CENTCOM: B-52s from Minot Air Force Base sent to Middle East Saturday

[Efilroft Sul]

Source: KMOT-TV

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. (KMOT) - B-52 Stratofortress crews assigned to the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base conducted a “short-notice, long-range mission” in the Middle East Saturday, according to U.S. Central Command.

According to CENTCOM, the mission was intended to “deter aggression and reassure U.S. partners and allies.”

Read more: https://www.kfyrtv.com/2020/11/22/centcom-b-52s-from-minot-air-force-base-sent-to-middle-east-saturday/

[C_U_L8R]

1. As the moron Trump once said

'What's the point in having them if you don't use them'
He's going to pull all the switches before he's tossed out on his ass.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

2. My thought, too.

Hopefully there are generals who will refuse to execute an illegal order, or resign in protest.

[jaxexpat]

15. Yeah, fine, But.

A little tired of the "Resigning in Protest" non-statements. There's been enough malfeasance and treason going round to merit removal of an executive and a few senators as well. Let the rules be designed to fit the facts but literally every rational person KNOWS this has grown beyond any justification. And, BTW, the inauguration is maybe too far off to prevent some really bad actors' playing out their roles. I mean, how did a freak like Stephen Miller EVER get within a mile of the oval office?

[llashram]

23. this

especially the Stephen Miller reference

[groundloop]

20. NO, NOT RESIGN IN PROTEST..... That plays into tRumps hand

That removes a competent person from a critical position and allows tRump to fill that position with an unqualified imbecile who will do whatever tRump asks.

[Miguelito Loveless]

24. History shows

soldiers follow orders. No matter how illegal.

Trump is going to attack Iran, 50-50 with nukes.

[somaticexperiencing]

3. I doubt that this is likely to "reassure" much of anybody!

[CharleyDog]

4. the thing is, with Trump, who are our allies, and who are the aggressors?

Now that he's aligned us with murderous dictators, who are we talking about here? (yes, I didn't read the article)

[mahina]

5. Same question

[myohmy2]

6. obviously...

...trump's going to try to start crap to tangle Joe up...

...trump wants things to point to for a 2024 run...

...obviously...

[Layzeebeaver]

7. We live in the middle of England and had 3 fly over this summer

Along with a few fighter as escort.

I believe it was a “show of support” for each NATO country.

It was probably a pentagon only decision seeing as they didn’t attack anything.

[Tactical Peek]

8. This business will get out of control.

"This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it."

Admiral Josh Painter, The Hunt for Red October

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

34. From the same movie

And the seventh angel poured his bowl into the air, and a voice cried out from heaven, saying: "It is done." A man with your responsibilities reading about the end of the world. And what's this? "I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds."

[James48]

9. Bombing run on Iran-

With stops in England, and then on Diego Garcia would be my best guess.

He’s stirring up just enough stuff to try and declare he has to stay-

That’s my take on it.

They don’t normally do press releases when B-52’s go off to war. Something’s not right.

[gab13by13]

12. I have been saying the same thing,

since Trump lost. That's why Pompeo went to Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the UAE, to get the OK to bomb the Iranian nuclear facility.

Yes he did say if we have nukes why not use them. Don't think like a normal person, Trump is insane and will try anything to stay in power. I had hoped that Putin would stop Trump since Russia and Iran are friendly but Putin can just sit back and watch WW III as it unfolds.

[oldsoftie]

36. We were at war when Bush left. And Obama. Being "at war" isnt a legal reason to stay.

Even for dickhead.

[Ponietz]

10. 60-days until 1-20-21 -- a significant time frame in the War Powers Act

[link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Powers_Resolution|

[gab13by13]

13. Significant to whom?

It even says in your link that president Clinton violated the War Powers Act in Kosovo with no repercussions.

[Ponietz]

16. Fair point

But Congress doesn’t even have a colorable argument against calculated military escalation. That’s significant to me, at least.

[beachbumbob]

11. no doubt trump's action will be to blow up Iran and create a nightmare for Biden and our allies

trump doesn;t give a shit and this is high on Stephen Miller's list to do

[gab13by13]

14. No doubt Trump's actions will be to stay in power

as his #1 goal.

[marie999]

17. He can't stay in power.

It doesn't matter if we are at war or he declares martial law. Biden is our president on 1/20/2021.

[beachbumbob]

19. nothing trump can do to stay on in power, bombing iran, starting a war will not make that change

[groundloop]

22. BUT..... you're a reasonable, intelligent person. tRump is anything but that.

[bronxiteforever]

18. He is trying to clean up his mess in Iran

by creating another more dangerous mess. He pulled out of the Iranian nuclear agreement that ,while not perfect, was working according to our allies and our national security experts. In fact he could have strengthened an agreement and took a win but instead he ran from a new deal. New sanctions failed and Pompeo fell on his face before our allies.

Why did IT45 walk away from a new deal? The one thing It hates and fears the most is responsibility. Agreement in a negotiation means the responsibility for the success of the deal lies with the one who made it. It also exposes you to ridicule and IT45 lives in fear of getting the same ridicule he dishes out.

I think we are in a position where he would bomb Iran and that would do nothing but strengthen the Iranian hawks and cause an aggressive acceleration of their nuclear program. Yes we are in a time of immense peril with a supine GOP Senate.

