#Standingdown:HowTrumpdecidedthatnotstrikingbackwashisbestoptiononIran-CNNPolitics
Text
We live in a world where so many are angry and so many want to be seen. We need a new normal and that's sorta what I'm trying to create with FTO. I hope we can get there.
#black women#dc comics#comic books#comics#me#dc universe#blackout#black people#black metal#death metal#protest#2020 state polls show clear shift toward democrats since protests began cnnpolitics#black lives movement#all black lives matter#black lives are human lives#block lives matter#black lives matter
4K notes
·
View notes
Text
Standing down: How Trump decided that not striking back was his best option on Iran
Brian Hook, the special representative for Iran, was in Los Angeles to talk about US policy toward Iran. But by the time he stepped to the podium, he was already more than an hour late, having spent much of the day on a secure line speaking to US officials in Washington including his boss, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
And now, he had to leave.
"The peoples of Iraq and Lebanon and Iran, they want their country back," Hook said. "And they are tired of Iran being unable to stay within its own borders. Thank you."
With that, Hook walked briskly off stage. America's defense apparatus was spinning into action.
Minutes earlier, US intelligence satellites had picked up signs of a heat signature from Iran, suggesting the country had just launched short range ballistic missiles. The US knew an impending attack was likely, thanks to a tip from the Iraqi government, which had been told by the Iranians an attack was coming and which bases to avoid.
Still, using information from the satellites and US aircraft in the region -- which had intercepted Iranian communications -- US intelligence analysts quickly determined that two bases in Iraq were the targets, al-Asad and Erbil. Within minutes, US troops stationed there were warned. They'd already been on high alert and sought safety in bunkers, according to a source familiar.
Troops took short-term cover the day before out of a concern of a possible attack. Now, the threat was imminent, and the troops were told of incoming missiles.
At 7:30 p.m. ET, the official announcement went out: Iran had launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against US military and coalition forces in Iraq.
Just five days after killing Iran's top military leader, Qassem Soleimani, in a drone strike in Baghdad, this was the moment that the Trump administration had been preparing for -- a direct retaliatory attack from Iran.
News of the missile strike came as the administration had spent days stuck in a chaotic series of self-inflicted wounds. First, Trump had threatened to target Iranian cultural sites. Then there was the shocking letter announcing the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq that the Pentagon had to walk back as "a mistake."
It all raised questions about the administration's handling of the situation, and even had some Republican allies of the President privately expressing concern about whether the administration was truly prepared to deal with the events it had unleashed with the Soleimani strike.
The moment wasn't lost on Trump's top aides, who convened in the basement Situation Room knowing that the ensuing hours could redeem a chaotic several days -- or cement the impression of a rudderless ship.
On Tuesday evening, aides watched as the situation went from the potential for dramatic conflict to one that seemed to offer Trump a new opportunity to deescalate. Bolstered by incoming messages from Iran sent through back-channels, Trump's aides realized the damage would be limited.
"Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world," Trump said on Wednesday morning.
The following account of the events that unfolded over the past are based on interviews with dozens of Trump administration officials, foreign diplomats, as well as staffers and top lawmakers on the Hill.
Scramble to inform
Within an hour of the strikes, leaders on Capitol Hill were being briefed. In the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi was discussing the situation in Iran with a group of top Democrats when she was handed a note with news of a rocket attack on a US military base in Iraq. Among those present was Rep. Dan Kildee, who told CNN that Pelosi paused the discussion to alert members of the situation. "Pray," Pelosi told members, according to Rep. Debbie Dingel.
Not long after, Pelosi got on the phone with Vice President Mike Pence, who briefed her on the Iranian attacks. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also received a call from Pence around the same time and was briefed on the attack.
Meanwhile, GOP leaders were getting briefed directly by the President.
At the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and senior defense officials as soon as he got word of the attack. Less than an hour after news broke of the Iranian strike, Esper's office reached out to Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul al-Mahdi, who just days earlier had criticized the US drone strike on Soleimani as a "flagrant violation of the conditions for the presence of the American forces in Iraq."
