21stcenturywire--2020-01-09--Trump Stands Down Against Iran, U.S. Still in Denial of the ‘New Middle East’

Well , here we are .
We ’ re told the White House just pulled us back from the brink of World War III .
Make no mistake , what happened this week was historic , but not in the way that Washington and its punditry class are spinning it .
For the first time ever , a state actor has attacked the United States , and the US did not strike back .
The region , and the world , may never be the same .
Welcome to the New Middle East .
In the early hours of Wednesday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fired some 22 missiles , hitting two US military installations located in Iraq ’ s Anbar province and in Erbil , Iraqi Kurdistan .
According to US and Iraqi officials , the missiles caused no casualties .
US reports claim the American troops were hiding in bunkers before the missiles landed , following a tip off from their “ early warning ” missile detection system , although it ’ s more likely that the US received a phone call giving a 30 minute warning from officials in Iran via Washington ’ s intermediary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , CNN reported with typical national security gusto , “ US intelligence satellites had picked up signs of a heat signature from Iran , suggesting the country had just launched short-range ballistic missiles.
” It seemed like a wider war was well and truly on .
And then suddenly it wasn ’ t .
When news of the Iranian missile strike hit the headlines Tuesday evening east coast time , US President Donald Trump went silent for most of the evening , giving no press conference or televised address to the nation .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ was a typically glib remark followed by the usual tub-thumping on Twitter .
Later that morning , Trump stood behind the White House podium .
Many were expecting him to announce that the US would respond to Iran ’ s attack on US assets by retaliating in a “ disproportionate manner ” – just as he had promised only days earlier .
Instead Trump stood down , announcing that the US would not respond militarily .
The Middle East , America , Europe , and the world , all breathed a sigh of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ US President had not come good on his own wild and flippant threats made earlier .
After proclaiming ‘ victory , ’ Trump then proceeded to issue new threats against Iran , vowing to increase Washington ’ s policy of “ maximum pressure ” with more crippling economic sanctions against Tehran ( even though the country is already practically under a full economic embargo ) .
Emissaries Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of War Mike Pompeo , and other surrogates , then took to media , all insisting that the White House @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bring Iran “ back to the negotiating table ” for a new nuclear deal to replace the current international JCPOA agreement which Trump trashed in May 2018 at the behest of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu .
Trump now wants a new deal which features a prohibition on Iran ’ s medium range missiles , and after events this week , it ’ s obvious why .
Wednesday ’ s missile strike by Iran demonstrates that the US can no longer operate in the region so long as Iran has the ability to extend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Israel , and southwards to the Arabian Peninsula , and that includes all US military installations located within that radius .
This new reality should signal the beginning of the end of US hegemony in the Middle East , but unfortunately for the people of the region , Washington seems determined to go kicking and screaming towards this inevitable conclusion .
If this was a geopolitical IQ test , then this Administration just failed .
Any expectations on Washington ’ s part that punitive sanctions combined with threats of military force will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ table ’ is really a fools errand , and shows the amateurish way in which this confused clique is conducting its foreign policy .
Any decent undergrad student can tell you how basic game theory dictates that ‘ maximum pressure ’ campaign and subsequent military threats – only guarantees that Iran will give zero concession to Washington .
Still , Trump and his motley outfit of former Tea Party and next generation Neocon ‘ expert ’ advisors , with various and sundry arms salesmen in tow – will happily carry on with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ingenuity and the will to pursue any other policy path , but because they are effectively held hostage by an anti-Iranian agenda which was conceived by Tel Aviv and rabidly backed by fundamentalist Christian Zionists in the United States – both of whom Trump needs to secure his own reelections in 2020 .
SEE ALSO : Trump ’ s Fatal Mistake in Iraq and Beginning of End for US Occupation More interesting though , is how Washington ’ s leading war hawks all fell silent following Trump ’ s announcement that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s missile strike .
Even arch-Neocon Lindsey Graham was muzzled .
Perhaps he was expecting to realize his and former mentor John McCain ’ s life work of an all-out war with Iran and Russia .
What this really indicates is that in the end , even the most bellicose pro-war voices in America did not have the stomach to finish what they had just started .
Even with the “ most powerful military on earth , ” as Trump boasts , Washington ’ s fervent hawks still couldn ’ t overcome @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The dangerous tit-for-tat began on December 27 , 2019 , when a mysterious rocket barrage hit the K1 joint US-Iraqi base near Kirkuk , reportedly killing an American defense contractor , one Iraqi police officer , while wounding a further four US defense contractors and three Iraqi Army officers .
To date , no details – not even a name , has been given following the death of this mysterious “ American contractor ” in Kirkuk .
After rejecting calls by Iraqi leadership to investigate who had actually fired the rockets , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” that the act was carried out by “ Iranian militia ” or Iraqi People ’ s Mobilization Units ( PMUs ) which the US crudely regard as “ Iranian ” ( even though they are actually Iraqi ) .
Then on December 29 , 2019 , the US bombed five Iraqi military bases housing Iraqi PMUs , killing 30 Iraqi servicemen and wounded a further 50 , and once again , the US falsely claimed that all of their targets were all “ Iranian militia.
” This triggered a massive protest by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and comrades-in-arms of dead PMUs – targeting the US Embassy compound located in Baghdad ’ s Green Zone .
Predictably , US officials claimed to have more “ intelligence ” that the embassy protest was somehow organized by Iran and Washington ’ s newest premier villain , Iranian Quds Force leader , General Qasem Soleimani .
Later on Thursday January 3 , 2020 , the US government launched a drone attack outside Baghdad International Airport which assassinated Soleimani , along with senior Iraqi PMU commander , Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis .
According to statements @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Abdul Mahdi , Soleimani may have been lured into a trap set by the United States , possibly with the help of Saudi Arabia .
Writer Kim Sengupta from The Independent explains this incredible twist in the story : Iraq ’ s prime minister revealed that he was due to be meeting the Iranian commander to discuss moves being made to ease the confrontation between Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia – the crux of so much of strife in the Middle East and beyond .
Adil Abdul-Mahdi was quite clear : “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the morning the day he was killed , he came to deliver a message from Iran in response to the message we had delivered from the Saudis to Iran.
” The prime minister also disclosed that Donald Trump had called him to ask him to mediate following the attack on the US embassy in Baghdad .
According to Iraqi officials contact was made with a number of militias as well as figures in Tehran .
The siege of the embassy was lifted and the US president personally thanked Abdul-Mahdi for his help .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iraqis that it was unsafe for Soleimani to travel to Baghdad – quite the contrary .
This suggests that Trump helped lure the Iranian commander to a place where he could be killed .
Of course , the US has vehemently denied that any of this is true , but it makes sense .
For US drones to accurately target Soleimani , it would require a series of hand-offs and accurate spotting , aided by the target possibly letting their guard down momentarily .
If this is what really happened , then it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is willing to go in order to provoke war , something which everyone should be alarmed about .
Following these two acts of aggression by the US on Iraqi soil , PM Abdul Mahdi held an emergency parliament session where the government voted on whether the US forces should continue to be allowed to operate in Iraq .
This too was a historic moment : finally , after 15 years , a resolution was passed calling for the end of the US military occupation of Iraq .
“ Iraqi priorities and the US @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the beleaguered but immobile Iraqi Prime Minister .
Trump ’ s response to the will of the Iraqi people was to threaten Iraq with more economic sanctions should they move forward with plans to expel US troops , a neocolonial tantrum which can only be translated as a direct attack on Iraqi sovereignty .
So much for America ’ s mission to promote freedom and democracy in Iraq .
Both of these violent US provocations seemed sure to lead to a chain of escalation events which could have easily locked Washington , Tehran @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fait accompli of a wider multinational war .
In an impressive Orwellian stroke , President Trump went on to claim that the double assassination was somehow justified because Soleimani was a “ terrorist.
” He continued to lay it on thick , saying that the killing of “ sick monster ” Soleimani saved ‘ a lot of lives ’ and that Soleimani “ was planning a big attack ” on US targets in the region .
Pentagon spokesmen claimed there was unspecific “ intelligence ” that Soleimani “ was actively developing plans to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iraq and throughout the region.
” Still , there is no sign of any intelligence , or even a summary briefing by the White House .
“ If Americans anywhere are threatened we have all of those targets fully identified and I am ready and prepared to take whatever action is necessary , and that particularly refers to Iran , ” exclaimed the President .
It ’ s worth noting that during his 2016 election campaign , Trump had no idea who Soleimani was .
People should be under no illusion that Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was then , the only difference now being that he ’ s surrounded by a gaggle of advisors whose own credentials should really be questioned after this whole debacle .
In a way which you can only do when you ’ ve got the moral high ground , Iranians took the PR initiative following Trump ’ s self-owning comments , with Iranian cleric , Shahab Moradi , saying that Iran might ‘ struggle to hit-back ’ at a comparable US hero to General Soleimani , as the US only has “ fictional ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Are we supposed to take out Spiderman and Sponge Bob ?
” , quipped Moradi .
Unaware of the rising tide of irony surrounding him , Trump took to Twitter again , this time threatening to incinerate many of Iran ’ s 5,000 year-old culture heritage sites .
To even threaten such action is regarded as a total abrogation of international laws and norms , although very much in line with the savage scorched earth methods of ISIS .
Indeed , interesting company Trump finds himself with .
In a fit of bombast @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaf from NBC ’ s disgraced anchor , Brian Williams , extolling the virtues of the Pentagon ’ s “ beautiful equipment ” thanks to “ Two Trillion Dollars ” provided by the US taxpayer ( and the Federal Reserve ’ s magic QE money tree ) .
Undoubtedly , these are the words of a raving lunatic , and Americans might do well to seriously consider whether or not he is mentally fit to hold a chief executive position in the US government .
Throughout all of this , no evidence has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back up these dramatic claims by the President and the Pentagon .
The public is simply expected to take their word for it .
This has prompted previously unheard of calls – made by US mainstream media pundits – for Washington to please reveal what evidence they actually have to justify US military actions over the last two weeks .
Despite numerous requests from media and by members of the House and Senate , no such explanations are forthcoming .
This opaque approach by the White House caused US Senators Mike Lee ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) to come out in sharp opposition to the White House , citing the fact that Trump had used the same flimsy 2002 Authorization of Force which Bush used to illegally invade and occupy Iraq .
After attending a classified briefing on Iran , Senators Lee and Paul revealed how Trump ’ s team ordered Senators “ not to debate ” the justifications to go to war with Iran , and that the White House will decide when and where to go to war without consulting Congress .
Lee called it , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , at least on a military issue , ” and called “ insulting ” to the constitutional prerogative of Congress .
Trump and the US war lobby continued to lay on the moxie , saying ‘ no one will mourn Solemani ’ s passing.
’ Those propaganda lines quickly evaporated when scenes emerged from Iran , showing millions of Iranians taking to the streets in multiple cities , in what is now regarded as one of the largest televised funeral processions in world history .
As the week went on , all official @ @ @ @ @ @ @ talking points , all clearly designed to lend justification to US involvement in the previous military actions .
The most egregious of these was the fable that Iran ’ s General Solemani was a “ blood thirsty terrorist.
” Like all good propaganda , it ’ s main purpose is to conceal a truth which is diametrically opposed to the official government narrative .
In this case , US officials are desperate to hide the fact that not only was Qasem Solemani not a terrorist , but he was actually a leading force @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Qaeda , in Iraq and Syria .
Unlike US forces who were intentionally kept well-away from ‘ engaging ’ with ISIS and Al Qaeda , Solemani led the fight on the ground , while the US flew what can only be described as three years of largely meaningless air sorties , before eventually swooping in the final days of the Iraqi battles to hit actual targets at the request of the Iraqi military , and of course taking credit for “ defeating ISIS ” as Trump has done ad nauseum .
Of course @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the real story – that it was the Iraqi PMUs – the very ones which Washington insists are “ Iranian militias ” and “ terrorists ” – who played the decisive role in the defeat of ISIS in Iraq during the fall of 2017 .
So it was the PMUs , the Syrian Army , Iranian special forces , Hezbollah , Russian forces , along with Kurdish YPG militants in Syria , who did all of the heavy lifting in the battle against ISIS from 2014 to 2017 .
The US did distinguish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ positive way , by racking up record civilian casualties during carpet bombing campaigns over Mosul and Raqqa , a fact which is now well-documented by numerous international organizations .
Another critical detail which has been conveniently ignored by US media , but was almost certainly noted by government officials , was a statement said to be issued by Iran ’ s Tasnim News which quoted Iranian officials who warned that any US retaliation against Iran ’ s strikes against US targets in Iraq will be regarded as “ a threat to widen the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allies into play , ” and would result in Lebanon ’ s Hezbollah forces firing rockets into Israel .
In effect , Iran was treating the US and Israel as one entity in this fight .
This warning was most certainly headed by Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu , who quickly walked-back his hawkish stance on Iran , suddenly informing his Security Cabinet that Israel ‘ must not be dragged into Soleimani killing.
’ From a strategic perspective , this was a pivotal moment , and showed just how exposed Israel and the US are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ impotent their Gulf allies are in the event of a wider war with Iran and its allies .
Fortunately for the world , Trump ultimately retreated from his threats made just days earlier to “ hit back ” at Iran .
In the end , his bark was worse than his bite , but his assent merely reflects the Pentagon ’ s own strategic assessments on an US war with Iran , concluding that the US couldn ’ t win should such a conflict go the distance .
Now the whole world knows @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the West knew , but what many leading eastern analysts outside of America have known for quite some time – that from a geostrategic perspective , the US can not ‘ win ’ a war against Iran in the New Middle East .
Nor could Israel protect itself from its exposure on all sides .
Because of these two physical realities , Trump had no choice but to back down .
Moreover , it was Iran who was the rational actor , and Washington DC who demonstrated through their own unhinged and chaotic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actor .
Once hostilities abated , Israeli hawks took to the media to reiterate the ‘ certainty ’ of war with Iran , led by Brig .
General Ilan Lavi , former Deputy Head of the Northern Command , who warned that if US leaves the region , then Israel will eventually go to war with Iran .
What ’ s he ’ s not saying is that this would automatically pull the US back into the fray anyway , leaving us neatly back at square one .
What Lavi and others are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ underlying bones of contention in this story , namely illegal Israeli expansion and its continuation of the brutal apartheid regime and systematic ethnic cleansing campaign being waged against the native Palestinian Arab population .
Both are central to grievances of Palestinians , Lebanese , Syrians , Iraqis , and Iranians .
Still , Trump is declaring this as a victory for US power , spinning his retreat as a “ win ” for a hapless base at home .
Supporters ( and bot accounts ) have swarmed social media , imploring Americans to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ for side stepping WWIII ” … even after he nearly single-handedly started it .
This bit of counterintuitive # QAnon and # MAGA wizardry is a bit like congratulating an arsonist for helping put out a fire which he ’ s responsible for starting in the first place .
Sadly , this inverted cult-like thinking passes for esoteric wisdom in pro-Trump online circles , as followers clinging to the mythological belief set of MAGA cultists which dogmaticly believes that Trump is a supremely rational actor who is playing an uber-advanced geopolitical game @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , their fantasy projections lead nicely to more agit-prop talking points seeded by the CIA and their media adjuncts at CNN , both keen on leaving the door open for future escalation with Iran .
Former acting director of the CIA , Michael Morell told CNN ’ s passive inquisitor , Jake Tapper , that Tehran will soon be targeting high-ranking US officials in revenge for the killing of General Soleimani .
Just like that , a new official conspiracy theory was injected into the national conversation .
Readers should consider how in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unfounded speculation and fabricated ‘ intelligence ’ ( now the norm in Washington ) , any third-party actor could target an US official , with a narrative planted by the US political establishment and its media arms , all of which has already been preemptively blamed on Iran .
It ’ s happened before in history , most noteably at the onset of WWI , with the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand .
In this era of power politics and entangled alliances , the danger of such an event triggering a World @ @ @ @ @ @ @ concern .
The most dangerous aspect of the last two weeks is the proliferation of lies and fabricated ‘ intelligence ’ claims which have been replete throughout all US statements relating to Iran .
Likewise , the US continues to wage a devastating program of economic warfare against the people of Iran , while telling the western public that it ’ s really just to punish “ the regime.
” It ’ s the same broken record of invented crimes by the Iranian state , and still disturbing to watch US officials and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ designed to justify their own questionable military actions , but also which leave the door wide open for a future military confrontation with Iran and its allies .
The following day , Trump remarked at a press conference how he thinks that NATO should be expanded to include Middle East nations in the alliance .
It ’ s not hard to guess who he ’ s referring to .
Trump wants to call it , “ NATOME.
” Perhaps Trump feels the US can no longer manage on its own , or that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to help balance against Iran and Syria , and also Russia .
More than anything , this should indicate a lack of American confidence regarding events of the past few weeks .
Of course , NATO would be a disaster if it expanded in the Middle East .
One only has to look at Turkey ’ s own precarious situation and its awkward relationship with the US as a result .
Any more Article 5 death spiral alliances will only invite additional problems and with that , the heavy hand of the US @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is trying to apply yesterday ’ s solutions to today ’ s reality .
It won ’ t work , and Europe will not be on board with it either .
Back in 2006 , US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice laid out her vision of a “ New Middle East , ” with the stated aim of eliminating the Hezbollah resistance forces , thereby boosting Israeli power in order to “ reshape ” the region according to US designs .
Unfortunately for these Neocon visionaries , the opposite is now happening , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can do about , other than play a spoiler ’ s role .
For these and other reasons , what happened yesterday was historic , and signals one of the most significant realignments of the post-World War II era , alongside the equally significant watershed moment where Russia entered the Syrian War in October 2015 , both of which have changed the geopolitical face of region away from its previous crypto-colonial status managed by the US , Britain and France , and the West ’ s local enforcers , Israel and Saudi Arabia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In theory , these new developments should foster a healthier balance of power in the region and globally , but the potential benefits may still be offset by the faltering Faustian pact between the Washington , London and their Anglo-American mideast beachhead , Israel .
Continuing this geopolitical train wreck only ensures that any solution to the Palestinian crisis will be kicked further down the road , along with the Golan Heights issue , a sure recipe for more conflict and strife .
There is a New Middle East taking shape , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Condoleezza had in mind .
Rather , this one is being led Arab and Persian nationalist states , allied with Russia and China .
The longer the US and its allies stand in denial of this new reality , the longer the West ’ s tired old feedback loops will continue , all much to the deteriment of residents of the region , and American taxpayers back at home .
*** Author Patrick Henningsen is an American writer and global affairs analyst and founder of independent news and analysis site 21st Century Wire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ WIRE weekly radio show broadcast globally over the Alternate Current Radio Network ( ACR ) .
He has written for a number of international publications and has done extensive on-the-ground reporting in the Middle East including work in Syria and Iraq .
See his archive here .

