Is it likely that the protest on the embassy in Iraq was ginned up to provide cover for the strike?

[Grasswire2]

Last edited Sat Jan 4, 2020, 02:16 PM - Edit history (1)

Nothing can be excluded from consideration here.

Trump needed an event at the first of the year.

I hope some entity is looking into this.


He had the three elements of a crime. Means, motive, and opportunity.

[brush]

1. I think you're on to something. It's not as if it hasn't been done before.

Gulf of Tonkin anyone?

Or that ginned-up video "Innocence of Muslims" that presipatated the Benghazi incident at, wouldn't you know it, an embassy?

[Captain Zero]

2. I think it's interesting that Iranian Guys name was scribbled all around the embassy

in those 'protests'.

And the coincidence of yet another secretive call between Putin and Trump.

[UniteFightBack]

7. Russia is besties with Iran so not sure where you and many others on this board are going. nt

[mopinko]

11. subpoena that transcript right fucking now, dems.

[dewsgirl]

16. It was? Where can I find info on this? I believe you, just curious.

[stopdiggin]

3. man that's a lot of paid actors. dunno if I can go with this one. (nt)

[brush]

4. Remember how Benghazi started? A protest at an embassy.

They just dusted off the script.

[stopdiggin]

5. so now we're suggesting that the Benghazi protests were staged?

or "ginned up" as the OP has it? What exactly ARE you trying to say?

[brush]

9. Gulf of Tonkin, "Remember the Maine". Staged pretexts to start a war is...

an old tactic. trump has told 13,000 lies, all of a sudden we're supposed to start believing his story?

And what was up with that call with Putin two days before the protests began?

Nothing suspicious to you?

[mopinko]

12. hell, isnt there a line in the bible

about the man who throws a rock and hides his hand?
johnny cash told me that, so i'm pretty sure it's true.

plenty of useful idiots to gin up. all you need is the right spark. yep yep.
same old play book. when will we learn?

[stopdiggin]

28. The protests played little part in anything that transpired

WHO gained by "ginning up" an embassy protest? The U.S. had already bombed multiple Shia militia targets. Which doesn't exactly show a great reluctance to prosecute .. and pretty much negates the idea that they needed a "pretext" in order to go on and target Suleimani. The embassy protests were almost certainly the least consequential factor in the whole sequence. No casualties, little real or lasting damage .. and had subsided under it's own power in a single short news cycle. So now we're going to tease apart this nothing-burger incident .. that had no real strategic consequence at all .. amounting largely to a "photo op" for the "aggrieved and offended" .. and go looking for the shadowy "hand behind the hand" that was responsible for "orchestrating" .. an incident that didn't really matter in the first place!

In short .. there was no need of a "pretext" .. the U.S. had already escalated the conflict to a war footing with the bombings in Iraq and Syria. Pretending that the protest was some kind of critical "flashpoint" is (IMO) just foolish, and ignorant. Period.

[brush]

30. Everyone has an opinion.

[stopdiggin]

32. yep. and the one in THIS OP ....

[brush]

33. What's your angle on the killing and why now?

[stopdiggin]

36. I think it's part and parcel of an incoherent foreign policy

conducted by a narcissistic figure, with no real regard for the well being of the citizens or the state it heads. What I DON'T think .. is that had any cause and effect relationship with the embassy protests. Or that one was needed, in the minds that mattered here.

[brush]

40. Let's see what develops. There have been many casus belli...

creations used by governments. I for one don't believe a word out of trump's mouth as for his reasons.

[dware]

41. I, for one, don't have a problem with this guy's demise,

what I do have a problem with is the way it was done, the Mango Menace is obviously trying to divert attention from his domestic problems, which is going to end very badly for all involved.

[brush]

42. Agreed.

[stopdiggin]

43. nor I. and agree with the rest of your sentiment as well. (nt)

[Beartracks]

14. Incite a riot, and you don't have to pay the crowd. n/t

[stopdiggin]

31. Who benefits? That's the point that seems to have eluded the OP.

The implication would appear to be that the U.S. concocted a protest to provide pretext. I don't think that makes any real sense. Do you?

[rockfordfile]

19. You don't need a lot. Just a couple to persuade. that seems to be easy nowadays

Thinking about how easy The churches and Fox New got people together to burn Dixie Chicks CDs.

[stopdiggin]

25. it's the lack of critical thinking

WHO gained by "ginning up" an embassy protest? The U.S. had already bombed multiple Shia militia targets. Which doesn't exactly show a great reluctance to prosecute .. and pretty much negates the idea that they needed a "pretext" in order to go on and target Suleimani. The embassy protests were almost certainly the least consequential factor in the whole sequence. No casualties, little real or lasting damage .. and had subsided under it's own power in a single short news cycle. So now we're going to tease apart this nothing-burger incident .. that had no real strategic consequence at all .. amounting largely to a "photo op" for the "aggrieved and offended" .. and go looking for the shadowy "hand behind the hand" that was responsible for "orchestrating" .. an incident that didn't really matter in the first place!

In short .. there was no need of a "pretext" .. the U.S. had already escalated the conflict to a war footing with the bombings in Iraq and Syria. Pretending that the protest was some kind of critical "flashpoint" is (IMO) just foolish, and ignorant. Period.

