At a briefing on the threats in September 2024, U.S. officials told the Trump campaign that Iran had multiple kill teams inside the country. Trump repeatedly asked whether Iran was behind the Butler shooting, and investigators said they could not rule it out.... The would-be assassin at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida... represented himself at trial and was sentenced last month to life in prison....
No evidence has connected Iran with the two assassination attempts against Trump in 2024. Trump suggested he sees a connection, telling ABC, “They tried twice.” The White House did not provide evidence to support a connection....
A trial began last week for a Pakistani man, Asif Merchant, arrested in July 2024 and accused of trying to hire hit men to kill a political figure. Last month, a Brooklyn man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for planning to murder an Iranian dissident, working for an Iranian who prosecutors said was plotting to assassinate Trump....
Classic comments from WaPo readers: "And once again, he has an inability to see beyond himself." And: "Of course it’s about him. It’s always about him."
Posts
149 comments:
WaPoo for hot takes! Fifth columnist corksoakers!!!
Maybe these Iranian plots to kill Trump is why the Dems are so upset about this war. To put it bluntly, the Dems want Trump dead. Think of the scene from "The Untouchables" where Robert DeNiro played Al Capone. (Script by David Mamet.)
Maybe Trump should say the objective was to kill the Iranian leadership before they killed him.
I'm really serious about this.
TDS is the organizing principle of today's Democrat party. Rather than The Five Pillars of Islam, the Dems have One Pillar, that is, hate and oppose Trump at all costs even if it is contrary to the best interests of the United States.
The Democratics have deemed Trump a clear and progressive "burden". That said, the first rule of sociopolitical liberal club...
TDS==it's like the DTs. only worse and you don't have to go on a three week booze filled bender to get the TDS. Although you have to be the type to get the DTs.
What Dave said…
This is Trump's way of emphasizing that the mullah regime for 47 years has been using terrorism and other unconventional methods as asymmetric warfare against the West. And now we're tired of being Gulliver-tied by Queensbury rules, so we're going to use those unconventional methods against them, along with our own asymmetric advantages. Like bombing the shit out of them. Rubio and Hegseth have made the same argument with different styles. CC, JSM
The commenters get that wrong. They should be encouraging any alternative that takes the heat off their side…
Getting shot at sharpens the senses and it becomes no longer a “game” like the politicians play it.
The Iran-DNC Affair. Maybe, a fetus... feature, baby, of transitional politics.
WaPo doesn't want to say that getting Khamenei was bad, so they insist that Trump did it for the wrong reason.
Any word on why Arab countries, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia aren't complaining about the attack?
WaPo: They call it Trump DERANGEMENT Syndrome for a reason.
The left closed the political ideology circle and adopted pure totalitarianism: They defend Palestinian terrorism despite the harm to left-friendly Jews, they defend non-citizen criminals who harm US citizens, and they defend murderous Iranian dictators against left-friendly Iranian citizens.
But, whatever Trump says or does is always wrong.
@Skeptical Voter: "...TDS==it's like the DTs. only worse...".
It's worse, because you eventually get over the DTs. Hmm. DTs: Donald Trump. That's oddly fitting in a funny way, right there.
Not at all surprised by the comments there, it really is a form of derangement that we're talking about.
I mean, just think of DTs and pink elephants that you want to banish, because they're white.
This is nerve wracking for everyone. Just pray the Trump administration and Israel know what they are doing. I'm assuming they do, but there are always variables in war. It's a massive gamble. If this effort is successful, perhaps the world is a better place. If not, we continue the downhill trajectory started during COVID.
"Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result" - Winston Churchill
It's rumored this guy had the same issues with solipsism. These rumors came from the same kind of people currently casting shade on Trump, for much the same reasons. I long ago concluded that I am not on the same team as these folks.
The Democrats are what happens when Orwells 2 minutes of hate becomes 24/7 for 10 years.
The left, and their apparatchiks on this blog, are defined not by policies, but by hate.
Easily transferred to the next republican, or individual who steps out of line.
Trump is a Person of Orange (PoO), not Peach, not Albino.
@Gusty Winds: I don't think is much of a gamble relative to the consequences of no action. Iran has been messing with the world economy, funding terrorism, piracy, etc. for a very long time. While they may not have nuclear weapons, doing nothing guaranteed decades of regional chaos.
Russia and China appear to be standing back, and the Iranian status quo is doomed without their support.
I have always thought as a country we should have an open debate about a foreign country trying to assassinate a former or current USA president.
I argue it should be considered an act of war.
Thought it should have been a casus belli for removing Saddam Hussein, as he tried to covertly kill Poppa Bush. Assuming the spooks are correct.
They are indeed crazy.
The October raid by Hamas was successful. They killed a lot of people and took some hostages. However, the success was a catastrophic failure for the people of Gaza. They lost everything, their homes, their future, and in many cases their lives.......If the Iranian regime has any success in this conflict, it could very well lead to a catastrophic failure for the Iranian people. Our military might up the ante and start starting power plants, reservoirs, bridges, etc. to be legitimate targets. The best hope for the Iranians is a quick, devastating defeat.....The hostages that Hamas seized only served to ensure they utter devastation of Gaza. Any substantial victory the Iranians secure will be catastrophic for their people.
it sounds like the top 88 clerics in Iran gathered in Qom today,
to pick a New Supreme Leader..
apparently, there are less top clerics in Iran now..
https://nypost.com/2026/03/03/world-news/israel-bombs-irans-top-mullahs-as-they-count-votes-for-next-supreme-leader-reports/
Is it too much to hope that that is the top-rated comment at WaPo?
