Mark Thompson, Time: Iran Unnerves U.S. by Firing Rockets Close to Carrier
It’s part of a decades-old pattern of Iranian provocations.
Nothing grabs the attention of the American military like a member of the “axis of evil” firing rockets close to a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, the biggest stick in the Pentagon’s massive arsenal.
That’s just what Iran did Saturday, shooting several unguided rockets about 1,500 yards from the USS Harry S. Truman and a pair of smaller U.S. and French warships in the Strait of Hormuz. That’s the bottleneck between the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea through which 17 million barrels of oil, 20% of world demand, flows daily.
More News On Yesterday's Incident When An Iranian Military Exercise Resulted In Rockets Being Fired Close To The US Aircraft Carrier Harry S. Truman
US Says Iran Launched 'Provocative' Rocket Test Near Ships -- AP
Iran Fires Rockets Near US and French Vessels in Strait of Hormuz -- NYT
U.S. Carrier Harry S. Truman Has Close Call With Iranian Rockets -- NBC
Close encounter between U.S. warship and Iranian rocket -- CNN
‘Highly provocative’: Iran rocket launch near US ship latest challenge for Washington -- FOX News
US: Iran Launched 'Provocative' Missile Test Near US Warship -- VOA
U.S., Iran have close call in Strait of Hormuz -- UPI
Iran conducts 'provocative' live rocket tests near US ships -- BBC
‘Provocative, close call’: US military fume after Iran test-fires missile 1.3km away from USS Truman -- RT
Iran Fires Rockets Near U.S. Aircraft Carrier -- The Tower
Thompson is a very smart and likable journalist, but on Iran he has totally drunk the koolaid, talking about provocations and "nuclear ambitions." What far-away country has filled the Persian Gulf with warships? His last treatise against Iran was on the (not) scary "bunker-buster" bomb. Anyhow, now the U.S. is "unnerved" by Iran, while the U.S. is engaged in destroying, or helping to destroy, almost every country of size in the Middle East, and some of North Africa as well.
ReplyDelete"What far-away country has filled the Persian Gulf with warships"
ReplyDeleteWhat Persian Gulf country took part in the tanker war and laid mines in international waters?
Which Persian Gulf country supports terrorism in South American and the Middle East?
Which poster is predictably tiresome?
Obama broke Libya. Butwe are talking about Obama, Samantha Power and R2P.
George Bush left Qadaffi alone after 2003.
iran:
ReplyDelete- a country that has, on every friday for the last 37 years, chanted "death to america"
- a country that has encouraged the large scale involvement of child soldiers in warfare (iran/iraq war)
- a country that financially & materially backs terror attacks worldwide including those on 9-11
- a country that facilitated shiite militias responsible for the murder of american soldiers during the iraq war
- a country that provided material assistance in the form of armour piercing rounds to the taliban in afghanistan
- a country that openly vows to annihilate israel (americas only democratic partner in the mideast)
- a country responsible for continuous terror wars waged via its proxies: hezbollah and hamas
- not too mention its state mandated persecution of homosexuals, women, and christians.
in terms of reality (the way things actually are), iran should be dealt with as an enemy to the free democratic world.
Hurhur
DeleteWe can't blame anybody else other than the U.S. goberment We created this mess. General Ike eisenhower warned us about this.
The best part so far of the new Century is watching the American Exceptionalists pound their keyboards half to death in impotent frustration.
ReplyDeleteWe're seeing the end of the Carter Doctrine, which is that the US rules the Middle East, and some people are obviously uncomfortable with that. Certainly the 50,000 US troops stationed around the western Persian Gulf, including a useless brigade in Kuwait, are feeling some discomfort.
ReplyDeleteBut it's a fact that the US military activities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have been a disaster, and when there is a disaster, there is often somebody to offer disaster relief. In this case (in the ME) it's primarily Iran and Russia. It may feel good to boo-hoo about it, but that's the way it is. Accept it. Iran won, the US lost. (It reminds me of Vietnam, somehow.)
" By 2001, al Qaeda still had no formal branches or franchises. Its membership included a core of just under 200 people, a 122-person martyrdom brigade, and several dozen foot soldiers recruited from the 700 or so graduates of its training camps."
ReplyDelete" Unlike 2001, al-Qaeda actually occupies territory, rules major cities, and has several self-declared Islamic Emirates. The largest of which are in Syria, Yemen, and Somalia. These three groups, plus smaller affiliates, brings the number of hard-core al-Qaeda militants to around 20,000 today, up from a total of 200 just 14 years ago. And this doesn't include successful spin-off groups like ISIL, which has between 50,000 and 250,000 hard-core militants, depending on who's counting. That's a 10,000% growth rate for al-Qaeda, which by any measure means they are doing something right. Or we are doing something very, very wrong.
But al-Qaeda is "not even the most urgent on the Pentagon’s list" anymore. I wonder what the families of the 9/11 victims might think about that?"
Jay. I do not know about the 20,000 hard-core Al Qaeda militants. I sometimes wonder if that number is even higher than that, and what is worse is that a certain critical number has now been reached where Al Qaeda can now grow at even higher rates.
ReplyDeleteWNU Editor,
DeleteThe low number is 19,800, the high number is 28,050, but the real "key", the cornerstone of al Quida, is working with other Islamic jihadi's to achieve their goals,
And their alliances, which numbered maybe 15,000 in 2001, now number between a quarter, to half a million. These are people who will "pitch in" on A Q projects.
insightful and mildly interesting how a few facts on iran will instantly bring tears to the peanut gallery here.
ReplyDelete