[Mosby]

30. It's not working well at all.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1253991

[bronxiteforever]

32. Considering the USA walking away from the agreement

As a not consequential point does not hold water. The USA abdicated its desire to negotiate at precisely the time it could have pressed its advantage. Pompeo issued ultimatums and vituperation but could not articulate a coherent foreign policy.

Your question is why is the UN security council not doing anything? My question to you would be why do you expect it to do anything when Russian and China are on the Council? Especially since the Iran-China 25-year Cooperation Program or Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between I.R. Iran, P.R China is an agreement on Iran-China relations was created on 24th June, 2020 in Beijing between Iran and China.

See China and Russia Have Iran’s Back
Tehran May Be Less Open Than Ever to Threats or Persuasion
By Jamsheed K. Choksy and Carol E. B. Choksy
November 17, 2020
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-11-17/china-and-russia-have-irans-back


In the end Trump has enabled more nukes not less(see e.g. North Korea). The Trump administration never grasped secondary consequences of actions because the foreign policy was ego and chaos driven, lacking reason and logic. But here is where he left us on Iran.

[Blues Heron]

21. warfuckers gotta threaten violence

assholes

[Bengus81]

25. Keep those nuke codes far away from this insane mofo..............

There is nothing I would put past that POSER POS and it will escalate with each passing day. That fat POS needs to be in a straight jacket until Jan 20th at noon.

[JohnnyRingo]

26. Trump is going to nuke Iran over Thanksgiving.

That's why he's staying close to the situation room over the holiday instead of golfing at Mar-A-Lago.

It's a last ditch effort by a cornered rat: Create such chaos that transition cannot happen.
"They can't force me out during a nuclear war" I'm a war president."

I'm sure the Commander of Clueless thinks there are "clean" nuclear weapons that the world won't mind him using, but he's wrong. The entire world will be at our shores to remove him themselves to protect the planet, something republicans couldn't see fit to do.

[Hotler]

27. Will he pull a Gulf of Tonkin incident? nt

[jaxexpat]

31. No need to go that far back for an exemplary.

They could try the WMD hunt scenario patented by Bush/Cheney Inc. (just remembered, they're still at large too, ya know?)
Will be interesting to see how the 24/7 cable rumor mills gin up this version of "A road to travesty". Another opportunity to say "brave fighting men and women" over and over and over? Who'd want to miss that?

Pompeo declares war so Julius Trumpus will come out of his sulking closet. Ancient history in the remaking? Stay tuned.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

28. I think the plan is to hit the production sites with bunker busters

If you were going to use nukes - even tac nukes - there are faster, stealthier aircraft in the arsenal. B-52s suggests to me it's a heavy load of ordinance.

" (D)eter aggression and reassure U.S. partners and allies" means interfere with weapon building (duh) and make Israel and Saudi Arabia happy. Probably Turkey as well, come to think of it. Putin will publicly disapprove, but privately be happy that this will bring Iran closer and give him the chance to sell them more weapons. China will be displeased, but since the Trumpers dislike China, and see Joe Biden as a China ally, that suits them fine.

Keep in mind that bombing Iran tends to be popular with Americans over 50. This group feels that the US never got its pound of flesh for the hostages/embassy takeover, and has watched decades of Iranians burning flags and chanting "Death to America." My main surprise is that he didn't do this in October.

[ancianita]

29. A majority of Americans,against any conflict with Iran, reflect the new Dem majority electorate.

If anyone has a more recent poll, please post it. This is the most recent I could quickly find.

The Economist/YouGov poll was conducted before Iran’s attack on two American bases in Iraq that led to no American casualties. In a speech on Wednesday, President Trump indicated that there would not be additional military confrontation from the US. The president’s initial handling of Iran earned a negative assessment, however: 41 percent approved, while 51 percent disapproved.

Overall, Americans do not appear to have an appetite for another war in the Middle East.
They say it is more important to avoid war with Iran (45%) than it is to confront Iranian aggression (36%).
President Hassan Rouhani of Iran indicated on Wednesday that there remains a long-term goal of removing the American military from the Middle East, saying on Twitter that “Our final answer to his assassination will be to kick all US forces out of the region.”

Americans have worried that the situation with Iran could escalate.
More than two-thirds (71%) say this is likely, and about the same percentage are concerned about a possible war with Iran (73%), according to the poll conducted January 5 - 7.
While Republicans are less likely than Democrats and Independents to be “very concerned” about the likelihood of war, and less likely to say it’s “very likely” the current situation will lead to a bigger conflict, most still worry (58%) and believe a bigger conflict is likely (64%).

https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2020/01/08/iran-poll



The Pentagon might be acting independently of Trump in using flyover reassurances, mostly for Israel, which could be harmed most by any sudden Iranian or American moves.

[CaptainTruth]

33. B-52s have been flying to sites all around the world for a couple months.

Normal training. I follow some folks who track the movement of military aircraft & there's nothing unusual about this. Some people seem to be worried about these flights but they're ignoring the 20 (?) other flights to other locations over the past several weeks.

I don't believe Trump even knew (or knows) this is happening, I don't think he pays attention to Air Force training flights.

[oldsoftie]

37. I doubt he pays attention to ANYTHING military. he thinks he already knows it all. nt

[DENVERPOPS]

35. Question

Would Putin want us to go after Iran??????? Would it benefit Russia in some way?

If the answer is yes, we know who Trump takes orders from, and it is pretty certain Trump wil do something.......