Business as usual — US vis-Ã -vis the Trump administration screwing things up in the Middle East. Rubio saying that US involvement was triggered by the imminent Israeli attack is just the wag-the-dog cherry on top.
Trump has seen GW Bush’s record and raised it. There is nothing good to say about Iran’s regime. But it has shown a better instinct for reading Trump’s intentions than his MAGA supporters.
On the other hand, if the conflict lasts more than two or three months tops, the Dems will win the House. Iran will be in ruins, but the Mullahs will have won the consolation prize of Dem control of the House of Representatives. That and seventy two virgins is paradise enow.
We have to think this will lead to more terrorist acts, right? You can't just assassinate the ultimate leader of fanatical Muslims, after having invited so many to live in the West, without retribution, can you?
The Wapoo reader who commented "Of course it’s about him. It’s always about him" accurately demonstrates the obtuseness of that rag's readers. This article is, after all, about Iran trying to kill Trump. Who would it be about if not him? Remarkably idiotic comment.
New Trump administration goal post… We will know more about the war in Iran in another six months.
CJinPA said...We have to think this will lead to more terrorist acts, right?
Something to be aware of, but not a reason not to act.
KaK: "Rubio saying that US involvement was triggered by the imminent Israeli attack is just the wag-the-dog cherry on top." No, dumbass. He said the TIMING of the attack was moved up because of the Israeli pending attack to decapitate the Iranian leadership. The attack had been planned for months. It was not a reaction to anything.
Hard to believe the Post loses $100 million a year. The NYT has the Progressive Readership locked up. Just not enough Progressives in the U.S.
Ronald Reagan: "Message to terrorists everywhere: You can run, but you can't hide."
Margaret Thatcher: "We're determined to stand together... and we're determined to take action."
Ronald Reagan: "We're not going to tolerate these attacks from outlaw states."
"We will not cave in."
"Today, we have done what we had to do."
"He counted on America to be passive... He counted wrong."
A rare moment of near insight from a brainwashed WaPo reader quoted by Althouse. It could have read: "And once again, [the leftmedia and the Democrats have] an inability to see beyond [Trump]." And: "Of course it’s about him. It’s always about him." So close to acknowledging TDS, but unable to get past the derangement. Instead, the usual projection.
Assuming the spooks are correct.
TOP Men!
The same people who told us about all the Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq? What reasons have they given us to be cautious?
@D.D. Driver -- If Mossad intelligence led the way, the spooks may actually be competent this time. Not Comey and the FBI/CIA partisan hacks.
Look at the ongoing reaction to everything Trump by Kak, WaPo and its commenters. Trump is right. These people are crazy. But for Trump and the Second Amendment, we’d be living in a Democrat autocracy run by Joe dementia or the Cackler and Merrick Garland.
"And once again, he has an inability to see beyond himself." And: "Of course it’s about him. It’s always about him."
And of course, the TDS patient cannot be expected to appreciate the implicit irony.
People used to visit Bedlam for the entertainment value. We're luckier in this present age -- the entertainment comes to us.
More assassinations, Bibi is hiding out in Berlin while his people endure the attacks he provoked.
Eventually the Cult of the Assassins was dealt with, and civilized people had avoided it, well, still do.
Anyone who believes anything written about Donald Trump in the Washington Post is a fool. Includes law professors.
You guys are a shrinking minority, go ahead and believe that everybody else is crazy but you bloodthirsty types. The gods of the copybook headings are always appeased.
How dare Trump not allow himself to be assassinated..
When a US president takes our country to war in order to appease our supposed client state of Israel, which Marc Rubio admitted on camera yesterday, opposition to him is not "derangement" the deranged person is Donald Trump.
The first minutes of the attack saw the murder of over a hundred children at an elementary school for girls. Imagine if the US had been controlled by a foreign power, we managed to throw them out, and they have been attacking us for 50 years, and then they attack again, and in the first minutes kill 100 schoolgirls by hitting a school in a surprise attack, then people start appearing on the streets rioting in support of the bombers hitting your country? Is your blood boiling? Or do you just say, "Oh well, let's let them have our country back, they win, they killed our children."
This is nerve wracking for everyone.
Hyperbole, my nerves are not wracked. Actually, very much the same as COVID. I saw lots of hands wringing over the disease but I was never perturbed by it. The face diaper requirement did, however, piss me off most days. Especially for my toddler and kindergarten aged children. I mean, WTF guys? They were so snotty and damp and disgusting by the end of the day that I am sure they caused more disease spread than they prevented.
Anyway, my nerves would be wracked by a nuclear armed Iran. Not so much one that is rapidly losing its teeth. What government will come out of this? Will it be friendly or antagonistic towards us? Time will tell, but I am not losing any sleep over it. Geopolitically, this is another major step towards isolating China which will hopefully knock them back on their feet a little bit. Small probability it could force their hand early in terms of grabbing for Taiwan before the window shuts. The Taiwan grab is much more concerning, whether now or in the near future, because it has the potential to really rock human civilization more than WWII.
"How dare Trump not allow himself to be assassinated.."
Who started these assassinations?
Democrat autocracy run by Joe dementia or the Cackler and Merrick Garland.
Instead we live in a MAGA autocracy lead by pants-shitting Donnie and Pam Bondi.
Horse a piece.
