perhaps we should ask the Yemenis for their views.
5
This is the half a loaf that the Swamp King still has. While it is hard to believe that Saudi Arabia will be satisfied with the non-immediate effect of "more sanctions", it is clear that there is no smoking gun, no proof of weapons of mass-destruction … oh wait, that was a different situation. Anyway, where can Mnuchin find something else to sanction that will have any effect? Once again, our Blowhard-in-Chief tweeted himself into a knot and now is demanding that the Treasury Department get him out of it, all the while Iran is claiming they can not get visas to the UN General Assembly in the US.
3
Let us know when Little Donnie, Donnie Jr, and Mouthie Pompeo arrive to start boot camp in the Saudi Army. As soon as they complete Basic Training, the war can start.
6
Have we scheduled Potus' Chamberlain moment yet? You can almost hear "Peace in our time" in that wacky stilted delivery.
Pompeo called the attack on Saudi Arabia an "act of war"?
Against who?
Surely not the United States - which has no dog in this fight.
Trump rightly got rid of warmonger John Bolton.
Trump needs to get rid of Mike Pompeo now. Anyone in this idiot administration who beats the drum for Trump to go to war is a threat to us all.
3
Even if (as is likely) these weapons were manufactured by Iran, it still doesn't prove that the Houthis weren't the ones firing them. Using a weapon takes significantly less sophistication and knowledge than manufacturing it.
For example, AK-47s or an AR 15s take significant engineering know-how and industrial capabilities to manufacture; unfortunately, as we found out, pretty much any idiot can fire one.
Lastly, the cluster bombs that the Saudi Air Force drop in great numbers on Yemen on military and civilian targets alike are all "Made in USA". By Pompeo's logic, it means that America is behind the illegal killing of women and children in Yemen. Are we?
4
An Act of War, how stupid!
It may be an act of war for Saudi Arabia, but they will have to determine how "THEY" want to respond to whomever was responsible.
"Old Bone Spurs" and "Young Bone Saw" need to acknowledge that Prince MBS a murderer and make him admit his mistake and compensate the family.
I for one don't trust this liar in the Whitehouse to tell us the truth, and I don't trust anyone of his sycophants like Pompeo or Mike Dunce to be honest or tell us the truth.
5
Dear Heroic Iranian People,
Your troubles will not end as long as the so-called Vilayat-e Faghih system is not overthrown, replacing Khomeini by Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh as national hero of modern Iran.
I’m sure the Iranians are culpable.... but no more so than a US President who sells smart bombs to the Saudi’s, which then are used to slaughter a busload of school children while we claim no responsibility in such matters.
We wouldn’t even be here if this president’s hubris, hatred towards Obama and complete supplication to the Israelis and Saudi’s didn’t have him rip up an agreement that was working for everyone!
And... the Saudi’s doing the investigation?? Is this the same crack team that exonerated Mr. Bone Saw from the brutal murder of US resident and WAPO reporter Jamal Khashoggi? Could they at least hold up a sign to let us know at what moments they are lying and the few times they are telling the truth? If it’s the Americans doing the investigation... could they call in Condi and Colin to give an encore performance?
3
Is it too much to hope that the Saudis and Iranians kill each other off all in their own?
1
There is no doubt that Iran arms terrorists all over the Middle East and deserves to be sanctioned.
But we should be very, very wary of anything Pompeo says on the subject, because in March he told the Christian Broadcasting Network it was possible that "God" had sent Trump to save modern Israel just as the biblical Esther saved the Jews of ancient Persia. "I am confident that the Lord is at work here," he added. And Trump himself recently looked reverently up to the sky and anointed himself "the chosen one." Be afraid...be very afraid....
PS The Megilat Esther does not mention "God."
3
Let the Saudis handle it.
5
Does any responsible person care about and believe a group of extremely wealthy inhumane Arabs who don’t care about human rights and literally butchered a journalist and put his body-parts in bags and are bombing another country and killing hundreds of civilians?!
3
Not our war. Saudis attacked us on 9/11. They are not our friends, and Tubby Trump’s friends are not to be trusted, neither ones abroad or here at home.
No more wars. The last one costs seven trillion and counting, not to mention lives lost.
4
There is something odd about this story; Did the Saudi's do it?
3
Act of war? Have we lost our minds? Did the mystery sharpie draw Saudi Arabia onto the USA map? Now Crazy Donald is talking of using nuclear weapons? It’s time for our country to grow a spine and impeach our narcissistic, sociopathic nut job Trump.
4
Whose War?
2
What a blowhard. A Secretary of State alleging "acts of war" on circumstantial evidence, at best.
3
Used to be that 'truth is the first casualty of war.' Now? Like any Stable Genius, Don 'the Sharpie' along with Mohammed Bone Saw have already got Truth into the trunk of a limo.
3
No matter what photo I see, trump always looks like the dumbest person in the room, trying desperately to look "smart" and in-control of the situation.
If we elect this baboon in 2020, we will see nuclear destruction.
6
So the US considers an attack on Iran on behalf of the nation that attacked us on 9/11/01. Swell...
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
5
Oh God, another evangelical who wants to go to war with another muslim nation. How many Trillions of dollars has America spent on never ending wars in Afganistan, Iraq, and Syria? Lets not spill any more American blood. Let Saudi Arabia send their playboy princes to fight in Iran.
4
We should all declare war against the Trump administration, which is decimating the natural world and democracy.
They are all criminals and thugs of the worst kind.
3
Pompeo not only meets with the "crown prince," but calls him "MBS" quite cozily. I don't even know where or how to express my disgust with this gang of fools whose idiocy, never funny, now scares the living daylights out of me.
3
Great Pompeo try to sell your venom to the world.
Consult with our friends the Saudis whose citizens ran planes into the twin tower and Pentagon on 9-11, who killed the Saudi journalist living in Virginia at the orders of MBS. We should trust Saudi Arabia as far as we can throw their sand!
Be careful who you sleep with Mike, disease follows sickness.
2
Between 1982 and 1988 Iran and Iraq fought a war against each other that resulted in 1,000,000 Iranian deaths. Does Pompeo, who never fought in a battle in his life, really think that the Iranians, who come from the Persians, a very great empire, are going to back off from a fight with the United States. Moreover, we have no business being involved in this matter, it involves Saudi Arabia, which keeps attacking Iranian interests and its allies, and Iran, which is not at war with the Saudi's. We all know that the Saudi's are dirty in this war in Yemen so why get involved. We have no mutual defense treaty with the Saudi's, and since we have sold so many weapons to them, why can't they defend themselves?
Are we willing to lose I million soldiers to beat the Iranians?
13
@Joel Friedlander
Did Hitler attack America before we went to war with Germany?
Would backing down to Japan prevented Pearl Harbor?
@Dr. John The Germans and the Japanese had a mutual defense pact as the Axis Powers. The day after Japan attacked us Germany declared war on the United States. That you can compare the two situations convinces me that you are unaware of your history, in which case you should watch and learn rather than speak.
1
@Joel Friedlander
You didn’t answer either of my questions.
Words matter. Period. If this is an "act of war" the Saudi's need to speak to the muslim brotherhood to figure out the best way to respond. Let me remind the readers. The majority of 9/11 terrorist were of Saudi descent/nationality. It is not just our responsibility to send of our young men and women to fight. They have young men who can fight this battle. Let them do it.
5
In my experience, habitual liars are not reliable sources of information. The possibility of being truthful on occasion is there but hard to accept.
This applies to both the current administration and the Saudis.
It also brings back eerie memories of the lead up to the debacle that was the Iraq war. If there hadn’t been so much saber rattling up to Saturday, maybe there wouldn’t be so much skepticism. It seems opportune. And even if Iran is involved, Yemen has suffered greatly at the hands of the Saudis.
Any action against Iran by the junior varsity surrounding the president should be cause for alarm. They have no expertise and plenty of confidence. Their leader is not capable of making sensible decisions based on rationale consideration of the consequences. They will not seek advice outside their own inner circle, especially from the previous administration, during which peace with Iran was sought by active engagement.
And where are the Democrats?
5
Yes, perhaps Pompeo is correct. And perhaps Saudi Arabia should have considered this possibility when they started their active but undeclared war on the Houthis in Yemen.
This seems like a deserved consequence of the Saudi's actions.
Instead of getting worked up over it, the US media should be yawning and telling everyone this is their (meaning Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Iraqs) problem not ours. There is plenty of wrongdoing to go around. How could any rationale person justify US intervention?
2
Please follow through on specifics of increased sanctions. Sounds like double-talk. Just what is there left to sanction?
3
If Trump denies visas to the Iranian delegation to the UN, the UN should consider moving its general assembly to somewhere other than the US. At least while Trump remains president, which is hopefully not beyond January 2021. Sooner if possible.
4
The Vietnam War draft dodger and the Republican Party are engaged in an extremely high stakes game of brinkmanship that defies both logic and commonsense. Mealy mouthed, vague and ambiguous, and incompetently predicated expressions of 'locked and loaded' and inept pronouncements of 'act of war' ring hollow. Genuflecting to MBS as signal recognizing prominence and greater intelligence, the Vietnam War draft dodger is hedging his bets about the possibility of American military intervention but only if the Saudis tell America that the Royal Family has irrefutable, incontrovertible proof of criminal activity by the Iranians, or 'someone.' The 'we will see what happens' weakness line is an empty headed threat. "In the final analysis," to quote President Kennedy's eloquent interview with the eminently cerebral CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite of 2 September 1963, about the increasing instability raging in Vietnam, "it's their war. They [the South Vietnamese] have to win it or lose it" In 2019 America finds itself at a similar crossroads. The Secretary of State and the Vietnam War draft dodger would be best served by reading of the events of the Gulf of Tonkin incident of August 1964, and the truth that a second attack did not occur on the US Navy. America went to war anyway to 'protect' its ally. Ominously parallel signs exist here. And they should, and must, read the Pentagon Papers for extra measure. Before sending Americans of colour to die for nothing, think. Race matters.
3
The House of Saud can consider these strikes an act of war if they wish, but I’m sure they realize they are no match for Iran in a head to head war. Iran has not admitted that the performed the strike. Without concrete proof, or a declaration of war from Iran, it is hard for me to imagine the Saudi’s being able to form any coalition of sane states. This attack is certainly not an act of war against the US, and POTUS has no authority to pretend he could declare ware over this. No sane American would support such folly. We have no business even leading a measured strike in response. Let the Saudi’s use some of their hi tech war toys if they wish. I doubt they wish to draw Iran into a land war. Again, we should stay out. If they attack any US personnel, then by all means, respond in a disproportionate manner. I also agree we should keep US oil in the US. If we do that, the loss of Saudi oil is not a major issue for the US. Other countries rely much more heavily on US oil than the US does. Let them and the Saudi’s do some heavy lifting for once.....
