Undermining Trump-Bolton War Narrative, British General Says No Evidence of 'Increased Threat' From

[mahina]

Source: Common Dreams

"Intelligence and military officials in Europe as well as in the United States said that over the past year, most aggressive moves have originated not in Tehran, but in Washington.

A British general threw a wrench into the Trump administration's narrative that Iran is plotting attacks on American troops in the Middle East by telling reporters gathered at the Pentagon Tuesday that "there's been no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces" in the region.

"We monitor them along with a whole range of others because that's the environment we're in," said Maj. Gen. Chris Ghika, speaking via video from Baghdad. "If the threat level seems to go up then we'll raise our force protection measures accordingly."

Apparently eager to squash the general's remarks, the U.S. Central Command issued a statement just hours later disputing Ghika's comments and repeating national security adviser John Bolton's unsubstantiated claim that American intelligence has "identified credible threats" from "Iranian-backed forces" in Iraq and Syria.


Read more: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/15/undermining-trump-bolton-war-narrative-british-general-says-no-evidence-increased

[yaesu]

1. in the end, it is up to other nations, their duty, to control this rogue fascist state

since elections have failed to control it

[erronis]

3. Oh. At first I thought you meant Iran. And then I understood. Its US.

Iran has elections of a sort.

US has the same sort - a sop to the people.

[patphil]

8. Not true

We got the job part way done in 2018.
We'll fix the rest of it in 2020.
Blue Tsunami coming!

Patrick Phillips

[mahina]

12. I sure hope you're right

[mahina]

14. I hope people share this article at home including to the news.

So far in our local media there’s no mention of our allies refusing the bait

[phatkatt]

2. Fox News announces boycott of English muffins in 3..2..1...

[KY_EnviroGuy]

4. Yep, they're now Freedom Muffins!

With W's tacit approval.......

[Crowman2009]

11. Not to mention another deluge of shitty country music.

[William Seger]

5. Huh, so Trump can't count on former allies to back him up...

... as Bush did. Maybe offending and alienating all our former allies was another blunder, huh.

[orangecrush]

6. +1

[Mr.Bill]

7. As long as Trump is in office,

our next war will be unnecessary, illegal, and fought without allies.

And recruiting will be much more difficult than it was after 9/11.

[CDerekGo]

9. unless

Hairplug Himmler can figure out a way for Iran to fly a plane or two into some U.S. Buildings...

[Dave Starsky]

10. History rhymes. Anyone remember Valerie Plame?

She's running for Congress in New Mexico, by the way.

[Maxheader]

13. Yeah I remember..

Shrub and his evil minions blackballed plame

According to testimony given in the CIA leak grand jury investigation and United States v. Libby, Bush administration officials Richard Armitage, Karl Rove, and Lewis Libby discussed the employment of a then-classified, covert CIA officer, Valerie E. Wilson (also known as Valerie Plame), with members of the press.

In 2002, Plame wrote a memo to her superiors in which she expressed hesitation in recommending her husband, former diplomat Joseph C. Wilson, to the CIA for a mission to Niger to investigate claims that Iraq had arranged to purchase and import uranium from the country, but stated that he "may be in a position to assist". After President George W. Bush stated that "Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa" during the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Wilson published a July 2003 op-ed in The New York Times stating his doubts during the mission that any such transaction with Iraq had taken place.

[House of Roberts]

15. He is the very model of a modern Major-General

Well...he is!