At first Esper's team couldn't get through. It was around 3 a.m. in Baghdad and the number the Pentagon had for Mahdi's office wasn't working, said a source familiar with the outreach. They contacted the ambassador in Washington at home, who managed to connect the two parties.
After making a few calls to senior congressional officials, Esper and Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, headed to the White House.
In the Situation Room
Just before 7:30 p.m. ET, Esper, Milley and Pompeo all pulled up to the White House within a few minutes of each other. Pompeo arrived first. As he waited for the others, Pompeo turned the light on in the back seat of his Cadillac sedan and was reading from two cellphones. Once the other two cars arrived, Pompeo, Esper and Milley all entered the West Wing together.
Soon, a group of senior administration officials were gathered in the Situation Room. Along with Pence, Pompeo, Esper and Milley, the group included national security adviser Robert O'Brien, acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. White House counsel Pat Cippolone and press secretary Stephanie Grisham were there, while CIA Director Gina Haspel joined by teleconference.
The first objective was to determine whether any Americans had died in the strike. A senator who spoke with Trump told CNN the President appeared ready to attack Iranian facilities had there been even one American casualty. Though it took well into the night to confirm, the early evidence suggested there had not been any American deaths.
That lack of casualties fed a sense of restraint in the room, according to sources. While some consideration was given to striking back at Iran that night, according to one White House official, the decision was made to hold off until more information came in regarding Iran's intentions and the conditions on the ground.
One of the initial reactions in the room was one of surprise that the Iranians fired so few missiles out of their arsenal of thousands, this source said. That, along with the expectation that Iran was always going to strike back, created a sense of calm. Though there was an obvious level of tension given the high stakes, part of the reason the group was more relaxed was the initial view among many administration officials that Iranians were more bent on sending a message than in killing Americans.
One source pointed to how accurate Iranians have been in the past with its ballistic missiles, such as the attack a Saudi oil refinery, suggesting the attack could have been lethal.
Within hours of the strike, the President had made clear he wanted to make a public address and began dictating an outline of what it should look like, according to a person familiar. As Trump and his advisers continued to meet in the Situation Room, aides began making urgent plans for an address to the nation, including prepping the Oval Office. The framework of a speech started coming together with aide Stephen Miller at the helm and senior advisers weighing in.
Over the past few days, top White House officials expressed regret that Trump hadn't addressed the nation sooner after the strike that killed Soleimani, and worried he'd missed a chance to shape the narrative in his favor. Right after the strike, White House aide and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner was among those pushing Trump to give a speech, but the decision was made to hold off.
On the Hill, Republican leaders were getting constant updates from the White House, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Armed Services Chairman Sen. James Inhofe. The overall message to the White House from Republicans, according to a number of sources, was one of restraint, and that this was a moment for de-escalation.
In the end, White House officials said Trump would not emerge on Tuesday night to make an address. The news was met with a collective sigh of relief on the Hill, according to several GOP aides who spoke to CNN.
Around 9 p.m. ET, Trump began making calls to several GOP lawmakers, including Inhofe, who told reporters Wednesday the President was in a "very, very positive" mood and said he was willing to negotiate with Iran. Inhofe agreed, telling the President this was an opportunity to not just de-escalate but start negotiations.
At 9:45 p.m. ET, Trump tweeted, "All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning."
But the night was far from over.
Iran Back Channels
Starting late Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, Iran initiated contact with the administration through at least three back channels, including Switzerland and other countries, according to a senior administration official. The message from Iran was clear: This would be their only response. They would now wait to see what the US would do.
As part of its response back, the US conveyed that it was fully aware that Iran controls its proxies in the region, including Hezbollah. The source told CNN that Iran tried to "squeak out of it," saying they are not responsible for those proxies, but the US made clear it didn't buy that argument.
By around 1 a.m. ET, the battleground assessment came in, confirming no US casualties. Working through the night without sleep in secure rooms at the White House, national security teams put response options together, including plans to sanction Iran.
By early Wednesday morning, teams met again with the President, who was given an update on the latest assessment. That's when Trump made the final decision that the US response would be sanctions, signaling to advisers that the threat of escalation was off the table.
"They've stepped back -- now we've taken a bit of a step back," said a senior administration official.
