Have any IVY league professors gone out to the quad and exclaimed that the attack on the Iranian regime that killed 40 thousand of its own people and funded the Hamas attempted genocide of Israelis,“it’s exhilarating?”. I thought not.
Those who cheer this war have likely never served in battle or are prone to delusional thinking. The strategy has failed for over 60 years, but let’s try again!
I hope the GOP enjoyed their 15 minutes of majority. The antiwar voice is small, but we ARE the independents. Pendulum swings again this Fall. We MUST break the two party dictatorship!
As someone who as voted for several parties in nearly 50 years of elections, your rallying cry is idyllic and does not consider how our electoral system works.
While the ideal of multiple parties competing for national elections is a possibility, an independent would still need to have 270 votes. Unlikely right now.
Would you be supporting the elimination of the electoral college in order to achieve a more level consideration of multiple candidates?
Every time a third party surges in a national election, it has tended to benefit one of the two traditional candidates.
Anderson in 1980 elected Reagan. Perot in 1992 elected Clinton. 🏄♀️
We appear to be in a "Deja vu all over again," moment. Let's face it, you would be uniquely stupid to not be thinking about Iraq at this moment. And, seeing that we are where we are, it's time to think about what we should do differently this time.
The first thing we have to acknowledge is that winning the war is the easy part. Winning the peace is the part we tend to fuck up. First off, can we define what winning the peace would even look like? Second, do we have the resources to win that peace? Can we even define what those resources would be? Because, after every war like this, we tell ourselves we will never, never, ever, cross my heart and hope to die, ever fight a war like this ever again. Because we are never going to fight a war like this ever again, we put no resources into building an institution that would facilitate winning the peace. The Donald who started this war is the Donald who wanted to cut funds to the State Department.
Second, it's time to admit that were hopeless provincials. What should terrify the world about American Imperialism is just how bad at it we are. If we win this war the Iranians should immediately demand that any foreign administration that needs to be done in Iran be done by the British. American Democracy, like American football, is a game only Americans know how to play. If we reach the point that were we actually have to install a government, we need to opt for a government the Iranians find credible, not the government that meets all are sterling expectations.
You do have a point, but the British do have institutional knowledge of running an empire. The manuals are most likely covered by a foot of dust, but they're still there. And think of how many civil servants they could send to Iran to do good works. There is an upside to this!!
Israel and Trump had better succeed politically in America with this war.. Trump was elected by attacking the “stupid” Bush neocon war in Iraq, widely seen as a war for Israel. Trump promised to bring peace and avoid “stupid” wars in the Middle East. Wounded Warriors loved that. Let’s see how much Wounded Warriors ends up living Bibi’s Trump attack on Iran. If this war ends up being a political disaster here, it will destroy Trump, the Republican Party, and AIPAC. A new generation of Mamdani-style Dems will run against AIPAC and Israel’s influence in America, and they will win, just like Mamdani. Israel has not grasped the implications for it of the massive conquest of the old by those under 50 already well under way in this country.
American deaths the last 50 years from Iranian terror includes:
• 1983 Beirut barracks bombing: Iran-backed Hezbollah carried out a suicide truck bombing that killed 241 U.S. service members (220 Marines, 18 sailors, 3 soldiers) and wounded over 100 others. This remains one of the deadliest single attacks on U.S. forces since World War II.
• Other pre-2003 attacks: Iran-backed groups (primarily Hezbollah) were linked to attacks like the 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut (17 Americans killed), the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia (19 U.S. airmen killed), and indirect support for other incidents (e.g., training ties to al-Qaeda for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya/Tanzania, which killed 12 Americans). These add several dozen to a few hundred U.S. deaths, though exact attributions for indirect roles vary.
• Iraq (2003–2011): The Pentagon has assessed that Iranian-backed Shia militias (supported by Iran’s IRGC-Quds Force with training, funding, and weapons like explosively formed penetrators—EFPs—and other IEDs) were responsible for at least 603 U.S. troop deaths (some sources cite up to 608). This represents about 17% of U.S. combat fatalities in Iraq during that period. EFPs alone (often Iranian-supplied) killed around 196 U.S. troops from 2005–2011, per declassified CENTCOM data, but broader proxy attacks (rockets, mortars, small arms, etc.) account for the higher total.
• Afghanistan: Iran provided weapons, funding, and limited support to Taliban factions (despite ideological differences) to undermine U.S./NATO forces.
This included roadside bomb components and other arms recovered from insurgents.
Some analyses group Iraq/Afghanistan proxy killings together at “well over a thousand” U.S. troops.
• Post-2011 incidents: Iranian proxies (e.g., Kataib Hezbollah) continued attacks, including rocket/drone strikes killing or injuring U.S. personnel (e.g., a 2019 contractor death, 2020 missile strikes causing over 100 traumatic brain injuries, and more recent attacks). These add smaller numbers of deaths (single digits to low dozens in total), though injuries are higher.
Have any IVY league professors gone out to the quad and exclaimed that the attack on the Iranian regime that killed 40 thousand of its own people and funded the Hamas attempted genocide of Israelis,“it’s exhilarating?”. I thought not.
Where is the livestream??
The link isn't working. It's 11 PST already.
Watch on you tube
Please post the recording!
I hope it works.
As many pointed out, it will come down to boots on the ground -- and those boots are the people. Unarmed people.
It ultimately comes down to the regime's henchmen -- whether they decide its no longer in their interests to protect the regime and abuse the people.
Will this be available later for viewing? For those of us who missed it?
You tube
Will the entire interview be posted somewhere?
Desperately, the DEMS brought out Rachel Maddow on MS Never for an afternoon of duty spreading TDS.