Yes, China might "grab" its own island, which the entire world agrees is its own island, how many Taiwanese embassies are their around the world? And throw out a military supplied by countries on the other side of the ocean.
And now we're tired of being Gulliver-tied by Queensbury rules, so we're going to use those unconventional methods against them, along with our own asymmetric advantages. Like bombing the shit out of them.
The icing on the cake is that we are smashing them with massive swarms of cheapo drones that are a reverse-engineered copy of the drone-bombs the Iranians themselves developed, built of plywood and 3D-printed plastic by a startup company right here in Arizona, for some ridiculously cheap price like $15,000 per unit.
We can't win. Trump ran on stopping endless wars, now he is promising endless war, it's just like Zelensky, who is also a former TV star who ran on a platform of peace and reconciation.
By "we can't win," I mean the voters, who didn't elect Trump to do this, to do Bibi's bidding.
Jaq & Kak,
A fanatic is someone who won’t change their mind and won’t change the subject. Maybe limit yourselves to 6 comments per post?
I hate to be the one to break it to you guys, but Jesus isn't going to come back because we finally kill enough people, no matter what Daddy Bibi says. If He does come back, my bet is that he is going to be pretty pissed off.
"A fanatic is someone who won’t change their mind and won’t change the subject."
You could change my mind with logic and facts, just not with slogans and racist calls for blood.
The Taiwan grab is much more concerning, whether now or in the near future, because it has the potential to really rock human civilization more than WWII.
If China gets its hands on the chip fabs of Taiwan in the next five years or so, we are going to have real problems. Luckily for the civilization of the world, not to mention the resale value of my home, Arizona has been selected by the Taiwanese as the new world center of cutting-edge microchip manufacture, with one gigantic fab already complete and five or six more on the way. If China gets too froggy, they will be in a position to uproot the whole industry and move it here.
It speaks volumes that the Taiwanese took California, Washington, and Oregon off the list of places they would choose to build, correctly recognizing that there is not much difference between Chinese Communist government and West Coast Communist government these days.
Of course it’s about him. It’s always about him.
I would take being shot at personally too, but what the WaPoo readers are missing is that Iran had not hoped to kill Donald Trump, real estate developer, they wanted to assassinate President Donald Trump.
Aught Severn said...Hyperbole, my nerves are not wracked...I am not losing any sleep over it.
I didn't criticize the effort. And I fully understand its need and justification. Just expressing and honest human emotion. I wish this wasn't necessary, but understand it is. Big deal.
At the beginning of any armed, high stakes conflict, who actually says "I feel better than ever".
Jaq wanted to continue the Obama/Biden policy toward Iran of appeasement. Specifically, when asked, Jaq said that what Trump should have done about the Iranian regime was just to "get along" with them.
Jaq said...
The first minutes of the attack saw the murder of over a hundred children at an elementary school for girls.
Even the IRGC admitted Iran killed those children. It is morally deranged to keep holding on to this.
You are a hysterical moral retard. Have you done a single thing that makes you more worthy of freedom than the millions of Iranians that are celebrating right now?
On the other hand, if the conflict lasts more than two or three months tops, the Dems will win the House. Iran will be in ruins, but the Mullahs will have won the consolation prize of Dem control of the House of Representatives.
Don't count on that. There's a poll out today showing the Republicans are back in a tie for control of the House, making up all the ground lost in public opinion since the election. People like a winner and dislike the shrieking purple-haired freaks blocking traffic.
I trust Trump to recognize no one has the stomach for a prolonged aerial war, much less American boots on the ground in the Middle East, and that we've handed Iran back to the Iranian people on a silver platter. In 3-4 weeks we ought to be doing nothing more than making the rubble bounce, and we should be able to withdraw most of our forces and leave the rest of the job up to the Iranians themselves (with plenty of help from Mossad, I suspect.)
If so, there's a good chance of not just holding Congress but making actual gains, especially in the Senate. What a massive gob of sticky green spit that will be from the American people into the faces of Kak and his fellow travelers! I fear mass insanity if it happens, and maybe even a (quickly suppressed) attempt at revolution.
You could change my mind with logic and facts
Not so long as you regard logic and facts as “slogans and racist calls for blood “
@Hassayamper: built of plywood and 3D-printed plastic by a startup company right here in Arizona, for some ridiculously cheap price like $15,000 per unit.
This is what DOGE should have tackled instead of tilting at windmills. The old-line defense contractors spend $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ on the last 5% or 10% of performance. For one-use-only devices. They hire dozens of people for the last few percent, and spend on custom high-end materials.
The now-cancelled Zumwalt ship program was set to spend close to $1M per shot in 2016 for LRLAP ammo.
"September 2024, U.S. officials told the Trump campaign that Iran had multiple kill teams inside the country."
Seems important, especially if you consider this came from the Biden administration.
Bet you all forgot that President William Jefferson Clinton launched 23 Tomahawk missiles at Iraq in 1993 in response to a planned assassination attempt on George HW Bush.
Jaq: "Eventually the Cult of the Assassins was dealt with, and civilized people had avoided it, well, still do."
Well the Aga Khan was seen in some fashionable discos in his heyday....CC, JSM
Unless, by some stoke of luck, a moderate Iranian regime takes over (unlikely given how effectively Iran is fighting back after losing significant leadership), this is a war that is pretty much bad for everyone. America is going to lose lives, treasure and it
should be clear to everyone now that allying to the US is no longer a reasonable proposition anymore. Americans are simply not trustworthy and are led by a president who is, frankly, incoherent and chaotic.
