American Embassy Iraq

[Aloha Hoosier]

I hope they get this under control soon. They shouldn’t have been allowed in that part of the International Zone (aka Green Zone).

I know people in that embassy and at nearby FOB Union III and I hope they’re OK.

I stayed at FOB Union III during my 2011 visit to Iraq and I’ve visited the embassy. It’s very nice and very well fortified (necessarily). We had a training team going last year, but we had to cancel it. First time that has happened. We have a team scheduled for this year, but that’s obviously not certain.

 

[UncleMark]

I hope they get this under control soon. They shouldn’t have been allowed in that part of the International Zone (aka Green Zone).

I know people in that embassy and at nearby FOB Union III and I hope they’re OK.

I stayed at FOB Union III during my 2011 visit to Iraq and I’ve visited the embassy. It’s very nice and very well fortified (necessarily). We had a training team going last year, but we had to cancel it. First time that has happened. We have a team scheduled for this year, but that’s obviously not certain.

They should haul Pompeo in front of Congress and grill him endlessly.

 

[Aloha Hoosier]

They should haul Pompeo in front of Congress and grill him endlessly.

It’s a little early for that, isn’t it?

 

[UncleMark]

It’s a little early for that, isn’t it?

Might as well start now. That will give them time to do the other seven or however many other investigations they'll need to do.

 

[Aloha Hoosier]

Might as well start now. That will give them time to do the other seven or however many other investigations they'll need to do.

We have Americans in danger in our embassy and you want to do whatabout Benghazi? No thanks.

 

[UncleMark]

We have Americans in danger in our embassy and you want to do whatabout Benghazi? No thanks.

I suspect Nancy and the Dems won't try and make political hay out of it. Which is kind of disappointing when I look at it from my cynical, partisan point of view. I guess I'm just a deplorable bastage.

 

[toastedbread]

They should haul Pompeo in front of Congress and grill him endlessly.

The ambassador has been on vacation for a week... i mean wow.

Our strategic leaders think about half a step ahead. How they can be suprised that there would be a response to their response is beyond me. The same types of people who get us into Iraq and Afghanistan without asking what happens next.

And you don't get into a proxy war on the other side of the world with a country that neighbors. Stupid. Sure seemed like the Iraqi public was turning against their neighbors until we stupidly made it about ourselves. Sometimes the best response is no response. Or perhaps a pullout and let Iraq become Iran's problem. Don't throw good money after bad.

 

[toastedbread]

I hope they get this under control soon. They shouldn’t have been allowed in that part of the International Zone (aka Green Zone).

I know people in that embassy and at nearby FOB Union III and I hope they’re OK.

I stayed at FOB Union III during my 2011 visit to Iraq and I’ve visited the embassy. It’s very nice and very well fortified (necessarily). We had a training team going last year, but we had to cancel it. First time that has happened. We have a team scheduled for this year, but that’s obviously not certain.

I sincerely hope that all personnel can be safely evacuated. Kinda eye open when Iraqi security forces fire on protestors in Tahir square, while laying a red carpet for mobs to besiege the US embassy.

 

[Aloha Hoosier]

I sincerely hope that all personnel can be safely evacuated. Kinda eye open when Iraqi security forces fire on protestors in Tahir square, while laying a red carpet for mobs to besiege the US embassy.

Ideally, the Iraqi security forces will get this under control, move the mob out, and no evacuations will be necessary.

 

[toastedbread]

Ideally, the Iraqi security forces will get this under control, move the mob out, and no evacuations will be necessary.

My inclination would be to evacuate first and ask questions later. My faith and confidence in the Iraqi security forces is approaching nil. That's my opinion.

 

[Aloha Hoosier]

My inclination would be to evacuate first and ask questions later. My faith and confidence in the Iraqi security forces is approaching nil. That's my opinion.

We have combat forces in the neighborhood too.

 

[toastedbread]

We have combat forces in the neighborhood too.

Yea, i mean i prefer to evacuate prior to our forces opening fire on local population. That's literally the worst case scenario, which is why i would evacuate now.

 

[UncleMark]

We have Americans in danger in our embassy and you want to do whatabout Benghazi? No thanks.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lind...under-donald-trump_n_5e0b68fde4b0b2520d1b57dd

 

[bawlmer]

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lind...under-donald-trump_n_5e0b68fde4b0b2520d1b57dd

Is Graham running our foreign policy? WTF are those tweets?

 

[UncleMark]

Is Graham running our foreign policy? WTF are those tweets?

Lindsey is handling Iraq, Rudy is handling Ukraine.

 

[bawlmer]

Lindsey is handling Iraq, Rudy is handling Ukraine.

I'm not an expert, but it seems pretty reckless to be making potentially inflammatory comments like this given the present situation.