As a person who lived through the 1979 Iranian revolution and it's aftermath I 100% support the strikes. BTW, so do all my fellow Iranisns.
I see this move similar to the liberation of France from the Germans.
Those who cheer this war have likely never served in battle or are prone to delusional thinking. The strategy has failed for over 60 years, but let’s try again!
So....Eliot Ackerman is delusional?
What strategy?
The strategy he is talking about -- the USA bombing our way to World Peace...or something.
This is just a jobs program [Mitch McConnel's words about previous wars] and an act to dutifully do our duty to Israel [our true 51st state].
The Muslim World sees this as an attack on them. What could go wrong, besides we fail again.
I hope the GOP enjoyed their 15 minutes of majority. The antiwar voice is small, but we ARE the independents. Pendulum swings again this Fall. We MUST break the two party dictatorship!
Enjoy your wishful thinking.
As someone who as voted for several parties in nearly 50 years of elections, your rallying cry is idyllic and does not consider how our electoral system works.
While the ideal of multiple parties competing for national elections is a possibility, an independent would still need to have 270 votes. Unlikely right now.
Would you be supporting the elimination of the electoral college in order to achieve a more level consideration of multiple candidates?
Every time a third party surges in a national election, it has tended to benefit one of the two traditional candidates.
Anderson in 1980 elected Reagan. Perot in 1992 elected Clinton. 🏄♀️
We appear to be in a "Deja vu all over again," moment. Let's face it, you would be uniquely stupid to not be thinking about Iraq at this moment. And, seeing that we are where we are, it's time to think about what we should do differently this time.
The first thing we have to acknowledge is that winning the war is the easy part. Winning the peace is the part we tend to fuck up. First off, can we define what winning the peace would even look like? Second, do we have the resources to win that peace? Can we even define what those resources would be? Because, after every war like this, we tell ourselves we will never, never, ever, cross my heart and hope to die, ever fight a war like this ever again. Because we are never going to fight a war like this ever again, we put no resources into building an institution that would facilitate winning the peace. The Donald who started this war is the Donald who wanted to cut funds to the State Department.
Second, it's time to admit that were hopeless provincials. What should terrify the world about American Imperialism is just how bad at it we are. If we win this war the Iranians should immediately demand that any foreign administration that needs to be done in Iran be done by the British. American Democracy, like American football, is a game only Americans know how to play. If we reach the point that were we actually have to install a government, we need to opt for a government the Iranians find credible, not the government that meets all are sterling expectations.
Yes, the British have done such an admirable job of managing their own population(s) in the past few decades. 🙄
You do have a point, but the British do have institutional knowledge of running an empire. The manuals are most likely covered by a foot of dust, but they're still there. And think of how many civil servants they could send to Iran to do good works. There is an upside to this!!
They appear to be cowed, intimidated, and afraid of Islamists. Not a good look for managing anything effectively in the Middle East.
Oh calm down, will ya?
I've got to get a set of emojis Dude, I loved this reply.
Another Haman bites the dust.
USA and Israel have together prevented a genocide.
Israel and Trump had better succeed politically in America with this war.. Trump was elected by attacking the “stupid” Bush neocon war in Iraq, widely seen as a war for Israel. Trump promised to bring peace and avoid “stupid” wars in the Middle East. Wounded Warriors loved that. Let’s see how much Wounded Warriors ends up living Bibi’s Trump attack on Iran. If this war ends up being a political disaster here, it will destroy Trump, the Republican Party, and AIPAC. A new generation of Mamdani-style Dems will run against AIPAC and Israel’s influence in America, and they will win, just like Mamdani. Israel has not grasped the implications for it of the massive conquest of the old by those under 50 already well under way in this country.
He also was accused of disseminating classified information about Iran war he did not approve of fighting!
I’m watching the stream on cbs 24/7. Douglas Murray is fantastic.
American deaths the last 50 years from Iranian terror includes:
• 1983 Beirut barracks bombing: Iran-backed Hezbollah carried out a suicide truck bombing that killed 241 U.S. service members (220 Marines, 18 sailors, 3 soldiers) and wounded over 100 others. This remains one of the deadliest single attacks on U.S. forces since World War II.
• Other pre-2003 attacks: Iran-backed groups (primarily Hezbollah) were linked to attacks like the 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut (17 Americans killed), the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia (19 U.S. airmen killed), and indirect support for other incidents (e.g., training ties to al-Qaeda for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya/Tanzania, which killed 12 Americans). These add several dozen to a few hundred U.S. deaths, though exact attributions for indirect roles vary.
• Iraq (2003–2011): The Pentagon has assessed that Iranian-backed Shia militias (supported by Iran’s IRGC-Quds Force with training, funding, and weapons like explosively formed penetrators—EFPs—and other IEDs) were responsible for at least 603 U.S. troop deaths (some sources cite up to 608). This represents about 17% of U.S. combat fatalities in Iraq during that period. EFPs alone (often Iranian-supplied) killed around 196 U.S. troops from 2005–2011, per declassified CENTCOM data, but broader proxy attacks (rockets, mortars, small arms, etc.) account for the higher total.
• Afghanistan: Iran provided weapons, funding, and limited support to Taliban factions (despite ideological differences) to undermine U.S./NATO forces.
This included roadside bomb components and other arms recovered from insurgents.
Some analyses group Iraq/Afghanistan proxy killings together at “well over a thousand” U.S. troops.
• Post-2011 incidents: Iranian proxies (e.g., Kataib Hezbollah) continued attacks, including rocket/drone strikes killing or injuring U.S. personnel (e.g., a 2019 contractor death, 2020 missile strikes causing over 100 traumatic brain injuries, and more recent attacks). These add smaller numbers of deaths (single digits to low dozens in total), though injuries are higher.