Holdin' Down The Culture
Iran fired more than a dozen missiles from within its borders targeting two U.S military bases in what can be interpreted as a retaliatory attack against the recent assassination of IRGC Commander Qasem Soleimani.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) received word of the attack while convening with other members of the House in order to discuss impeachment hearings for President Trump. Representative Debbie Dingell (D-MI) says after hearing of the attack Pelosi looked at her fellow congresspeople, paused and stated “we’ve got to pray…”
It’s unknown whether or not there are any casualties at the moment. The American military bases hit were the same areas President Trump visited when visited in 2018 when he made a surprise visit to the country.
Over the past few days there has been much mediation taking place behind the scenes as world leaders scramble to contain a potential volcano from erupting. The Middle East is a powder keg with multiple flash points that could cause a domino effect with many observers suggesting could eventually lead to a world war. British Prime Minister, conservative Boris Johnson, who’s country is not only America’s #1 ally in the world but is a personal ally of the U.S President, cautioned Trump that bombing “52 Iranian cultural centers” would be a considered a war crime. In other words, it would be very challenging for the U.K to openly support its ally in the case President Trump acted on his threat. The Iranian side was quick to publicly inform American citizens living in the Middle East following Soleimani’s assassination that they would not be targeted. Rather, Iranian targets would be limited to American military personal.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (R) tweeted the following,
I am praying for the safety of our troops in Iraq tonight. While I would have preferred they come home long ago, there is also no excuse for this action by Iran.
We need to stop the escalation before it leads to another endless war in the Middle East.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 8, 2020
Middle East war correspondent Jenan Moussa says the Iranians will discontinue any further attacks on the condition the United States refrains from responding to these attacks.
Iran says it will stop attacking if there is no retaliation from the U.S.
It's now Trump's call. @akhbar
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) January 8, 2020
The Iraqi Parliament voted immediately following the recent U.S. Military strike on Soleimani’s convoy, which killed 5 Iraqi citizens as well, to place a formal request to the United States to withdraw their military personnel from the country. This is very significant in that Iraq houses America’s largest U.S. Embassy in the world, the largest American spy infrastructure in the Middle East (alongside Dubai) the world’s most strategic region in terms of geopolitics, and strategically situated American military bases. Afterwards, President Trump threatened to impose unprecendented sanctions on Iraq in case they followed through with this request. Worst case scenario for the United States, which could prove to be the White House’s biggest strategic blunder, would be for the Iraqi government to invite the Russian and Chinese militaries into the country. The United States has steadily lost its strategic footing in the region since the wars post 9/11 which have not gone as planned with Iran become much stronger on the ground by extending its influence in several directions from its nation’s border. Russia is also now strategically situated in the Middle East with both an Air Force and Navy base in Syria on the ever important Mediterranean Sea.
Ideally, cooler heads prevail and diplomacy is allowed to govern relations. One can assume in the background mediation is taking place at every level in order to avoid war. Hopefully, Richard Engle’s tweet on the matter gets read by the right people.
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We’ll see if cool heads prevail. This doesn’t need to slide into a full blown war, which will nasty and long. Iran says it will stop if not hit. Both sides have stuck. Can they now step back and assess?
— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) January 8, 2020
Source: www.usatoday.com
