Mauro
Senior Member.
Unfortunately, it's also been historically very common.
2026 Israeli–United States strikes on Iran
- Thread starter Mick West
- Start date
Todd Feinman
Senior Member
Yeah.. Thirty Years' War. Just wow.
deirdre
Senior Member
nah, you only need congress if you want to officially declare war. we can continue to bomb whoever we want if the house and senate flip in November.
fizzBuzz
Senior Member
Amongst all the noise from media/social media/etc. It seems a major theme with this war/operation is that Iran does not pose a threat to the US, therefore, it's illegal/unconstitutional to do what they're doing. And the US is fighting Israel's war.. again.
My opinion - these situations are always borderline illegal/unconstitutional/immoral and both sides have done this for a long time. Also, as stated by Rubio, prior to the strikes, we had intelligence suggesting Iran would strike us (military bases/embassies in the Middle East) if Israel struck them - and that is considered an immediate threat. Will we ever see this evidence? maybe, maybe not. But I think we can all agree that Iran poses a threat to anyone within their reach, and even more so, its own people. So I don't see this as "Israel's war", though they are probably the biggest player. I see this as the US protecting its interests and ally's interests in the Middle East. Rubio also stated the goal is to take out their missile silos, navy, and uranium enrichment facilities. Regime change is not the goal, according to Rubio. That is up to the people of Iran - hopefully, they take advantage. Some talking heads seem to think this will be another forever war and we'll see boots on the ground in Iran. I really hope this isn't the case.
For reference to Rubio's comments, see @deirdre's post above.
My opinion - these situations are always borderline illegal/unconstitutional/immoral and both sides have done this for a long time. Also, as stated by Rubio, prior to the strikes, we had intelligence suggesting Iran would strike us (military bases/embassies in the Middle East) if Israel struck them - and that is considered an immediate threat. Will we ever see this evidence? maybe, maybe not. But I think we can all agree that Iran poses a threat to anyone within their reach, and even more so, its own people. So I don't see this as "Israel's war", though they are probably the biggest player. I see this as the US protecting its interests and ally's interests in the Middle East. Rubio also stated the goal is to take out their missile silos, navy, and uranium enrichment facilities. Regime change is not the goal, according to Rubio. That is up to the people of Iran - hopefully, they take advantage. Some talking heads seem to think this will be another forever war and we'll see boots on the ground in Iran. I really hope this isn't the case.
For reference to Rubio's comments, see @deirdre's post above.
Well, Rubio's presser struck me because his reasons for going to war seem different from the reasons Trump, Hegseth, and Lindsey Graham have articulated.
There are also apparently military commanders telling their troops this is a Christian war and this is all part of God's plan, so don't worry.
fizzBuzz
Senior Member
I'm opposed to religion as much as anyone else here. I also understand that at least some form of religion plays a role in almost every country's political/social landscape. I disagree with most religion-inspired policy, but I feel like I would be overreacting if I got my panties in a wad over some commanders trying to inspire their troops be calling this a "Christian war". This just seems to be searching for reasons to complain. It's as irrelevant and inconsequential as a coach praying with his football team before a game... who cares? Let them be weird...
Mendel
Senior Member.
The record shows that UN weapons inspections have worked well.
Gary C
Senior Member.
Very possibly. Trump thinks in personalities so he may think he can decapitate Iran as he did Venezuela and things will be fine.
Venezuela had been reduced largely to a kleptocratic cult of personality under Chavez who bequeathed it to Maduro who didn't actually have one. A personality that is. His surviving associates who seem to have done a lot of the day-to-day repression, taxed the drug cartels to allow them to continue doing business, and generally governed/stole from the Venezuelan people have taken a lesson from seeing their boss plucked out the house next door and are scrambling to get off/stay off the US regime's radar. So far so good. By the time people realize this has almost no impact on the $100 billion illegal drug markets, Trump will be gone.
Iran has over three times the population and has been building and grooming security forces around the mullah's particular school of Islam and the strategic use of Israel, the US, and the Saudi royal family as external enemies to build internal cohesion since 1979. Together the Army, the IRGC, and Basij have money, weapons, and a few hundred thousand fighting men available at multiple locations both inside and outside Iran.
