Middle East

[Polds4OSU]

Massie: Iran is not Venezuela. The Ayatollah was a religious leader, not a president. The US and Israel turned him into a martyr, spent billions, and now six American families are burying their children — for a war this administration still can’t clearly explain.

Massie: Some told us this war was about nuclear weapons. But six months ago, we were assured our last strike on Iran decimated their nuclear program. So which is it? I think the most candid answer came from the secretary of state, who told the press that Israel forced our hand and dragged us into this war again.

Hadi ardah (@hadi_alardeh) on Threads

Massie: Iran is not Venezuela. The Ayatollah was a religious leader, not a president. The US and Israel turned him into a martyr, spent billions, and now six American families are burying their children — for a war this administration still can’t clearly explain.

www.threads.com

 

[Polds4OSU]

Trump: "If we didn't hit within 2 weeks, they would've had a nuclear weapon. When crazy people have nuclear weapons bad things happen."

Aaron Rupar (@aaron.rupar) on Threads

Trump: "If we didn't hit within 2 weeks, they would've had a nuclear weapon. When crazy people have nuclear weapons bad things happen."

www.threads.com

 

[Polds4OSU]

Karoline Leavitt said today there were "many signs, put out by the State Department” that Americans should leave the Middle East before the conflict began
But on Saturday morning, this was the State Dept's travel advisory levels for 14 countries they are telling Americans to leave

LEVEL 1: EXERCISE NORMAL PRECAUTIONS
Kuwait
Qatar
LEVEL 2: EXERCISE INCREASED CAUTION
Bahrain
Egypt
Jordan
Oman
Saudi Arabia
UAE
LEVEL 3: RECONSIDER TRAVEL
Israel
LEVEL 4: DO NOT TRAVEL
Lebanon
Syria
Iran
Iraq
Yemen

Selina Wang (@selinawangtv) on Threads

Karoline Leavitt said today there were "many signs, put out by the State Department” that Americans should leave the Middle East before the conflict began But on Saturday morning, this was the State Dept's travel advisory levels for 14 countries they are telling Americans to leave LEVEL 1...

www.threads.com

 

[Polds4OSU]

The administration made no plans to evacuate Americans at risk when the Iran war began.

For friends of Trump, they had access to a private jet.

Oil companies got a Navy escort.

Regular Americans just got screwed.

 

[steross]

Trump: "When crazy people have nuclear weapons bad things happen."

 

[osuwhit]

When has violating a law ever stopped El Trumpo from doing whatever he wants?

I guess not often

 

[osuwhit]

Semper Fi

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[Polds4OSU]

NEW: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the United States has asked Ukraine for help intercepting Iranian-made Shahed drones, citing Ukraine’s battlefield expertise. Zelenskyy said any assistance will come only if it does not weaken Ukraine’s own defenses.

MeidasTouch (@meidastouch) on Threads

NEW: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the United States has asked Ukraine for help intercepting Iranian-made Shahed drones, citing Ukraine’s battlefield expertise. Zelenskyy said any assistance will come only if it does not weaken Ukraine’s own defenses.

www.threads.com

 

[Polds4OSU]

Karoline Leavitt: Spain has agreed to collaborate militarily with the U.S.

Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares:
“She may be the White House spokesperson but I am Spain’s Foreign Minister and I’m telling her our position remains the same.”

Ari Honarvar (@rumiwithaview) on Threads

Karoline Leavitt: Spain has agreed to collaborate militarily with the U.S. Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares: “She may be the White House spokesperson but I am Spain’s Foreign Minister and I’m telling her our position remains the same.”

www.threads.com

 

[Rob B.]

You got anything besides a meme to support that?

And to be fair Im sure somewhere there are people upset and protesting the dudes death. But it's not widespread or even really visible like you seem to think. The bigger arguments have to do with asking if the president had the constitutional authority to do so and the overall lack of strategy surrounding the conflict.

At the end of the day a really bad man is dead so Im not going to argue if he should have. What's done is done.

The issue I have is the overall lack of competence at the highest levels of government and how they are handling it. We have the most advanced military in the world and our capabilities at taking him out were never in doubt. But we also:

1. Underestimated their ability to retaliate to the point where we left troops in the region unprotected and that resulted in the loss of American lives. We could have more than easily made sure defense installations in the region had proper defensive capabilities and if not moved troops to areas that did. American deaths in Iran's initial salvo are on the hands of the administration and no one seems to care. It was incompetence to the point that I question if it was intentional.