3
Mike Pompeo calls these strikes an "act of war."
But the strikes crippled Saudi oil fields, not American oil fields. So act of war or not, they're not an act of war against the U.S.
And... while no Americans were killed in this attack, he says, "there's always a risk" they could have been. So just to be clear, so far we're talking about a strike against another country, in which no Americans were killed.
And... suddenly the administration chooses to believe "the intelligence community" -- the same intelligence community Team Trump ridicules at virtually every other opportunity? -- that the Houthis could not have done this. Why trust them this time?
The most dishonest administration in history has me conditioned to believe this is a snow job. If the U.S. does end up in a military action with or on behalf of the Saudis, rather than accepting that it's justified, I'll always believe Trump is using America's public assets (our military personnel and our military budget) to repay the Saudis for some private credit, perqs or favors he or his family has received from them.
I will never trust what Team Trump says, and that's why it's important for public officials to divest themselves of their private business holdings while in office, adhere to the Emoluments clause of the Constitution, not make nepotistic appointments, and in general, act with some ethics and integrity.
11
Let take a look back Yemen and Saudi Arabia have been at war for how long? Years.
Saudi Arabia has purchased and used U.S. weaponry and assistence to attach Yemen. Now Yemen has gone to the worlds weapons market and attacked Saudi Arabia.
So why is it that striking back and defending ones country a act of war with the USA. Not that I agree with any of this but I must be missing something.
3
Not an act of war to this former Marine.
Lots of irregular troops in the ME these days. Pompeo, Trump, Trump's family, and Repubs in general can go there on their own.
No need to worry about being too old for the US military. Just go,
4
Didn't we sell the Saudis some fancy defensive weapons? They did not seem to work particularly well.
1
My first thought on this latest trumpian dilemma was "why should I believe a word this administration says"? Pompeo is now, for all intents and purposes, THE MAN with access to trump's ear. He likes his job and the prestige it brings, so he can--and will-- tell lies, half-truths and/or misleading statements just like his boss.
Secondly, with all the military hardware we have sold to the Saudis over the years, it would seem to me, they can take care of their own problems. Why involve our over stretched military, on any level?
Thirdly, this is the country (Saudi Arabia) that gave us 19 of the 9/11 hijackers/terrorists. We gave them a pass on that little incident; and now, trump and his cronies are concerned...my guess it is more about preserving trump investments than national security.
Finally, why in God's name would a single one of our (former?) allies want to form a coalition with this government, who has repeatedly shown itself to be untrustworthy?
3
This, attack on Saudi oil facilities, has opened a totally new can of worms. In our hubris, at least public hubris, our national leadership, of both major political parties, seems to never acknowledge that our threats/enemies also have a say in the outcome of a struggle. They appear not to accept or believe that a threat/enemy might, if pushed into a corner, come out fighting. Such is the case with Iran. We, the United States, do what we have to do to protect and advance our national interests. I have no issue with that, but Iran will do the same. The Government of Iran is under significant economic and political pressure. It has protested US sanctions and told the EU that it, EU, must provide relief from those sanctions. The EU has not done such, even though its member states, specifically Germany, are on the verge of tipping into recession. So, Iran has now upped the ante. Its government is serious and, I believe, willing to go to war, if necessary, to protect its national security interests. It would not be the first nation to do so. So....we are witnessing a round of action-reaction-counteraction. Are we and the EU and our mutual allies willing to go to war with Iran? A war that would massively disrupt the flow of oil and petroleum products from the Middle East and push the world economy into a financial depression. The ball is in our, US/EU, court.
3
Trump has a credibility problem. He's lied over 12,000 times since his inauguration. Trump's insistence that US is best when it stands alone will make it very difficult to recruit allies to confront Iran. There isn't sufficient proof for the additional sanctions against Iran. Pompeo's call of 'Act of War' is going too far.
Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono says he has not seen any intelligence indicating Iran was behind the attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities.
Should anyone believe a president who says windmills cause cancer and redraws a map to 'prove' that Alabama was in danger from a hurricane?
3
Not so long ago, the United States jumped into the middle of what amounted to an ideological civil war in Vietnam. We all remember how that turned out. Unless we learned nothing from that adventure, the US may find itself caught in a far more deadly religious war between Shi’i Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia--thanks to an unstable president and his incompetent advisors who read popularity polls instead of history.
If we’re not very careful, we will be way over our heads in a theological conflict that stretches back over a thousand years.
3
If this is indeed an act of war, why isn't Saudi Arabia responding? Why else spend untold billions on our weapons if they won't use them to defend themselves?
Or were these arms purchases just payoffs to get the US to sacrifice its blood to defend their oil fields?
Iran didn't attack us. Whatever happened to the conservative mantra of limiting foreign entanglements?
3
Former US Secretary of Defense Gates once said,
"The Saudis wants to fight Iran down to the last American".
Stephen Colbert joked,
"Book 500 rooms at Trump's hotels, and get a free War from the U.S."
The Saudis booked an entire week at Trump's Scottish golf resort, this summer.
Jared Kushner has had the Saudis invest hundreds of millions of dollars in his ailing 1.5 Billion dollar building located at 666 Fifth Avenue, NYC.
Just what was promised by Trump in return is a national secret.
Connect the dots.
6
If the attack was, as claimed by the Saudis, a Yemeni attack (who they are locked in a war with) sponsored by Iran, then any response by the US would be sponsored by the Saudis. If it is an act of war, as claimed by Pompeo, what are Saudi attacks in Yemen?
5
It wasn't an act of war against the US. Or our normal allies. Stay OUT of it.
3
Where did this attack happen? Houston Ship Channel? Long Beach Harbor? Norfolk? Midland-Odessa, oh we don't care when there's an attack there. Stay away from this because nobody will join a coalition to start a war with Iran. How excited did trump and Pompeo get when India interfered with Kashmir autonomy? Millions can be displaced anywhere in the world and trump couldn't care less, and even blame the refugees. Saudi oil facilities are sacred, and must be defended regardless of whether there is evidence of who attacked, or the consequences of retaliation. If trump thinks a war with Iran is good and easy to win, Iraq and Afghanistan will look like successes.
2
We sell them tens of billions of dollars of weapons. they start a war, and cant finish it, and how is this our problem?
4
I think if there was anything left to sanction-other than life saving drugs for children- Tehran would not have felt this attack worth the cost. Trump gave away his leverage when he cancelled the nuclear deal. Now his only options now are to attack or whimp out. As with other foreign policy decision Trump tweets big but goes small.
3
Pompeo: "Act of Whose War?" What business does the US have to "declare war" when the foreign country, Saudi Arabia, fully capable to defend itself, is attacked by another foreign country (Iran).
4
More "wars" undeclared and confirmed by Congress? Just another decade of them, I guess. Ho, hum...Any of those Trumps/ military-industrial complex types on the battlefield? Hardly any? Another question--any moral and Constitutional integrity? Here's one that should get a yes--Any thought to clean and renewable energy sources that render the whole area in the Middle East to be nearly left alone?
2
We still haven't seen any evidence of exactly where the rockets or drones came from.
2
So to recap, there's no proof Iran is involved and Pompeo and Trump claim it WAS Iran but Trump is waiting for "orders" from the corrupt Saudis. Oh yeah, and the Trump administration is blocking the Visas needed for Iran to attend the U.N meetings presumably to defend their innocence. Sounds like trump.
3
Maybe it was an act of war - between Iran and Saudis Arabia. We should let them fight it out.
3
Since when is Saudi Arabia our problem? Haven't we become embroiled in enough endless wars? The Saudis have made their bed. Let them lie in it.
3
Can we at least remember that we’re coming to the aid of a country with a leader in MBS that ordered the hit and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashogghi?
Can we also agree that it’s entirely possible that this kabuki theatre was carried out by actors motivated by the destruction of Iran’s nuclear program?
Are we just this gullible?
1
So let the Saudis fight their own war, without any weapons from us. We should not even consider supporting that brutal monarchy. Their radical ideology of authoritarian measures to enforce their corrupt values fueled radicals like Bin Laden, who Barack took care of. They intentionally starve children to approach political objectives. They kill, execute, dissenters in brutal fashion - just as brutal as cartels and street gangs.
Saudis will eventually turn their weapons on us or our allies. They should never have access to American military weapons.
4
March 2003 war was based mostly on lies. If Pompeo and all other chicken hawks think that Iran was behind this, then let MBS and his government deal directly with the Iranians Why drag other countries to their conflict.
3
If Iran did it the current US administration’s policies undoubtedly share complicity.
2
Sanctions are all well and good, but we should also help the Saudis and Iran have this fight that they've been itching for for so long. Neither of these countries is an ally. In fact, they are both enemies of the US who frequently end prayers with "Death To America". When two enemies want to fight each other, it's strategically wise to let them. And while they destroy each other's oil infrastructure, we'll make a killing now that we're a major producer again - to say the least about the impact increased oil prices would have towards moving the world to cleaner alternatives.
1
Netanyahu has been trying to provoke a war with Iran for a long time now. Any chance this was a last ditch effort to start a war and hang on to his political power? Just wondering? How'd the US get the information about chemical weapons of mass destruction in Iraq anyway? Who was the source of that false information? Pompeo, this looks like deja vu all over again.
2
Yes the Houthis are at war, so he isnt lying exactly.
2
“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...”
I DO NOT CONSENT!
3
Hold on - Trump asked Putin (twice!) if Russia interfered with our elections, and Putin said no, so Trump believed him. When Trump's administration asked MBS about Khashoggi's murder and dismemberment, MBS said Saudi Arabia had nothing to do with it, and Trump believed him. I wonder why he is not giving Iran the same benefit of the doubt...
3
Saudis have the best weapons lots of money can buy, but their army is feared by no one.
2
You break it Trump, you own it.
Don't forget what happened to Bush, and neither Mike Pompeo, John Bolton or the Kingdom of Tonga saved him from spending the rest of his life of making oil paintings.
1
Don’t the Houthis have the right to their own security? When Israel strikes Gaza is that an act of war?
Double standard.
2
Trump will do everything in his power to secure a hotel in Ryad, including plunging the U.S. into military conflict with Iran to avenge the latter's suspected drone strike on Saudi oil facilities. Didn't we sell Saudi Arabia billions in weapons, a move that Trump heralded as a "big, beautiful arms sale, folks."? Can't they fight their own war with Iran if it comes to that? Not while Trump can get involved and look like the hero — or the total fool. This will not eld well.
3
Pompeo says “We will be working with our European partners as well. We’re working to build out a coalition to develop a plan (to deter Iran)".
My advice to Pompeo - take care of "partner's" doors hiting you in the tuchus as you exit.
