Trump says it doesn't matter if Soleimani posed an imminent threat

[Warlord]

Changing his story now...

President Trump on Monday said it didn’t matter if Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani posed an imminent threat to the United States because of his “horrible past.”

Trump also asserted that his national security team agreed on the imminent threat posed by Soleimani that led to the decision to kill him. He made this assertion despite remarks from Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday that undercut Trump’s claim that the Iranian general was planning to target four American embassies before a U.S. drone strike killed him in Baghdad on Jan. 3.

“The Fake News Media and their Democrat Partners are working hard to determine whether or not the future attack by terrorist Soleimani was ‘eminent’ or not, & was my team in agreement,” Trump tweeted Monday morning.

“The answer to both is a strong YES., but it doesn’t really matter because of his horrible past!” the president continued.

Trump later accused the media and Democrats of “trying to make terrorist Soleimani into a wonderful guy, only because I did what should have been done for 20 years.”

Trump’s tweets marked an effort to defend the decision to strike Soleimani -- who commanded Iran’s Quds Force, a designated terrorist organization – after days of scrutiny about the intelligence underlying the decision to authorize the strike against him.

Trump administration officials have described the strike against Soleimani as a defensive measure aimed at preventing imminent attacks orchestrated by Iran that threatened American lives.

But officials have remained close-lipped about the details of the alleged plots, and congressional lawmakers – most of them Democrats – have complained about the insufficiency of classified briefings on the intelligence that led up to the decision.

Officials have also cited Iran’s recent escalations – including a rocket attack that killed an American contractor in Iraq – in defending the strike against the Iranian general.

Trump has decried Soleimani as a “sadistic mass murderer” with American blood on his hands, saying at a campaign rally in Ohio last week that the drone strike that targeted the general was an effort to deliver justice to Americans. Soleimani has been blamed for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. troops in the Middle East over the years.

“Last week, the United States once again took the bold and decisive action to save American lives and deliver American justice," Trump told a crowd of supporters in Toledo Thursday evening.

Trump also suggested at the rally that Soleimani had planned to attack U.S. embassies, later telling Fox News host Laura Ingraham that he believed four embassies were being targeted by Iran, including the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Esper, however, said Sunday that he did not see specific intelligence indicating Iran was preparing to attack four U.S. embassies.

“I didn’t see one with regard to four embassies,” Esper said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Esper said that he shared Trump’s view that “probably — my expectation was they were going to go after our embassies. The embassies are the most prominent display of American presence in a country.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also defended the decision to authorize the strike, saying on Friday the intelligence suggested Soleimani was planning a “large-scale” attack that threated American facilities including embassies.

Still, he said that the Trump administration did not know precisely when or where the attack would occur.

“We would have been culpably negligent had we not recommended to the president that he take this action against Soleimani,” Pompeo told reporters at the White House. “He made the right call and America is safer as a result of that.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/admini...-matter-if-soleimani-posed-an-imminent-threat

 

[AngryCanadian]

When it comes to deflections Trump does it best.

 

[jmdrake]

Lol [MENTION=61527]nikcers[/MENTION], [MENTION=65299]Swordsmyth[/MENTION] and [MENTION=10908]dannno[/MENTION]

 

[angelatc]

Lol [MENTION=61527]nikcers[/MENTION], [MENTION=65299]Swordsmyth[/MENTION] and [MENTION=10908]dannno[/MENTION]

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also defended the decision to authorize the strike, saying on Friday the intelligence suggested Soleimani was planning a “large-scale” attack that threated American facilities including embassies.

Still, he said that the Trump administration did not know precisely when or where the attack would occur.

“We would have been culpably negligent had we not recommended to the president that he take this action against Soleimani,” Pompeo told reporters at the White House. “He made the right call and America is safer as a result of that.”

This is a nightmare. At least Bush got Congressional approval.

 

[Zippyjuan]

This is a nightmare. At least Bush got Congressional approval.

Trump only needs approval from Trump. Or Fox News.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Might as well reuse this...there is no timetable for imminent.

Oh, but there was an “imminent” threat, it just depends upon your definition of “imminent”. To the government neoconservatives, the word has a much different meaning than you think.

It’s probably easier to say what it does not mean. It does not mean or equate to any of the following words:

- Immediate
- Inevitable
- Conclusively

Basically, the word now means that they believe the other party is probably up to no good, and they can think of no other option except for violence.

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

 

[Warlord]

Might as well reuse this...there is no timetable for imminent.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

This is a nightmare. At least Bush got Congressional approval.

The American public has been conditioned. Extrajudicial murder is OK as long as it is called a pre-emptive killing to prevent an imminent threat. “Imminent? Say no more, it was justified and legal.”