This is also bad for Israel, particularly if Iran either descends into civil war, or a more radical power base takes over. One can understand the violent response to October 7, but Netanyahu has now moved Israel from a state of unending irregular conflict to one of constant, hot war. Israelis who are not radical nationalists or far right religionists are leaving the country whenever the airspace reopens.
The Gulf monarchies have now discovered that they cannot rely on the US anymore, that they have inadequate defenses and are incredibly vulnerable to Iran...and when the Patriots soon run out, what happens then?
And for Russia....it's lost its source of drones, saw yet another leader allied leader killed and whatever global influence it had, it's now gone. It can't take the moral high road because who listens to Russia anymore? (accept Achilles)
Speaking of no influence, Europe and the UK have been exposed to being completely powerless to even have a voice that the world listens to anymore. Keir Starmer is perhaps the weakest, most incompetent Prime Minister of the 21st century.
And of course, China and India now see their economies at risk due to their heavy reliance on Gulf hydrocarbons.
There truly are no winners, only losers, though I suspect Trump will somehow claim personal victory while avoiding any responsibility for this tragedy. The damage he has done to the US, and the world, is almost immeasurable now.
The US will be politically if not materially weaker after this. It already is.
Circling back to an article from the Atlantic regarding the Iraq war. I'm increasingly convinced that Trump, Vance, Rubio, and Witkoff fundamentally misunderstand Iran—and show little interest in listening to anyone who actually understands it.
’…and racist calls for blood.’
Weren’t you just asking for logic and facts? lol
I see the Kakistophage has swallowed every morsel of the Chinese propaganda disseminated by Neville Singham's many tentacles. Quelle surprise.
’The damage he has done to the US, and the world, is almost immeasurable now.’
Everybody loves a good argument via assertion…
Classic comments from WaPo readers: "And once again, he has an inability to see beyond himself." And: "Of course it’s about him. It’s always about him."
Trump is so bad he's duty bound to take one for the team, especially if it's not his team.
@Kaki's thesis TL;DR:
A wet-behind-the-ears dude discovers Great Powers politics.
Kak, since you're an expert on whom Trump and his team should be listening to on Iran, who are those people and what are they saying?
Somebody mentioned China above and I thought I'd chime in.
China is watching all of this very carefully. Their anti aircraft and missile defense systems are getting real world analysis. The analysis is they suck. They don't work.
Strategically we have placed China on the defensive. They are forced to ask themselves what other systems do they field that are ineffective. They're whole timeline regarding Taiwan has to be re-evaluated. We can blind their defenses at will.
Somebody tell me I'm wrong.
Trump ran on stopping endless wars, now he is promising endless war
He's doing no such thing, you dolt. He's putting an end to a war that's been smoldering for nearly 50 years.
We have completely decapitated the leadership of Iran and destroyed most of its warfighting capacity. Every military aircraft is a pile of scrap metal. Every weapons depot and Revolutionary Guard barracks is a smoking ruin. Every one of their ships is at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. All their air defense systems have been wrecked. Every one of the few missile launchers that escaped the initial bombing campaign gets one or two cracks at a revenge attack and then is destroyed. What else is realistically left for our air and space forces to do? You don't seriously think Trump will put anything other than the smallest of special-ops ground forces in Iran, surely?
Most of our people will be back home in time for the 4th of July picnic. The Iranians (and probably the Israelis) will be left to reassemble the new Iran. They really don't need any help, other than perhaps a few hundred thousand old surplus M-16s and Uzis to help them hunt down and slaughter all of the surviving mullahs, religious police, and Revolutionary Guards, which my Iranian co-worker tells me is definitely under way even as we speak. Every one of them will be dead within a month if we arm the civilian population of Iran.
"And once again, he has an inability to see beyond himself." And: "Of course it’s about him. It’s always about him."
Alanis Morrisette, call your office!
Victor Davis Hanson has written, at his blog, an ten-point breakdown of the Trump Doctrine. One point is that Trump will end the bombing when he wants to.
The Trigonometry podcast had on a former spy and he said that the CIA gave IDF a list of 5-10 not to kill. Also, the Trump Administration is not so high on the Crown Prince.
"Their anti aircraft and missile defense systems are getting real world analysis. The analysis is they suck. They don't work."
Another analysis is that our state-of-the-art stealth works.
A fascinating bit from Alex Wissner-Gross, the nerdiest of the AI nerds, on Trump’s motivations.
“Every nation is now running the same equation: how to capture AI’s upside without dissolving the social contract. After visiting China, German Chancellor Merz declared that four-day workweeks are no longer sufficient to maintain prosperity. But China has its own contradictions: labor authorities ruled AI-driven layoffs illegal, requiring retraining before termination. Meanwhile, the US is cutting China’s oil suppliers one by one, from Venezuela to Iran, constraining 70% of seaborne crude in an apparent effort to buy time for semiconductor reshoring.”
We are in the Singularity.
Iranians are way less religiously fervent than the leadership. This is unlike all other Middle East conflicts. The odds of a more radical regime is exceedingly low.
"And once again, he has an inability to see beyond himself."
Says the people who can't think of anything else, who can't decide what their opinion is on anything until they know what Trump thinks so they can oppose him. I support this action even it was a similarly effective Democrat President (highly unlikely), and they would all agree too.
I hadn't even considered this in the list of substantial reasons this mission is necessary, but it's another one. I wonder how many would say that it's not because Trump likes being alive, but because the JEWS want him alive!
