Iran attacked two bases in Iraq that house American troops with a barrage of missiles early Wednesday, Iranian official news media and United States officials said, fulfilling Tehran’s promise to retaliate for the killing of a top Iranian commander.I don't know whether or not the Iranian missiles have GPS or GLONASS guidance, but I would wager a small amount that they do. I'd wager a lot more that Iranian agents have marked the location of every structure on those bases larger than a fire hydrant.
“The fierce revenge by the Revolutionary Guards has begun,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement on a Telegram messaging app channel.
Iraqi military officials said that Iran had fired 22 missiles at two military bases in Iraq where American troops are stationed. United States officials initially said there were no immediate indications of American casualties, and senior Iraqi officials later said that there were no American or Iraqi casualties in the strikes.
Put those together, add in the advance warning the Iranians gave to the Iraqis, and what we have was a demonstration strike that was designed to satisfy Iran's domestic audience without moving the needle towards a wider war. This gives Trump an out to deescalate a crisis that, let us not forget, has been largely of his own making.
Whether Our Very Stable Genius in Chief has enough firing neurons to comprehend that and act on it is an open question. To quote BadTux: "When it comes to Trump, “*nobody* would be stupid enough to do *that*” doesn’t seem to work anymore for predicting what’s going to happen."
The wild card in this is the crash earlier this morning of Flight PS752, which killed 176 people.
Not sure how the Iranians react but I would think their red hat brigade would be saying "what? THATS IT?" If this is indeed "it", we've dodged a rather large bullet to say the least. I have a funny feeling that it's more of "But wait THERES MORE!"
ReplyDeleteEdit How many cartwheels do you think mr Putin has done today. While the Iranian situation has fizzled in the short run, the 737 crash has to have lifted his spirits. They'll probably be putting up nets around Boeing plaza.
ReplyDeleteThat jet crash doesn't look good for Boeing, that's for sure. This is like the fourth 737-800 that's gone down in the region. I think saying people are likely to look at Boeing products with mistrust in the future is an understatement.
ReplyDeleteBadTux, given the tensions in the region, I'd not rule out somebody with a hasty trigger finger.
ReplyDeleteAnyhoo, it appears that Trump isn't that eager for a war right now.
And it's a pretty sad world when the grownups involved are on the other side.
ReplyDeleteI said that yesterday: We have now made the Ayatollah into the voice of reason.
ReplyDeleteFergus, though, can't help himself, even when sort of responding correctly. He had to say that he was going to "punish" them some more.
Can we please get someone in charge not prone to playing stupid games with the military to distract from being impeached?
-Doug in Oakland
Very measured Iranian response. High on symbolism, low on damage. Reportedly launched at the same time as the U.S. strike, impacted during burial, carefully placed impacts that showed the missiles were quite possibly more accurate than previously believed...and the press published impact pictures that gave the Iranians some useful feedback too.
ReplyDeleteIt'l be interesting to read the report. Supposedly the NTSB is trying to get involved given it's a US built airframe. As far as the crashes, I think it's 2 -800's and 2 MAX's isn't it. For what it's worth, put me in the missle camp.
ReplyDeleteYea, the statements from Administration idiots regarding how outrageous it is if it was an Iranian missile are pretty stupid given Iran Air 655. I suspect those dumb fuckers don’t even know about that little historical fuck-up.
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