Russia and Isreal have followed the same things….
Bomb civilian targets…..
Which could be considered ‘War Crimes’…..
The American President seems to be moving from saving Iran and it’s people to leveling their land and hurting their people…
A angry President with a Sec of Defense Sec on a religious ‘Crusade’ against a Muslim country….
And a country that has and doesn’t seem to want to give up the fight to America, Israel and other Middle Eastern countries knocking hard on their doors….
New York Times: “No other recent American president has talked so openly about committing potential war crimes, legal experts, historians and former U.S. officials say. Wartime American presidents and their aides have usually insisted they were trying to follow international and U.S. military law, even if they violated it in some cases.”
“International laws aimed at preventing the horrors of total war are codified in a series of agreements, including the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions, the Nuremberg Principles and the United Nations Charter. Deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure violate those. So does pillaging a country, which Mr. Trump has suggested he might do by taking Iran’s oil.”
“The Trump administration’s language and actions could have far-reaching consequences. Within Iran, it is likely to galvanize opposition to the United States, including among some ordinary Iranians who have protested their own government.”
…
President Trump threatened to destroy all of Iran’s power plants if the country’s leaders don’t agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday evening, ratcheting up pressure on Tehran, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Trump: “If they don’t come through, if they want to keep it closed, they’re going to lose every power plant and every other plant they have in the whole country.”
Pressed on when he thinks the war will end, Trump said: “I will let you know pretty soon.”
I left the room after hearing John Ratcliffe (CIA) repeatedly give His Imperial Presidency credit for saving the airman (as much as the intelligence experts on the ground and over the airwaves who actually — and often at some risk — helped find the colonel and misled the Iranians.
Of course, His Imperial Majesty wants credit for his skill, craft and boldness in saving a warrior.
[… at the same time and to the same degree as he bears responsibility for a dozen deaths and countless crippling wounds by initiating Bibi’s War]
And lets remember?
Him and Hegseth put the guy in ‘harm’s way’, eh?
Other’s have come home hurt or no more….
From CNN’s transcript of today’s press conference about the airman’s rescue:
JOHN RATCLIFFE, CIA DIRECTOR: Thank you, Mr. President.
It’s a privilege to be here with you today to share what we can about this exceptional mission and to recognize the ingenuity and bravery of those who executed it, as well as the leadership and resolve of the president who ordered it.
One thing that has been clear to me in this role is that the flawless military operations that the Department of War is known for are hostage to flawless intelligence. We saw that in the skies over Iran in Operation Midnight Hammer last summer.
We witnessed it in Venezuela during Operation Absolute Resolve. We have seen it against the cartels in the Western Hemisphere, and we’re seeing it every day in Operation Epic Fury, including this mission to rescue an aviator buried deep behind enemy lines.
Because it is the unique tradition of the U.S. armed forces that we leave no man or woman behind, this was a no-fail mission. That was the spirit in which the president put us to work, and we were determined not to let him down or our airmen down.
As an agency, the CIA possesses unique capabilities that only the president can deploy. Some of these capabilities fall under covert action authorities. And because covert means exactly that, I’m not going to be able to tell you everything that you want to know.
At the president’s direction, we deployed both human assets and exquisite technologies that no other intelligence service in the world possesses to a daunting challenge comparable to hunting for a single grain of sand in the middle of a desert.
This was also a race against the clock, as it was critical that we locate the downed aviator as quickly as possible, while at the same time keeping our enemies misdirected.
For that reason, in addition to the human and technical assets deployed by the president to find our airman, the CIA executed a deception campaign to confuse the Iranians, who were desperately hunting for our airmen.
On Saturday morning, we achieved our primary objective by finding and providing confirmation that one of America’s best and bravest was alive and concealed in a mountain crevice, still invisible to the enemy, but not to the CIA. That confirmation was relayed by Secretary Hegseth to the president.
— invisible to the enemy, but not to the CIA. That confirmation was relayed by Secretary Hegseth to the President, and the operation quickly moved to the execution phase. Following the successful exfiltration on Saturday night, our intelligence reflects that the Iranians were embarrassed and ultimately humiliated by the success of this audacious rescue mission.
When the President asked me to lead the CIA, he made it clear, get back to basics, no politics, no agendas, tackle the hardest problems and execute the toughest missions. This President is about results, and now that’s what his CIA is about too.
The professionals at the agency and at the Department of War deserve immense credit for their flawless execution during this daring mission. Their skill, creativity and courage are unmatched on the battlefield wherever they step, but none of that matters and all of that is wasted without a President with the political courage to put them into action.
Mr. President, I’ve had the privilege of seeing you act with political courage in the best interest of the United States up close on a daily basis, and I’m grateful that this successful mission has given the American people a window into that as well.
The Secretary and Chairman will tell you that our service members’ confidence is boosted by a Commander-in-Chief who has their back the same way they have yours. And I know that the confidence of CIA’s officers is boosted by the knowledge that their work is informing a President who’s not afraid to make the hardest decisions when the stakes are highest.
And to the American people, your confidence should be boosted by knowing that the security of the nation is in the hands of a President who’s willing to take on problems that have confounded both sides of the political aisle for nearly half a century. It is an honor to serve under a leader who just proved that you can believe him when he says, no matter what, we will leave no one behind. We will come for you.
Thank you.
Pure ASS KISSING by a CIA. Director that is supposed to JUST do the ‘FACTS’ not political rah, rah