4
I guess they got rid of Bolton because he didn't kiss Trumps behind the way Pompeo does. Pompeo wants to go to war against Iran as badly as Bolton does. Pompeo just says things in a way that makes it look like everything is Trumps idea.
4
What do you call and economic blockade that causes misery and starvation? Is that not an act of war?
3
Let’s Grow Up
I punch, you punch back. I punch harder. You send drones with missiles. Isn’t there a better way? How about, “Do to others what you would have them do to you.”
Here’s an idea. Rejoin our allies in the Iran nuclear deal. Then, they will talk to Trump. Trump will negotiate “the greatest nuclear deal ever.” The media will love him.
Face it. Whoever took out half of Saudi oil production can take out the other half, even if it’s the last thing they do. Why go there? Ask Americans what they would do if another country prevented them from selling American oil. Now change Americans in that sentence to Iranians. Get the point?
Let’s all take a deep breath. Negotiate a Trump nuclear deal with Iran. Lift the sanctions on oil sales. Obama won’t mind. Americans will praise Trump. He likes that.
2
Trump wasn't even a candidate when Obama was ordering drone strikes in Yemen and everybody was screaming about the civilian collateral damage.
1
Gen. Fox Connor who was mentor to Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, etc. had but these three rules for when The U.S should go to war. 1. Don’t fight unless you have to. 2. Don’t fight alone. 3. Don’t fight for long.
2
Why do we care? If gas in the US goes up in price so be it but this is on Saudi Arabia. The same country where fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers came from so why is the US involved. This is not our fight!
3
Trump broke the nuclear agreement with Iran.
Trump brought back sanctions that had been removed.
Trump increased sanctions this year.
Iran's people are greatly suffering from the sanctions.
Iran is said to have given equipment to Houthi rebels who bombed the Saudi plant.
Where is the real proof?
Why are we trying to involve our military in yet another middle east skirmish and risk escalation to a 3rd world war and nuclear attacks?
Pure madness, Trump is in a corner due to his ignorance and lack of insight. Wrap him in a straight jacket and get him into Psych hospital before he takes us to war.
4
This is laughable. Yemen and Saudi Arabia are at war with each other. We supply weapons to the Saudi, and Iran supplies weapons to the Yemen. The Middle East and Europe have been complaining that USA's weapons are causing the largest famine in the history of our lives. Our allies are asking us to get out of the business of supplying the Saudi's (remember them, they blew up our the Twin Towers on 9/11). Now our war hawks are saying Yemen's use of Iran's weapons to cause a small decline in oil is an act of war. Don't be so gullible.
2
What we know is that Saudi Arabia was attacked and this is an act of war. Whether Iran did it or Iranian backed Houthi rebels with Iranian cruise missiles and drones did it, is immaterial. Trump caused this crisis by pulling out of the Iranian nuclear deal and applying punishing sanctions. There are no good actors here. I do not support Saudi Arabia and their genocidal, murderous leader. The war crimes and slaughter, the humanitarian crisis in Yemen are unconscionable. The Saudis have exported terrorism throughout the world, including the attacks on our soil. Likewise I don't support the Iranian regime. They too export terrorism, imprison, torture people and are a destabilizing factor in the Middle east. These two regimes are very similar, except one is Sunni and the other Shia, I cannot and will not choose a side. The fear I have is with a leader like ours, what the heck can we do. He's like a gorilla pounding his chest, making a lot of noise and getting a lot of attention. What happens when the gorilla always turns around and does nothing? Sooner or later everyone will recognize this as bluster. Trump is the epitome of weak leadership, full of bluster and threats. Looks like the Iranians know this and are escalating their attacks hoping to force the US to ease sanctions. A strong US leader would start talks and help to de-escalate the situation. Trump is not a strong leader. Things are likely to get a lot worse before there is any hope of things getting better.
3
Act of war? maybe. Act of war against the United States? No.
2
Not buying a ticket to this rerun. The Saudi government has the weapons and resources to manage
Iran without the sacrifice of US lives. They took 3,000 lives as a result of 9/11 and they murdered a US journalist. They have taken enough from the US. Congress needs to step up and shut this down -now.
3
Sorry America but thanks to Trump the rest of the world is left up in the air as to who to belive Lyin' 45 or the Houthis. Because Iranian made missiles were discovered on site Trump blames Iran. How many American made weapons have been found in Yemen?
3
Pompeo has no more credibility than his boss, a man who has lied more than 12,000 times since he took office.
3
Gimme a break. Isn't it a war crime to support the yemeni war (which has neared genocidal violence)? Aren't the two main puppet masters in that war the inimitable house of Saud and the Ayatollah? Who's better?
The Saudi's don't expect to get shelled for their support by their enemies? who killed all those Yemeni children?
If they want their oil to be safe, maybe they shouldn't get into wars. Not our problem.
3
The question of who supplied the weapons, who launched the attack, and from where it originated is irrelevant. The Saudis have made plenty of enemies at this point.
After years of brutalization, the Yemenis and their allies scored an astounding and hugely consequential victory -- the week before the UNGA and right before an attempted public offering in Aramco.
It has exposed precisely how vulnerable the petroleum industry really is -- the Saudis are now faced with the absurdity of squandering their sovereign wealth on reconstruction and defense of legacy petroleum assets -- at precisely the moment when they should be rapidly diversifying away from fossil fuels.
One would have to be the biggest headless idiot on earth to undertake such a task, at a time when renewable energy is easily out-competing heavily-subsidized fossil fuels across virtually all markets globally.
The attack highlights the best available path to decarbonization in the face of an accelerating existential threat from uncontrolled planetary heating due to continued burning of fossil fuels.
This threat has reached a point where there exists a clear moral obligation to disrupt, degrade and destroy the assets of the petroleum industry everywhere by all means available.
So, the various militaries with a stake in this conflict -- who collectively also happen to be the largest consumers of fossil fuels -- are faced with deciding precisely how much of their own lifeblood to sacrifice.
QE2 : $128B
2
Why would anyone who has an ounce of intelligence want to get involved with another quagmire in the Middle East? Oh yes that would be Lindsey Graham and Mike Pompeo. Secondly, who really believes anything out of the White House? After all it’s ok to “lie” to the media and the American taxpayer..
3
It's not OUR war.
2
If Pompeo is correct that this is an act of war, why can't the Saudis defend themselves? Trump's wonderful deals to sell them billions of dollars worth of the latest US weaponry were for what purpose? Are we now to spill American blood in support of a corrupt and bloodthirsty prince who dismembered a Washington Post journalist? No thanks. Sacrifice your own cowardly people.
3
Ummm, shouldn't it be the Saudis who claim the attack was an "act of war"?
4
An "Act of War". Words uttered by a war monger. Listen up, this is NOT our problem. Let Saudi Arabia deal with it.
3
When will the US be held accountable for providing the planes and munitions, as well as the pilot training, re-fueling of planes, and targeting of the daily Saudi war crimes in Yemen?
5
If you look closely at the putative evidence the Saudi's have provided...there is a clear outline of a bone saw.
2
Is our national security threatened? How is this an act of war, have we learned nothing from the past 18 years in Afghanistan? Let the Saudis deal with this problem, not us. Our foreign policy is a sham and our leadership is a joke. Pompeo is an incompetent imposter, in way over his head along with his boss and it is becoming to look like Trump will get his war despite what he says to the contrary. Our country under his leadership is in dire straits.
3
The Saudis did much more than "sponsor" the death of Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, but name me one specific thing done by the United States government to punish the Saudis for his brutal and gruesome murder.
I'm waiting . . . .
Just like we can wait for the President or Republicans to do anything about dead men, women, and children in pools of their own blood on the floors of schools, churches, synagogues, stores, bars, concert venues . . . .
We're waiting . . . .
Justice for the Saudis? You're kidding, right?
7
Uhhh. The facts don't and won't matter. It's time to generate fake facts and go to war. Election is coming up. Oh, btw, I doubt there will be a coalition of any powerful countries willing to stand with a US led by this lying fool. Maybe a 2nd or 3rd-rate power at best. Name one NATO member who would shed one drop of their blood to help the US now. Trump has us on an island. It's time to kick him off.
4
Again, interesting news but it's NOT OUR PROBLEM! I would think it's time for the Saudi's and the Iranian's to sit down and talk.
There are more important things going on in America that need immediate attention!
If Trump is so hellbent for a war I'll gladly buy him a gun!
2
Trump's consistent approach to diplomacy:
1. Issue apocalyptic threats
2. Cave and back down on threats
3. Move goalposts and claim victory
What a pathetic excuse for an adult and a president.
5
Getting the old coalition of the willing back together again, eh? The Federated States of Micronesia, the Solomon Islands, Palau still don’t have armies. But the Albanians, Azerbaijanis, Bulgarians, Colombians, Eritreans, Estonians, Ethiopians, Georgians, Hondurans, Hungarians, Kuwaitis, Latvians, Lithuanians, Macedonians, Marshall Islanders, Philippinos, the Polish, Romanians, Rwandans, Singaporans, Slovakians, Ugandans, and Uzbeks are all in. For the right price.
3
Why are we protecting the very corrupt, murderous state that bombed us on 9/11? They are not our allies.
5
It is perhaps an act of war to Saudi Arabia. Certainly not to us—they are neither a NATO-ally nation nor a US treaty nation.
The Saudis just brutally murdered an American Journalist. They continue to bomb, kill, and starve the Yemenis. Seems they can dish it out but not take it.
I’ve little sympathy for them.
4
I do not want Trump, in the name of the US, to form any coalition or special relationship with Saudi Arabia and/or Israel - it is special enough. Fossil fuels are a dead end, the Saudis and MBS know it and they are just trying to milk what they can from the sucker they have for now named Trump.
2
How do the "America First" Trump supporters feel about their emperor god (yet again) coming to the defense of the regime that sponsored the 9-11 attacks?
My guess:
One half doesn't know about Saudi Arabia's history of state sponsored terrorism, the other half, doesn't care... ANYTHING that upsets liberals and/or reverses Obama-era policy, is good policy.
Half ignorant, half hateful... the state of mind of 40% our country.
4
Given Mr. Trump's inclination to disbelieve our own intelligence agencies, I think what Pompeo meant to say is Mr. Bone Saw thinks it's the Iranians. I would not be suprised if the orange one does not correct Pompeo on this score. Gettin' too big for yer britches maybe, Mike?
1
Our allies, if we have any left, don’t want to be associated with the Trump administration in a war with Iran.
Maybe 45 can have Saudi Arabia join NATO first LOL.
3
Let me see, our incompetent leader abruptly withdraws from an agreement we had with Iran without any plans . Lo and behold , his underlings are now talking about acts of war. Has Trump consulted with his bosses yet , Putnin, Netanyahu and the Saudi Royal family to know what he will do next ? Oh wait, our foreign policy is now contradictory tweets and blaming his appointees and associates for his failures. We now know that “ Tweetle D ( Donald) and Tweetle Dumb “ are one person .