It seems "it's always about him" is more of a Democrat obsession.
Alanis Morrisette, call your office!
Don't you think.
the Crown Prince is a little dodgy, hes probably better than most, like Faisal, but he's still an Arabian, and he has to look at his own audience,
btw, the Market, adjusted back by 80% from the lows at the morning,
did the short selling reverse on those bot traders
We have completely decapitated the leadership of Iran and destroyed most of its warfighting capacity.
And just now I found out that the 88 senior mullahs of the national "Council of Experts" met in the holy city of Qom last night to choose a successor to Ayatollah Arafi, who was bombed to hamburger meat two days after taking over for Ayatollah Khameini, whom we also bombed to hamburger meat.
Happily, we or the Israelis caught word of it, and bombed the building while they were meeting, and blew the whole Council of Experts to hamburger meat too.
Every normal Iranian seems to be a spy for Mossad now.
many of these goopier screeds, aren't worth the electrons that traverse,
on the serious side, there is the problem of decapitating a regime, then and now, with the Soviets, the risk is they would deploy their nukes, ad infinitum, including their R 115s portable nukes, with the Iranians, they do have stop firing missiles at some point, and someone has to give the order,
but such civil notions are beyond the Atlantic Axios, and whatever mountain of droppings, the peanut gallery resorts to,
“A wet-behind-the-ears dude discovers Great Powers politics.”
“wet-behind-the-ears”? Too charitable!!! kak is wet-brained.
America First, no new wars and it aint about the oil, and the gullible ones bought it hook ,line and sinker. And people wonder how Jim Jones did it. :( DTS deranged trump syndrome )
brain parasites are sadly starved
there is a chicken and egg question whether the troll follows or leads,
Jaq said...
We can't win. Trump ran on stopping endless wars, now he is promising endless war, it's just like Zelensky, who is also a former TV star who ran on a platform of peace and reconciation.
3/3/26, 11:28 AM
...
Jaq - take a DEEP BREATH. Get outside. It has been three days since the attack began. "Endless war" might be a mite premature!
Jaq said...
"A fanatic is someone who won’t change their mind and won’t change the subject."
You could change my mind with logic and facts, just not with slogans and racist calls for blood.
3/3/26, 11:33 AM
...
How about Islamism is a religion/philosophy that demands complete dominance, that must expand throughout the world and that demands all knees bend to sharia. This is undisputed.
It is either Islam and Sharia or Western civilization. For the last 50Y Iran has been the chief instigator and movement of terrorism and expanding sharia in the world.
The world will be either free or under sharia. You will be either free or a slave.
I stand with Western Civilization. Your comments suggest you prefer servitude. I am not like you.
Kakistocracy said...
Unless, by some stoke of luck, a moderate Iranian regime takes over (unlikely given how effectively Iran is fighting back after losing significant leadership), this is a war that is pretty much bad for everyone. America is going to lose lives, treasure and it
should be clear to everyone now that allying to the US is no longer a reasonable proposition anymore. Americans are simply not trustworthy and are led by a president who is, frankly, incoherent and chaotic.
...
I would say the world should not trust USA under Democrat leadership. Like Iraq or not, Bush stood fast until the opposition was suppressed. Same for Afghanistan. Obama and Biden betrayed our allies in Iraq and Afghanistan and left those who allied themselves with us to their tender mercies.
Trump is RESTORING trust in America. FAFO. That completely disappeared in all of Obama's and Biden's red lines and retreats and surrenders.
Hassayamper - now they're just Qum-stains. CC, JSM
‘I Might Have Forced Their Hand’: Trump Denies Israel Forced U.S. to Strike Iran
Trumpeted from the elephant's trunk.
Kak - there is LITERALLY NO OUTCOME that could be worse than where Iran was as of Friday. We had an organized death cult whose entire raison d'etre was to make a nuclear bomb, destroy Israel, and then nuke USA.
The WORST outcome is we destroyed their ability to go nuclear, destroyed their military, and destroyed their missile capabilities and they are replaced with a radical Islamic leadership no worse than before but now without the ability to rebuild and we can bomb anything they try to build.
The best case scenario I think is more likely - the population armed by USA and aided by SF kills all the leadership and a democratic Iran arises.
I prefer the latter but ... it doesn't matter. The goal of the operation is to destroy their ability to hurt us.
Kak - you misread what is happening in Israel. There is no left wing left in Israel. They chose appeasement again and again. Reality finally became clear 10-7 and there is no possibility for at least a generation for a left wing government to appease the terrorists. There are only electable right wing candidates (except for of course a couple of seats won by Arabs and lefties). There is no power in the left wing in Israel any longer. The country is entirely united in defeating the terrorist threat.
Anti-ICEs defends terrorists at home. Anti-Zs defend terrorists transnationally. The ass brays and the caravan passes.
Kak - "The Gulf monarchies have now discovered that they cannot rely on the US anymore, that they have inadequate defenses and are incredibly vulnerable to Iran...and when the Patriots soon run out, what happens then?"
The Gulf monarchies and in fact the entire world just realized that USA is the ONLY power in the world. Russian and Chinese defenses were completely bypassed. We are the ONLY power in the world and rational countries acknowledge this.
FAFO.
Rustygrommet said...
Somebody mentioned China above and I thought I'd chime in.
China is watching all of this very carefully. Their anti aircraft and missile defense systems are getting real world analysis. The analysis is they suck. They don't work.