[UniteFightBack]

6. This Soleimani guy taunted dump a few days before. Really wouldn't be surprised at the dotards

thin skin erupting.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/01/03/soleimani-posted-memes-antagonizing-trump-social-media/

[Laura PourMeADrink]

46. Wow...so this is it ..trump had his ego hurt by this guy.

[caraher]

8. Conceivable? Yes. Likely...

Perhaps "nothing can be excluded" but "likely" really requires some kind of evidence.

It would be a scoop for somebody, for sure. But it takes a bit more brains and effort to whip up a phony protest in a foreign country and keep it quiet than it does to pay rubes to take a bus to a Trump rally, which is about the sophistication level his crew is capable of pulling off.

[brush]

10. Let's see what develops. After 13,000 lies I'm not about to start...

believing trump's story.

[duforsure]

13. Was putin behind this and these protesters ?

To provide a distraction and impeachment cover for trump , and jack up oil prices where russia's economy is largely based on , and putin stands to make millions more from it, while weakening our economy. They are playing the media , and they are running this now mostly instead of his impeachment news. trump has more or less told all of Congress they have no power over him, and this will continue more from trump until they have zero powers. trumps no republican , he's a putin loyalists . putins statement about the intel trying to set trump up is another clear signal putins behind this.

[Grasswire2]

22. means, motive, and opportunity -- the elements of a crime

Those three elements are foundational.

[malaise]

15. Don't forget who showed up in Iraq

days before the entire mess started

[Timmygoat]

17. I never thought

That Lindsay Graham could be such a big ball of excrement. He likes to use his status as an ex-serviceman, he was actually on a base in S.Carolina I think working pretty much as a file clerk in the SJA, never saw any conflict at all, he now comes out like a military expert and praises Trump. He is a cowardly idiot who only ever cares about saving his skin.

[lark]

18. Security sources around the world have said Iran didn't do this - they probably know we did.

drumpf did it to distract from impeachment, its what makes sense.

[Grasswire2]

23. yeah, good point nt

[stopdiggin]

26. said Iran didn't do WHAT?

the protest was in Iraq .. and was of minimal consequence.
Are they claiming Iran didn't bomb their own general? I suppose that makes sense.

[kentuck]

20. I think it more likely...

...that the demonstrations and the mob attack upon the Embassy was probably organized and promoted by Soleimani and his closest friends. Trump was scared to death that it would turn into another Benghazi. That was the "imminent threat" that he foresaw.

With American intelligence, perhaps at the airport ticket stations or with the airlines, they discovered the location of Soleimani, and General Mark Milley requested authorization to take him out. By the time time Soleimani was leaving the airport, American drones were in the air with their bombs.

[dware]

21. That right there sounds like the most likely scenario.

I, for 1, am not going to lose any sleep over the death of this guy, he was, after all, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American citizens over the past 2 decades and I've no doubt he was planning more attacks upon Americans in the ME.

[sprinkleeninow]

35. Not grieving/ mourning the demise of this person.

Disturbing that it was actually done in the manner it was and will no doubt precipitate much further damaging retaliation of the how and where we are in the dark about. That is the really really bad part.

[dware]

39. I agree with you about the way it was done.

We could have taken him out covertly, thereby giving the US plausible deniability, while at the same time, sending the leadership of Iran a very powerful message, but no, the Mango Menace had to do this very publicly to, IMO, divert attention from his domestic problems.

[sprinkleeninow]

44. This what has happened and is unfurling how, when, where is

to me unthinkable and surreal.

I think there's a condition known as
derealization. Don't know if that's a good descriptor.

You see it happening and have previous understanding that it's posible but then the actuality of it sets in.

[stopdiggin]

27. that at least sounds plausible

although I don't know that a lot of orchestrating would e necessary. You carry out a bombing mission within the borders of a sovereign nation ... A little bit of upset on the part of the citizenry is probably foreseeable. No?

[scarytomcat]

24. It is time to get out

we never should have been there to begin with
more sad days to come
please stop

[rufus dog]

29. Too much work this week, off to catch up, but wasn't this the new embassy we built 15 years ago?

I thought that thing was within secured walls in a compound, very few entrances into the compound, etc. Basically built so that protests couldn't happen.

Will need to go off and research, but if anyone is a bit more up to speed, the education would be appreciated.

[sprinkleeninow]

34. I dint catch why the embassy was attacked in the 1st place when it was for what explanation?

The latest events were triggered by 'some' thing/one.

[rufus dog]

37. Will check that next

And this was the new embassy, within the 'Green Zone' costing billions to build due to the security measures required to keep it safe.

I can see air attacks from over the walls. But how the hell are protesters getting into the Green Zone?

[sprinkleeninow]

38. The 'explanations' don't ring true.

I lost any and all trust in the manner by which our government is conducting our nation's affairs. Only from the republucre side specifically.

[Calista241]

45. I suspect the Iranians tried to provoke another withdrawal by seizing the embassy.

The way they chased us out of Iran in the 70's, they wanted to do the same thing. It's all symbolic. Trump is still an idiot for killing that guy.