 

[Courtsensetwo]

The NYT just called the militia burning the embassy : "Mourners".

I am NOT making that up.

 

[hoot1]

We have combat forces in the neighborhood too.

Aloha, your link spoke of 5,000 U.S. military personnel still in Iraq.

This would be considerably more troops on the ground to call upon than we had in Libya at the time of Benghazi.

 

[Aloha Hoosier]

Aloha, your link spoke of 5,000 U.S. military personnel still in Iraq.

This would be considerably more troops on the ground to call upon than we had in Libya at the time of Benghazi.

I don’t understand your point. This isn’t Benghazi, it’s Baghdad.

 

[hoot1]

I don’t understand your point. This isn’t Benghazi, it’s Baghdad.

I don’t understand your point. This isn’t Benghazi, it’s Baghdad.

I was following up on Lindsey Graham's remark that there would be no Benghazis under Trump along with other references to the Baghdad situation reminding them of Benghazi in this thread.

I was calling attention to one big difference between today's Baghdad and Benghazi being the 5,000 military personnel currently in Iraq while our forces in Libya were comparatively thin.

 

[Spartans9312]

I suspect Nancy and the Dems won't try and make political hay out of it. Which is kind of disappointing when I look at it from my cynical, partisan point of view. I guess I'm just a deplorable bastage.

Do they even have the option of making political hay?

 

[HillzHoozier]

I would imagine the unrest was sparked by an independent film or youtube video. Trump should find this video and denounce it.

 

[zeke4ahs]

Do they even have the option of making political hay?

Of course they do. The embassy was attacked.

 

[zeke4ahs]

I would imagine the unrest was sparked by an independent film or youtube video. Trump should find this video and denounce it.

No, much more likely it was due to a Trump tweet. DWS.... He and Iran leader are now trading insults via twitter. Because isn’t this exactly how we want foreign policy run?

 

[hoot1]

If you were stationed in the Baghdad embassy, the political gamesmanship between Iran and the U.S. could make you feel very, very uncomfortable from where I sit.

We thank our military for their service while at the same time making life miserable for them.

 

[IUXC68]

The ambassador has been on vacation for a week... i mean wow.

Our strategic leaders think about half a step ahead. How they can be suprised that there would be a response to their response is beyond me. The same types of people who get us into Iraq and Afghanistan without asking what happens next.

And you don't get into a proxy war on the other side of the world with a country that neighbors. Stupid. Sure seemed like the Iraqi public was turning against their neighbors until we stupidly made it about ourselves. Sometimes the best response is no response. Or perhaps a pullout and let Iraq become Iran's problem. Don't throw good money after bad.

TB, If you are still married to an Iranian woman or at least on friendly terms with her, what does she think?

 

[CO. Hoosier]

No, much more likely it was due to a Trump tweet. DWS.... He and Iran leader are now trading insults via twitter. Because isn’t this exactly how we want foreign policy run?

A much better way to run foreign policy would be to accumulate several pallets of shrink-wrapped currency and send it to Tehran in an unmarked jet. That’s a good peace plan.

 

[Lucy01]

A much better way to run foreign policy would be to accumulate several pallets of shrink-wrapped currency and send it to Tehran in an unmarked jet. That’s a good peace plan.

Then have the currency funneled back though a book deal!

 

[hoot1]

A much better way to run foreign policy would be to accumulate several pallets of shrink-wrapped currency and send it to Tehran in an unmarked jet. That’s a good peace plan.

Would a better plan be allowing Iran to develop÷ a nuclear arms capability which then would lead to Saudi Arabia doing the same.

The world somehow managed to escape a nuclear holocaust after WWII between the USSR and the U.S..

Mutual Assured Destruction survived one test, but do we really want to again test our luck in the unpredictable Middle East?

 

[UncleMark]

A much better way to run foreign policy would be to accumulate several pallets of shrink-wrapped currency and send it to Tehran in an unmarked jet. That’s a good peace plan.

Zeke is right. Hannity 2.0.

 

[Marvin the Martian]

A much better way to run foreign policy would be to accumulate several pallets of shrink-wrapped currency and send it to Tehran in an unmarked jet. That’s a good peace plan.

Hmm. Did not the White House Chief of Staff say quid pro quo's happen all the time in diplomacy? We lost an international case against Iran, as part of a bigger settlement we paid off the damages of said court case. Sounds smart to me. By then cancelling the larger plan, THIS president turned that payment into a payment with NOTHING in return. So THIS president allowed Iran to get cash AND develop a nuclear bomb. It seems you should be mad at THIS president.

 

[toastedbread]

TB, If you are still married to an Iranian woman or at least on friendly terms with her, what does she think?