3
When missiles and bombs start flying why does Trump start sounding like a weakling? Where’s his bravado and tough talk on Twitter?
As soon as China figures this out and starts doing missiles tests he will cave to them as well.
Typical bully. He picks on those he knows won’t fight back. And cowers around other bullies.
Trump keeps saying "we're asking the Saudis" what to do... why are we acting as MERCENARIES for the murderous Saudi regime?
Please please please Nancy Pelosi, proceed with impeachment proceedings. Please. Or we're all gonna die in a nuclear armageddon. The man is unfit to lead.
3
As a staunch Trump critic, I'll give him credit for restraint here. We know Iran war hawks have been babbling in his ear to attack militarily. Even if Iran is responsible, they bombed Saudi Arabia (their long time bitter enemy), not the United States.
Trump is understandably reluctant to get involved in another Mideast war, and as he might say: "that's a good thing, not a bad thing."
47
@Mark McIntyre: That’s his position today. Check the news for updates. We have learned from experience, haven’t we, that these things are ... fluid.
18
@Mark McIntyre
Even a broken analog clock is right 2x a day
He’s just trying to appear to be what can never be
Presidential
14
@Mark McIntyre:
You can credit Trump for having restraint or being prudent.
The truth is that he's too scared to actually back up any of his tough talk with anything other than "sanctions". Notice how he uses the strongest language he can and then, waffles, vacillates, claims he wants to talk, and then comes down hard with...sanctions.
16
Pompeo’s statement that the Houthi attacks on Saudi oil installations is an act of war perpetrated by Iran on the US is a blatant fraud. When Trump and his minions lie repeatedly for almost three years about virtually every foreign issue, that is the result: no one believes them now. Pompeo once again cries “Wolf”.
165
@Irving Franklin OK so you want to believe that a missile attack on a sovereign country is not an act of war backed or caused by Iran and is a "fraud". I have seen and heard many Democratic Senators state that it is a disturbing escalation by Iran and not one Democrat has called this fact a "fraud'.Well, I haven't checked with the views of " The squad" yet but you are out of step with your (presumably) party). That is not to suggest that Trump is wrong to be cautious about his response.
@alan brown Democratic Senators can also be wrong. Who is this squad?
Alan, I don't think the facts have been examined well enough to determine if Iran is responsible for anything. Even if it's discovered that they actually launched a drone and it damaged property in Saudi Arabia, it still isn't our problem.
2
The act of war is the US’s continuing involvement in the Middle East, picking sides along the way and weaponizing the world.
31
@Cliff
Facts!
2
Why not let the Saudi's and Iran handle their problem. I see little reason for the USA to ger involved in nTheir differences
30
Knowing Saudis, beware. Remember the story of the monkey who loved hot chestnut!
5
Coalition building: antithetical to everything Trump
13
If Trump and his administration are so hungry for war then I suggest the military hand them all rifles and helmets and drop them into the zone.
After all they are the only ones who actually want this...let them have it.
33
An act of war on Saudi Arabia; not the United States!
We have no agreement/pact with Arabia for mutal defense!
What nonsense. I thought we sold Arabia billions of dollars of fighter aircraft and other weapons? Let them defend themselves!
We go near Iran with weapons and the muslim world comes down on us! At least the Shia world! Another American war in the Middle East for 18 to 20 years!
How absurd, ignorant and dangerous!
26
"“We were blessed there were no Americans killed in this attack"
....at a Saudi Arabian oil processing facility?
Say what? I mean, huh? Are there hotels there or something? Is it a big tourist spot? Americans were giving humanitarian aid there? God was blessing Americans so therefore they weren't there?
22
"The other prong, analysts say, is that Iran began exceeding the limits on its nuclear program under the 2015 deal."
I am flabbergasted by this article. The Trump administration expects Iran to adhere to a deal that was working and that the Trump administration abandoned and now they are trying to use the lack of adherence to the abandoned treaty as an excuse to attack Iran.
They are trying, without evidence. to claim the attack was from Iran. They are glad no Americans were killed on an attack on an oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia and therefore we were blessed. (Blessed??) It could have been so much worse, like 9/11 or something. We narrowly escaped American death!
They are trying to claim that Iran is responsible because they supply arms to Yemen (while we supply arms to Saudi Arabia) and that the Houthi's couldn't possibly have the weapons used, so therefore Iran did it. The images do not support their claims, again. Pompeo is on some kind of Quixotic quest in his evangelical holy war on Iran while the orange haired, goggle eyed, fake tanned tweeter-in-chief and pretender to the presidency is insincerely playing the role of the moderating force, both salivating over conflict and conquest and imagined glory (and re-election).
In other words, they are trying to lie us into war, AGAIN. Give the Iranians their visas and stop with the shenanigans and sabre rattling. NO MORE WARS!
40
To all commentators here who wonder why so much obsession with Iran, the answer is simple: Israel. You recall who pushed the U.S. to attack Iraq. Then the Israeli lobby was in forefront. Now you don't hear of them because they ARE the U.S. administration -- and the State.
10
@Historian
Got it! It's all Israel's fault!
But but but....... wait a minute! What about the religious take over of the Iranian government that threw out the American installed Shah and then the hostage crisis in 1979?
I am old enough to remember history and I can say that the obsession with Iran has more to do with that. We were, again, the ones interfering.
Plus, I do recall who pushed the US to attack Iraq and his name was Dick Cheney.
1
No.
1
Hmmm, the lying liars at the top of the US administration claim Iran did it. That almost certainly means Iran didn't do it.
It is was probably the Saudis that did it to try to push the US into war with Iran.
12
If Pompeo and friends, including the Liar in Chief, want to go to war with Iran, I say: "Here's your M16." Very seldom are wars actually fought by the politicians and flag wavers who get their countries into them. This Viet Nam vet says it's long past time to think about what you're starting. If there's one thing the US excells at, it's underestimating the capabilities and determination of our so-called enemies. Witness Afghanistan. So go ahead and poke, Pompeo. Boot camp welcomes you.
20
So, we're supposed to take the word of a man known for ordering the murder of a journalist as to who might be behind the attack?
Pardon me if I remain skeptical.
19
This is a demostation that the current USA admininstration is full of the largest most fool hardy individuals that ever walked this planet. It tis he Middle East stupid. We stopped progress by fighting with Iran. Change to a country always works within not with pressure on the outside.
Trump is bound and determine to get Americans killed. Either by climate change, polution, or war.
There is no coaliliton, who believes Trump? Most people believe Iran over Trump and the Saudi.
Do you feel safer now or 2.5 years ago. Let us take stock, we have fleet of ships off the coast of Iran ready for war, North Korea is still shooting missles, we have a fight with all of our Nato countries. Our national debt is rising, we have no creditbility overseas. Interest rates are lowering due to poor economical times. This adminstration is killing both envirnment and poor hungry immgrates. For what reason?
Our policies are delivered by tweet. SoI hope that all you Bone Spur Trump voters and supporters do not have children between 18-30 for war is a waste of a generation. Military funerals with all their pagentry is still not worth a life.
12
This is insane. The Saudis are not our allies; we will not fight Israel's proxy war so that Trump can have four more years in office.
13
Nope. Saudi's lie and Trump lies. Don't believe anything either says. I'm not going to war for either nor would my kids.
16
The man in the Oval Office is a menace to the United States in every way. Now, it's war talk in the defense of horrendous regime -- Saudi Arabia. I guess we might have seen this coming when he was sword dancing with the dictators there. Do we really want to support a war to defend Saudi Arabia? Why not let them take care of it with their meat saws -- they have experience.
10
Evidence =//= generalizable facts=//= TRUTH. Consensualized in a culture of personally unaccountable policy makers? At all levels. In most, if not ALL countries! Accepted? Difficult to know, and even more difficult to understand in cultures which seed and harvest complacency as well as complicity by all-too-many.
Iran arms the… The USA, European governments and a arms dealers arm…No one takes responsibility for mass civilian deaths. Turned into nameless- numbers
No one takes responsibility for maimed civilians lost limbs. No one takes responsibility for life-time traumas.
No one takes responsibility for children starving to death.
Mike Pompeo, “scheduled to meet … said the two would “discuss the recent attack on the kingdom’s oil facilities and coordinate efforts to counter Iranian aggression in the region.” No time to discuss the above FACTS! No NEED for
a democracy which enables a toxic WE-THEY violating culture. Daily.In a divided democratic nation, of diverse Peoples who choose to BE willfully blind. about what IS which should not BE. Deaf to unnecessary pains. All around. Don't stope. Pay attention. Listen. Hear. Indifferent. To a legacy of marginalization. Exclusion. Discrimination. Dehumanization.
Willfully ignorant about the acculturation of facts, fictions and fantasies becoming goulashed.
What direction did the drones come from? What directions did American bombs come from as they “blanketed” Yemini citizens?
Questions. Policies. Words. No useful answers?
3
This Trump/Pompeo determination to protect Saudi Arabia is very troubling. Pompeo is only a lackey for Trump, and really has no ideas except a few with a religious bias of some kind. But Trump has very strong financial ties to the "Kingdom", and is likely to go inappropriately far in its defense. Since he speaks in childish riddles. no one knows how far. He may stop with this absurd increase in sanctions, but this will only further provoke the Iranians. Such ruthless incompetence. It will only end when his presidency is over.
11
I hate it when people say they’re “blessed” when they avoid something bad happening to them or a loved one. “God meant for our little Johnny to live” when 6 other kids died in the crash. So some God meant the others to die? America isn’t “blessed” that no American lives were lost in the attack. Anyone dying would be bad, no matter what nationality.
8
Pompeo sure as heck doesn't separate church and state. I'm concerned that his belief in the rapture could be affecting his policies and actions.
From:https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/30/us/politics/pompeo-christian-policy.html
[Mr. Pompeo talks about the rapture. “We will continue to fight these battles,” he said at a “God and Country Rally” in 2015, because there is a “never-ending struggle” until “the rapture.”]
8
This is none of our business. If Iran attacked Saudi Arabia, let Saudi Arabia deal with it. I thought Trump wanted no more foreign wars and to get us out of Afghanistan and Syria. Saudi Arabia has lots of money and lots of weapons we sold to them. If they are stupid enough to want a war, let it be their war. We shouldn't go to war for other nations, it's insane.
12
I don't believe Trump....or Pompeo.
12
Time for Mike and the Trump family to suit up and join the military to invade Iran. Bone Spurs are welcome now.
9
Yeah. We underestimated Osama Bin Ladin and Al Quida too...
Why is the USA responsible to defend Saudi Arabia? They seem to be quite capable of war with Yemen.
Maybe because Donald Trump wants to do business with the kingdom after his term in office? Is that why Americans should be put at risk? Let the voters think about that...