Strategically we have placed China on the defensive. They are forced to ask themselves what other systems do they field that are ineffective. They're whole timeline regarding Taiwan has to be re-evaluated. We can blind their defenses at will.
Somebody tell me I'm wrong.
3/3/26, 12:39 PM
...
Agree fully. And how many weeks of oil do they have now? A month? Two? Their supplies are Russia, Venezuela, and Iran. Two of three are now offline. And Xi just purged all of the military leadership.
Can't be a good place to be.
Hassayamper said...
Trump ran on stopping endless wars, now he is promising endless war
He's doing no such thing, you dolt. He's putting an end to a war that's been smoldering for nearly 50 years.
We have completely decapitated the leadership of Iran and destroyed most of its warfighting capacity. Every military aircraft is a pile of scrap metal. Every weapons depot and Revolutionary Guard barracks is a smoking ruin. Every one of their ships is at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. All their air defense systems have been wrecked. Every one of the few missile launchers that escaped the initial bombing campaign gets one or two cracks at a revenge attack and then is destroyed. What else is realistically left for our air and space forces to do? You don't seriously think Trump will put anything other than the smallest of special-ops ground forces in Iran, surely?
...
Obviously you are sheeple. You don't have access to the high level intelligence Kak has. You believe all the lies of all the Iranian people dancing in the streets worldwide at the destruction of the mullahs. Sheeple! Fake! AI!
The entire USA navy is on the bottom of the sea. Iran destroyed them all. Netanyahu is cowering in Germany. They also destroyed our air force.
IT's bizarre how a significant number of commenters here are more sympathetic to the head-choppers than the USA military. I'm glad we didn't have them in our country for WW2.
bagoh20 said...
I hadn't even considered this in the list of substantial reasons this mission is necessary, but it's another one. I wonder how many would say that it's not because Trump likes being alive, but because the JEWS want him alive!
3/3/26, 1:13 PM
....
Touche! It's the Jews!!!! And their mind control rays!
Left-wing ideology is authoritarian with liberal licentiousness prone to indulge Diversity and entertain abortive ideation with dreams of redistributive change schemes favored by Green... green persons seeking "benefits". Of course, as it is often coupled with a divergent ideology and Pro-Choice religion, it is observed over a spectrum and continuum.
DINKY DAU 45 said...
America First, no new wars and it aint about the oil, and the gullible ones bought it hook ,line and sinker. And people wonder how Jim Jones did it. :( DTS deranged trump syndrome )
3/3/26, 1:53 PM
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Just to say it - as EVERYONE knows "America First" does not mean dismantle our military. America First means "America First." What are OUR needs? WE benefit from knocking out an Iran working on nuclear weapons and so dominating the middle east and much of the world's oil supply as oil is the lifeblood of capitalism. WE benefit from knocking out an iran whose entire existence revolves around extending sharia to the entire world and murdering everyone who gets in its way.
AMERICA FIRST means we use all measures available to advance American interest. Which is exactly what Pres DJT is doing now. Advancing American interests.
AMERICA FIRST means we use all measures available to advance American interest. Which is exactly what Pres DJT is doing now. Advancing American interests.
PLOT TWIST: Well then Dick Cheney was the most America First American in History.
It was the CHENEY FAMILY that was right all along. All of you fuckfaces owe Liz Cheney a YUGE apology. Trump should have followed her leadership during his first term. Maybe he wouldn't have lost that election to Biden if he would have just listen to the Cheneys.
OK but we didn't have to attack Iran or kill 150 school girls to "Get him". And frankly, I'm skeptical. Why would Iran want to Kill Trump in 2024, when he wasn't even POTUS? Why kill him when Harris would be no better?
And finally, given that we support Israel, that constantly, endlessly, and repeatedly murders and assassinates anyone, scientists, leaders, military men, journalists, that it doesn't like, how can get on our high-horse and be shocked, yes shocked, if Iran WAS trying to "get Trump".
If you support Israel playing the Gangster, don't be amazed that the other countries play the same game.
Of course, the WaPo comment section are typical Libtards. Do they care about the war? Of course not. Does all the death and destruction bother them? Of course not.
All that matters is "Get Trump". Everything is always secondary to the only thing that matters to them: gaining and keeping power for the Leftwing and the D's. Probably because most of them are either morons or get a piece of the graft.
DeeDee D00! 💩
We killed plenty of Iranian leaders and scientists in "Our" strike in June 2025. Trump ordered the assassination of some Iranian military guy, IRC, in 2018, and bragged about it since.
Whats really amazing is that Iran and all the other countries that are targets of these constant murders and assassinations and terror bombings don't strike back more often.
We do know one thing, If the USA asks to "negotiate a deal" you'd better take that to mean "We're going to attack you and assassinate your leaders". This is twice Trump has attacked while "negotiating" a deal. He must think the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor was a lesson on how to behave.
Hey Shlomo - you missed one. Get the Secret Jew Mind Control weapon aimed at RC. He knows about us! He knows we are using the Secret Jew Mind Control weapon to control Trump. Send a Mossad agent to his home to get the tin foil hat that is blocking our rays!
And RC - you keep lying about the schoolgirls. It is now known it was an Iranian missile.
I think at this point everyone on the site knows not only that you hate Jews but you lie even after you know they are lies.
The thing I’m thinking about -- when do the markets hit Trump’s pain point. When his friends start calling?