2. Aside from Israel and ME nations we have spent decades strongarming we seem to have no allies in this conflict. The rest of NATO is out and we have no one to blame but ourselves. Instead of a moment of reflection as to why allies want nothing to do with us, the administration seems intent on trying to strong-arm them to the point of potentially escalating the conflict. Threatening to sever economic ties with an EU nation that has been an ally for 4 decades because they are upset at us for behaving like a bully for the last year plus-whose fault is it that they don't want to assist us with use of their bases? And to top it off we turn around and threaten military action against them. These aren't the actions of a nation trying to spread peace to a region.

3. We have seemingly abandoned citizens in the region. I don't know if the administration forgot that US citizens live and travel in the middle east ot if they just don't care. If Iranian terrorists or freedom fighters start kidnapping and murdering Americans in the area will we do anything? Heck will Trump ask them who they voted for before lifting a finger. The fact that him bringing up political persuasion isn't hyperbole but a possible concern before helping Americans is insane but we all know it can happen.

4. We seemingly have no real justification for war. You have given us random reasons but no one really knows why we did it. No one believes they were close to achieving nuclear capabilities. The administration themselves said they bombed their nuclear infrastructure back to the stone age last summer. I don't believe that either but I don't think we were 100% ineffective there. Trump, Hegseth, and Rubio have all given different answers and then denied or deflected when questioned about it. Wars have reasons for happening-they may be bad reasons but they exist. This doesn't seem to have one yet other than Israel wanted to do it and we just went along for the ride.

5. There is no exit (or any) strategy. We bomb the crap out of them and then what? Trump hasn't ruled out boots on the ground so a physical invasion is on the table. We seem to want regime change but haven't really thought about what that looks like. We have offered amnesty to their military but considering how this administration treats those it perceives as enemies and how we treated allies on the ground in other countries in the middle east I don't see any of them throwing down their arms right away. Trump has said the pep need to rise up but if we are pounding everything in air strikes how are they supposed to do that? Will we set up a puppet government because that always works. There is just no real strategy here and I don't think we have the leadership at the executive cabinet level capable of executing it even if we had one. Heck, we spent a year purging military leadership of perceived disloyal generals-do we have anyone left like Patraeus or Schwarzkopf capable of managing a territory that doesn't want us there if we do invade?

I could go on but Im already way beyond tldr territory. The short version is this has been an incredibly short sighted military campaign with no goals aside from shoot the bad guy and I don't see how even with the death of an evil man I don't see how the Iranian people or the world are safer now.

I know this will fall on some deaf ears. Not yours in particular since you do seem concerned about American lives.
What democrats and their liberal base fails to realize is… Donald Trump does not give a fxck! He doesn’t care what we think about him or how we feel about him. He already knows what we think about him. Trump also knows that he’s not up for reelection in 3 years, so he’s going to do what has needed to be done for decades. He’s not going to keep giving Iran pallets full of cash to keep them at bay and keep them peaceful. And unlike Barry, he ain’t taking “trust me bro” as an answer from Iran about not enriching uranium to weapons grade.

Democrats are now claiming “Trump is depleting weapons stockpiles faster than they can be replenished.” False. Manufacturers like Lockheed Martin were given advance notice. We are only 4 days in. Joe Biden gave away our best weapons to Ukraine, for 4 years and for FREE… democrats didn’t say a word. If you want to see the biggest difference between Trump and Biden, watch how Trump responds to the dignified transfer when those 6 fallen soldiers come home. After that botched, embarrassing, and fatal withdrawal from Afghanistan which cost the lives of 13 service members, Joe Biden was either looking at his watch repeatedly and obsessively, or he was closing his eyes and falling asleep. His horrendous strategy cost those soldiers their lives and Biden could not have been any more disrespectful. Also, unlike Biden’s White House, the Trump administration’s White House has stated that our State Department started giving travel ban warnings in the region as early as January. February those warnings were changed to evacuation orders for military families, civilians, American citizens, and nonessential military personnel. Unlike Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, Trump was well aware and prepared months in advance.

One final thing that I need to say is, watch how democrats vote tomorrow. The partial government shutdown which has been in effect for 3 weeks now, is nothing but spiteful democrats trying to protect illegals and stop them from being deported. Meanwhile, our Department of Homeland Security is shutdown. Our cyber security department is shutdown. Our coast guard isn’t getting paid. ICE is funded. ICE HAS their funding and democrats knew that. This is now a very dangerous game that democrats are playing with our troops lives. At a time when we need DHS, cyber security, our coast guard, and other vital agencies the most, democrats are only solidifying the fact that they care about illegals more than the safety and security of our troops, service members, and American citizens. They need to vote to reopen DHS tomorrow and stop playing petty games with peoples lives!