5
Who would have ever guessed he'd be teeing up a war leading into the "election"?
7
Isn't the Middle East part of Jared Kushner's portfolio?
How's he doing?
14
And visions of yellow cake and wmd's danced in their head. Really, have we learned nothing in the past 18 years?
5
Anything Pompeii says as he goes to genuflect before an authentic Chosen One (even if a tad more insane than our self-proclaimed chosen one) isn’t worth the spit in Paul Wolfowitz’s hair.
3
As we prepare for the 2019 version of LBJ’s 1964 Gulf of Tonkin resolution, I have one question: when will Donald Trump, aka Commander Bone Spurs, re-institute a national draft?
For some reason, “Fixin’ To Die Rag” is now going through my head. If you don’t know the song, its central point is:
“Be the first one on your block/To have your son come home in a box.”
5
At this point, I think the only ones listening to Trump/Pompeo are Jared/Ivanka. Everyone else without a "R" after their name knows these guys are jokes with no bite. Trump will quickly move onto another Twitter rampage and that will be that. Have we heard anything about N. Korea, Venezuela, Afghanistan, the new NAFTA, etc. etc. etc. lately. Nope. And then 2020 will come along and Trump and his party will hopefully be relegated to the trash bin of history.
6
How sad, and dangerous, is the current impasse between the U.S. and Iran. There shouldn't be much doubt that, as much as these United States are participating in 'bombing' Yemen, Iran is contributing to Houti's 'sophistication'. Can't we call a truce, so the warmongers on both sides may reflect upon the stupidity, if not malfeasance, of promoting greedy arms' dealers...if not the 'military-industrial complex', who are trying to make money at the cost of killing even more people than the current maiming. This situation is gratuitously cruel! Have we forgotten there is a solution to the mayhem, diplomacy?!!
2
If the Democrats do not loudly denounce war with Iran, there will be no reason to vote for a Democrat next year...Trump will be re-elected, without a doubt!!!
2
@Marge Keller (who ranks picks Iran as the least dangerous of the three counties discussed here: USA, Saudi Arabia and Iran)
I have to agree with you. Saudi's butchered a man, a journalist and a green card holder in broad daylight inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Butchered; with knives, meat cleavers and bone saws. The head of the CIA was played an audio tape. She testified to congressional committees on her briefings. NOTHING was done by the USA. NOTHING. No sanctions, no legal action, NOTHING.
If Iran did what the Saudi's did (don't forget that the 9/11 perpetrators were citizens of that den of thieves including the murderer in chief) they would have been neutron bombed.
The GOP foreign policy is disgusting. Their domestic policy is revolting. And the man who heads it all is a sick person. A very sick person.
11
Iraq and Saddam unquestionably had weapons of mass destruction too.
2
So much "winning". Please stop Mr President.
7
Wow, the US is under the advisory status from Russia and Saudi! I guess US is a hired gun for Trump's personal profit or the secrecy of his dirty past.
4
No American blood for Saudi oil.
4
Here in Auckland as we watch the world unravel with so much help from trump and his corrupt administration...............
I see shown on the news here this morning we are to believe the drones survived their own attack on oil facilities.................evidenced by partial drones blackened and shown to world news sources as the evidence it was drone attacks.
Really?
And with English writing all over them?
Kind of reminds me of the unburnt passports 'found' of the 9/11 hijackers and a US journalist murdered in an Embassy.
Yep', we believe everything we are seeing without question......
Someone, please come wake me when madmen are no longer in charge of the world.
4
Saudis purchased scores of Patriot missiles from the United States. Where were they deployed? Obviously not near this strategic location.
7
An act of war against Saudi Arabia. Not the US. Their land, their refinery operations. Why sell them hundreds of billions? Let them defend w/their own blood & treasure and extricate us from the worst foreign policy disaster (ME endless war) once & for all.
11
After Trump finishes with his nuanced response comprised of a blazing salvo of Sternly Worded retaliatory tweets, the cowering Iranians will dissolve their government and convert to Judaism en masse.
8
'There are many options. There's the ultimate option and there are options a lot less than that."
I'm glad the President cleared that up. We can do something ranging from nuking them into the stone age or calling them rude names.
6
@Thucydides: That’s Trump’s way of saying “I haven’t got a clue what;s happening or what to do.” It’s a variant on his universal verbal tic, ‘we’ll see what happens.’
1
It’s hard to discern which is the most dangerous enemy....Iran or Saudi Arabia. The U.S. Embassy hostages or more than 3,000 dead in the 9/11 attack? I rather think the latter.
7
I’d venture to say Saudi Arabia, followed by the Trump badministration for supplying them with weapons.
So help me here people. Mike Pompeo accused Iran on Wednesday of having carried out an “act of war” for bombing a Saudi oil field. But it is ok for Saudi Arabia to shell and bomb the Houthi rebels in Yemen? So would mean that the Saudi's are carrying out an 'act of war' against the Houthi?
How do these two things differ?
10
It is ironic that Mike Pompeo, who asserts Iran is the world's largest sponsor of terror, is now in Saudi Arabia, the country whose nationals attacked the United States on 9/11, to talk an alliance of war in the city of Jeddah, a place whose main claim to fame is the Jeddah Tower being built by no other than Bin Laden's own kin. Perhaps this irony will not pass him by, and he will see who the true enemies is.
11
@Samuel - Don't forget to add that Saudi Arabia funded the Taliban long ago.
2
Every article about Iran should start with a reminder that Iran remains a sponsor of terror and that they killed 800+ Americans in Iraq.
2
And what should preface articles about Saudi Arabia? I can think of a few choice talking points...
1
@Dr. John
That is a total lie. Please tell the truth that the Iranian military did not kill Americans in Iraq, but instead it was what has been labeled Iranian backed Shia militia groups.
On the other hand, with your same logic, how many thousands did Americans kill in Iran with its support of Saddam Hussein during the Iraq-Iran war. Or actually I don't even have to stretch to American proxies, do you not remember when the American navy shot an Iranian passenger jet out of the sky in 1988?
Finally, lets just imagine Iran illegally and on false pretexts invading Mexico and killing (lets take the low estimates) over 250,000 people, what do you think the United States' response would be?
Keep insisting that people push pro-war propaganda. Keep bringing up and distorting narratives of the Iraq war in order to support the United States' next murderous and costly wars.
1
@Dr. John only when every article about Saudi Arabia starts with a reminder that their citizens and royal family were responsible for 9/11.
1
The Kingdom's brightest crashed an airplane into our tallest buildings, killing thousands.
Less than two decades later, the same Kingdom is attacked by the Iran, and it is an act of war against us?
What is wrong with America?
11
And the US is providing Military hardware to Saudi Arabia in their indiscriminate "war" in Yemen. Where is the outrage?
6
Act of war? How about signing up Nicholas Pompeo and sending him over?
10
Oh, and just to annoy—ANOTHER prob with Trump is that nobody now believes he’ll bomb anything. And sorry, but sometimes, you do have to.
Point is, this sort of bluster-and-crawfishing tells too many bad guys that they’re safe no matter what they do. Doesn’t matter if they’re right, matters what they think.
As an amateur, here’s what I see: first a couple tanker seizures, then a drone shootdown, then a couple limpet mines, now this. So if this is testing us, what’s next in the sequence?
Trump makes a great deal, walks away, receives beautiful letters. Problem solved.
@Robert
Maybe you should do some more research because your narrative is incredibly sparse considering your trying to justify a strike against Iran.
Maybe go read about 1953, and 1988, and the Iran-Iraq war. Then maybe also try to verify some of the information you just spouted because it seems you've accepted the administration's tenuous theory lock, stock, and barrel.
1
The USA and Saudis haven’t figured out where the drone/missile attacks originated because they’re still trying to configure a flight path that avoids radar detection. There are many USA Navy ships, with sophisticated radar detection, scattered throughout the “Straight.”
Maybe their Sharpies ran out of ink?
9
Hack our political parties, break in to our governmental infrastructure and manipulate social media to mess with our elections - no problem, no sanctions.
Mess with the home and inspiration of the 9/11 terrorists - and Trump will demand sanctions and threaten worse!
7
I'm curious. Over the last thirty years, how many "acts of war" has Israel committed against its neighbors?
8
Why are we turning into United Emirates of America?
4
Nineteen out of twenty of the hijackers who flew planes and died on 9/11 were Saudi.
Wealthy Saudis have been responsible for disseminating fundamentalism Islam around the world for decades.
Saudi Arabia is an odious, backwards country with a terrible human rights record. They share none of our values and don't mind dismembering journalists who speak out against them. They imprison and torture women who merely ask to drive a car.
Why are we now the Great Sucker Protector who has to come to their defense? They own tons of American built weapons bought with oil lucre. If they can't defend themselves with all the toys they have, we should be under no obligation to step in.
Eisenhower was right about the military industrial complex. It does lead to an idle weapons complex where we inevitably seem to go to war just because we can: wasn't it Trump who mused, why do we have nukes if we can't use them?
It needs to be re-emphasized, we haven't won a single war since 1946. But we sure do seem to rush in where angels fear to tread.
8
‘Act of War’? Such pathetic yet dangerous posturing.
Is there is a NATO-like pact between Saudi Arabia and the USA?
Is this a deal between 'friends'?
Who else is in the cabal?
Obviously not any of the US' traditional allies who live in the real world as opposed to the TV reality show that has been broadcasting from the White House for too long.
4
Sounds like another WMD story. How do we end up with people like Pompeo and Bolton in positions of authority??
6
We had a collation in place.
4
Col. Turki al-Maliki, a spokesman for ministry.
“This attack did not originate from Yemen, despite Iran’s best effort to make it appear so.”
What credibility do the Saudis, or Mr. Melania and Pompeo have?
To paraphrase the spokesman on Jamal Khashoggi:
"This attack did not originate from Saudi Arabia, despite the world's best effort to make it appear so."
The Saudis and Mr. Melania's administration have zero credibility.
The drums of war beat?
4
I'm not stupid. I'm trying to get my head around what's going on.
We are looking at donald's Gulf of Tonkin moment. So donald and his crew want to ask the country that supplied the majority of our 9/11 terrorists as well as the new American reporter bone sawing leader how we can spend a couple hundred billion more $ and young lives sacrificed to protect American oil interests when in fact the U.S. is now a net oil exporter?
Gasoline futures, at least so far, have reacted minimally for the week. Are we witnessing just another commodities "scalp" job by donald and his crew? Nothing and I mean nothing would surprise me.
6
Pompeo calls it an "act of war". Where's he been for the past few years? Of course it's a bloody act of war! The Yemen War!
Good grief, this is governance by sound bite. Posturing doesn't work any longer if you've been doing it for years with no result.