In response to all of RC's posts, please copy and paste "It turns out it wasn't as Al Jazeera published..."
US gasoline crosses $3 per gallon mark in test of Trump's Iran war ~ Reuters
Rise in gas prices are all Biden's fault — I cannot believe Biden has done this..
This just in: BREAKING: Islamic Republic of Iran's new Defence Minister Majid Ibn Fuk’d has been assassinated only two days into his job.
Kakistocracy said...
Circling back to an article from the Atlantic regarding the Iraq war. I'm increasingly convinced that Trump, Vance, Rubio, and Witkoff fundamentally misunderstand Iran—and show little interest in listening to anyone who actually understands it.
I am sure the Chinese government would have something you are more in agreement with.
The Chinese government and traitors share a lot of similar ideas.
Why would Iran want to Kill Trump in 2024, when he wasn't even POTUS? Why kill him when Harris would be no better?
Don't ask logical questions. Anyone who thinks this guy is an Iranian sleeper agent is just too fucking retarded to reason with.
Also, don't ask why if we "completely obliterated" Iran's nuclear capability last Spring, how did Iran get back up and running so quickly? Why isn't our government efficient like the Iranians?! It's a goddamned Christmas miracle: Iran's nuclear program resurrected just months after "obliteration."
Or maybe our government lies to us about WMDs. We know this for a fact. How retarded are you?
American primacists can't coexist with a regime that chants 'Death to America' nonstop. Washington has a deep, primal urge to defeat them.
Despite past disasters—Libya after Gaddafi, the Iraq War fiasco— many still believe America's power to reshape the world is unmatched and must stay that way.
That's the core tension in Trump world: They champion raw American power and unilateral action, yet claim to oppose regime-change wars.
Now, any earlier skepticism about those misadventures has faded. What's emerged is muscular 'America First' globalism: unapologetic militarism and quasi-imperialism.
"Of course it’s about him. It’s always about him."
Maybe if you stopped trying to kill him, he could talk about something else.
Why would Iran want to kill Trump in 2024 in order to allow Word Salad to become POTUS? Maybe the mullahs had a crystal ball and preferred a pallet of cash over a bunker buster on the noggin?
Leaving aside Israel’s opening strike, that was Trump’s moment of peak potency. From then on, he lost his monopoly on how the war unfolds, as many others—not just Iranians—now have a say in its direction.
Contrary to Trump’s claims, the US and its allies faced no imminent attack from Iran. Nothing about this war was pre-emptive. Nor, as he also asserted, was Iran close to developing missiles that could reach the US.
Regimes aren't changed from the air; that would require invading the country. For the first time, Trump is entertaining that idea: 'I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground,' he told the New York Post.
At the same time, he's inviting Iran’s paramilitaries to hand over their weapons ('they would simply surrender to the people, if you think about it'). Perhaps they might disarm in a galaxy far, far away. On this planet, the fog of war starts in Trump’s mind.
narciso (1:27pm) thinks Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi is “an Arabian”? No, he is not. Persians are not Arabians, and their language is Indo-European, like Greek and English, not Semitic, like Arabic and Hebrew. I could write “close, but no cigar”, but that would be a lie: he’s not even close.
Seems like it is only a matter of time before we hit $100+ barrel.
Israel is going for maximalist objectives -- destruction of the Iranian state. And Trump is basically going along, because he is too much of an ignoramus to understand even the most basic second and third order level effects.
Once you set the process in motion, as Netanyahu understood, you can't stop it on a dime.
For Iran, I would have to imagine that the removal of U.S. military forces from the region are going to be a precondition for any settlement at this point, and that outcome will also not happen overnight.
Looming over this too is the vulnerability to supply shocks that this action generates elsewhere in the region and globally. e.g. both more likely to happen now, and the U.S. capacity to respond is also diminished due to Trump's actions.
Kak - Libya was a big mistake. But that was an Obama/Hillary mistake. Libya had been neutralized. They gave up their nukes when Gaddafi saw what we did to Saddam Hussein. He was not spreading sharia. He just wanted his dictatorship which was fine with me. But Obama/Hillary had to show they were tough and they could topple a dictator so they did it with no consideration that Gaddafi was a good boy and not causing trouble and then ISIS of course (IIRC) took over who DOES have radical Islamism/spreading sharia as their reason to be. They took a stable situation and screwed the pooch to help Hillary in her election chances.
Imbeciles.
Libya was a mistake but it was run by imbeciles so there's that.
Iran is the chief world exporter of terrorism and sharia and swore to nuke Israel and USA. It's a different beast. If Iran just wanted to be local dictators no one would care.
’…the US and its allies faced no imminent attack from Iran. Nothing about this war was pre-emptive. Nor, as he also asserted, was Iran close to developing missiles that could reach the US.’
Whether their missiles are able to reach CONUS I can’t say, but we do have military assets easily reached by their missiles, as you’ve apparently failed to notice over the last few days.
So, yes, their is an imminent threat to the US and its allies.
hes a Bedouin, from a minor tribe in the Hasa region, he wants to be an enlightened monarch, unlike his father is an old school Wahhabi, he walks a tight rope, that the previous adminstration (or autopen) tried to cut,
Seems like it is only a matter of time before we hit $100+ barrel.
Less than a year ago, you were quoting the CEO of Diamondback energy that Trump was going to tank oil prices to $20. As it is, oil is just back up to what it was when Trump took office. That is, it is rather stable.
