Several U.S. military personnel were injured in a missile attack Saturday night by Iranian-backed rebels on Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq, the Pentagon said.
At about 6:30 p.m. local time, multiple ballistic missiles and rockets were fired by Iranian-backed militants from western Iraq, U.S. Central Command said in a statement posted to social media.
The base’s air defense systems intercepted “most of the missiles,” but “others impacted the base,” CENTCOM reported.
Multiple U.S. personnel were being evaluated for traumatic brain injuries, CENTCOM said, and at least one Iraqi soldier was also wounded. No further details were immediately provided.
I know this is complicated, but what is Iran’s end game here? Don’t they know if they keep poking the bear, they’re going to get demolished? They’re not stupid, whatever anyone may think of them in other regards. (I am against war, at all costs, and I wish everyone would just calm down and let people live their lives the way the see fit without fucking around with that same privilege for others, but that does not seem likely at this point.)
Iran’s goal is to damage or sink an American warship without being directly culpable and without risking their own people.
To what end?
The theocracy is losing its grip on the people. But like typical authoritarian assholes, they’re trying to rally the people behind external enemies. Poking at the great Satan is one of their favorite call backs.
It also helps as a distraction for Pootin.
Hamas also attacked Israel because of negotiations with Saudi Arabia. The Saudis and Israel are tired of Iran backing terrorist proxies causing conflicts in and around their countries. Are so tired they’d rather make peace even though they don’t like each other to team up on Iran. The timing of Hamas attacking was no mistake. It was in the lead up to those peace negotiations to derail the talks.
You make good points, friend.
they’re going to get demolished
You’re incredibly gullible if you think Iran would get demolished.
I think “gullible” is a bit insulting and fairly inaccurate, friend. What I would say is that I did comment without first doing my due diligence. It does appear that Iran’s military capabilities are quite a bit greater than what I had thought. I would also concur that a shooting war with Iran would be a much larger conflict than I realized, with significant challenges for the U.S. I also found that your source is fairly reputable with a qualified background. That said, there are some dissenting opinions that argue a much more aggressive response from the U.S is warranted. All in all, this conflict is a fucking quagmire.
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David Schenker at The Washington Institute: “The Risks of a Wider War with Iran and Its Proxies” - Read more on The Washington Institute
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Michael Eisenstadt at The Washington Institute: “U.S. Strategy Toward Iran: Restoring Deterrence, Enabling Diplomacy” - Read more on The Washington Institute
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The Institute for the Study of War: “Iran Update, December 23, 2023” - Read more on the Institute for the Study of War
Fyi, your links are broken.
Thank you, and fixed.
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I saw a article past day that Iraq wanted US folks out
What were those personnel doing in Iraq? Is the US never going to fully withdraw from Iraq?
Support base for fighting ISIS. And for supporting Syrian Democratic Forces and Kurdish factions in Syria.
And why are they doing that? Shouldn’t regional problems be left to the region? Something tells me the US wouldn’t take kindly to a foreign country setting up base in Mexico to take care of some problem in the region.
Do you not remember when ISIS almost took over all of Iraq? How everyone in the region was desperately pleading for the U.S to do something about ISIS?
Despite what Donald Trump said, ISIS is far from defeated. We also aren’t abandoning the Kurds. Without the United States in the region Turkey would be bombing them indiscriminately. The US is pretty much in the position of damned if you do damned if you don’t.
The better position is to stay in a limited support role. There aren’t US forces openly clashing with combatants. They’re providing air support, local signals, intelligence and fire support.
Yeah, I remember when the US created the power vacuum for ISIS to take over. We can’t act as world police forever. We’re creating more problems than we’re solving.