Trump and Pompeo 'are' the problem: No foresight, no understanding of history, no statecraft skills whatsoever, and now everyone and their grandmothers' donkeys are laughing at us.
4
Saudi Arabia is not one of our allies. Trump is worried about his loans from the Royal Family! And he would put our husbands or children in jeopardy for money? Really? What have we become; mercenaries for hire like Betsy DeVos’ brother, Eric Prince?
This is pure evil.
8
What about the huge amount of weaponry we have sold/given the Saudis. Can't they defend themselves or do they just use them against babies in Yemen?
4
WMDs?
Election 2020?
Poppycock
Trump wants to start a war so he MAGA.
He is putting all of us at risk for his ego.
Even his silent majority supporters are wondering if he's still better 'n Hillary, in the stillness of of their prayers, when conscience speaks the truth.
3
This president is solely responsible for this problem. And, Saudi Arabia has its own defense. What else could you possibly to do sanction more than you do. This is a lose/lose proposition. NEED A NEW PRESIDENT IN 2021!!!!! this one is not working!
6
We're still accelerating into war with Iran. Bolton is gone yet his destructive spectre remains.
1
You don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows (or the money flows)....
3
Pompeo is an "end times are prophesied" evangelical, superstitious "nutjob" (to use his boss's term). He has no business attempting to contribute to his warped beliefs, at the expense of living and breathing humans.
He should not be believed, as he has a very compromised personal agenda, of which we should be extremely wary.
This is between the infamous MoBoneSaw Saudis and the Iranians. It does NOT involve us. Lies should never be policy.
3
an act of war? against who?
1
" Act of war"...against who? The Trump people will do anything to perpetuate their term in office. Trump knows he will most likely be indicted when he leaves office..therefore, the best way to avoid this fate is to "attacked" somebody.
The world know Trump is incompetent ...and perhaps mentally un-balanced, especially on the judgment metric.
Say what from the Saudi's..a county whose citizens attacked us on 9/11 and butchered-murdered a Washington Post reporter.
2
A new gulf War is in the making. Sooner the sinner will be brought to knee.
1
Who was it who once said, "Saudi Arabia should fight their own wars, which they won’t, or pay us an absolute fortune to protect them and their great wealth-$ trillion!”
Can't remember. Sad!
2
Gee, whoever would have thought that lying through your teeth about every single little thing would result in most of the US and almost all of the international community greeting your proof with extreme skepticism.
Furthermore, Trump and his admin touted how many weapons they sold the Saudis. If they want to take a bat to the angry hornets' nest known as Iran, let them. Let their soldiers die. Let their pilots be shot down. We need to stay out of it.
2
Unfortunately, this administration is about as trustworthy as the Iranian regime. Sorry, no dice.
3
I like the photos of the missiles with "Made in Iran" painted on the un-blown-up debris. Lesson learned from WMD era.
Get it right or people never forgive you for starting a war.
1
“There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs.... There is only one holistic system of systems. One vast, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. ...That is the natural order of things today.”
Chump wants war on Iraq to get re-elected. Considering the American voters' love of war, he may be right. By the way, what did the NY Times say about the war on Vietnam? We have met the enemy, and they are us. Think for yourself.
1
Good luck for the coalition. Pompeo will discover that allies are more and more difficult to find.
5
Pearl Harbor was an act of war. This isn't America's fight. If Saudi Arabia wants to lead the Middle East to complete instability, that's on them. The US role should be to be rational and measured and defusing.
10
Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if there were no US.
How much of modern world turmoil is rooted in bad US foreign policies over the past few decades?
I sometimes wonder if US foreign policy isn't based more on how we can hasten the end of humanity than it is anything else.
We have no business in the Middle East. Period.
7
I couldn’t agree with you more.
3
Trump was attacked during the 2016 campaign as someone who would take us into war. He hasn't but his detractors now say he's all bluff. Cruise missiles attacking another country's main source of revenue is an act of war. If not, what is? The President is doing the right thing: using diplomacy and sanctions to halt Iranian support of Hamas, Hezbollah, rebels in Yemen and other terrorist groups. It would be nice also if they halted production and testing of missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. Iran is desperate because the sanctions are hurting their economy big time. Sooner or later they will do the sensible thing and negotiate a new agreement or make a huge mistake by attacking or assisting someone else to attack a facility with loss of American lives. That would be opening Pandora's box. As FDR said it's not important who fires the first shot it's who fires the last one.
You're right, he does, thank heaven, seem leery of actual war. Problem is, he wants to talk tough - all for the Base. And that base stupidity gets us into situations like the present. He's not smart enough to plan a war. He's definitely dumb enough to start one by accident.
@withfeathers The point is he hasn't started a war like LBJ or GWB. The Iranians are not only talking tough but sending or supporting missile attacks on another country. Trump for two and a half years has not started a war, impaired or changed Medicare or Social Security all of which were predicted by the Resist! movement. Everyone is entitled to their views on Trump but they are not entitled to the facts.
All the more reason to decarbonize our economy. Saudi Arabia is a 20th Century ally of convenience when we should be thinking ahead to a 22nd century world.
13
There are some comments about America pulling out of a treaty with Iran.
Let's be clear JCPOA is not a treaty.
And the reason it is not a treaty because Obama knew it would not pass in the senate.
As to oil patch financing the next war as some have suggested below - well, it is oil that finances these wars in the middle East
Saudi - its low intensity Yemen war - is funded by its oil wealth.
And so does Iran. - and one reason it wants sanctions to be desperately lifted.
I think Iran may have encouraged their allies in this attack - but to prove that an Iranian actually pulled the trigger is going to be very difficult.
Saudis used to paying off or buying off their adversaries and enemies have no real power of any military use.
And they will wail and yell anti Iran slogans - but that's about it.
For America to get involved - we are going to need more than a guess - and definitely intelligence that is unimpeachable.
We all should remember the "curve ball" fiasco.
To that end, POTUS is right to flex his muscles but stop short of landing blows.
The very idea of Trump and Pompeo attempting to rally the support of the American public to defend that 24-gold plated, utterly corrupt Saudi regime led my the murderous Crown Prince is laughable on its face. Gulf of Tonkin Pretext 2.0.
1
Lyin' Mike Pompeo is chomping at the bit for a war with Iran. He's another chicken-hawk looking to boost his political career any way he can. He wants to take care of daddy too, but he's as self-serving as they come. Here's another self-created Trump mess in an administration that lacks a foreign policy strategy with no solution other than military action. If the Saudis consider the bombing an 'act of war', it's their fight. It's not a fight that the U.S. needs to step into.
4
Ripping the nuclear deal with Iran and replacing it with maximum pressure is clealy an act of war. Pompeo expects Iran to set idle and keep taking the blows of economic sanctions untill Iran chokes to death. Logic says that Iran or any other nation would fight back and it is just a matter of time. Logic, fairness cries which side is at fault no matter what. Only if Trump and all used logic and any sense of fairness.
2
We are not an ally of Saudi Arabia and this does not represent an attack on America. Just how corrupt this administration is with regard to bribes and loans is what we do not know. But we DO know Trump and Kushner are indebted to Bin Salman.
4
First thought: a little late to be building coalitions.
Second thought: Let Saudi Arabia defend itself.
6
Pompeo's got a really good idea -- A COALITION!!!!
Even though Trump has spent nearly 3 years destroying all of our alliances and unilaterally repudiated the multi-nation contract with Iran to prevent it from building a nuclear bomb, it should be really easy to put together a new coalition -- surely with the US in charge and following orders from the Saudis.
Have at it, Mike!
5
You know what was an act of war? Saudis behind the 9/11 attacks, in which war was fought in Iraq. Now Iran threatened. Seriously, the oil hold Saudis have on the U.S. is unbelievable.
9
Maybe not just the oil.
1
What did Iran gain ? Saudi's oil operations are vulnerable . Trump is running on economy. $ 4.50 gas,a recession ,2300 S&P not a winner for Trump.Who benefits our buddy Mexico, Russia Venezuela.Maybe they have a stronger hand then we think.
Why are we hearing from Pompeo? Why not from the Crown Prince et. al of Saudi?
Would we not be better off to legislate the American - only use of oil from American lands, and try to get Canada to join in too? Trump talks of America first, so let's do it. Dump Saudi. Let them sell to those we are selling ours to, and fight their own war..
That is, tell the oil industry that, no, it is not their oil, it is the American people's oil. Learn from Norway, for heaven sake.
2
Why is the US so eager to protect Saudi Arabia, but not Ukraine?
1
“We’re working to build out a coalition to develop a plan to deter them,” Mr. Pompeo added.
Another coalition of the unwilling. The last one is still paying out.
Not sure that any allies will succumb so easily to arm-twisting, blackmail and bulling this time around.
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice ...
Who is left. Dictators of the World Unite?
Even a few of them will be leery.
Note to team: Find new props to replace that vial of anthrax
1
This looks like our generational Gulf of Tonkin. Funny that this is happening close to the election. Wag the dog?
1
Weird, huh?
That we fear Pompeo over Donald Trump.
Donald Trump who is so unbalanced that he could trigger an immediate removal from office if he declared war on some unsuspecting country.
That, I believe , is the only reason he steps back from the brink. He knows he will be held to account when the bombs start falling.
That's whay he portrays himself as an uninformed "dove".
Pompeo is different.
He graduated from West Point.
Just like Major General George Armstrong Custer.
Custer was reckless but predictable, as his Native American adversaries could attest to.
Custer was like Trump in some ways, self centered and a real self promoter.
In other ways he was not like Trump at all.
There were levels of behavior to which he would not stoop, and he was dedicated to our country, no matter what.
Custer was never a coward.
Custer was never a traitor.
Pompeo is, I believe, a zealot first and then a Secretary of State.
Why else would Donald Trump choose him?
2
My ignorance is showing, but...
Why is it Pompeo's place to decide what is an "act of war" on a site that is not U.S. territory?
Do other other countries decide on actions as act of war on our soil?
Not that there aren't bad actors all around but, I am admittedly in the dark about Pompeo's accusation. Do I hear saber rattling?
3
I despise President Trump as much as anyone, and in light of these developments it's especially tragic that one morning he decided to simply rip up our carefully negotiated peace treaty with Iran just so he'd have a feel-good tweet to send to his followers that day. But that's history.
My question is, when Saudi Arabia get in a fight with Iran (e.g., their "proxy war" in Yemen) but then gets in over their head, how come we have to immediately leap to their aid, as they stand by holding our coat? They're big boys—let them stick up for themselves. I'm not in any way diminishing the evil of the Iranians, but we're chosen to make the Saudis our besties, despite their evil, one of many examples of the evil being the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was working for our own Washington Post.
Sigh...yes, I know, we're kind of stuck being the world's policeman. But I think we'd be wise to go a bit slow here, and call on the Saudis to at least help fix their own problems.