Of course, Trump could just release oil from the SPR, like Biden did for no reason at all. Trump could also push for domestic drilling and FANG might actually grow its stock value, like the rest of the industry did last year (while FANG did not).
ah Libya an unforced error that General Hafter, has tried to correct, in the eastern region, hes backed by the Saudis the Egyptians and even the Russians gasp as opposed to the qataris and the Turks who back the rump parliament in Tripoli
a certain someone noted the instabiliity that relying on oil from the Abquaiq terminal as well as other sites, instead of our own supply, the name escapes me now
"to understand even the most basic second and third order level effects."
Nobody CAN understand second or third order effects. There are too many unknown-unknowns, or knowns of unknown significance, plus chaotic creation of new factors. A study of history is instructive. But obsession with that sort of thinking just creates paralysis, which is its own sort of action, with its own second and third order effects.
In case you all haven't noticed, Kakistophoclese, who is smarter than all of us, has brilliantly harnessed the power of A.I. and is using a chat bot to churn out answers to his prompts. He's put on his jodhpurs and boots and is chortling in his director's chair, as he barks out the next command to his microphone, then cuts & pastes the output that everybody has been responding to, generating even more chortling. Sad ! Just ignore him, there are few things worse than being taken in by such low-quality A.I. trollery.
Hmmmm. A lot of arm chair generals, admirals and prognosticators. No one’s battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. Trump will either be the GOAT or the goat. Stay tuned to find out.
Persians are not Arabians, and their language is Indo-European, like Greek and English, not Semitic, like Arabic and Hebrew.
Iranians have no great love for Arabs, and are quite offended at being called Arabs, and still resent being conquered by the Arabs of the Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates and forced to become Muslim. They very much want to be accepted as part of the great Indo-European family. And in fact, quite a large number of them look European.
Their famously beautiful women tend to be dark haired and dark eyed, but with fairly light skin, much like Greeks and Sicilians. Some of them are indistinguishable from a Slavic or Germanic girl, with brown or blonde hair and blue or green or hazel eyes.
buwaya said...
"to understand even the most basic second and third order level effects."
Nobody CAN understand second or third order effects. There are too many unknown-unknowns, or knowns of unknown significance, plus chaotic creation of new factors. A study of history is instructive. But obsession with that sort of thinking just creates paralysis, which is its own sort of action, with its own second and third order effects.
3/3/26, 5:48 PM
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And inaction and its consequences is a choice just as much as is action. The world trade center was of course bombed under Bill Clinton's administration. He ignored it. Then the Khobar Towers was bombed and our soldiers murdered. He chose not to respond. Then IIRC our embassy in Tanzania was attacked as well as our embassy in Kenya (?). Clinton did nothing. Inaction was a choice as action could have been. Then the USS Cole was bombed, again with no reaction from Clinton. And Americans were also bombed again in Saudi Arabia.
No response.
Eventually as the United States learned nothing and al Qaeda learned a lot, they later brought down the towers and finally America responded.
Action and its consequences belong to the actor just as much as does inaction and its consequences.
Where militant Islam seeks to dominate the world and force free people to bend the knee and wishes to crush Western Civilization ... I choose action.
Others on this board choose inaction.
You are not however free to ignore the consequences of inaction just as you are not allowed to ignore the consequences of action.
Watching you guys argue these issues with each other is like watching first graders play soccer. Well there are way more idiots than anything else.
No lie too absurd.
Iranian experts say they anticipate a serious mullah shortage in the near term, but so far there have been no reports of hoarding and demand remains at an all time low.
Gosh, after all those meetings they ought to be able to scrape together some new leadership.
It seems the Israelis just blew up a meeting of 90 mullahs in Qom, convened to elect a successor. Some of those guys probabably were likely successors.
Its an interesting situation, unprecedented really (or rather it goes back only to what Israel has done to Hezbollah) where they are not permitted to designate new leadership.
Amazing how Trump after years of being supported by people like Tucker or MTG, ditches them in order to win the support of Ben Shapiro and Bill Kristol, neither of whom supported him in 2016.
I think people are beginning to understand that we dont have two political parties, we have two wings of the same party. Thats why R Senators and Pols are always choosing resignation or electoral suicide rather than do what their voters want.
They don't want to win, because their job is to be the controlled opposition. Many of them are actually democrats or independents. They posed as conservatives/Republicans to get elected. Trump was supposed to be the exception, but it seems he was just more clever than morons like Mitt Romney.
Somewhat off topic. Won't AI destroy message boards such as this?
@Ampersand:
If you believe the Bladerunner thesis, it'll just continue among AI units without awareness of being AI units.
If you believe the Matrix / Slaughterhouse 5 thesis, the AI units may allow us to continue chatting in a zoo.
buwaya said...
It seems the Israelis just blew up a meeting of 90 mullahs in Qom, convened to elect a successor. Some of those guys probabably were likely successors.
It looks to me like the Trump admin understands what the real problem is. The real problem is Shia Islam.
OK brainiac. Why don't you enlighten us instead of just wiggling your dick.
Jaq. "Everybody agrees it's part of China."
Everybody who? Name names. Be specific. Does Taiwan get a vote?
Aggie said...
Gosh, after all those meetings they ought to be able to scrape together some new leadership.
See… you enjoy fish barrel shooting too.
That's what field telephones are for.
Rustygrommet, One China is official US policy, is it not?
Hint: what happened when the PRC was granted membership in the UN?
All: I think our sometimes-cryptic narciso is talking about MBS, not Pahlavi.
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