By
Patrick Henningsen
21st Century Wire
Well, here we are. We’re told the White House just pulled us back from the brink of World War III. Make no mistake, what happened this week was historic, but not in the way that Washington and its punditry class are spinning it. For the first time ever, a state actor has attacked the United States, and the US did not strike back. The region, and the world, may never be the same. Welcome to the New Middle East.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Islamic Republic of Iran fired some 22 missiles, hitting two US military installations located in Iraq’s Anbar province and in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan. According to US and Iraqi officials, the missiles caused no casualties. US reports claim the American troops were hiding in bunkers before the missiles landed, following a tip off from their “early warning” missile detection system, although it’s more likely that the US received a phone call giving a 30 minute warning from officials in Iran via Washington’s intermediary channels in Baghdad and Switzerland. Still, CNN reported with typical national security gusto, “US intelligence satellites had picked up signs of a heat signature from Iran, suggesting the country had just launched short-range ballistic missiles.”
It seemed like a wider war was well and truly on. And then suddenly it wasn’t.
When news of the Iranian missile strike hit the headlines Tuesday evening east coast time, US President Donald Trump went silent for most of the evening, giving no press conference or televised address to the nation. All he could manage on this occasion was a typically glib remark followed by the usual tub-thumping on Twitter.
All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2020
Later that morning, Trump stood behind the White House podium. Many were expecting him to announce that the US would respond to Iran’s attack on US assets by retaliating in a “disproportionate manner” – just as he had promised only days earlier. Instead Trump stood down, announcing that the US would not respond militarily.
The Sanctions Delusion
The Middle East, America, Europe, and the world, all breathed a sigh of relief, with many surprised that this US President had not come good on his own wild and flippant threats made earlier. After proclaiming ‘victory,’ Trump then proceeded to issue new threats against Iran, vowing to increase Washington’s policy of “maximum pressure” with more crippling economic sanctions against Tehran (even though the country is already practically under a full economic embargo). Emissaries Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of War Mike Pompeo, and other surrogates, then took to media, all insisting that the White House was only doing this in order to bring Iran “back to the negotiating table” for a new nuclear deal to replace the current international JCPOA agreement which Trump trashed in May 2018 at the behest of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump now wants a new deal which features a prohibition on Iran’s medium range missiles, and after events this week, it’s obvious why. Wednesday’s missile strike by Iran demonstrates that the US can no longer operate in the region so long as Iran has the ability to extend its own deterrence envelope westwards to Syria, Israel, and southwards to the Arabian Peninsula, and that includes all US military installations located within that radius. This new reality should signal the beginning of the end of US hegemony in the Middle East, but unfortunately for the people of the region, Washington seems determined to go kicking and screaming towards this inevitable conclusion.
If this was a geopolitical IQ test, then this Administration just failed. Any expectations on Washington’s part that punitive sanctions combined with threats of military force will somehow ‘bring Iran back to the table’ is really a fools errand, and shows the amateurish way in which this confused clique is conducting its foreign policy. Any decent undergrad student can tell you how basic game theory dictates that ‘maximum pressure’ campaign and subsequent military threats – only guarantees that Iran will give zero concession to Washington. Still, Trump and his motley outfit of former Tea Party and next generation Neocon ‘expert’ advisors, with various and sundry arms salesmen in tow – will happily carry on with the gag, not just because they lack the ingenuity and the will to pursue any other policy path, but because they are effectively held hostage by an anti-Iranian agenda which was conceived by Tel Aviv and rabidly backed by fundamentalist Christian Zionists in the United States – both of who Trump needs in order to secure his own reelection in 2020.
SEE ALSO: Trump’s Fatal Mistake in Iraq and Beginning of End for US Occupation
More interesting though, is how Washington’s leading war hawks all fell silent following Trump’s announcement that the US was effectively backing down from Iran’s missile strike. Even arch-Neocon Lindsey Graham was fairly muzzled. Perhaps he was expecting to realize his and former mentor John McCain’s life work of setting off an all-out war with Iran and Russia. What this really indicates is that in the end, even the most bellicose pro-war voices in America did not have the stomach to finish what they had just started. Even with the “most powerful military on earth,” as Trump boasts, Washington’s fervent hawks still couldn’t overcome the new and emerging structural realities of this New Middle East.
Intelligence in Short Supply
The dangerous tit-for-tat began on December 27, 2019, when a mysterious rocket barrage hit the K1 joint US-Iraqi base near Kirkuk, reportedly killing an American defense contractor, one Iraqi police officer, while wounding a further four US defense contractors and three Iraqi Army officers. Up until January 7th, there were no details – not even a name given following the death of this mysterious “American contractor” in Kirkuk. It was later quietly revealed that the victim was an Iraqi who became a naturalized US citizen, named Nawres Hamid, employed as a linguist for private firm Valiant Integrated Services LLC. Admittedly, not the Neocon’s ideal martyr for launching a new chapter in Washington’s clash of civilizations crusade. After rejecting calls by Iraqi leadership to investigate who had actually fired the rockets, US officials claimed to have “intelligence” that the act was carried out by “Iranian militia” or Iraqi People’s Mobilization Units (PMUs) which the US crudely regard as “Iranian” (even though they are actually Iraqi). Retaliation came on December 29, 2019, when the US bombed five Iraqi military bases housing Iraqi PMUs, killing 30 Iraqi servicemen and wounding a further 50, and once again, the US falsely claimed that all of their targets were “Iranian militia.” This act triggered a massive protest by Iraqis, and the friends, family and comrades-in-arms of dead PMUs – targeting the US Embassy compound located in Baghdad’s Green Zone. Predictably, US officials claimed to have more “intelligence” that the embassy protest was somehow organized by Iran and Washington’s newest premier villain, Iranian Quds Force leader, General Qasem Soleimani. Later, in the early hours (local time) of Friday January 3, 2020, the US government launched a drone attack outside Baghdad International Airport which assassinated Soleimani, along with senior Iraqi PMU commander, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
According to statements issued by the caretaker Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi, Soleimani may have been lured into a trap set by the United States, possibly with the help of Saudi Arabia. Writer Kim Sengupta from The Independent explains this incredible twist in the story:
Iraq’s prime minister revealed that he was due to be meeting the Iranian commander to discuss moves being made to ease the confrontation between Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia – the crux of so much of strife in the Middle East and beyond.
Adil Abdul-Mahdi was quite clear: “I was supposed to meet him in the morning the day he was killed, he came to deliver a message from Iran in response to the message we had delivered from the Saudis to Iran.”
The prime minister also disclosed that Donald Trump had called him to ask him to mediate following the attack on the US embassy in Baghdad. According to Iraqi officials contact was made with a number of militias as well as figures in Tehran. The siege of the embassy was lifted and the US president personally thanked Abdul-Mahdi for his help.
There was nothing to suggest to the Iraqis that it was unsafe for Soleimani to travel to Baghdad – quite the contrary. This suggests that Trump helped lure the Iranian commander to a place where he could be killed.
Of course, the US has vehemently denied that any of this is true, but it makes sense. For US drones to accurately target Soleimani, it would require a series of hand-offs and accurate spotting, aided by the target possibly letting their guard down momentarily. If this is what really happened, then it shows the underhanded lengths at which Washington is willing to go in order to provoke war, something which everyone should be alarmed about.
Following these two acts of aggression by the US on Iraqi soil, PM Abdul Mahdi held an emergency parliament session where the government voted on whether the US forces should continue to be allowed to operate in Iraq. This too was a historic moment: finally, after 15 years, a resolution was passed calling for the end of the US military occupation of Iraq. “Iraqi priorities and the US are increasingly at odds,” said the beleaguered but immobile Iraqi Prime Minister.
Trump’s response to the will of the Iraqi people was to threaten Iraq with more economic sanctions should they move forward with plans to expel US troops, a neocolonial tantrum which can only be translated as a direct attack on Iraqi sovereignty. So much for America’s mission to promote freedom and democracy in Iraq.
Both of these violent US provocations seemed sure to lead to a chain of escalation events which could have easily locked Washington, Tehran, and their respective allies into the fait accompli of a wider multinational war. In an impressive Orwellian stroke, President Trump went on to claim that the double assassination was somehow justified because Soleimani was a “terrorist.” He continued to lay it on thick, saying that the killing of “sick monster” Soleimani saved ‘a lot of lives’ and that Soleimani “was planning a big attack” on US targets in the region. Pentagon spokesmen claimed there was unspecific “intelligence” that Soleimani “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.” Still, there is no sign of any intelligence, or even a summary briefing by the White House.
“If Americans anywhere are threatened we have all of those targets fully identified and I am ready and prepared to take whatever action is necessary, and that particularly refers to Iran,” exclaimed the President.
It’s worth noting that during his 2016 election campaign, Trump had no idea who Soleimani was. People should be under no illusion that Trump is any less clueless now as he was then, the only difference now being that he’s surrounded by a gaggle of advisors whose own credentials should really be questioned after this whole debacle.
In a way which you can only do when you’ve got the moral high ground, Iranians took the PR initiative following Trump’s self-owning comments, with Iranian cleric, Shahab Moradi, saying that Iran might ‘struggle to hit-back’ at a comparable US hero to General Soleimani, as the US only has “fictional” heroes. “Think about it. Are we supposed to take out Spiderman and Sponge Bob?”, quipped Moradi.
Unaware of the rising tide of irony surrounding him, Trump took to Twitter again, this time threatening to incinerate many of Iran’s 5,000 year-old culture heritage sites. To even threaten such action is regarded as a total abrogation of international laws and norms, although very much in line with the savage scorched earth methods of ISIS. Indeed, interesting company Trump finds himself with.
….targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2020
In a fit of bombast, Trump went on to steal a leaf from NBC’s disgraced anchor, Brian Williams, extolling the virtues of the Pentagon’s “beautiful equipment” thanks to “Two Trillion Dollars” provided by the US taxpayer (and the Federal Reserve’s magic QE money tree).
The United States just spent Two Trillion Dollars on Military Equipment. We are the biggest and by far the BEST in the World! If Iran attacks an American Base, or any American, we will be sending some of that brand new beautiful equipment their way…and without hesitation! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2020
Undoubtedly, these are the words of a raving lunatic, and Americans might do well to seriously consider whether or not he is mentally fit to hold a chief executive position in the US government.