1
Here's the problem with the Trump Administration, once you are shown to be a chronic and pathological liar, hide information from the public or even Congressional oversight committees, refuse to allow past members of the administration to answer questions regarding serious issues of obstruction of justice, disregard legal subpoenas; you have no credibility on the national or world stage.
So as a proud American who served my country for 32 years in the DOD, I would say to Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo...."Go Pound Sand!".
2
This would be a good time to have an Administration in Washington whose word could be trusted.
3
When did Saudi Arabia become a member of NATO (in which one member is obligated to come to the defense of another when they are attacked)? If Iranians and Houthis and Saudis are bombing one another, who else who else should get involved? China maybe? Russia? Belgium? Turks & Caicos? The USA just loves a good war doesn't it.
1
All workers in defense plants in the US and abroad should be advised that if we attack Iran for selling weapons then any nation attacked by US sold weapons will now be fully justified by the “Trump Rule” in retaliating against the US and/or it’s weapons manufacturers. May God prevent Emperor Trump from legalizing this type of mayhem.
1
Trump is in financial debt to Saudi Arabia. He is about to be prosecuted in New York. Just like Russia, we have a totally compromised president who bends to Putin’s and Bin Salman’s wills.
He seems to have no problem putting our soldiers and civilians, 70,000 who live there, at risk.
4
And, Mr. Pompeo, is it an “act of war” to keep supplying a corrupt and murderous Saudi regime with weapons for slaughter and starvation in Yemen?
3
Anything the Trump administration says is suspect because of a long trail of lies. Why would any government believe anything Trump says?
2
An act of war against whom? How these "grown men" aren't laughed out of every room they walk into is astounding.
2
Uh, declaring the attacks an act of war is not yours to make, Mr. Pompeo. That is Saudia Arabia's right.
2
I thought the picture was Trump with Rex Ryan. Now, Rex Ryan is pretty good with defense, so maybe he should hire Rex Ryan?
Being a West Point grad, Pompeo no doubt sees another low casualty quick and easy military victory like in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
1
@Cowboy Marine
My initial response was laughter at your well placed sarcasm. Of course it is no laughing matter. Well said.
Are we just Hessians for hire? The Obama hating Trump would be very much against fighting for the Saud's. But, now he's their best friend.
1
I have said for months now, Trump was going to get us into war because the chances of him being re-elected goes up when a sitting president has a war.
And, let's see his sons go to war first.............and his daughter.
3
@Julie, I'm not sure the premise will hold with Trump. I say that because I don't think there would be a national consensus that America entered a conflict for justifiable reasons.
@GBrown You think that you can predict anything during the Trump years? Remember Bush and Iraq? That whole war was made up. Plus, the Senate will do whatever Trumps says.
I am perplexed as to why we should go to war because Mr. Trump and his minions have zero negotiation experience and ignore the fact that Saudi nationals attacked us on September 11, 2001. The U.S. should NOT be supporting the Saudi regime; that country can defend itself. No more American lives should be spent on vapid reasoning.
1
With whom does Pompeo think he is going to form a coalition, Kim Jong-un? We have no allies that will support this effort thanks to trump. And since when have we become a mercenary army for the Saudi's. Let them hire Eric Prince if they need mercenaries. Trump is trying to conduct this like a mob boss reacting to a turf war. Trump needs to step aside and let the big boys handle this as he is too incompetent.
3
No one trust one word or action from the current government of The United States of America.
2
I suppose there are many layers to the issue, but nation states need to stop dropping weapons of war on civilian targets. Saudi Arabia needs to stop murdering people in Yemen and Iran needs to stop acting like a friend to them. The people in Yemen are primed to become the next generation of terrorists.
1
Pompeo is declaring an act of war. However, given our shores were not attacked why would Pompeo declare this.
That declaration belongs to the House of Saud.
Lastly, will the debtor of the Saudis, Trump, be told by MBS to gear up for war?
What a sad and pathetic state of affairs the novices and vengeance seeking “president” has gotten us into.
1
Thank you for calling the Houthis "ällies" of Iran instead of "proxies" or "surrogates" as you usually do Accuracy becomes you.
Only Trump and Pompeo are so eager to defend the "MBS"regime. Congress voted to cancel the deal to sell arms to the Saudis, but Trump vetoed it, citing the importance of the financial gain to America.
Everyone else knows that "MBS" is a monstrous dictator who (like Putin with the Skripals) murdered and dismembered Khashoggi on foreign land, caused the world's greatest famine in modern history in Yemen, and oppresses women, dissidents and religious minorities at home.
I don't want any part of this uncivilized medieval absolute monarchy. Do you?
2
I guess 85,000 Yemeni children starving to death is not a crisis, but trump and Ivanka's business partner's economic interests sure are.
3
Act of war? On whom? Not us. Besides, can the Saudis be believed? Can Netanyahu be believed? Can anyone in the White House be believed? Good luck building a coalition with this crew.
1
Logic is logic!
If the use of Iranian weapons “proves” Iranian involvement,
The use of American weapons to bomb Yemeni schools, weddings, hospitals and the like, “proves” it really was us doing the killing all along (BTW, how many Saudi's killed in the recent attack? Is it zero? And how many thousands of Yemeni civilian dead and millions under threat of starvation and health catastrophe?).
Just because the Saudi's buy fleets and armadas of our weapons, but never bother to learn how to use them, doesn’t mean Houthi’s are unable to apply themselves to increase their military capabilities.
Apparently one of the main reasons we didn’t lose tens of thousands to the Taliban, was their inaccurate fire. Our solution? Give sniper training to the creator and sponsor of the Taliban (i.e., Pakistan).
We know what to do. When to do it. How to do it.
We know who to let dictate our policies. No one can say we’re not balanced. On the one hand Israel tells us what to do. And now we have the protector of Mecca also telling what to do, think and say. Fair. We are #1. And date I say, great, again?
1
dear god, why are we getting involved? (other than the obvious "why"). This is ridiculous. This is NOT our fight.
1
If Putin's Russian troops on the border with Latvia ( Nato member) should invade this tiny sovereign state will Trump, Pence and Pompeo be as concerned as they are about Saudi Arabia being hit by Iran ? I doubt it.
1
The messaging coming out of this administration is confusing. Pompeo is not president, why is he insinuating that Iran carried out an act of war while Trump is yelling new sanctions. Who is president?? We cannot allow for this to go on. I'm so afraid that Trump is playing dumb and allowing the war hawks in the admin to play god with innocent lives. NO WAR!
1
Trump is a fool, but somebody capable of opening an atlas to the pages with the Middle East has clearly sat him down and explained to him that Iran sits directly across the Persian Gulf from Saudi Arabia and can at any time, if it chooses, wipe out the Saudis' capacity to process and transport the only thing of value found in that godforsaken and despotic country. When you add Trump's breathtakingly mindless attacks on all of our allies to the equation, you are left with simple math. The USA, with Trump as its leader and Pompeo as its lickspittle Sec. of State, has zero chance of effectively responding to any Iranian aggression.
I'm sure Trump is desperate for some kind of solution, but he has shown himself to be so unreliable that it's not clear why Iran would waste their time negotiating a treaty with him. If I'm Iran, the North Korea strategy looks attractive: increase my production of weapons grade uranium, improve my missile launch/control/mobility technology, send Donald personal love letters written in one- and two-syllable words he can understand to distract him, and continuously add to my negotiating leverage.
There's a good chance that the next treaty is actually more favorable for Iran than the one Obama negotiated.
2
Republican administrations always get us into a war when their support is dwindling and it works every time. You had to know this was coming.
2
American blood may be shed to keep the financial tap open that feeds Trump (and Kushner) business ventures.
The Saudi's own Donald Trump.
I don't know what skin Pompeo has in this game, other than being a slobbering toady. Perhaps he's fronting for arms makers anxious for another profitable shooting war.
MAGA indeed!
2
I do NOT trust Pompeo just like I do not trust Trump and his ilk.
Now Pompeo is traveling to Saudi Arabia and asking for their advise on what to do about this supposedly Iranian airstrike on the Saudi Arabian oil refineries. He also will offer Iran US assistance in fighting Iran. Here again the US has NO concrete evidence that Iran is the culprit and it appears the US is trying to manipulate questionable evidence to present to Congress and the American people in order to justify an attack on Iran. I surely hope Americans remember the debacle with the WMD and Iraq.
How many more American Soldiers have to sacrifice their lives for these stupid and unessecary wars? What is wrong with the Americans that they support a war on foreign soil that kills American soldiers in these overseas wars? I can see supporting a war in defense of the United States but the US is not threatened or attacked. If the US continues its war mongering there may come a point where our foes developed long range missles that can reach the US and they say enough is enough and will attack.
3
Can you imagine the conservative outrage if Obama had said that he was waiting on the Saudis to decide what to do? And while wearing a khaki suit and holding a coffee cup when saluting!
It was Le Chiffre (a la Casino Royale) who arranged for those drones to hit the Saudi's oil installation just after he bought call options last week in the Oil Markets.
Now he "can relax and enjoy retirement as planned" !
(I guess Bond was asleep at the switch this time...)
Why should anyone believe Saudi Arabia after the Khashoggi murder? And why should anyone believe Trump and his administration after so many lies.
Everything is suspect from both sources.
Better to stay out of the Saudi conflict and let them fight their own battles with the billions in armaments this administration gladly provided them.
Good diversion, Donald, but we still have our eyes on what is going on in the hearing rooms in Washington and the courts in NY.
We've got your number...just like your friends in China, Russia, Turkey, India,Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and North Korea.
2
Act of war? Why not? This was their 9/11 after all. Lucky for them they didn't lose 3,000 people. Whew … close one …
Why don't we do this; re-open some shuttered steel mills, start manufacturing (see?) U.S. made saws, sell those saws to the Saudis (arms deal) and then let them deal with the perps.
Win-win for everyone.
1
The last time anyone checked is Saudi Arabia is NOT a NATO member, so why is Drumpf so willing to listen to a regime that murders reporters and God knows who else, and a warhawk Sect'y of State who says this is an act of war.
Drumpf says he'll wait to hear from this murderous regime on what they want the US to do next. That is insane.
Drumpf will try and find a way to help out Saudis by starting another mideast war, why?
Drumpf loves the murderous Saudis, they buy his properties, they lend him money, it's an murderous regime Drumpf says he admires and wants to emulate
1
The American people somehow succeeded in installing a real estate magnate/ failed casino operator/necktie and bottled-water salesman/ founder of a fake university and reality TV clown in the highest office in the land, where today he is managing several undeclared wars, appointing Supreme Court and federal judges by the score, building an imaginary wall, issuing tweets by the hour, driving the country into bankruptcy, renting out rooms in his hotels, predicting the weather and guiding our economy, all without batting an eyelash, squeezing a brain cell, reading a book or an intelligence report, or missing a day on the links.