All of those seasons of Jack Bauer dispatching an evil person or two every week for years on “24” was not just for entertainment. It had a specific propaganda goal. You have been conditioned.

 

[dannno]

Lol @nikcers, @Swordsmyth and @dannno

This was the argument I made from the beginning, so I'm not sure what you want me to say.

 

[dannno]

This is a nightmare. At least Bush got Congressional approval.

What the hell are you talking about? This guy was killing Americans on the battlefield. Since when do they need congressional approval to kill somebody on the battlefield who was already killing people, and had plans to kill more people?

I'm sick of civilians dying, and soldiers who are fighting for their country, on either side..

These demented, violent generals at the top who are fomenting war and ordering the killings, they are exactly who should be taken out.

 

[Swordsmyth]

This was the argument I made from the beginning, so I'm not sure what you want me to say.

Exactly.
And Trump isn't "Changing his story", he still says the attack was imminent, he just also points out that that wouldn't matter.


Like I have said before:

He was a uniformed member and leader of an organization that brags about being at war with us and killing us, he was in Iraq while our people were being killed and our embassy was attacked and was accompanying uniformed members and leaders of the groups carrying out those attacks, groups that his group helped to create, fund and direct.

 

[AngryCanadian]

Trump had no evidence that general was even a terrorist but hey his best advisors are the worst neocons so who cares right?

 

[Warlord]

Exactly.
And Trump isn't "Changing his story", he still says the attack was imminent, he just also points out that that wouldn't matter.


Like I have said before:

He was a uniformed member and leader of an organization that brags about being at war with us and killing us, he was in Iraq while our people were being killed and our embassy was attacked and was accompanying uniformed members and leaders of the groups carrying out those attacks, groups that his group helped to create, fund and direct.

They have been saying for a week an attack was imminent - with no evidence - now Trump says it doesn.t matter. Of course it matters.

You keep repeating the same nonsense the was responsible for the death of Americans with no proof other than words/propaganda, you soumd like Pompeo or Romney. Soleimani was killing ISIS and he was in Baghdad at the invitation of the Iraqi militia who's commander was also killed in the strike along with 5 others. You never acknowledge this. Innocents died.

 

[Swordsmyth]

They have been saying for a week an attack was imminent - with no evidence - now Trump says it doesn.t matter. Of course it matteers.

You keep repeating the same nonesense the was responsible for the death of Americans with no proof other than words/propaganda, you soumd like Pompeo or Romney. Soleimani was killing ISIS and he was in Baghdad at the invitation of the Iraqi militia who's commander was also killed in the strike along with 5 others, you never acknowledge this. Innocents died.

You keep ignoring the proof I provide that he was killing Americans and the fact that the people he was meeting with had just attacked our embassy.

No innocents died.

 

[Warlord]

You keep ignoring the proof I provide that he was killing Americans and the fact that the people he was meeting with had just attacked our embassy.

No innocents died.

Listen to this:

Scott talks to Matthew Hoh about the claim that General Soleimani and the Iranians were directly responsible for 600 American deaths in the war in Iraq, which supposedly would justify the general’s recent assassination by President Trump. Hoh explains that although it’s generally true that some Iranian money supported certain militant groups that the U.S. fought against in Iraq, we have little to no concrete evidence of the Iranian military ordering, planning, or supporting any attacks on American soldiers. In fact by the evidentiary standards of the anti-Iran hawks, there is far more evidence for the guilt of gulf states like Saudi Arabia supporting America’s enemies, and these countries are supposed to be our allies. Those really responsible for these 600 dead Americans—and for the tens of thousands who come home with physical and psychological wounds, the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis, and the entire nations that have been destroyed in America’s war on terror—are our elected politicians and “selfless” public servants who advocate these policies and face little repercussion.

Matthew Hoh is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and formerly worked for the U.S. State Department. Hoh received the Ridenhour Prize Recipient for Truth Telling in 2010. Hoh is a member of the Board of Directors for Council for a Livable World and is an Advisory Board Member for Expose Facts. He writes on issues of war, peace and post-traumatic stress disorder recovery at matthewhoh.com.

https://scotthorton.org/interviews/...-responsible-for-american-casualties-in-iraq/

 

[Influenza]

What the hell are you talking about? This guy was killing Americans on the battlefield. Since when do they need congressional approval to kill somebody on the battlefield who was already killing people, and had plans to kill more people?

I'm sick of civilians dying, and soldiers who are fighting for their country, on either side..

These demented, violent generals at the top who are fomenting war and ordering the killings, they are exactly who should be taken out.

If you're sick of civilians dying, maybe you should stop supporting the #1 killer of civilians on the planet, the POTUS. Or maybe you think he "should be taken out" ?
https://theintercept.com/2019/10/02/trump-impeachment-civilian-casualties-war/
https://warontherocks.com/2019/04/t...rike-civilian-casualty-report-does-it-matter/

But I suppose somehow you think 1 US contractor being killed and some embassy arson is far worse..

 

[dannno]

If you're sick of civilians dying, maybe you should stop supporting the #1 killer of civilians on the planet, the POTUS. Or maybe you think he "should be taken out" ?
https://theintercept.com/2019/10/02/trump-impeachment-civilian-casualties-war/
https://warontherocks.com/2019/04/t...rike-civilian-casualty-report-does-it-matter/

But I suppose somehow you think 1 US contractor being killed and some embassy arson is far worse..

They are citing WaPo, who probably cites the white helmets, who both hate Trump and are funded by George Soros and are known liars and fraudsters.

Soleimani killed a lot more than that, he also killed and torutured 1,600 of his own citizens for peacefully protesting.

Sorry, I'm not going to feel bad for him.

Do others deserve it? Mike Pompeo? John Bolton? You could probably make a good case for it.

 

[Swordsmyth]

Listen to this:



https://scotthorton.org/interviews/...-responsible-for-american-casualties-in-iraq/

They brag about it.

The new leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force once boasted that U.S. troops have “suffered more losses from us than we have suffered losses from them” and has repeatedly ripped President Trump and America’s allies.
Brigadier Gen. Esmail Qaani, 62, now spearheads the special military unit following the death of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed Thursday in a U.S. airstrike at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. He had served as Soleimani’s deputy commander since 1997 – and the Treasury Department says he has used his power to direct funding toward terrorist groups like Hezbollah.
Qaani, like many other Iranian government and military officials, also has a history of making hostile and inflammatory statements against the U.S.
“America has suffered more losses from us than we have suffered losses from them,” the Middle East Institute quoted him as saying during a 2017 ceremony in commemoration of Iranian forces and Iranian-backed militias battling in Syria and Iraq.

More at: https://www.foxnews.com/world/esmail...ce-iran-us-foe


The original IRANIAN source:
https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/1...AF%D9%87%D8%AF

Translated:
https://translate.google.com/#view=h...8%A7%D9%85%2F*

"The war we have with the United States has been successful in standing up and resisting in the country because we are in the province," Qaani said

 

[Warlord]

They brag about it.

The new leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force once boasted that U.S. troops have “suffered more losses from us than we have suffered losses from them” and has repeatedly ripped President Trump and America’s allies.
Brigadier Gen. Esmail Qaani, 62, now spearheads the special military unit following the death of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed Thursday in a U.S. airstrike at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. He had served as Soleimani’s deputy commander since 1997 – and the Treasury Department says he has used his power to direct funding toward terrorist groups like Hezbollah.
Qaani, like many other Iranian government and military officials, also has a history of making hostile and inflammatory statements against the U.S.
“America has suffered more losses from us than we have suffered losses from them,” the Middle East Institute quoted him as saying during a 2017 ceremony in commemoration of Iranian forces and Iranian-backed militias battling in Syria and Iraq.

More at: https://www.foxnews.com/world/esmail...ce-iran-us-foe


The original IRANIAN source:
https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/1...AF%D9%87%D8%AF

Translated:
https://translate.google.com/#view=h...8%A7%D9%85%2F*

"The war we have with the United States has been successful in standing up and resisting in the country because we are in the province," Qaani said

Trump brags all the time, so does Pompeo, so what? its just words and propaganda... Now listen to the podcast I posted. This guy is former Captain Marine who served 2 tours in Iraq and debunks your claim that the iranians killed Americans with IEDs or anything else. The Iraqi Sunni resistance used equipment made in Iraq.

 

[Origanalist]

They brag about it.

The new leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force once boasted that U.S. troops have “suffered more losses from us than we have suffered losses from them” and has repeatedly ripped President Trump and America’s allies.
Brigadier Gen. Esmail Qaani, 62, now spearheads the special military unit following the death of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed Thursday in a U.S. airstrike at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. He had served as Soleimani’s deputy commander since 1997 – and the Treasury Department says he has used his power to direct funding toward terrorist groups like Hezbollah.
Qaani, like many other Iranian government and military officials, also has a history of making hostile and inflammatory statements against the U.S.
“America has suffered more losses from us than we have suffered losses from them,” the Middle East Institute quoted him as saying during a 2017 ceremony in commemoration of Iranian forces and Iranian-backed militias battling in Syria and Iraq.

More at: https://www.foxnews.com/world/esmail...ce-iran-us-foe


The original IRANIAN source:
https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/1...AF%D9%87%D8%AF

Translated:
https://translate.google.com/#view=h...8%A7%D9%85%2F*

"The war we have with the United States has been successful in standing up and resisting in the country because we are in the province," Qaani said

THIS is what you're basing all your bullshit on? Shit.