Throughout all of this, no evidence has ever been presented by US officials to back up these dramatic claims by the President and the Pentagon. The public is simply expected to take their word for it. This has prompted previously unheard of calls – made by US mainstream media pundits – for Washington to please reveal what evidence they actually have to justify US military actions over the last two weeks. Despite numerous requests from media and by members of the House and Senate, no such explanations are forthcoming. This opaque approach by the White House caused US Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rand Paul (R-KY) to come out in sharp opposition to the White House, citing the fact that Trump had used the same flimsy 2002 Authorization of Force which Bush used to illegally invade and occupy Iraq. They were joined, somewhat, by Matt Gaetz (R-FL) in the House who called for a new War Powers Resolution to check executive power, although House members did not come close to censuring the President. After attending a classified briefing on Iran, Senators Lee and Paul revealed how Trump’s team ordered Senators “not to debate” the justifications to go to war with Iran, and that the White House will decide when and where to go to war without consulting Congress. Lee called it, “the worst briefing I’ve seen, at least on a military issue,” and called “insulting” to the constitutional prerogative of Congress.
Washington’s War on Reality
Trump and the US war lobby continued to lay on the moxie, saying ‘no one will mourn Solemani’s passing.’ Those propaganda lines quickly evaporated when scenes emerged from Iran, showing millions of Iranians taking to the streets in multiple cities, in what is now regarded as one of the largest televised funeral processions in world history.
As the week went on, all official US statements were laced with familiar propaganda talking points, all clearly designed to lend justification to US involvement in the previous military actions. The most egregious of these was the fable that Iran’s General Solemani was a “blood thirsty terrorist.” Like all good propaganda, it’s main purpose is to conceal a truth which is diametrically opposed to the official government narrative. In this case, US officials are desperate to hide the fact that not only was Qasem Solemani not a terrorist, but he was actually a leading force in the fight against ISIS and Al Qaeda, in Iraq and Syria. Unlike US forces who were intentionally kept well-away from ‘engaging’ with ISIS and Al Qaeda, Solemani led the fight on the ground, while the US flew what can only be described as three years of largely meaningless air sorties, before eventually swooping in the final days of the Iraqi battles to hit actual targets at the request of the Iraqi military, and of course taking credit for “defeating ISIS” as Trump has done ad nauseum. Of course, Iraqis, Iranians and Syrians know the real story – that it was the Iraqi PMUs – the very ones which Washington insists are “Iranian militias” and “terrorists” – who played the decisive role in the defeat of ISIS in Iraq. So it was the PMUs, the Syrian Army, Iranian special forces, Hezbollah, Russian forces, along with Kurdish Peshmerga (Iraq) and YPG militants (Syria), who collectively did all of the heavy lifting in the battle against ISIS from 2014 to 2017. The US did distinguish itself though, but not in a positive way, by racking up record civilian casualties during carpet bombing campaigns over Mosul and Raqqa, a fact which is now well-documented by numerous international organizations.
Another critical detail which has been conveniently ignored by US media, but was almost certainly noted by government officials, was a statement said to be issued by Iran’s Tasnim News which quoted Iranian officials who warned that any US retaliation against Iran’s strikes against US targets in Iraq will be regarded as “a threat to widen the conflict and bring Iran’s regional allies into play,” and would result in Lebanon’s Hezbollah forces firing rockets into Israel. In effect, Iran was treating the US and Israel as one entity in this fight. This warning was most certainly headed by Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu, who quickly walked-back his hawkish stance on Iran, suddenly informing his Security Cabinet that Israel ‘must not be dragged into Soleimani killing.’ From a strategic perspective, this was a pivotal moment, and showed just how exposed Israel and the US are in the region, but also how impotent their Gulf allies are in the event of a wider war with Iran and its allies.
That’s not to say Washington or Israel will not return to attack or draw Iran into another round of fighting, but a precedent has now been set whereby Iran is now dictating the pace of exchange, and not the US. This means the US will face increasing difficulty in predicting and plotting outcomes. A similar effect has taken hold in Syria after the entrance of Russia in the fall of 2015. History’s actors are many, and more diverse now.
Fortunately for the world, Trump did not follow through with his threats made just days earlier to ‘hit back harder’ at Iran.
They attacked us, & we hit back. If they attack again, which I would strongly advise them not to do, we will hit them harder than they have ever been hit before! https://t.co/qI5RfWsSCH — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2020
In the end, his bark was worse than his bite, but his assent merely reflects the Pentagon’s own strategic assessments on an US war with Iran, concluding that the US couldn’t win should that conflict go the distance. Now the whole world knows what only a few elite wargamers in the West knew, but what many leading eastern analysts outside of America have known for quite some time – that from a geostrategic perspective, the US cannot ‘win’ a war against Iran in the New Middle East. Nor could Israel protect itself from its exposure on all sides. Because of these two physical realities, Trump had no choice but to back down.
Moreover, it was Iran who was the rational actor, and Washington DC who demonstrated through their own unhinged and chaotic demeanor – that they were the irrational actor.
Once hostilities abated, Israeli hawks took to the media to reiterate the ‘certainty’ of war with Iran, led by Brig. General Ilan Lavi, former Deputy Head of the Northern Command, who warned that if US leaves the region, then Israel will eventually go to war with Iran. What’s he’s not saying is that this would automatically pull the US back into the fray anyway, leaving us neatly back at square one. What Lavi and others are reticent to address, is the two underlying bones of contention in this story, namely illegal Israeli expansion and its continuation of the brutal apartheid regime and systematic ethnic cleansing campaign being waged against the native Palestinian Arab population. Both are central to grievances of Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Turks, Iraqis, and Iranians.
Still, Trump is declaring this as a victory for US power, spinning his retreat as a “win” for a hapless base at home. Supporters (and bot accounts) have swarmed social media, imploring Americans to show their appreciation to the Dear Leader ‘for side-stepping WWIII’ … even after he nearly single-handedly started it. This bit of counterintuitive #QAnon and #MAGA wizardry is a bit like congratulating an arsonist for helping put out a fire which he’s responsible for starting in the first place. Sadly, this inverted cult-like thinking passes for esoteric wisdom in pro-Trump online circles, as followers cling to the mythological belief set of MAGA cultists which dogmaticly believes that Trump is a supremely rational actor who is playing an uber-advanced geopolitical game of ‘5D chess.’ Funny enough, their fantasy projections lead nicely to more agit-prop talking points seeded by the CIA and their media adjuncts at CNN, both keen on leaving future escalation on the table vis-à-vis Iran. Former acting director of the CIA, Michael Morell told CNN’s passive inquisitor, Jake Tapper, that Tehran will soon be targeting high-ranking US officials in revenge for the killing of General Soleimani. Just like that, a new official conspiracy theory was injected into the national conversation.
Former acting CIA DIR Morell tells CBS he thinks direct attacks from Iran on US forces are over for now depending on what POTUS does but “what’s not over is the covert war and I still think that down the road we will see an Iranian terrorist attack against a senior official” — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 8, 2020
Readers should consider how in the current hysterical environment, rife with unfounded speculation and fabricated ‘intelligence’ (now the norm in Washington), any third-party actor could target an US official, with a narrative planted by the US political establishment and its media arms, all of which has already been preemptively blamed on Iran. It’s happened before in history, most notably at the onset of WWI, with the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand. In this era of power politics and entangled alliances, the danger of such an event triggering a World War III scenario should be of serious concern.
The most dangerous aspect of the last two weeks is the proliferation of lies and fabricated ‘intelligence’ claims which have been replete throughout all US statements relating to Iran. Likewise, the US continues to wage a devastating program of economic warfare against the people of Iran, while telling the western public that it’s really just to punish “the regime.” It’s the same broken record of invented crimes by the Iranian state, and still disturbing to watch US officials and their media stenographers continually recycling talking points designed to justify their own questionable military actions, but also which leaves the door wide open for a future military confrontation with Iran and its allies.
A New Middle East
The following day, Trump remarked at a press conference how he thinks that NATO should be expanded to include Middle East nations in the alliance. It’s not hard to guess who he’s referring to. Trump wants to call it, “NATOME.” Perhaps Trump feels the US can no longer manage on its own, or that they’ll need western replacement forces to help balance against Iran and Syria, and also Russia. More than anything, this should indicate a lack of American confidence regarding events of the past few weeks. Of course, NATO would be a disaster if it expanded in the Middle East. One only has to look at Turkey’s own precarious situation and its awkward relationship with the US as a result. Any more Article 5 death spiral alliances will only invite additional problems and with that, the heavy hand of the US providing another unwelcome ‘solution.’ Trump is trying to apply yesterday’s solutions to today’s reality. It won’t work, and Europe will not be on board with it either.
Back in 2006, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice laid out her vision of a “New Middle East,” with the stated aim of eliminating the Hezbollah resistance forces, thereby boosting Israeli power in order to “reshape” the region according to US designs. Unfortunately for these Neocon visionaries, the opposite is now happening, and there’s nothing the US can do about, other than play a spoiler’s role.
For these and other reasons, what happened yesterday was historic, and signals one of the most significant realignments of the post-World War II era, alongside the equally significant watershed moment where Russia entered the Syrian War in October 2015, both of which have changed the geopolitical face of region away from its previous crypto-colonial status managed by the US, Britain and France, and the West’s local enforcers, Israel and Saudi Arabia. That was the old Middle East.
In theory, these new developments should foster a healthier balance of power in the region and globally, but the potential benefits may still be offset by the faltering Faustian pact between the Washington, London and their Anglo-American mideast beachhead, Israel. Continuing this geopolitical train wreck only ensures that any solution to the Palestinian crisis will be kicked further down the road, along with the Golan Heights issue, a sure recipe for more conflict and strife.
There is a New Middle East taking shape, only it’s not the one Condoleezza had in mind. Rather, this one is being led by Arab and Persian nationalist states, allied with Russia and China. The longer the US and its allies stand in denial of this new reality, the longer the West’s tired old feedback loops will continue, all much to the deteriment of residents of the region, and American taxpayers back at home.
***
Author Patrick Henningsen is an American writer and global affairs analyst and founder of independent news and analysis site 21st Century Wire, and is host of the SUNDAY WIRE weekly radio show broadcast globally over the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR). He has written for a number of international publications and has done extensive on-the-ground reporting in the Middle East including work in Syria and Iraq. See his archive here.
READ MORE IRAN NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Iran Files
SUPPORT OUR INDEPENDENT MEDIA PLATFORM – BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV


21stcenturywire--2020-01-10--IRAN: Soleimani Was Pompeo’s Gulf of Tonkin Incident

This week , two countries came dangerously close to war .
From the onset of this crisis , the Trump Administration insisted that there were imminent attacks being planned by the Iranians , and they there was no time to waste .
‘ We must act now , to save American lives , ’ was the all too familiar battle cry from Washington and its mainstream media surrogates .
There was no debate at the time .
Urgency carried the day .
It ’ s no surprise then that the majority of the western media are overlooking the most critical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sates and Iran over the last two weeks , which is the supposed “ intelligence ” that US officials claim to have but are still unwilling to show to the public , or even to US Senators and Congressional Representatives in closed briefings .
It seems we ’ ve been here before .
Despite demands from elected representatives , Trump officials arrogantly told US Senators that they shouldn ’ t ask , or even debate the merits or drawbacks of military intervention with Iran because this would be “ emboldening the enemy.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the day that there was no intelligence to support the White House ’ s claims of an imminent Iranian threat , and even if there was , it seems more likely to be coming from a foreign country , and one who may have a vested interest in dragging the US deeper into conflict with the Islamic Republic of Iran .
Of course , it wouldn ’ t be the first time that the US has lied its way into an unpopular military intervention .
History teaches us that for Washington , massaging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intelligence ’ – is a tried and tested formula to ignite the drive for war .
Like the crucial steps toward public acceptance preceding the U.S. invasions of Vietnam and Iraq , the assassination of Qassem Soleimani was aimed at building popular support for war on Iran .
Not only the justification , but the assassination itself were part of a broader strategy to grease the skids into war .
The Soleimani ploy has apparently failed , however , thanks to the carefully prepared Iranian response , which did not provoke Donald Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ least not yet .
The fingerprints of Pompeo are all over this provocation to war .
In a striking parallel to the deception that accompanied the Gulf of Tonkin crisis in 1964—in which the American public was told about an attack on a U.S. ship that never happened , precipitating the Vietnam War—Pompeo and his allies carried out a complex deception in regard to the Soleimani hit .
They claimed they had to kill the second most popular leader of Iran with no advance notice to Congress because the Iranian general was planning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in “ imminent ” danger .
Trump officials have so far not provided any evidence publicly to back up this version of events .
In fact , when briefed by DoD officials Wednesday , Democrats complained about the lack of hard evidence presented , leaving them unconvinced there was an imminent threat .
Republican Sen. Rand Paul , R-KY. , said the briefing was “ less than satisfying.
” The deception accompanying Soleimani ’ s killing was just the latest in a much longer string of efforts by Pompeo that began in September @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and then-National Security Advisor John Bolton established the basic propaganda line that was used to sell the Soleimani assassination .
They claimed that a few mortar rounds in the vicinity of the U.S. embassy and a consulate in Basra were evidence of an effort by Tehran to kill or injure U.S. diplomats .
Bolton then demanded the Pentagon come up with retaliatory options if any Americans were harmed by any action of an Iranian “ proxy , ” Pompeo issued a public threat to attack Iran over the incidents .
But in fact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. Embassy in the Green Zone where all foreign embassies are located , and that the one that fell near the Basra airport ’ s outer perimeter was nowhere near the U.S. consulate .
And they were fired the same night that anti-Iran rioters were setting fire to the Iranian consulate in Basra and shutting down the country ’ s only seaport , and at the same time Sadrist protesters were rallying against the Iraqi government at the entrance to the Green Zone in sympathy with the anti-Iran protests .
In May @ @ @ @ @ @ @ indications and warnings ” of a threat to U.S. personnel in the Middle East and vowed , “ [ A ] ny attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.
” He and Pompeo leaked to major news outlets that there was intelligence about Iran ordering militia allies in the region to “ target ” Americans .
But other officials who had seen the intelligence told the Wall Street Journal that Tehran sent its allies a directive telling them to prepare for possible attack @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effort to lure Trump into a war with Iran faltered when the president twice refused their advice to retaliate militarily over the shoot-down of a U.S. drone and the drone attack on a key Saudi oil facility .
Bolton got fired in September , but Pompeo continued what they had begun .
On December 13 , he condemned two attacks on a Iraqi military base located near the Baghdad Airport on Dec. 7 and Dec. 9 , in which two Iraqi anti-terrorist troops were injured , and then added , “ We must @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s leaders that any attacks by them , or their proxies of any identity , that harm Americans , our allies , or our interests will be answered with a decisive U.S. response.
” But the circumstances surrounding those rocket attacks made it unclear who might have fired the two to four mortars or rockets at the Iraqi Security Forces headquarters near Baghdad Airport , wounding two Iraqi counter-terrorism personnel .
Opponents of the government had just launched new protests against repression of demonstrations by lethal forces by Iraqi security forces , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sadr , who had been supporting the Iraqi government , but had just started to support the demonstrators .
It is entirely possible that Sadrist militiamen or other opponents of the government had fired the rockets at the base in protest .
Two weeks later , on December 27 , a rocket attack on the K1 Iraqi base near Kirkuk killed an American contractor , as “ Operation Inherent Resolve ” command confirmed .
The Trump administration immediately went into crisis mode , discussing both killing Soleimani and retaliatory strikes against Kataib Hezbollah @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that triggered the fateful decisions that followed is shrouded in ambiguity .
As The New York Times reported on Dec. 27 , “ It wasn ’ t clear who was responsible for the attack , ” adding that the base had been threatened previously by both Iranian-backed militias and Islamic State forces .
The IS forces in the area of Kirkuk where the K1 base was located had become increasingly active in 2018 and 2019 , with a rapidly growing pace of attacks , operating freely out of the rugged mountainous north and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there had been more attacks by IS on government targets in Kirkuk in 2018 than anywhere else in Iraq , and it had the highest rate of growth as well .
Continue this story at The American Conservative