 

[Polds4OSU]

I asked the White House about Secretary Hegseth’s comment this morning where he criticized reporting on US troop deaths, saying,

“When a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it's front page news. I get it. the press only wants to make the president look bad, but try for once to report the reality.”

Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) on Threads

I asked the White House about Secretary Hegseth’s comment this morning where he criticized reporting on US troop deaths, saying, “When a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it's front page news. I get it. the press only wants to make the president look bad, but try for once to report...

www.threads.com

 

[HacklemanPoke]

I know this will fall on some deaf ears. Not yours in particular since you do seem concerned about American lives.
What democrats and their liberal base fails to realize is… Donald Trump does not give a fxck! He doesn’t care what we think about him or how you about him. He already knows what ee think about him. Trump also knows that he’s not up for reelection in 3 years, so he’s going to do what has needed to be done for decades. He’s not going to keep giving Iran pallets full of cash to keep them at bay and keep them peaceful. And unlike Barry, he ain’t taking “trust me bro” as an answer from Iran about not enriching uranium to weapons grade.

Democrats are now claiming “Trump is depleting weapons stockpiles faster than they can be replenished.” False. Manufacturers like Lockheed Martin were given advance notice. We are only 4 days in. Joe Biden gave away our best weapons to Ukraine, for 4 years and for FREE… democrats didn’t say a word. If you want to see the biggest difference between Trump and Biden, watch how Trump responds to the dignified transfer when those 6 fallen soldiers come home. After that botched, embarrassing, and fatal withdrawal from Afghanistan which cost the lives of 13 service members, Joe Biden was either looking at his watch repeatedly and obsessively, or he was closing his eyes and falling asleep. His horrendous strategy cost those soldiers their lives and Biden could not have been any more disrespectful. Also, unlike Biden’s White House, the Trump administration’s White House has stated that our State Department started giving travel ban warnings in the region as early as January. February those warnings were changed to evacuation orders for military families, civilians, American citizens, and nonessential military personnel. Unlike Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, Trump was well aware and prepared months in advance.

One final thing that I need to say is, watch how democrats vote tomorrow. The partial government shutdown which has been in effect for 3 weeks now, is nothing but spiteful democrats trying to protect illegals and stop them from being deported. Meanwhile, our Department of Homeland Security is shutdown. Our cyber security department is shutdown. Our coast guard isn’t getting paid. ICE is funded. ICE HAS their funding and democrats knew that. This is now a very dangerous game that democrats are playing with our troops lives. At a time when we need DHS, cyber security, our coast guard, and other vital agencies the most, democrats are only solidifying the fact that they care about illegals more than the safety and security of our troops, service members, and American citizens. They need to vote to reopen DHS tomorrow and stop playing petty games with peoples lives!

The fact that you took the time to either copy and paste this or type it out is why we have no hope in our country. Your opening salvo of Trump not caring about what people think completely discredits everything else.

 

[PF5]

I know this will fall on some deaf ears. Not yours in particular since you do seem concerned about American lives.
What democrats and their liberal base fails to realize is… Donald Trump does not give a fxck! He doesn’t care what we think about him or how you about him. He already knows what ee think about him. Trump also knows that he’s not up for reelection in 3 years, so he’s going to do what has needed to be done for decades. He’s not going to keep giving Iran pallets full of cash to keep them at bay and keep them peaceful. And unlike Barry, he ain’t taking “trust me bro” as an answer from Iran about not enriching uranium to weapons grade.

Democrats are now claiming “Trump is depleting weapons stockpiles faster than they can be replenished.” False. Manufacturers like Lockheed Martin were given advance notice. We are only 4 days in. Joe Biden gave away our best weapons to Ukraine, for 4 years and for FREE… democrats didn’t say a word. If you want to see the biggest difference between Trump and Biden, watch how Trump responds to the dignified transfer when those 6 fallen soldiers come home. After that botched, embarrassing, and fatal withdrawal from Afghanistan which cost the lives of 13 service members, Joe Biden was either looking at his watch repeatedly and obsessively, or he was closing his eyes and falling asleep. His horrendous strategy cost those soldiers their lives and Biden could not have been any more disrespectful. Also, unlike Biden’s White House, the Trump administration’s White House has stated that our State Department started giving travel ban warnings in the region as early as January. February those warnings were changed to evacuation orders for military families, civilians, American citizens, and nonessential military personnel. Unlike Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, Trump was well aware and prepared months in advance.