Trump then began making his own edits on the draft of the speech, as did a handful of other national security advisers including Esper, Pompeo and Milley. As the White House prepared for an 11 a.m. ET address to the nation, advisers kept weighing in on the draft of the President's remarks, delaying Trump's address by nearly half an hour.
As junior staffers and reporters crowded into the red-carpet lined White House foyer, the President's top national security officials -- many wearing their military uniforms -- lined up on either side of the podium.
The wooden doors opened behind them and Trump -- silhouetted by late-morning sun -- emerged.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins, Jennifer Hanlser, Manu Raju, Alex Marquardt and Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.
Source link
Read the full article
0 notes
Text
#cats#sanders#bernie sanders#mittons#inauguration#biden inaugural festivities to feature national day of service on mlk day cnnpolitics#biden inauguration#kitty#lap cat#cat#us politics#bernie#bernie bros#hand woven#crocheting#crochet
21 notes
·
View notes
Text
Conspiracy theory - Hatsune Miku in the new post-rocket world launched by China.
Hello, dear readers, I'm here to bring you a bizarre theory involving the rocket launched by China and Hatsune Miku. Were you curious? So stay until the end.
The rocket
As you may know, China launched a rocket that ended up losing control, it can fall anywhere on the planet, it is impossible to know where. We can only hope that everything stay okay.
Project G
You may not have heard of the Project G. Um VR from Hatsune Miku that was announced last year. Btw, the game has a story, and it’s this story that I’m going to use for the theory.
Theory
On Project G's official Twitter, teaser tweets with Hatsune Miku's lines were posted. I will translate for you.
"Nice to meet you"
Her name is "Hatsune Miku". A lonely diva who is now the sole resident of INSPIX WORLD.
If you go there, you can discover something. Then we left for the east.
The sky was tinged with gray and all living things disappeared. No one knows why the world has become that way. There is no one to talk to.
She looked for someone to listen to her music and walked without any purpose.
"I'm Ravi. I've been waiting for someone here this whole time."
Would you like to send your message to the future Hatsune Miku?
An extremely powerful "ash phenomenon" bug that occurred in INSPIX WORLD, a virtual world made up of 0 and 1. Like a computer virus, it acts to destroy the world's configuration data.
A ruined building, it was a huge tower. A place where many people would have gathered before the world became that way.
"Okay, I'm going to sing."
In this world, Miku is alone in a world destroyed by something that is not well known what caused all that destruction.
The virus that is corrupting the world is Covid-19. The ash phenomenon would be what the sky will look like after the catastrophe. "They all came together in a huge tower", if we take into account that the tallest buildings in the world are in China ...
In addition to that we could send messages to the "future" Miku. These messages could serve to give hope to our diva looking for people to listen to her.
In the text, she speaks as if it were a virtual world, but as Miku is, I feel that this is how she sees things, even in the real world. How would she come to the real world? Perhaps Crypton has developed an Android and may have turned Miku into an AI (artificial intelligence, not to be confused with our IA). And when she wakes up, she will have a database of our messages. (At the time I sent her a cute message: 3).
On his journey, Miku encounters Ravvi, a huge sleeping robot. Japan has one of the largest robots in the world.
Ultimately, I hope that this rocket does not cause serious damage to our planet. 2021 is already being terrible from the start, worse than terrible!
Will we survive to hear Miku again?
This theory was made by me.
Project G blog
Theory blog
#Hatsune Miku#Hatsune Miku theory#china rocket: pentagon tracking out of control long march 5b rocket that could reenter earth&039;s atmosphere cnnpolitics#conspiracy theory#vocaloid#end of the world#covid19#corona pandemic#south china morning post#wolrd#project g#project sekai more more jump
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
#president trump#trump administration#donald trump jr#nancy pelosi#hillary clinton#fake news#cnnpolitics#facebook#fraud#mark zuckerberg#biden harris administration#afghan crisis#afganistan#usa news#keep america great#america first
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
I like how u can’t reblog adds on here, what r y’all worried about? The working class cyber bullying capitalism directly through companies? The well-being of some stupid adds? What’s the prob dawg?