By
This week, two countries came dangerously close to war. From the onset of this crisis, the Trump Administration insisted that there were imminent attacks being planned by the Iranians, and there was no time to waste. ‘We must act now, to save American lives,’ was the all too familiar battle cry from Washington and its mainstream media surrogates. There was no debate at the time. Urgency carried the day. It’s no surprise then that the majority of the western media are overlooking the most critical aspect of the exchange between the United Sates and Iran over the last two weeks, which is the supposed “intelligence” that US officials claim to have but are still unwilling to show to the public, or even to US Senators and Congressional Representatives in closed briefings. It seems we’ve been here before.
Despite demands from elected representatives, Trump officials arrogantly told US Senators that they shouldn’t ask, or even debate the merits or drawbacks of military intervention with Iran because this would be “emboldening the enemy.”
It’s becoming more clear by the day that there was no intelligence to support the White House’s claims of an imminent Iranian threat, and even if there was, it seems more likely to be coming from a foreign country, and one who may have a vested interest in dragging the US deeper into conflict with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time that the US has lied its way into an unpopular military intervention. History teaches us that for Washington, massaging, doctoring, or even inventing ‘intelligence’ – is a tried and tested formula to ignite the drive for war.
Gareth Porter from The American Conservative writes…
Like the crucial steps toward public acceptance preceding the U.S. invasions of Vietnam and Iraq, the assassination of Qassem Soleimani was aimed at building popular support for war on Iran. Not only the justification, but the assassination itself were part of a broader strategy to grease the skids into war.
The Soleimani ploy has apparently failed, however, thanks to the carefully prepared Iranian response, which did not provoke Donald Trump to raise the stakes further. At least not yet.
The fingerprints of Pompeo are all over this provocation to war. In a striking parallel to the deception that accompanied the Gulf of Tonkin crisis in 1964—in which the American public was told about an attack on a U.S. ship that never happened, precipitating the Vietnam War—Pompeo and his allies carried out a complex deception in regard to the Soleimani hit. They claimed they had to kill the second most popular leader of Iran with no advance notice to Congress because the Iranian general was planning a massive attack that put the country in “imminent” danger. Trump officials have so far not provided any evidence publicly to back up this version of events. In fact, when briefed by DoD officials Wednesday, Democrats complained about the lack of hard evidence presented, leaving them unconvinced there was an imminent threat. Republican Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY., said the briefing was “less than satisfying.”
The deception accompanying Soleimani’s killing was just the latest in a much longer string of efforts by Pompeo that began in September 2018. That’s when Pompeo and then-National Security Advisor John Bolton established the basic propaganda line that was used to sell the Soleimani assassination. They claimed that a few mortar rounds in the vicinity of the U.S. embassy and a consulate in Basra were evidence of an effort by Tehran to kill or injure U.S. diplomats. Bolton then demanded the Pentagon come up with retaliatory options if any Americans were harmed by any action of an Iranian “proxy,” Pompeo issued a public threat to attack Iran over the incidents.
But in fact those rockets landed a kilometer away from the U.S. Embassy in the Green Zone where all foreign embassies are located, and that the one that fell near the Basra airport’s outer perimeter was nowhere near the U.S. consulate. And they were fired the same night that anti-Iran rioters were setting fire to the Iranian consulate in Basra and shutting down the country’s only seaport, and at the same time Sadrist protesters were rallying against the Iraqi government at the entrance to the Green Zone in sympathy with the anti-Iran protests.
In May 2019, Bolton claimed new “escalatory indications and warnings” of a threat to U.S. personnel in the Middle East and vowed, “[A]ny attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.” He and Pompeo leaked to major news outlets that there was intelligence about Iran ordering militia allies in the region to “target” Americans. But other officials who had seen the intelligence told the Wall Street Journal that Tehran sent its allies a directive telling them to prepare for possible attack by the United States.
The Bolton-Pompeo effort to lure Trump into a war with Iran faltered when the president twice refused their advice to retaliate militarily over the shoot-down of a U.S. drone and the drone attack on a key Saudi oil facility. Bolton got fired in September, but Pompeo continued what they had begun. On December 13, he condemned two attacks on a Iraqi military base located near the Baghdad Airport on Dec. 7 and Dec. 9, in which two Iraqi anti-terrorist troops were injured, and then added, “We must also use this opportunity to remind Iran’s leaders that any attacks by them, or their proxies of any identity, that harm Americans, our allies, or our interests will be answered with a decisive U.S. response.”
But the circumstances surrounding those rocket attacks made it unclear who might have fired the two to four mortars or rockets at the Iraqi Security Forces headquarters near Baghdad Airport, wounding two Iraqi counter-terrorism personnel. Opponents of the government had just launched new protests against repression of demonstrations by lethal forces by Iraqi security forces, including anti-riot police, and Moqtada al Sadr, who had been supporting the Iraqi government, but had just started to support the demonstrators. It is entirely possible that Sadrist militiamen or other opponents of the government had fired the rockets at the base in protest.
Two weeks later, on December 27, a rocket attack on the K1 Iraqi base near Kirkuk killed an American contractor, as “Operation Inherent Resolve” command confirmed. The Trump administration immediately went into crisis mode, discussing both killing Soleimani and retaliatory strikes against Kataib Hezbollah. But the provenance of the event that triggered the fateful decisions that followed is shrouded in ambiguity. As The New York Times reported on Dec. 27, “It wasn’t clear who was responsible for the attack,” adding that the base had been threatened previously by both Iranian-backed militias and Islamic State forces.
The IS forces in the area of Kirkuk where the K1 base was located had become increasingly active in 2018 and 2019, with a rapidly growing pace of attacks, operating freely out of the rugged mountainous north and south of the city. In fact there had been more attacks by IS on government targets in Kirkuk in 2018 than anywhere else in Iraq, and it had the highest rate of growth as well.
Continue this story at The American Conservative
READ MORE IRAN NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Iraq Files
SUPPORT OUR INDEPENDENT MEDIA PLATFORM – BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV


21stcenturywire--2020-01-11--Official ISIS Newspaper ‘Thanks God’ for Trump Killing Iran’s General Soleimani

It was only a matter of time before US President Donald Trump got the recognition he deserved for America ’ s military exploits these past two weeks .
Yesterday , Trump received glowing praise from the official international ISIS newspaper , Al Naba , highlighting Washington ’ s assassination of Iranian IRGC ’ s General Qasem Soleimani on January 3rd .
In an ideal world , this latest endorsement by ISIS for Trump ’ s actions should really put to rest the well-worn Washington and Israeli propaganda talking point that Soleimani was an “ evil and deadly terrorist.
” Unfortunately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so thoroughly coated in layers of political fiction that this might take a while to sink in .
One only has to take a cursory look at reports over the last few years to quickly realise exactly how valuable the Iranian military and its celebrated general were in the global war on terror .
Yet , this reality is mostly lost on US war hawks and America ’ s Conservative punditry class .
In her recent reporting , BBC Monitoring editor Mimi Al-Lami described how Islamic State terrorists are now “ thanking God @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are busy targeting each other , and “ indifferent to the impact it has on their mutual fight against the Islamic State.
” The inconvenient fact that Soleimani was actually leading the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2018 , has been carefully airbrushed from most US media coverage and commentary .
But this wasn ’ t always the case .
Even leading pro-war outlets like CNN admitted as far back as 2015 how US military officials acknowledged the pivotal leadership role played by the Iranian Quds Force commander @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the deadly terrorist wave .
Retired US Army General and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , Martin Dempsey , also praised Iran and Soleimani ’ s role in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and in particular , in the Battle of Tikrik , calling it ‘ a positive step ’ .
Newsweek said at the time , “ without Iranian assistance and Soleimani ’ s guidance , the offensive on Tikrit may not have been possible.
” US Army Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis reiterated the praise for Soleimani back in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fighting that ’ s going on now in Iraq [ against Islamic state ] quite frankly has been led by General Soleimani , the Quds Force out of Tehran.
” Despite all of this , the rabid calls for military intervention dominate the Beltway ’ s bellicose conversation .
Behind Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo , are perennial Republican hawks like Sens .
Lindsey Graham ( R-SC ) , Marco Rubio ( R-FL ) , Tom Cotton ( R-AR ) and Ben Sasse ( R-NE ) , all of whom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ great acheivement following the US drone attack which was carried out near Baghdad International Airport on Friday January 3rd .
Their narrative is all but baked into any commentary after the fact , mainly to somehow justify what the White House has just done .
The reclassification of Soleimani as a “ terrorist ” – and not someone who was instrumental in fighting terrorism , is perhaps one of Washington ’ s great propaganda successes of recent years .
SEE ALSO : Trump Stands Down Against Iran , U.S .
Still in Denial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Soleimani out of the way , ISIS thanked the United States for eliminating one of its most feared adversaries .
BBC ’ s Al-Lami adds : Coming to grips with the actual reality on the ground in the region may be out of the scope of understanding of American neoconservative war hawks , who generally view the Middle East in terms of binary and sectarian paradigms like Israel vs Muslims , or Shia vs Sunni .
Hence , it may take a while longer before any of this can filter through into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 21st century American society .
For Trump ’ s MAGA cult followers , this cold reality will be even more difficult to grasp , and may never penetrate this group ’ s membrane of cognitive dissonance .
The loss of Soleimani in the war on terror was echoed by Rev Ibrahim Nseir , a pastor and leading Christian voice in the Middle East from the Arab Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Aleppo , who said , “ All what Qassem Soleimani did was stand up for Christians against ISIS and Al Qaeda.
” Based @ @ @ @ @ @ @ statement , General Qasem Soleimani was certainly regarded a mortal enemy of ISIS and al Qaeda in the Middle East , and will no doubt be remembered throughout the region as a key figure in the battle to push back radical jihadist terror .
If ISIS does reemerge , then there ’ s a risk that residents of the region may also remember Donald Trump ’ s double assassination of Iran ’ s General Qassem Soleimani and the Iraqi military ’ s PMU commander , Abu Mahdi al Mouhendis – for what it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ terrorism .
Let ’ s hope the region can eventually overcome these reoccurring pestilences .
*** Author Patrick Henningsen is an American writer and global affairs analyst and founder of independent news and analysis site 21st Century Wire , and is host of the SUNDAY WIRE weekly radio show broadcast globally over the Alternate Current Radio Network ( ACR ) .
He has written for a number of international publications and has done extensive on-the-ground reporting in the Middle East including work in Syria and Iraq .
See his archive here .

By
Patrick Henningsen
21st Century Wire
It was only a matter of time before US President Donald Trump got the recognition he deserved for America’s military exploits these past two weeks. Yesterday, Trump received glowing praise from the official international ISIS newspaper, Al Naba, highlighting Washington’s assassination of Iranian IRGC’s General Qasem Soleimani on January 3rd.
In an ideal world, this latest endorsement by ISIS for Trump’s actions should really put to rest the well-worn Washington and Israeli propaganda talking point that Soleimani was an “evil and deadly terrorist.” Unfortunately, the current American political discourse is so thoroughly coated in layers of political fiction that this might take a while to sink in.
One only has to take a cursory look at reports over the last few years to quickly realise exactly how valuable the Iranian military and its celebrated general were in the global war on terror. Yet, this reality is mostly lost on US war hawks and America’s Conservative punditry class.
In her recent reporting, BBC Monitoring editor Mimi Al-Lami described how Islamic State terrorists are now “thanking God,” that the US and Iran are busy targeting each other, and “indifferent to the impact it has on their mutual fight against the Islamic State.”
Thread: In the editorial of its weekly paper #AlNaba, #ISIS welcomes the death of #Soleimani in a US drone strike, but is careful not to openly credit the US for his demise but portrays it as an act of God to support IS and Muslims more broadly. pic.twitter.com/6bNXiMyOcX — Mina Al-Lami (@Minalami) January 10, 2020
The inconvenient fact that Soleimani was actually leading the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2018, has been carefully airbrushed from most US media coverage and commentary. But this wasn’t always the case. Even leading pro-war outlets like CNN admitted as far back as 2015 how US military officials acknowledged the pivotal leadership role played by the Iranian Quds Force commander – which helped turn the tide against the deadly terrorist wave.
Retired US Army General and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Martin Dempsey, also praised Iran and Soleimani’s role in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and in particular, in the Battle of Tikrik, calling it ‘a positive step’. Newsweek said at the time, “without Iranian assistance and Soleimani’s guidance, the offensive on Tikrit may not have been possible.”
US Army Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis reiterated the praise for Soleimani back in November 2014, explaining, “The fighting that’s going on now in Iraq [against Islamic state] quite frankly has been led by General Soleimani, the Quds Force out of Tehran.”
https://twitter.com/dancohen3000/status/1215732072020619271?s=20
Despite all of this, the rabid calls for military intervention dominate the Beltway’s bellicose conversation. Behind Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, are perennial Republican hawks like Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Ben Sasse (R-NE), all of whom have been crowing endlessly about their seemingly great acheivement following the US drone attack which was carried out near Baghdad International Airport on Friday January 3rd. Their narrative is all but baked into any commentary after the fact, mainly to somehow justify what the White House has just done. The reclassification of Soleimani as a “terrorist” – and not someone who was instrumental in fighting terrorism, is perhaps one of Washington’s great propaganda successes of recent years. SEE ALSO: Trump Stands Down Against Iran, U.S. Still in Denial of ‘New Middle East’
Now with Soleimani out of the way, ISIS thanked the United States for eliminating one of its most feared adversaries. BBC’s Al-Lami adds:
“It welcomes IS enemies being busy fighting each other, saying it distracts them away from “Muslims” and drains their energy which, it adds, benefits jihadists.” “The killing of Soleimani “has created changes in the path of the Crusader campaign against the Islamic State and its soldiers, which we believe is part of God’s support for His patient mujahidin.”
Coming to grips with the actual reality on the ground in the region may be out of the scope of understanding of American neoconservative war hawks, who generally view the Middle East in terms of binary and sectarian paradigms like Israel vs Muslims, or Shia vs Sunni. Hence, it may take a while longer before any of this can filter through into the collective consciousness of a highly propagandized 21st century American society. For Trump’s MAGA cult followers, this cold reality will be even more difficult to grasp, and may never penetrate this group’s membrane of cognitive dissonance.
The loss of Soleimani in the war on terror was echoed by Rev Ibrahim Nseir, a pastor and leading Christian voice in the Middle East from the Arab Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Aleppo, who said, “All what Qassem Soleimani did was stand up for Christians against ISIS and Al Qaeda.”
“All what Qassem Soleimani did was stand up for Christians against ISIS and Al Qaeda” A mass was held in the evangelical church of Aleppo, Syria to honor the martyrdom of General Soleimani who had an essential role in the liberation battle of Aleppo against US-backed Jihadists. pic.twitter.com/yEgU4FyRAO — هادي نصرالله (@HadiNasrallah) January 6, 2020
Based on the terrorist group’s recent statement, General Qasem Soleimani was certainly regarded a mortal enemy of ISIS and al Qaeda in the Middle East, and will no doubt be remembered throughout the region as a key figure in the battle to push back radical jihadist terror.
If ISIS does reemerge, then there’s a risk that residents of the region may also remember Donald Trump’s double assassination of Iran’s General Qassem Soleimani and the Iraqi military’s PMU commander, Abu Mahdi al Mouhendis – for what it truly was, a gift to global terrorism.
Let’s hope the region can eventually overcome these reoccurring pestilences.
***
Author Patrick Henningsen is an American writer and global affairs analyst and founder of independent news and analysis site 21st Century Wire, and is host of the SUNDAY WIRE weekly radio show broadcast globally over the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR). He has written for a number of international publications and has done extensive on-the-ground reporting in the Middle East including work in Syria and Iraq. See his archive here.
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21stcenturywire--2020-01-12--SUNDAY SCREENING: Searching for Steele (2012)

