Officials Think Iran Intentionally Missed Americans

[applegrove]

Officials Think Iran Intentionally Missed Americans

January 8, 2020 at 9:15 am EST By Taegan Goddard 57 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2020/01/08/officials-think-iran-intentionally-missed-americans/

"SNIP.....

“There is a growing belief among some Trump administration officials that Iran’s missiles intentionally missed areas populated by Americans when they targeted two Iraqi bases housing US troops early Wednesday local time,” CNN reports.

“These officials floated the notion that Iran could have directed their missiles to hit areas that are populated by Americans, but intentionally did not.”

USA Today also reports that U.S. officials had advance warning of Iran’s missile assault.

.....SNIP"

[bearsfootball516]

1. I have no doubt they did exactly that.

Killing Americans would have further escalated the problem, which they didn’t want to do. So they fired a few missiles at empty buildings to look tough.

[applegrove]

2. Yes.

[KPN]

5. And according to USA Today, we had advance knowledge about the specific missile attacks.

The question is -- did we respond and move troops out of harms way, or did we (tRump/Esper et al) let them do it thinking it would justify full scale war?

[Bradshaw3]

6. Meaning they are more restrained and responsible than our administration

One more example of how off the rails things are.

[brush]

9. Also to let everyone know they could have if they wanted to,

Good PR move, makes them look not just tough, but humanitarian somehow next to the reckless killer trump.

Also shows off the capability and accuracy of their missile technology—a warning to other countries in the region.

[pandr32]

3. They wanted to show that they could

...and then wait to see if the madness calms down after it dawns on people that American troops are vulnerable. A war is a final step.

[5X]

4. Iran is playing him

Now that he has backed down, they will allow their proxies to do the dirty work.

[dalton99a]

11. +1. They will avenge Soleimani's death.

On their own terms, and when the world is not looking

[onecaliberal]

7. Who knew Iran would be the level headed responsible ones.

[Sherman A1]

8. Ya, Think?

Of course they missed. They fired the missiles with every intention of missing anything breathing.

[dalton99a]

10. Iran is not interested in helping Trump get reelected

Giving Trump a second term is not retaliation.

[Cattledog]

12. Map of targets hit.

These missiles are accurate to 30ft. They knew what they were aiming for.

[RockRaven]

13. Except there is a certain amount of dumb luck involved in not killing an American once you

launch a missile anywhere near where they are known to be. Iran could not have had perfect information about the real-time location of every single American, AND perfect control over every missile. This isn't some on-screen drama or video game. For the same set of reasons that US air strikes sometimes kill people other than their intended target, so too could Iran have killed an American (or many). It just happened not to in this case.

This "They missed Americans on purpose" is Trumpist-speech for "See? We are still in control of the situation. Your criticisms are invalid. Shut up." Don't fall for it. This path that Trump has thrown the country down is every bit as reckless and irresponsible as it was before these air strikes; the outcome of these air strikes changes nothing about that.