Fox News: ‘US Base Under Attack by Barrage of Rockets After Biden Launched Series of Retaliatory Strikes’

 

This article on Fox News brings up a few questions in my mind:

  1.  Are we at war?
  2.  Odd that this seemingly important event is not being covered at CNN.
  3.  It’s amazing how displaying weakness invites attacks.  Every time.  Perhaps our opponents are not stupid.
  4.  It’s not amazing that our opponents did not try such things when Trump was President. Perhaps our opponents are not stupid.
  5.  I remind everyone that Joe Biden is the Commander in Chief of our armed forces.  Obviously, he would fly over there immediately to project his power, if only he could climb the steps to Air Force One.
  6.  After the way Biden and other powerful Democrats in power have treated Israel, I wonder how eager they will be to help us here?
  7.  I wonder if Putin or Xi played any role in this? I wonder if this is part of a bigger plan? I wonder if Biden wonders this?
  8.  President Biden’s only primary opponent in that 2024 election is Marianne Williamson. In the 2020 race, she said that her first act as president would be to tell then-New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, “Girlfriend, you are so on.” She also said that the only way Trump could be defeated was by “channeling love.”  These new events in Iran give her an opportunity to contrast her leadership style with Mr. Biden’s. I wonder what her approach to these attacks would be? I’ll be looking for her public statement on the matter any day now…
  9.  I wonder what Zelensky thinks of all this?
  10.  Joe Biden won over 50 million votes — perhaps many more than that. He currently enjoys popularity ratings of over 25%. I just don’t understand…
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  1. Keith Lowery Coolidge
    Keith Lowery
    @keithlowery

    Perhaps we can ask Ukraine for a loan of military equipment.  Or ask the Taliban.  They seem to have a surplus.

    Interesting video by Will Geary illustrating the level of support from U.S. tax payers to just one of many countries.  Each dot represents $100,000 of taxpayer money.

     

    • #1
  2. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Dr. Bastiat:  Are we at war?

    Sure. We have been for a long time. Not sure why Congress didn’t get to vote on it. I guess we’re not doing that anymore — the Biden administration can go to war in our name whether we like it or not.

    And I don’t.

    • #2
  3. DonG (CAGW is a Scam) Coolidge
    DonG (CAGW is a Scam)
    @DonG

    Dr. Bastiat: Joe Biden won over 50 million votes

    We have to stop saying things like “won votes”, “got voters”,  and “get out the vote”.   We need to be accurate and say “ballots gathered” or “ballots harvested” or “ballots credited”.   Our elections involve distributing many ballots and pronouncing tallies with a lot of mysterious stuff in-between.

    • #3
  4. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    The tortured grammar in the headline and story are remarkable.

    Hasty cut & paste job from something to “Iran proxy forces”.  Heavy on the “retaliatory” everywhere.  Gotta stuff that in.  Funky disconnect between “directed” and “authorized”.

     

    • #4
  5. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    I’ll just leave this here:

    https://ricochet.com/295627/if-youre-interested-in-defeating-isis-suit-up/

    The whole thing:

    During the Gulf War in 1991, we hit hundreds of target per day, down from as much as a thousand per day in the first couple of days. During the Kosovo airstrikes, we hit 50-100 targets per day. Now, it’s news if we hit 20 targets in a day. Note that comparing targets hit obviates any development in weapons or aircraft. A target is a target, and it’s either hit or not.

    We are not trying to fight this war; this is a political sop. It’s supposed to be enough to appease the warlike without alarming the peaceniks, and certainly without seriously damaging ISIS.

    I oppose escalating this to some sort of Bay-of-Absolutely-No-Pigs moment by committing US troops to a war that the commander-in-chief does not wish to win. The American people lawfully elected Barack Obama to the Presidency based, in part, on his promise to give up on Iraq and Afghanistan. Then, they re-elected him. So America has spoken, the administration has spoken, and the military is not allowed a voice in this. That’s  well and good, up until the commander-in-chief is actually trying not to win. He has other priorities, and those should be considered.

    Deciding whom you wish to see defeated is well and good, but if you want to defeat ISIS, you’ll have to defeat Obama first, and our GOP political leadership has so far not been interested in that.  They think that if they don’t look, the problem will just go away.

    And here we are.

    • #5
  6. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    This is fine.  Everybody knows Biden is a lover and not a War killer like Trump was.  I am sure Biden and Democratic’s will get some behind the scenes money for their people and all will be well.  As long as military (especially not Democrats) die it is all good.  

    • #6
  7. James Salerno Inactive
    James Salerno
    @JamesSalerno

    I don’t see Biden as weak. I think calling him weak is red meat for Neocons and we shouldn’t go down that road.

    I see Biden as both boisterous and idiotic. A very dangerous combo. He’s like the old man who still thinks he’s 24 and talks about going around and beating people up. Then passes out at the bar by 4:00 pm because he doesn’t realize that his twenties happened before the telephone was invented.

    Strength manifests in smart ways and stupid ways. Trump was smart strong, Biden is dumb strong.

    Trump never gave the scum the war in Syria that they wanted. Even when he escalated, that was due to his advisors lying to him. Which should have lead to court martials, but….. LOL!

    • #7
  8. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    James Salerno (View Comment):
    Trump never gave the scum the war in Syria that they wanted. Even when he escalated, that was due to his advisors lying to him. Which should have lead to court martials, but….. LOL!

    • #8
  9. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    James Salerno (View Comment):
    Trump never gave the scum the war in Syria that they wanted. Even when he escalated, that was due to his advisors lying to him. Which should have lead to court martials, but….. LOL!

    “Commander in chief.”  FIFY.

    • #9
  10. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Dr. Bastiat: It’s not amazing that our opponents did not try such things when Trump was President.  Perhaps our opponents are not stupid.

    This is a real phenomenon. The one event that has kept me in the Republican Party was the release of the Iran hostages upon Reagan’s inauguration: January 20, 1981. And in the year that followed, the number of tourists and students taken hostage or prisoner around the world and the plane hijackings dropped to near zero.

    • #10
  11. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    4.  It’s not amazing that our opponents did not try such things when Trump was President.  Perhaps our opponents are not stupid.

    The Russians did try something stupid in Syria when Trump was President on February 7, 2018:

    As the afternoon sun began to sink over the cradle of civilization on Feb. 7, 2018, a group of US Marines and Army Special Forces soldiers watched surveillance drone feeds in disbelief as a large enemy force amassed 20 miles away near the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. The combined group of Syrian forces and Russian mercenaries from the infamous Kremlin-linked Wagner Group swelled to an estimated 500 troops by early evening. With them were 27 vehicles — including Russian T-72 tanks and armored personnel carriers.

    At approximately 10:30 p.m., the approaching column of Russian and Syrian vehicles opened fire on the tiny outpost. Tank, artillery, and mortar fire bombarded the Americans as they ran for their defensive positions and returned fire with machine guns and anti-tank missiles.

    With the expert direction of Air Force combat controllers and others calling in air and indirect-fire support, waves of F-22 fighters, F-15E strike fighters, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, AC-130 gunships, B-52 bombers, MQ-9 Reaper drones, and heavy Marine artillery relentlessly punished the enemy force.

    “To make it short, we’ve had our [redacted] asses kicked,” one Wagner Group veteran reportedly says in a recording. “Yeah so, one squadron lost 200 people immediately … Another one lost 10 people, and I don’t know about the third squadron, but it got torn up pretty badly too … They tore us to pieces.”

    • #11
  12. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    A  friend who coached an eighth-grade boys basketball team told me that once in a game where his team was getting hammered, he sent in a rather spastic bench-warmer to cover the slick point guard for the other team just to give his player some playing time.  The rather spastic bench-warmer waved his arms and moved randomly with great enthusiasm and the slick point guard got mildly frustrated because this defender did not know enough to take a fake.  The spastic accidentally blocked a couple of passes and even drew a charge while committing only two fouls himself.

    That appears to be the new American strategy–convince our enemies there is no point in lots of clever misdirection because we will be too dumb to notice and take the bait.  And there will be no consistency or deep thought in what we do.  We will invariably give an opening to our enemies so they will move rashly and then when poll data says POTUS looks weak, we will overreact such that both sides are worse off than when they started.

    Xi or Putin or the mullahs listen to the spectacularly stupid musing of Biden and Harris and see weakness but then think, no, the USA cannot be that stupid–there must be somebody smarter actually running things.  This is a ruse of some kind.  Or is it?  They could not possibly allow a senile malignant buffoon or his cackling airhead second-in-command to have control over nukes.  Or could they?  Is this the time to move or a dangerous trap?

    We have put our enemies in the same position as the driver who wants to pass the car driven by the elderly couple and the truck in front of them but they have had that left turn signal on for miles…are they going to make a move to pass or are they just unconscious?

    • #12
  13. Metalheaddoc Member
    Metalheaddoc
    @Metalheaddoc

    Do we still have warfighting generals? Or have they all been replaced by DEI warriors  and SJW virtue signalers like General Milley?

    We seem to do well in isolated battles against minor league teams. How good are we against a big enemy in prolonged battle? The West has to worry about public opinion which will quickly tire of bodybags. I don’t think the Russians or Chinese will worry so much about their peoples opinions. I also suspect the Russian and Chinese peoples have more martial spirit and a win-baby-win attitude than the Western peoples. After the drawdown after the fall of the USSR, I don’t think we have the same martial vigor nor the same war inventory or manufacturing capabilities for prolonged war. 