Our weekly documentary film curated by the editorial team at 21WIRE .
Following the defeat of ISIS in Iraq and @ @ @ @ @ look back at the US occupation of Iraq which began in 2003 , and which @ @ @ @ @ terrorist group .
One of the key factors in motivating extremists in Iraq was a @ @ @ @ @ in the country which helped drive one of the deadliest sectarian wars ever in the @ @ @ @ @ key actors in the clandestine violence and terrorism sponsored by the US is a man @ @ @ @ @ this 15-month investigation by the Guardian and BBC Arabic , investigators revealed how the retired @ @ @ @ @ directly to General David Petraeus , both veterans of American proxy wars in El Salvador @ @ @ @ @ key role in training and overseeing commandos who tortured Iraqis , and foment sectarian hate @ @ @ @ @ their efforts , these men unleashed hell on Earth .
Watch : SEE MORE SUNDAY @ @

By
Our weekly documentary film curated by the editorial team at 21WIRE.
Following the defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, we can now look back at the US occupation of Iraq which began in 2003, and which directly led to emergence of terrorist group. One of the key factors in motivating extremists in Iraq was a chain of US-funded torture centres in the country which helped drive one of the deadliest sectarian wars ever in the region. One of the key actors in the clandestine violence and terrorism sponsored by the US is a man named James Steele. In this 15-month investigation by the Guardian and BBC Arabic, investigators revealed how the retired US colonel – who reported directly to General David Petraeus, both veterans of American proxy wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua – played a key role in training and overseeing commandos who tortured Iraqis, and foment sectarian hate for a generation. Through their efforts, these men unleashed hell on Earth. Watch:
.
Run time: 51 min
Production: Guardian Films/ BBC Arabic
SEE MORE SUNDAY SCREENINGS HERE
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21stcenturywire--2020-01-12--CONFIRMED: Israeli Supplied the Key Intelligence for US Assassination of Iran’s Soleimani

This latest revelation should not surprise anyone who has been actively following the exploits of the current Trump Administration and its partner organization , Israel ’ s Netanyahu government .
According to a recent report released by the Times of Israel , it was officials in Tel Aviv who provided the White House with the key intelligence details leading to the targeted double assassination of Iranian Quds Force leader , General Qasem Soleimani , and senior Iraqi PMU commander , Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis , on January 3rd .
The illegal assassinations prompted an Iranian missile strike on two US bases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tehran dangerously close to a larger military confrontation , until Trump stood down in the face of reprisals by Iran and its allies in the region .
This latest news also validates previous analysis by 21WIRE which concluded that Israel has been the primary source of “ intelligence ” provided to the White House , relating to the recent chain of events involving the United States , Iraq and Iran .
This also indicates that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was lying last week when he told ministers that the killing of Soleimani was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” and that Israel was not involved .
According to Axios : This calculated move to walk-back his previously hawkish stance on Soleimani and Iran appears to have been a shrewd and cynical political maneuver to avoid being implicated in the political maelstrom which ensued in Washington – where US Senators and Congressional Representatives were demanding the White House present any of the illusive intelligence relating to the successive incidents .
Their calls were met with complete stonewalling from the Trump Administration who claimed that any discussion into the matter would be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now is whether or not Israel also provided the White House the illusive intelligence that prompted Trump ’ s illegal assassination orders – the mysterious intelligence which claimed there were “ imminent threats ” to the United States .
Elected representatives are still waiting .
The new reports now reveal how Israeli intelligence officials provided President Trump the location and reconnaissance data which resulted in the state-sanctioned murder of Soleimani .
Details of the operation also appeared in an NBC News report : Armed with a tip from informants at the airport in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CIA knew exactly when a jet carrying Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani took off en route to Baghdad .
Intelligence from Israel helped confirm the details .
Once the Cham Wings Airlines Airbus A320 landed , American spies at Iraq ’ s main airport , which houses U.S. military personnel , confirmed its exact whereabouts .
Three American drones moved into position overhead , with no fear of challenge in an Iraqi airspace completely dominated by the U.S. military .
Each was armed with four Hellfire missiles .
( … ) On large screens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iraqi militia leader walked up a set of stairs to greet the leader of Iran ’ s Quds Force as he emerged from the airplane .
It was past 1 in the morning , so the black and white infrared imagery wasn ’ t very clear .
No faces could be seen .
It is important to note that from the onset of the Trump presidency , Israel has played a visible role in directing US policy regarding Iran .
In fact , the current round of hostilities between the US and Iran @ @ @ @ @ @ @ withdrew from the landmark international JCPOA Iran Nuclear Agreement in May 2018 .
Leaked recordings reveal that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu boasted about his own role in convincing the White House to unilaterally withdraw from the JCPOA deal .

By
This latest revelation should not surprise anyone who has been actively following the exploits of the current Trump Administration and its partner organization, Israel’s Netanyahu government.
According to a recent report released by the Times of Israel, it was officials in Tel Aviv who provided the White House with the key intelligence details leading to the targeted double assassination of Iranian Quds Force leader, General Qasem Soleimani, and senior Iraqi PMU commander, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, on January 3rd.
The illegal assassinations prompted an Iranian missile strike on two US bases in Iraq, bringing Washington and Tehran dangerously close to a larger military confrontation, until Trump stood down in the face of reprisals by Iran and its allies in the region.
This latest news also validates previous analysis by 21WIRE which concluded that Israel has been the primary source of “intelligence” provided to the White House, relating to the recent chain of events involving the United States, Iraq and Iran.
Netanyahu Lied About Involvement
This also indicates that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was lying last week when he told ministers that the killing of Soleimani was “carried out solely by the US,” and that Israel was not involved. According to Axios:
“Netanyahu told Security Cabinet ministers Monday that the killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani was carried out solely by the U.S. and that Israel was not involved in any way and must not be dragged into the escalating conflict, two ministers who attended the meeting told me.”
This calculated move to walk-back his previously hawkish stance on Soleimani and Iran appears to have been a shrewd and cynical political maneuver to avoid being implicated in the political maelstrom which ensued in Washington – where US Senators and Congressional Representatives were demanding the White House present any of the illusive intelligence relating to the successive incidents. Their calls were met with complete stonewalling from the Trump Administration who claimed that any discussion into the matter would be ‘helping the enemy.’
The question now is whether or not Israel also provided the White House the illusive intelligence that prompted Trump’s illegal assassination orders – the mysterious intelligence which claimed there were “imminent threats” to the United States. Elected representatives are still waiting.
The new reports now reveal how Israeli intelligence officials provided President Trump the location and reconnaissance data which resulted in the state-sanctioned murder of Soleimani. Details of the operation also appeared in an NBC News report:
Armed with a tip from informants at the airport in the Syrian capital of Damascus, the CIA knew exactly when a jet carrying Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani took off en route to Baghdad. Intelligence from Israel helped confirm the details.
Once the Cham Wings Airlines Airbus A320 landed, American spies at Iraq’s main airport, which houses U.S. military personnel, confirmed its exact whereabouts.
Three American drones moved into position overhead, with no fear of challenge in an Iraqi airspace completely dominated by the U.S. military. Each was armed with four Hellfire missiles.
(…) On large screens, various U.S. officials watched as an Iraqi militia leader walked up a set of stairs to greet the leader of Iran’s Quds Force as he emerged from the airplane. It was past 1 in the morning, so the black and white infrared imagery wasn’t very clear. No faces could be seen.
It is important to note that from the onset of the Trump presidency, Israel has played a visible role in directing US policy regarding Iran. In fact, the current round of hostilities between the US and Iran was started when the White House unilaterally withdrew from the landmark international JCPOA Iran Nuclear Agreement in May 2018. Leaked recordings reveal that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu boasted about his own role in convincing the White House to unilaterally withdraw from the JCPOA deal.
SAY TUNED FOR UPDATES.
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21stcenturywire--2020-01-12--Episode #310 – ‘US vs Iran and the World’ guests Dr. Mohammad Marandi, Robert Inlakesh and more

