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LOL dude, you can count the number of HX members with a NYT subscription on, well, your dick. I dont think you can read the article without a subscription.
Anyway, you got 17 expert opinions and they can't all be correct, right? I'll go with Max Boot for the win and Susan Rice gets the Golden Dummy award. She rose way beyond the level of her incompetence.
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While Suleiman will not be missed, one would be mistaken to think this is part of some plan for Trump. I would bet a penny to a dollar, Trump didn't know who this guy was until someone approached him and said the guy had to go.
I read an article today that said that Trump told some aids he was pressured by Republican senators to go after Suleiman and felt he needed to do it for their support in the impeachment trial. While I don't know if that's true or not, that's probably a more likely scenario.
Trump is not thoughtful, he doesn't analyze, he doesn't strategize. That's not how he operates.
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I for one am comforted that you know so much about what's going on in the executive branch of our gov't
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The whole Iran debacle stinks of Pompeo more than Trump.
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How do you not celebrate the demise of this guy? TDS runs rampant.
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This was definitely a Pompeo move... but few things are EVER a president’s initial idea. He isn’t the guy in the field. He isn’t the analyst. He is the Executive.
People bring Execs information. He listens to the info and the opinions about the info... and makes a decision.
They were mulling this over for a week. Trump shared it with Lindsey Graham the week before it happened.
Director of the CIA mapped out the probable responses from Iran. And it seems she was spot on. I think they underestimated the response of Iraq. I don’t think they fully realized the Iranian influence in Iraqi parliament.
Ultimately... it doesn’t matter. Trump wanted out of Iraq anyway. They will negotiate a withdrawal timetable... and Trump will also negotiate a repayment schedule (probably in oil) for our overall... but most recent investment.
Remember, President Obama pulled us out in 2011. We were out, except for trainers and peacekeepers.
As soon as we left, ISIS filled the void. By the end of 2012, the Iraqi government was begging us to come back in. We came back in (at their request) and by the end of the first quarter of 2019... ISIS had been eradicated from both Iraq and Syria. There are still small cells that will re-activate the second we leave.
Iran will surely come in and the Kurds and Sunni government leaders will beg that we return.
Our withdrawal will take at least 2-3 years. Unless we say, “forget it, we don’t care, we will be back because as was stated by many... that is a centuries old cluster fuck that has no end in sight.
The major point now is just keeping tactical nuclear weapons from Iran.
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For sure, Trump has a lot more people to Hellfire to catch up Obama, our ex-dronemeister.
slacker
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I'm happily surprised with the recent demonstrations in Iran by the people calling for a change due to the downed plane. These are no doubt the more educated class with work and/or education experience in the Western world.
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Interesting info, Sam.
"There have been 2,243 drone strikes in the first two years of the Trump presidency, compared with 1,878 in Mr Obama's eight years in office, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a UK-based think tank."
I question whether a UK based think tank actually knows any of those numbers, especially after checking their website. It wouldn't be the first time a journalist lied about something.
But, if true, then kudos to Trump for setting a new record. His per year average is significantly better than Obama's also.
Not to hijack KS thunder, we can debate the efficacy of the US drone policy in another blog. Personally, i like taking these guys out but not crazy about collateral damage or mistaken identity. There are times when we could really use an HX drone policy to clean up some BS.
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If I were special ops.... I’d love drones.
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