One final thing that I need to say is, watch how democrats vote tomorrow. The partial government shutdown which has been in effect for 3 weeks now, is nothing but spiteful democrats trying to protect illegals and stop them from being deported. Meanwhile, our Department of Homeland Security is shutdown. Our cyber security department is shutdown. Our coast guard isn’t getting paid. ICE is funded. ICE HAS their funding and democrats knew that. This is now a very dangerous game that democrats are playing with our troops lives. At a time when we need DHS, cyber security, our coast guard, and other vital agencies the most, democrats are only solidifying the fact that they care about illegals more than the safety and security of our troops, service members, and American citizens. They need to vote to reopen DHS tomorrow and stop playing petty games with peoples lives!

watch fox news much?!...or is this from the maga playbook on how to stereotype all democrats, I mean lunatic liberals?...the funniest thing I read from this was ´tRump was well aware and prepared months in advance´...he is a knee jerk, reactionary narcissist...keep drinking the kool aid...

 

[Rob B.]

watch fox news much?!...or is this from the maga playbook on how to stereotype all democrats, I mean lunatic liberals?...the funniest thing I read from this was ´tRump was well aware and prepared months in advance´...he is a knee jerk, reactionary narcissist...keep drinking the kool aid...

Like I said....deaf ears.
Did the pot get triggered?

 

[Rob B.]

The fact that you took the time to either copy and paste this or type it out is why we have no hope in our country. Your opening salvo of Trump not caring about what people think completely discredits everything else.

We who?

 

[PJ-OSU]

I know this will fall on some deaf ears. Not yours in particular since you do seem concerned about American lives.
What democrats and their liberal base fails to realize is… Donald Trump does not give a fxck! He doesn’t care what we think about him or how we feel about him. He already knows what we think about him. Trump also knows that he’s not up for reelection in 3 years, so he’s going to do what has needed to be done for decades. He’s not going to keep giving Iran pallets full of cash to keep them at bay and keep them peaceful. And unlike Barry, he ain’t taking “trust me bro” as an answer from Iran about not enriching uranium to weapons grade.

Democrats are now claiming “Trump is depleting weapons stockpiles faster than they can be replenished.” False. Manufacturers like Lockheed Martin were given advance notice. We are only 4 days in. Joe Biden gave away our best weapons to Ukraine, for 4 years and for FREE… democrats didn’t say a word. If you want to see the biggest difference between Trump and Biden, watch how Trump responds to the dignified transfer when those 6 fallen soldiers come home. After that botched, embarrassing, and fatal withdrawal from Afghanistan which cost the lives of 13 service members, Joe Biden was either looking at his watch repeatedly and obsessively, or he was closing his eyes and falling asleep. His horrendous strategy cost those soldiers their lives and Biden could not have been any more disrespectful. Also, unlike Biden’s White House, the Trump administration’s White House has stated that our State Department started giving travel ban warnings in the region as early as January. February those warnings were changed to evacuation orders for military families, civilians, American citizens, and nonessential military personnel. Unlike Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, Trump was well aware and prepared months in advance.

One final thing that I need to say is, watch how democrats vote tomorrow. The partial government shutdown which has been in effect for 3 weeks now, is nothing but spiteful democrats trying to protect illegals and stop them from being deported. Meanwhile, our Department of Homeland Security is shutdown. Our cyber security department is shutdown. Our coast guard isn’t getting paid. ICE is funded. ICE HAS their funding and democrats knew that. This is now a very dangerous game that democrats are playing with our troops lives. At a time when we need DHS, cyber security, our coast guard, and other vital agencies the most, democrats are only solidifying the fact that they care about illegals more than the safety and security of our troops, service members, and American citizens. They need to vote to reopen DHS tomorrow and stop playing petty games with peoples lives!

That was a lot. There is much to debate in this, however, I really don't have the time or interest to break down everything. I will say, the bold and underlined text is either grossly misinformed or deliberately obtuse. Who's strategy was it to get out of Afghanistan? Might want to check your history book on that one, sir.

 

[cowboyinexile]

I know this will fall on some deaf ears. Not yours in particular since you do seem concerned about American lives.
What democrats and their liberal base fails to realize is… Donald Trump does not give a fxck! He doesn’t care what we think about him or how you about him. He already knows what ee think about him. Trump also knows that he’s not up for reelection in 3 years, so he’s going to do what has needed to be done for decades. He’s not going to keep giving Iran pallets full of cash to keep them at bay and keep them peaceful. And unlike Barry, he ain’t taking “trust me bro” as an answer from Iran about not enriching uranium to weapons grade.

Democrats are now claiming “Trump is depleting weapons stockpiles faster than they can be replenished.” False. Manufacturers like Lockheed Martin were given advance notice. We are only 4 days in. Joe Biden gave away our best weapons to Ukraine, for 4 years and for FREE… democrats didn’t say a word. If you want to see the biggest difference between Trump and Biden, watch how Trump responds to the dignified transfer when those 6 fallen soldiers come home. After that botched, embarrassing, and fatal withdrawal from Afghanistan which cost the lives of 13 service members, Joe Biden was either looking at his watch repeatedly and obsessively, or he was closing his eyes and falling asleep. His horrendous strategy cost those soldiers their lives and Biden could not have been any more disrespectful. Also, unlike Biden’s White House, the Trump administration’s White House has stated that our State Department started giving travel ban warnings in the region as early as January. February those warnings were changed to evacuation orders for military families, civilians, American citizens, and nonessential military personnel. Unlike Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, Trump was well aware and prepared months in advance.

One final thing that I need to say is, watch how democrats vote tomorrow. The partial government shutdown which has been in effect for 3 weeks now, is nothing but spiteful democrats trying to protect illegals and stop them from being deported. Meanwhile, our Department of Homeland Security is shutdown. Our cyber security department is shutdown. Our coast guard isn’t getting paid. ICE is funded. ICE HAS their funding and democrats knew that. This is now a very dangerous game that democrats are playing with our troops lives. At a time when we need DHS, cyber security, our coast guard, and other vital agencies the most, democrats are only solidifying the fact that they care about illegals more than the safety and security of our troops, service members, and American citizens. They need to vote to reopen DHS tomorrow and stop playing petty games with peoples lives!

Yeah. You should post a link for stuff you copy from Facebook. This has nothing to do with what I wrote. And yes I did write it-no copy and paste job. This talks about the difference between Biden and Trump on when the remains of the fallen are returned. Im not sure how Trump will behave but if his personal history is any indication he will see it as a photo op. And one of the points I was trying to make was that they died for no reason other than that the administration is incompetent. That got glossed over because the original author of this post looked at some out of context picture or video of Biden and went with it instead of asking why the soldiers in Kuwait had to die.

Biden didn't give away our best weapons for free. Anyone who was paying attention and didn't have an agenda could have seen that. I would agree that defense contractors were prepared for a conflict like this-partially because the administration (or administrations in other countries) gave them a heads up and partially because we needed to replenish munitions with newer more sophisticated models with the older equipment we loaned to Ukraine as part of aid packages. Anyone who thinks we will run out of bombs to drop while there is money to be made in doing so is lying to themselves.

Also no idea if there will be a vote on the partial government shutdown tomorrow but if there is 100% it will be a partisan one. Is the author expecting politicians to just stop negotiations and agree to whatever just because we started a war out of nowhere? Any end to a government shutdown will end like they always do regardless of who is in power- politicians will come to an agreement and both sides will tell their supporters they got the better of the deal.

Either make an actual argument or just go back to trolling on the silly picture thread. The copy and paste something I found on Facebook isn't working.

 

[Stillwaterman]

NEW: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the United States has asked Ukraine for help intercepting Iranian-made Shahed drones, citing Ukraine’s battlefield expertise. Zelenskyy said any assistance will come only if it does not weaken Ukraine’s own defenses.

MeidasTouch (@meidastouch) on Threads

NEW: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the United States has asked Ukraine for help intercepting Iranian-made Shahed drones, citing Ukraine’s battlefield expertise. Zelenskyy said any assistance will come only if it does not weaken Ukraine’s own defenses.

www.threads.com

Well there we go, we know what to say next time he comes asking for help.

 

[Rob B.]

That was a lot. There is much to debate in this, however, I really don't have the time or interest to break down everything. I will say, the bold and underlined text is either grossly misinformed or deliberately obtuse. Who's strategy was it to get out of Afghanistan? Might want to check your history book on that one, sir.

You think Biden used Trump's strategy to exit Afghanistan?

 

[Rob B.]

Well there we go, we know what to say next time he comes asking for help.

People who claim to be American think we shouldn't bother Iran so we can fund Ukraine's war.