Episode # 310 of SUNDAY WIRE SHOW resumes on Jan 12 , 2019 with host Patrick Henningsen , broadcasting LIVE on the Alternate Current Radio Network ( ACR ) … 5pm-8pm UK Time | 12pm-3pm ET ( US ) | 9am-12pm PT ( US ) This week the SUNDAY WIRE broadcasts LIVE on ACR with host Patrick Henningsen covering the top stories in the US , Europe and Internationally .
This week past week has been historic to say the least , with the United States and Iran locked into a dangerous military standoff amounting to the sum of all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or world war .
In the end , Trump stood down in the face of retaliatory threats from Iran and its allies , but the story is far from over .
Events later took another turn when it was revealed that Iranian air defenses accidentally shot down Ukrainian Airways Flight 572 after take off from Tehran International Airport .
In the first hour , we ’ ll talk with special guest , Iranian political and global affairs analyst from the University of Tehran , Dr. Mohammad Marandi , to discuss what happened and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ relations and diplomacy going forward .
We ’ ll also connect with Press TV correspondent Robert Inlakesh to talk about how all of this is shaping regional strategy between the US , its allies , and the Axis of Resistance , and also how Israel is reacting to recent events .
In the final segment of overdrive , we ’ ll connected with the SUNDAY WIRE ’ s Roving Correspondent for Culture & Sport , Basil Valentine for his take on this week ’ s incredible events , and also for an inside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the British Royal Family .
How did this happen , and how will it effect UK politics ?
All this and much more .
Enjoy the show… AND ALSO BECOME A TEAM MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV *NOTE : THIS EPISODE MAY CONTAIN STRONG LANGUAGE AND MATURE THEMES*

By
Episode #310 of SUNDAY WIRE SHOW resumes on Jan 12, 2020 with host Patrick Henningsen, broadcasting LIVE on the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR)…
LISTEN LIVE ON THIS PAGE – START TIMES:
5pm-8pm UK Time | 12pm-3pm ET (US) | 9am-12pm PT (US)
This week the SUNDAY WIRE broadcasts LIVE on ACR with host Patrick Henningsen covering the top stories in the US, Europe and Internationally. This past week has been historic to say the least, with the United States and Iran locked into a dangerous military standoff amounting to the sum of all fear – an escalation towards a multinational or world war. In the end, Trump stood down in the face of retaliatory threats from Iran and its allies, but the story is far from over. Events later took another turn when it was revealed that Iranian air defenses accidentally shot down Ukrainian Airways Flight 572 after take off from Tehran International Airport. In the first hour, we’ll talk with special guest, Iranian political and global affairs analyst from the University of Tehran, Dr. Mohammad Marandi, to discuss what happened and how these events will affect East-West international relations and diplomacy going forward. We’ll also connect with Press TV correspondent Robert Inlakesh to talk about how all of this is shaping regional strategy between the US, its allies, and the Axis of Resistance, and also how Israel is reacting to recent events. In the final segment of overdrive, we’ll connected with the SUNDAY WIRE’s Roving Correspondent for Culture & Sport, Basil Valentine for his take on this week’s incredible events, and also for an inside track on the apparent ‘break-up’ of the British Royal Family. How did this happen, and how will it effect UK politics? All this and much more. Enjoy the show…
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AND ALSO BECOME A TEAM MEMBER@21WIRE.TV
*NOTE: THIS EPISODE MAY CONTAIN STRONG LANGUAGE AND MATURE THEMES*
Download Episode #310
Sunday Wire Radio Show Archives


21stcenturywire--2020-01-12--Trump Blackmails Iraq to Keep US Troops, Threatening to Close Their Oil Account at Fed

ECONOMIC WARFARE : The White House has now resorted to financial extortion tactics in order to maintain its 17 year-long military occupation of Iraq .
It wasn ’ t enough to mount drone attacks which assassinated Iraq ’ s military leadership , along with kill some 50 Iraqi police and soldiers in the process .
Now , faced with the prospect of seeing its 5,000 troops and military personnel kicked out of Iraq , the Trump Administration has now resorted to blackmailing Baghdad by threatening to close the country ’ s crucial oil trading account at the US Federal Reserve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this latest episode of international racketeering demonstrates the financial power Washington accrued in the post-World World II era , which allows the US government to subjugate its client states by gaming the global financial system – currently dominated by the fiat US dollar .
Trump latest provocation came just one week after the Iraqi parliament had voted to notify caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to begin the process of expelling all foreign troops from their country .
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal , the White House warned Iraq @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forces out of their country , then Washington would respond by closing down Baghdad ’ s access to its own dollar-denominated central banking facility located at the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York – a move which would surely trigger administrative and economic instability for Iraq .
Parliamentary Speaker Mohammed al-Halboosi outlined the risks to his country ’ s day-to-day operations during a floor debate on the motion , stating , “ One of the steps the international community could take is to stop financial transactions with Iraq , and we would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our citizens at any moment.
” Last week , the Trump Administration also threatened Baghdad with economic sanctions as punishment should the Iraqi government proceed with ordering US troops out of their country .
The Iraqi PM Abdul-Mahdi has stated that US troops leaving the country is the only real option remaining , following a series inflammatory standoffs which have taken place over the last two weeks , after which the US no longer ‘ trusts ’ his country to provide security for US troops stationed there .
The Trump administration warned Iraq @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to a critical government bank account if Baghdad kicks out American forces following the U.S. airstrike that killed a top Iranian general , according to Iraqi officials .
The State Department warned that the U.S. could shut down Iraq ’ s access to the country ’ s central bank account held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York , a move that could jolt Iraq ’ s already shaky economy , the officials said .
Iraq , like other countries , maintains government accounts at the New York Fed as an important @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finances , including revenue from oil sales .
Loss of access to the accounts could restrict Iraq ’ s use of that revenue , creating a cash crunch in Iraq ’ s financial system and constricting a critical lubricant for the economy .
The prospect of U.S. sanctions against Iraq arose after the Jan. 3 U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad International Airport .
The Iraqi parliament voted Sunday to urge Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi to work toward the expulsion of the approximately 5,300 U.S. troops .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been imposed before , as the WSJ also points out : The financial threat isn ’ t theoretical : The country ’ s financial system was squeezed in 2015 when the U.S. suspended access for several weeks to the central bank ’ s account at the New York Fed over concerns the cash was filtering through a loosely regulated market into Iranian banks and to the Islamic State extremist group .
It remains to be seen whether or not Washington and Baghdad are able to negotiate a friendly divorce settlement .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with the latest extension granted under the guise of “ fighting ISIS ” , even though it was the United States who were directly responsible for the formation and proliferation of ISIS .
“ Whenever you have any amicable divorce , you still have the worry about the children , pets , furniture and plants , some of which are sentimental , ” remarked a senior Iraqi politician to the Wall Street Journal .

By
ECONOMIC WARFARE: The White House has now resorted to financial extortion tactics in order to maintain its 17 year-long military occupation of Iraq.
It wasn’t enough to mount drone attacks which assassinated Iraq’s military leadership, along with killing some 50 Iraqi police and soldiers in the process. Now, faced with the prospect of seeing its 5,000 troops and military personnel kicked out of Iraq, the Trump Administration has now resorted to blackmailing Baghdad by threatening to close the country’s crucial oil trading account at the US Federal Reserve.
More than any single move, this latest episode of international racketeering demonstrates the financial power Washington has accrued in the post-World World II era, which allows the US government to subjugate its client states by gaming the global financial system – currently dominated by the fiat US dollar.
Trump’s latest provocation came just one week after the Iraqi parliament had voted to notify caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to begin the process of expelling all foreign troops from their country.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the White House warned Iraq that if it dared to kick US forces out of their country, then Washington would respond by closing down Baghdad’s access to its own dollar-denominated central banking facility located at the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York – a move which would surely trigger administrative and economic instability for Iraq.
Parliamentary Speaker Mohammed al-Halboosi outlined the risks to his country’s day-to-day operations during a floor debate on the motion, stating, “One of the steps the international community could take is to stop financial transactions with Iraq, and we would be unable to fulfill our commitments to our citizens at any moment.”
Last week, the Trump Administration also threatened Baghdad with economic sanctions as punishment should the Iraqi government proceed with ordering US troops out of their country.
The Iraqi PM Abdul-Mahdi has stated that US troops leaving the country is the only real option remaining, following a series inflammatory standoffs which have taken place over the last two weeks, after which the US no longer ‘trusts’ his country to provide security for US troops stationed there.
Wall Street Journal reports…
The Trump administration warned Iraq this week that it risks losing access to a critical government bank account if Baghdad kicks out American forces following the U.S. airstrike that killed a top Iranian general, according to Iraqi officials.
The State Department warned that the U.S. could shut down Iraq’s access to the country’s central bank account held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a move that could jolt Iraq’s already shaky economy, the officials said. Iraq, like other countries, maintains government accounts at the New York Fed as an important part of managing the country’s finances, including revenue from oil sales. Loss of access to the accounts could restrict Iraq’s use of that revenue, creating a cash crunch in Iraq’s financial system and constricting a critical lubricant for the economy. The prospect of U.S. sanctions against Iraq arose after the Jan. 3 U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad International Airport. The Iraqi parliament voted Sunday to urge Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi to work toward the expulsion of the approximately 5,300 U.S. troops. The economic threat is real. Similar restrictions have been imposed before, as the WSJ also points out: The financial threat isn’t theoretical: The country’s financial system was squeezed in 2015 when the U.S. suspended access for several weeks to the central bank’s account at the New York Fed over concerns the cash was filtering through a loosely regulated market into Iranian banks and to the Islamic State extremist group. It remains to be seen whether or not Washington and Baghdad are able to negotiate a friendly divorce settlement. The US has militarily occupied Iraq since 2003, with the latest extension granted under the guise of “fighting ISIS”, even though it was the United States who were directly responsible for the formation and proliferation of ISIS. “Whenever you have any amicable divorce, you still have the worry about the children, pets, furniture and plants, some of which are sentimental,” remarked a senior Iraqi politician to the Wall Street Journal. READ MORE IRAQ NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Iraq Files SUPPORT OUR INDEPENDENT MEDIA PLATFORM – BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV