Cocked and Loaded on Behalf of the Saudis

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump on Sunday evening tweeted that the US has "reason to believe that we know" who is responsible for an attack on a Saudi Arabian oil field and the country is "locked and loaded depending on verification" following the crippling strike.

"Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!" Trump said.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/15/politics/trump-us-saudi-arabia-attack-iran-iraq/index.html

So the King of America is just going to listen to the King of the Saudis after an oil attack and wage war on someone. No Congress for the Chosen One? No democracy? No legal process of vetting information and investigation or due process... Just, "well the Saudis said so. so let's Bomb Iran!" or whoever.

At least the people around him keep him from acting out his worst fantasies some of the time...

 

[James Brown]

Somewhere, John Bolton is kicking himself.

 

[barbos]

My understanding they used toy drones anybody can buy. How are they going to link Iran to this?
That's not to say Iran is not happy about this attack but so is anyone who exports oil, except KSA.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

"waiting to hear from the Kingdom"

First off, waiting to hear from the Sauds? What in the heck type of message does that send?

Next, Iran shot down our drone and we were "cocked and loaded" and then went flaccid. Of course, Trump allegedly stopped the attack he allegedly approved because it was allegedly going to kill too many people. We going to attack Iran for attacking an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia instead?

Finally, this dumbass doesn't realize that when you always bluff, it means nothing.

 

[barbos]

Somewhere, John Bolton is kicking himself.

Speaking of which, does he have an alibi? i heard he recently quit his job, do we know where he was during the attack?

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Locked and loaded? Is that a plan? A good plan? A half-assed plan? Or just empty threats? Mouth music from the orange blowhard? I hope Congress is paying attention. If moron does something that drags us into a small war, and they allow him to do that, it's going to be a problem for everybody, politically.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Somewhere, John Bolton is kicking himself.

Speaking of which, does he have an alibi? i heard he recently quit his job, do we know where he was during the attack?

I heard there's a former national security advisor club. They have jackets and everything. He was probably at the club at the time, drinking and singing karaoke with other fired employees who resigned.

Either that or he was taking a bath, trying to "drown the UN."

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Meanwhile, VP's Chief of Staff had this to say about 'locked and loaded':

"I think that 'locked and loaded' is a broad term and talks about the realities that we're all far safer and more secure domestically from energy independence," said Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff Marc Short on Monday morning.

So what Trump meant was completely unrelated to what he actually said.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

Tulsi Gabbard described the US as acting like Saudi Arabia's bitch.

 

[bilby]

"waiting to hear from the Kingdom"

First off, waiting to hear from the Sauds? What in the heck type of message does that send?

Next, Iran shot down our drone and we were "cocked and loaded" and then went flaccid. Of course, Trump allegedly stopped the attack he allegedly approved because it was allegedly going to kill too many people. We going to attack Iran for attacking an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia instead?

Finally, this dumbass doesn't realize that when you always bluff, it means nothing.

No, you're going to attack Iran for being supportive to the Yemenis who attacked an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia in retaliation for sustained Saudi attacks on Yemen.

The Saudis are royally (literally) pissed off that they haven't been able to crush the Houthi/Zaidi movement like a bug, and they blame Iran (probably justly - the Iranians won't go to war to support the Zaidis, but they will provide assistance to them in order to prevent the Wahhabis from gaining any further strength on the Arabian peninsula). The Saudis don't have the clout to go to war with Iran over this petty factional squabble - but they would dearly love to get the USA to do it for them.

That the USA should absolutely not get into a dispute between two equally crazy and extreme Islamic sects, by allowing one to use them as a bludgeon to beat the (slightly less crazy) third-party supporters of the other, should go without saying. But I am saying it anyway, because American presidents far more savvy than the current incumbent have been drawn into these sorts of petty regional disputes between extremists sitting on oilfields many times in the past.

 

[Trausti]

I seem to remember (perhaps wrongly) that the Houthis have launched attacks within Saudi Arabia before. But this is not our fight.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

I seem to remember (perhaps wrongly) that the Houthis have launched attacks within Saudi Arabia before. But this is not our fight.

When you write "our" you seem to think you and I are part of the group making decisions and whose interest a decision would be made on behalf of.

 

[Bronzeage]

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I seem to remember (perhaps wrongly) that the Houthis have launched attacks within Saudi Arabia before. But this is not our fight.

Correct. This is just another aspect of the long-standing Sunni/Shia war. It gets very little press except when something dramatic happens or when someone wants to parade the victims to condemn the other side. Both sides are clearly evil.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I seem to remember (perhaps wrongly) that the Houthis have launched attacks within Saudi Arabia before. But this is not our fight.

The Saudis couldn't keep a plane in the air if their lives depended on it. They simply pay western contractors to do all their work while they pretend how important they are. If we quit helping the Saudis they would be annihilated in very, very, very short order.

 

[bilby]

I seem to remember (perhaps wrongly) that the Houthis have launched attacks within Saudi Arabia before. But this is not our fight.

Correct. This is just another aspect of the long-standing Sunni/Shia war. It gets very little press except when something dramatic happens or when someone wants to parade the victims to condemn the other side. Both sides are clearly evil.

Worse, this is a war between the most extreme versions of each. There are no 'good guys' here, and so taking sides would be monumentally foolish.

 

[Derec]

So the King of America is just going to listen to the King of the Saudis after an oil attack and wage war on someone.

- KSA is an ally attacked by an enemy.
- The attack knocked off 5% of world oil production. That is a significant loss of capacity and keeping oil markets stable is in US national interest.
- Iran has been getting bolder and bolder in recent years. Getting too big for their britches. Time to knock them down a peg or two.

No Congress for the Chosen One?

We can always just use the  2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists. SOP in other words.

No democracy? No legal process of vetting information and investigation or due process... Just, "well the Saudis said so. so let's Bomb Iran!" or whoever.

Either Iran did it directly or they got their wholly owned foreign subsidiary, the Houthis (a IRGC company) to do it for them. In either case, Iran is ultimately responsibe.
So yes, bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran!

At least the people around him keep him from acting out his worst fantasies some of the time...

When Iran downed our drone, Trump should have retaliated. Not doing so made us look weak, emboldening the mullahs to escalate further.
Trump is way too much of a dove. Hillary would have already bombed these towelheads back to the 12th century.

 

[Derec]

My understanding they used toy drones anybody can buy. How are they going to link Iran to this?

Where did you get that? I have not seen that claim anywhere.

That's not to say Iran is not happy about this attack but so is anyone who exports oil, except KSA.

Iran directly threatened oil production in the Persian Gulf before.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatens to close Strait of Hormuz if US blocks oil exports

 

[Derec]

First off, waiting to hear from the Sauds? What in the heck type of message does that send?

That we talk to our allies who were attacked?

Next, Iran shot down our drone and we were "cocked and loaded" and then went flaccid.

A big mistake.

We going to attack Iran for attacking an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia instead?

If we don't, it will make them even bolder. What's next? Iraq-Anschluss?

Finally, this dumbass doesn't realize that when you always bluff, it means nothing.

Yes, kind of like Obama's red line in Syria that came to nothing the next time Assad crossed it.

 

[laughing dog]

Meanwhile, VP's Chief of Staff had this to say about 'locked and loaded':

"I think that 'locked and loaded' is a broad term and talks about the realities that we're all far safer and more secure domestically from energy independence," said Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff Marc Short on Monday morning.

So what Trump meant was completely unrelated to what he actually said.

No surprise there.