The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Pompeo: We Have Given Iraqi's Freedom !

    By NCD on Fri, 01/03/2020 - 2:29pm |

    Can Republican flunkies and Trump sycophants get any more cynical than Pompeo today?

    Pompeo - "Iraqis — Iraqis — dancing in the street for freedom; thankful that General Soleimani is no more."

    Even Fox News reported:

    It was not immediately clear where or when the footage in the tweet was recorded.....

    Pompeo later:

    "Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and I discussed the decisive defensive action @realDonaldTrump employed in Baghdad to protect American lives. I emphasized that de-escalation is the United States' principal goal"

    Comments

    Chill, Trump haters! Trump says this today to you snowflakes:

    The president, speaking at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, urged Iran not to retaliate.

    “We did not take action to start a war,” he said. 

    DID NOT DO IT TO START A WAR.....period.  He doesn't want a war so there!

    Trump today trumpsplaining.

    Of course, Iran could sink a supertanker, or lob 35 missiles into Saudi Arabia or the US naval base in Qatar and also say "Chill America, We did not want to start  war" .


    by NCD on Fri, 01/03/2020 - 6:25pm

    Historically speaking assassinating a high ranking member of a foreign nation has often been used to send the message that war isn't wanted. Remember when Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in an effort to stop WWI? Unfortunately that attempt to send a message of peace was misunderstood but if only more nations would assassinate other foreign leaders we'd surely have less war.


    by ocean-kat on Fri, 01/03/2020 - 7:32pm

    Just two guys' opinion that it's still 'The stupidest thing humanity ever did to itself': Sam Mendes and Colin Firth on 1917 (so they made a movie, we'll see how it does)


    by artappraiser on Fri, 01/03/2020 - 8:50pm

    Yeah, that didn't work out too well.

    Trump killing half a dozen Generals and staff and saying he "didn't do it to start a war" is a Monty Python-esque comedy script.  Our TV huckster idiot president thinks it's a TV show.  He is a man who NEVER did anything for anybody, but himself, his entire life, he ain't saving no Americans lives, he doing everything he can (healthcare, environment, food stamps, drilling, deregulation, foreign policy etc) to kill us.


    by NCD on Sat, 01/04/2020 - 12:21am

    Very much in the spirit of classic Rummy "Stuff Happens" theory about freedom being untidy, free people being free to looooot and commit other crimes, part of the price one pays....

    "Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things," Rumsfeld said. "They're also free to live their lives and do wonderful things. And that's what's going to happen here."

    Looting, he added, was not uncommon for countries that experience significant social upheaval. "Stuff happens," Rumsfeld said.

    Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, agreed. "This is a transition period between war and what we hope will be a much more peaceful time," Myers said.

    -CNN report, April 12, 2003


    by artappraiser on Fri, 01/03/2020 - 6:33pm

    Toadie O'Brien, State Department, earned Trump approval when he got the rapper out of Sweden. O'Brien:

    "The president made a decision that … while there is always a risk in taking decisive action, there’s a greater risk in not taking that action,” O’Brien said. “The president was just not prepared to risk the lives of American servicemen and women and our diplomats,..."

     Stuff happens, so you take a risk and do decisive stuff, and say if you didn't do it right then, worse very very bad carnage-like stuff would certainly happen.....


    by NCD on Fri, 01/03/2020 - 7:16pm

    Where's Dwight Eisenhower and Bill Proxmire when you could really use their input?


    by artappraiser on Fri, 01/03/2020 - 7:05pm

    Raytheon shareholders, celebrate in the street, will war profiteers swing the election?


    by NCD on Fri, 01/03/2020 - 7:22pm

    Ok, I've seen enough, I'm betting on this guy interpreting the whole situation correctly:

    They didn't have a plan for what would happen after killing Soleimani and now they're lying about their reasoning. This operation, like everything Trump does, was haphazard, irrational, and worked contrary to American interests.

    It can't be overstated how dangerous this man is.

    — Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) January 3, 2020

    by artappraiser on Fri, 01/03/2020 - 7:36pm

    and Walt's with the two of us, is calling it brain-dead theater:


    by artappraiser on Fri, 01/03/2020 - 7:43pm