#capitalism#adds#what are these tags#youtube music adds new library sorting options changes flagship playlist name my supermix youtube music#google photos maps timeline update adds new feature picture routes google photos#pentagon adds more trump loyalists to defense policy board cnnpolitics#reliance jio adds 89 9 million wireless subscribers vodafone idea airtel lose millions trai report reliance jio#I’m laughing at the tags more than anything rn
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
Only Time I Can Use This Format
#memes#dankmeme#dankmemes#meme#funny#election#election 2020#trump vs biden#biden piles up votes as he moves closer to finalizing a path to the white house cnnpolitics#trump news#trump#biden campaign#bidenforpresident
15 notes
·
View notes
Text
Impeach to Unify and Heal 💗
#colors#art#illustration#politics#heal#unityindiversity#inaugural address: biden crafts speech to unify a country in crisis cnnpolitics#unify#heal the nation#impeach45#impeachtrump
6 notes
·
View notes
Text
DID YALL SAW AOC'S STREAM LIKE
OMG
#ted yoho resigns from board of christian organization following aoc incident cnnpolitics#aoc#alexandria ocasio cortez#literal queen#literal legend
16 notes
·
View notes
Text
2020 road sign. ⚠️🦠☠️🧪🧼💊
#election certification: why the 2020 election is still not over cnnpolitics#christmas 2020#2020#election 2020#fear mongering#paranoia#president elect biden#election results#election#joe biden#kamala harris#president trump#donald trump#trump#social distancing#lock down#lockdown#covid lockdown#quarantine#face masks#face mask#covid 19#covidmemes#covid19#covid2020#covid test#covid vaccine#vaccine#corona vaccine#coronavirus
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
I know it's difficult currently financially but don't beat yourself down over what's happening. You are important.
Creator • @thefabstory
#we want change#time for change is now#climate change#change#2020 state polls show clear shift toward democrats since protests began cnnpolitics#unemployment#still unemployed#being unemployed sucks#unemployedlife#black women#dc comics#comic books#comics#me#dc universe#blackout#black people#black metal#death metal
191 notes
·
View notes
Text
This GOP senator is now Enemy No. 1 for Trump - CNN
This GOP senator is now Enemy No. 1 for Trump – CNN
On Friday afternoon, former President Donald Trump made it official: He is actively working to oust Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski in next year’s Republican primary. “Lisa Murkowski is bad for Alaska,” Trump said in a statement released from his Save America PAC. “Murkowski has got to go! Kelly Tshibaka is the candidate who can beat Murkowski-and she will. Kelly is a fighter who stands for Alaska…
View On WordPress
1 note
·
View note
Text
These are the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump
These are the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump
These are the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump
• Fact-check on Trump’s impeachment in the House.
Source
View On WordPress
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
Republican congressman slams 'bogus' claims by GOP colleagues downplaying riot on Capitol Hill
Republican congressman slams ‘bogus’ claims by GOP colleagues downplaying riot on Capitol Hill
The longtime congressman’s comments come as his party’s division grows between members who offer an inaccurate account of the insurgency and those who have consistently condemned the January 6 violence while blaming the blame on the insurgency. former President Donald Trump and his 2020 election lies for the attack. Upton was among 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for his role in…
View On WordPress
#congressman#Fred Upton: Republican congressman calls out &039;bogus&039; claims by GOP colleagues downplaying Capitol riot - CNNPolitics#International News#latest news#latest update#news#politics#us
1 note
·
View note
Text
The Arizona GOP representative struggles to justify the state bill that would eliminate the early voting list
The Arizona GOP representative struggles to justify the state bill that would eliminate the early voting list
Arizona GOP lawmakers tabled a bill, SB 1485, which would review the state’s permanent early voting list that allows a voter to automatically receive a ballot in the mail for each election. The account has since frozen, but it could be restored.
If the bill were passed, thousands of voters would risk being removed from the list – especially rural and disabled voters, seniors, black voters,…
View On WordPress
1 note
·
View note
Last Seen Blogs
sherridan-hughes
Sherridan Hughes
whiitequeens
* WHITE / QUEEN.
wonderfulworldofdecay
x-xx-decaying-sl0wly-x-xx
ask-this-plague-doctor
Plague Dr Thera
yurakaz
underneath it all we're just savages