I asked her the same day the bombings, will Iran respond. She said without question. I'm trying to understand the thought process of our leadership. Someone attacks you, so you stop thinking beyond the point of attacking them. Did anyone go beyond the immediate response? If two half wits living half way around the world can put 2 and 2 together, it speaks volumes when our leaders and their team of 16,000 in the embassy don't go beyond the immediate counter attack to understand that the opposition might respond to your counterattack. Did we consider how the local populace would view our aggression? Did we consider how the Iraqi govt responds? Just a total dearth of strategic thinking. Probably we had to respond, but it doesn't appear that we considered what happens next. That's a recipe for disaster.

 

[toastedbread]

Would a better plan be allowing Iran to develop÷ a nuclear arms capability which then would lead to Saudi Arabia doing the same.

The world somehow managed to escape a nuclear holocaust after WWII between the USSR and the U.S..

Mutual Assured Destruction survived one test, but do we really want to again test our luck in the unpredictable Middle East?

Hmm. Did not the White House Chief of Staff say quid pro quo's happen all the time in diplomacy? We lost an international case against Iran, as part of a bigger settlement we paid off the damages of said court case. Sounds smart to me. By then cancelling the larger plan, THIS president turned that payment into a payment with NOTHING in return. So THIS president allowed Iran to get cash AND develop a nuclear bomb. It seems you should be mad at THIS president.

If Trump signed a deal half as good as Obama's the gop would call it the best deal of the last half century.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

Hmm. Did not the White House Chief of Staff say quid pro quo's happen all the time in diplomacy? We lost an international case against Iran, as part of a bigger settlement we paid off the damages of said court case. Sounds smart to me. By then cancelling the larger plan, THIS president turned that payment into a payment with NOTHING in return. So THIS president allowed Iran to get cash AND develop a nuclear bomb. It seems you should be mad at THIS president.

That’s not correct. The case was never litigated to conclusion. The Obama administration threw in the towel to save his nuke deal which was being trumpeted as his crowning foreign policy accomplishment.

It has always been unclear about whether the shrink-wrapped cash was part of the arms deal or a separate ransom payment. In any event the method of payment was obviously a red flag that Obama agreed to SOMETHING outside of normal diplomatic issues.

 

[Marvin the Martian]

That’s not correct. The case was never litigated to conclusion. The Obama administration threw in the towel to save his nuke deal which was being trumpeted as his crowning foreign policy accomplishment.

It has always been unclear about whether the shrink-wrapped cash was part of the arms deal or a separate ransom payment. In any event the method of payment was obviously a red flag that Obama agreed to SOMETHING outside of normal diplomatic issues.

Like what is outside normal diplomatic issues? You are a lawyer, you have never negotiated a "client A agrees to drop lawsuit and cease action 1 if client B pays the garage amount 2"?

When we tore up the deal, that converted the payment as part of a deal pretty much into a gift. The agreement had the support of our allies and most of our foreign policy apparatus. But yes, we should instead trust the gut instincts of people who want to attack Iran even if they could not going it on a map, because experts are always wrong.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

Like what is outside normal diplomatic issues? You are a lawyer, you have never negotiated a "client A agrees to drop lawsuit and cease action 1 if client B pays the garage amount 2"?

When we tore up the deal, that converted the payment as part of a deal pretty much into a gift. The agreement had the support of our allies and most of our foreign policy apparatus. But yes, we should instead trust the gut instincts of people who want to attack Iran even if they could not going it on a map, because experts are always wrong.

I’m talking about the shrink-wrapped cash delivered in a way that leaves no paper trail of disbursements. This is how people conduct business outside the law. Obama was part of it.

 

[Marvin the Martian]

I’m talking about the shrink-wrapped cash delivered in a way that leaves no paper trail of disbursements. This is how people conduct business outside the law. Obama was part of it.

How would you have negotiated it, I am sure Iran did not trust any banks.

 

[IUCrazy2]

How would you have negotiated it, I am sure Iran did not trust any banks.

I would not have given them the money, not while the Mullahs are in charge.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

How would you have negotiated it, I am sure Iran did not trust any banks.

A wire transfer either directly or through an intermediary country.

I think it’s obvious Iran wanted euros instead of wired funds because wired funds would end up as Iranian money which was mostly worthless outside of Iran. With millions of euros, the Mullahs could finance their assorted surrogate terrorist groups throughout the Middle East. Sadly, Obama agreed to that for his short term legacy-building reasons and left his successor with bigger problems.

 

[anon_mlxxvlbug9dpa]

A much better way to run foreign policy would be to accumulate several pallets of shrink-wrapped currency and send it to Tehran in an unmarked jet. That’s a good peace plan.

Just when you start to make progress and not being a blinkered Obama hater, stuff like this happens.