The fact of Iran's lackluster response so far suggests that Israel and the US together had a very good picture of the the Iranian's Command and Control systems, likely boosted by what they learned during the June 2025 bombing campaign. Whoever survived the initial decapitation strikes is apparently having difficulty getting the surviving forces moving and performing militarily useful operations to either defend Iran or strike the US or Israel.
The thing is, we saw this in Iraq when the sitting government was picked apart and brushed aside by the US led invasion only to see an array of militant organizations who's only common trait was hating the US presence develop into an intractable security problem. That's how you end up in a quagmire. The Iranian Quds Force and IRGC intelligence services were deeply involved in getting those militias organized and pointed at the US. That's wasn't just a few senior officers you can pick off with a few Tomahawk missiles. Thousand of Iranian personnel were involved and we have to assume that most are still alive and retain the skills they developed fighting US interests twenty years ago.
So the question is, does the Iranian hydra have more potential heads than we have bombs or cruise missiles? One way or another we are going to find out.
My two cents
deirdre
Senior Member
im guessing the angle is more "we arent bombing Iran because they are terrorists who are a threat to us, we are bombing them because we are Islamophobic."
Mendel
Senior Member.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_war
I'd say "war for oil" (or other resources) is more common in the past century, and certainly Iran/Iraq/Venezuela/Ukraine can be interpreted as such.External Quote:
and that's before we start characterising countries as "full of religious fanatics", which reduces the numbers quoted above.
NoParty
Senior Member.
So, it took less than 1/2 day for Trump to prove me correct. The Rubio excuse of 3/2 is already trashed by the one who can't stop talking:
"I might have forced their hand," Trump said. "You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first. They were going to attack if we didn't do it. They were going to attack first, I felt strongly about that, and we have great negotiators, great people, people that do this very successfully and have done it all their lives very successfully. And based on the way the negotiation was going, I think they were going to attack first and I didn't want that to happen."
Trump's comments somewhat differed from Secretary of State Marco Rubio's remarks on Monday about how Israel claimed Iran was planning to attack. Trump appeared to say he had pushed for the strikes instead.
"So if anything I might have forced Israel's hand but Israel was ready, and we were ready, and we've had a very, very powerful impact because virtually everything they have has been knocked out now," Trump said.
https://www.mexc.co/en-NG/news/844703
Bonus quote [today, 3/3/26], for those who still wish to cling to the fantasy that this war of choice has been carefully thought out:
DJT: "I guess the worst case would be we do this and then somebody takes over who's as bad as the previous person, right? That could happen. We don't want that to happen. That would probably be the worst. You go through this and in five years you realize you put somebody in who is no better."
https://www.mediaite.com/media/news...scenario-in-iran-we-dont-want-that-to-happen/
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deirdre
Senior Member
Rubio didnt say that.
US strikes on Iran triggered by Israel's plan to launch attack, Rubio says | US foreign policy | The Guardian https://share.google/Jlx9h9OeYHVpN3QrT
I think what he did say is worse.
deirdre
Senior Member
because israel was planning on attacking iran? yea i havent really been following israel/iran stuff.
but i had read that isreal jumped on intel that a bunch of the head honchos were gonna be in the same location (although Mossad might have 'set up' the head honchos to all gather.. but im not sure how that would happen. im not real up on spy stuff)
anyway they had a chance to take them all out at once so jumped on it.
Article: According to The New York Times, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the operation, the US's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had gathered information about a Saturday morning meeting there that would include Khamenei and the country's senior military cadre. The CIA then shared the information with Israel.
...
It is also unclear why the country's most senior military leaders decided to gather in a predictable location while threats of a US-Israel attack were imminent.
Ann K
Senior Member.
deirdre
Senior Member
1. rubio did not say what No Party claimed he did. so i dont know why you are quoting me.
2. if he "walked back" his prior statements then why didn't you quote what Rubio actually said?
https://www.state.gov/releases/offi...tary-of-state-marco-rubio-remarks-to-press-7/
and dont you want to fact check if Trump really did flatly deny that Israel chose the timing of the attack? Don't get me wrong, i prefer if people interpret it that way. If our cia told israel when everyone was gathering then technically we kinda did choose the timing. There's been issues in New York between some of the more 'radical' islamist men and the jews in New York. There's hate crimes against muslims rising in New York too of course. This military operation isnt good for new York tensions.