Whoever was it who said there is no G-d who punishes us for our sins?
Whoever was it who said we don’t get what we deserve?
4
I don’t believe anything Pompeo says.
1
Is this more chaos created by Trump & Company, which will end with Trump having “fixed” it?
What a shame we can’t trust the leader of the country to tell the truth...ever.
1
So assuming that Trump’s telling the truth about who did this—and there’s a truly generous assumption on my part—Trump has now trashed our allies, pulled out of the JCPOA, supported the war in Yemen despite Congress’ votes, shot his mouth off about being “locked and loaded,” contradicted his own Secretary of State, and decided to throw more sanctions at Iran.
In so doing, he’s told every tinpot dictator on the planet that whatever they do, he’ll bluster but he won’t do a blessed thing.
And he’ll be doing nothing on behalf of a religious oligarchy, the Saudis, that has literally chopped up one of our reporters on his watch.
Okay.
My only question is: if we were already applying “maximum pressure,” what sanctions are these? And how do you get this particular knob up to 11?
There are some comments about America pulling out of a treaty with Iran.
Let's be clear JCPOA is not a treaty.
And the reason it is not a treaty because Obama knew it would not pass in the senate.
As to oil patch financing the next war as some have suggested below - well, it is oil that finances these wars in the middle East
Saudi - its low intensity Yemen war - is funded by its oil wealth.
And so does Iran. - and one reason it wants sanctions to be desperately lifted.
I think Iran may have encouraged their allies in this attack - but to prove that an Iranian actually pulled the trigger is going to be very difficult.
Saudis used to paying off or buying off their adversaries and enemies have no real power of any military use.
And they will wail and yell anti Iran slogans - but that's about it.
For America to get involved - we are going to need more than a guess - and definitely intelligence that is unimpeachable.
We all should remember the "curve ball" fiasco.
To that end, POTUS is right to flex his muscles but stop short of landing blows.
1
The administration calls the alleged Iranian attack on Saudi Arabian oil, "an act of war." What is the administration calling Russian's occupation of the Crimean Penninsula? When is the press going to stop saying that Iran is violating or exceeding limits under the 2015 nuclear agreement? Trump repudiated that agreement and reissued sanctions. Iran may be exceeding limits of a repudiated agreement, but it is not "violating" the Trump-initiated nullified agreement. There is no agreement to breach.
2
Let's apply Trump/NRA logic to the attack on the refineries. According to Trump/NRA, it's not the weapons that need to be regulated. "The gun doesn't pull the trigger"(duh). People need to be regulated but not the people that manufacture the weapons. So if indeed Iran supplied the weapons but the Houthis pulled the trigger (as they claim), then we have no reason to complain about the Iranians let alone to threaten them or to impose additional sanctions on them.
3
It's not up to the U.S., and certainly not Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, to declare the attack on Saudi Arabia's oil refineries an "act of war." This is up to the Saudis, not Pompeo, not Trump, and not the U.S. We don't need a war hawk at this moment to set fire to the entire Middle East oil supply in a major war. After the resignation of John Bolton, we need diplomacy--the purpose of the State Department--not military action. Sadly, with the State Department hollowed out, and a President who only knows economic punishment as a cudgel to beat opponents into submission, we are looking at a potential catastrophe that everyone has warned might overtake an inept, inexperienced, and volatile President. Iran already is in an economic crisis and its escalation is a desperate attempt to push back against the U.S. sanctions. It's time for the remaining signatories of the Iran Nuclear Accord China, France, Germany, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom plus Germany to step it and broker peace before we repeat the Iraq War fiasco on a major scale.
1
Attempts to analyze this administration are futile. Trumps reacts with what he thinks shows how “tough” he is without understanding international nuances and diplomacy is totally out of his tool kit. Best we can home for is a status quo until we can return rational governing to the top offices in our country.
2
There are some comments about America pulling out of a treaty with Iran.
Let's be clear JCPOA is not a treaty.
And the reason it is not a treaty because Obama knew it would not pass in the senate.
As to oil patch financing the next war as some have suggested below - well, it is oil that finances these wars in the middle East
Saudi - its low intensity Yemen war - is funded by its oil wealth.
And so does Iran. - and one reason it wants sanctions to be desperately lifted.
I think Iran may have encouraged their allies in this attack - but to prove that an Iranian actually pulled the trigger is going to be very difficult.
Saudis used to paying off or buying off their adversaries and enemies have no real power of any military use.
And they will wail and yell anti Iran slogans - but that's about it.
For America to get involved - we are going to need more than a guess - and definitely intelligence that is unimpeachable.
We all should remember the "curve ball" fiasco.
To that end, POTUS is right to flex his muscles but stop short of landing blows.
So when Israel bombs IRGC positions in Syria is that not an act of war? Hypocrisy at its finest. In addition, I don't think this posturing does anything but hurt the United States. The people do not want war, and will not stand behind one unless Iran launches an undeniable strike on American assets which they will not do. Our diplomatic approach needs to be more nuanced than "I'll beat you up".
5
An "act of war" against whom?
Last I checked, I don't pay taxes to Saudi Arabia.
We've backed their misadventures in Yemen, and this attack was claimed by the rebels with whom they are at war.
Full stop.
We are still enmeshed in the last two conflicts that the GOP was smart enough to get us into...let's curtail the bloodshed and save the US military for legitimate actions against actual acts of war against THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
2
This administration is reckless. They can't prove the Iranians did it but accuse them of an act of war. Sanctions are an act of war. Cyberwarfare is an act of war. We are guilty of both and are acting very aggressively in order to make them do reckless things.
I just read an article stating that the Houthis do have sophisticated weapons and that some came from North Korea plus they have some sophisticated home made rockets.
I don't trust this administration to tell us the truth about anything.
Lewandowski just said there is no reason to be truthful with the media and that seems to be a trump motto.
4
This was not an "Act of War" against the US. It was not an "Act of War" against any country with which we have a treaty. It is Saudi Arabia's problem and their's alone.
2
Since when does the US get involved in military activities at the behest of Saudi Arabia? This is appalling. Trump seems to default to treating nations at odd with the US like they are involved in a high stakes squabble over real estate... but this is for-real real estate not some gambling casino or faux-Versailles hotel. Act like a responsible adult Mr. Trump and go to the negotiating table along with partners who actually understand diplomacy and know how to negotiate in this high-stakes game of nation states with drastically competing interests. The Iranians play three-dimensional chess while Trump seems to be playing go-fish. The stakes are high and the safety of the world deserves better.
As some analysts do not reach the conclusion, that of the war-monger Pompeo, and the now-infamous Bin Salman, that such an attack was carried out by IRI, the question persists, "When is enough enough?" KSR bombing raids on Yemen have taken a grievous humanitarian toll, and, unfortunately, as in the case of the Zionists' persecution of the Palestinians, nothing whatever is done through the good offices of the U.N. The slide towards a war of conquest of Iran is aided by the ineluctable characterization of efforts to avoid it as an exercise in futility, given the supposed intelligence capabilities of the U.S.A. and the KSA. There will be no such efforts so long as these suppositions lead to sanctions which impair the abilities of the Iranian people to function. The Iranians are undoubtedly right in stating that a state of economic war exists between the IRI and the United States. It seems that enough is not enough, both as regards the proclivity to inflict harm on innocent people and the bitter British memory of 1953 at having been denied the primal right of natural resource exploitation in Iran, which is, among other things, what is behind the formation of policy by the Trump government. Hopefully what actions follow will not be so foolish as what preceded it, namely the abrogation of the JCPOA. These ultra neocons think they own the world, and they convince their puppet, Trump, to act as though it was the case.
The act of war and the aggressor here was Trump and by extension the USA. We had a deal, which Trump broke, might as well have been bombs. We have no right to call Iran the aggressor.
1
Why is it okay for the US to sell weapons to the Saudis,which in turn are used to bomb Yemen. often will great civilian casualties. But it's unacceptable for Iran to supply weapons to the Houthis rebels, who may have legitimate goals. It's my understanding the existing Yemen government has been a repressive and brutal regime for too long.
Trump's 'Put America first' strategy has left our alliances in tatters. The sad reality is that most observers believe that Trump has this coming. He pulled out of the agreement with Iran. He made threats and applied sanctions and now he's getting his due.
The same 'They had it coming' belief applies to Saudi Arabia. They initiated the war with Yemen. They murdered Khoshogi. They repress dissidents. And they supplied 17 of the 9/11 hijackers. Saudi Arabia is no friend of the US or our allies, so rallying to protect them isn't going to be easy or popular.
Trump and Saudia Arabia are in a mess of their own making.
I agree with the earlier comment that this could easily become a replay of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident or the WMD fiasco which got the US deep into Vietnam and Iraq. The US needs to exercise extreme caution. In the end, both Vietnam and Iraq were a complete disaster for America, a total waste of taxpayer money, and an erosion of US principles resulting in countless unnecessary deaths on all sides (not to mention the collapse of several presidential administrations).
There is nothing in common between the US and Saudi Arabia. We all get it that they have lots of oil and unfortunately the US's economy and lifestyle are based on a petroleum drip-feed, but why is it a priority for the US to be supporting a completely corrupt and extreme Muslim theocracy whose citizens staged the most audacious attack on America ever, who are racist, misogynistic, undemocratic, have public lashings and beheadings, and murder and dismember their own citizens in their embassies? (Not that Iran is significantly better, just a variation on the theme.) Yet their de facto head of state continues to be solicited by senior members of Trump's freak show of an administration. This is the ultimate display of Trump's weakness and ineptitude.
2
This was an attack on Saudi Arabia by, at this point, who knows who. Doesn’t Saudi Arabia have enough US weapons to defend themselves? They seem, with US help, to have been capable of creating a real disaster in Yemen.
Ummm an attack on Saudi Arabian property is not an act of war against the US - we’ve sold them enough hardware, let them provide the Human Resources to run it. “Saudi Arabia will fight Iran to the last American”. It’s time to stop this sycophancy over their fortune.
1
We no longer depend on Saudi oil. Therefore this is not a security issue for us. We need another endless Middle East war like we need a hole in our head. There is no act of war here for us.
1
Good luck building a coalition after unilaterally withdrawing from an agreement signed by major partners, (thereby leading to Iran’s reactions)
and alienating those same partners by insisting on America First on other agreements (global warming among others) and tariffs.
Of course this is Trumpian, everyone else at your command while you owe them nothing. Might work with incompetent, weak cronies, but not other nations.
So walk the talk and go it alone, then! unless it’s the usual bluster.
I'm obviously missing something.
Isn't the drone attack on Saudi Arabia part of the war on Yemen by the Saudis? How do the Saudis not expect retaliation?