    Have any of the NATO countries (other than the UK) had any real combat experience since 1945? Does the burgeoning Eastern Coalition have any fear of the Belgian or Norwegian army? At least the Eastern European countries have oppression under the Soviet boot fresh in their minds and will put up a fight. I fear the soft Western armies function more as SJW programs and civil service jobs. 

    • #13
  14. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    BDB (View Comment):

    The tortured grammar in the headline and story are remarkable.

    Hasty cut & paste job from something to “Iran proxy forces”. Heavy on the “retaliatory” everywhere. Gotta stuff that in. Funky disconnect between “directed” and “authorized”.

     

    Yeah, the framing is odd. Iran hits one of our facilities, we paste them back, and the story makes it seem like they’re retaliating for something we did for no reason. 

    Are we at war? With Iran? Yes; for four decades and change. 

    • #14
  15. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Dr. Bastiat: Joe Biden won over 50 million votes — perhaps many more than that. He currently enjoys popularity ratings of over 25%. I just don’t understand…

    Which is why the election is suspect in the minds of many.  Biden has by far a worse personality and manners than Trump, yet he got over 81 million votyes?  More than Barack or Hillary?

    • #15
  16. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    Metalheaddoc (View Comment):

    Have any of the NATO countries (other than the UK) had any real combat experience since 1945? Does the burgeoning Eastern Coalition have any fear of the Belgian or Norwegian army? At least the Eastern European countries have oppression under the Soviet boot fresh in their minds and will put up a fight. I fear the soft Western armies function more as SJW programs and civil service jobs.

    Here is a list of countries that had over 100 soldiers in Afghanistan:

    NATO Allies and Partners with at least over 100 soldiers as part of the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan include Poland, Mongolia, Portugal, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria

    Ukraine took the lead of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan on 11 August 2003.

    Missing from the list is the UK and Germany, and some European nations that had under 100 soldiers in Afghanistan.

    US forces have conducted training exercises with Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Poland on a regular basis as well as the Baltic States, to include winter warfare training.

    • #16
  17. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Doug Watt (View Comment):

    Metalheaddoc (View Comment):

    Have any of the NATO countries (other than the UK) had any real combat experience since 1945? Does the burgeoning Eastern Coalition have any fear of the Belgian or Norwegian army? At least the Eastern European countries have oppression under the Soviet boot fresh in their minds and will put up a fight. I fear the soft Western armies function more as SJW programs and civil service jobs.

    Here is a list of countries that had over 100 soldiers in Afghanistan:

    NATO Allies and Partners with at least over 100 soldiers as part of the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan include Poland, Mongolia, Portugal, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria

    Ukraine took the lead of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan on 11 August 2003.

    Missing from the list is the UK and Germany, and some European nations that had under 100 soldiers in Afghanistan.

    US forces have conducted training exercises with Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Poland on a regular basis as well as the Baltic States, to include winter warfare training.

    Hear, Hear, and that list feels incomplete.

    • #17
  18. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Anybody who thinks the Norwegian Army is just playing at things hasn’t been paying attention.

    I assume sight unseen that their politics are all screwed up over there, but I know they field some serious dudes, for serious purpose.

    • #18
  19. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    BDB (View Comment):

    Doug Watt (View Comment):

    Metalheaddoc (View Comment):

    Have any of the NATO countries (other than the UK) had any real combat experience since 1945? Does the burgeoning Eastern Coalition have any fear of the Belgian or Norwegian army? At least the Eastern European countries have oppression under the Soviet boot fresh in their minds and will put up a fight. I fear the soft Western armies function more as SJW programs and civil service jobs.

    Here is a list of countries that had over 100 soldiers in Afghanistan:

    NATO Allies and Partners with at least over 100 soldiers as part of the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan include Poland, Mongolia, Portugal, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria

    Ukraine took the lead of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan on 11 August 2003.

    Missing from the list is the UK and Germany, and some European nations that had under 100 soldiers in Afghanistan.

    US forces have conducted training exercises with Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Poland on a regular basis as well as the Baltic States, to include winter warfare training.

    Hear, Hear, and that list feels incomplete.

    Yes, the list is incomplete. Countries like Croatia, Italy, Greece, and others were also involved in Afghanistan.

    • #19
  20. ToryWarWriter Coolidge
    ToryWarWriter
    @ToryWarWriter

    Stad (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: Joe Biden won over 50 million votes — perhaps many more than that. He currently enjoys popularity ratings of over 25%. I just don’t understand…

    Which is why the election is suspect in the minds of many. Biden has by far a worse personality and manners than Trump, yet he got over 81 million votyes? More than Barack or Hillary?

    Yeah hes just way more popular than  Barack Obama.  Duh.

    • #20
  21. ToryWarWriter Coolidge
    ToryWarWriter
    @ToryWarWriter

    Dont worry the war in Syria wont be going on for much longer.  I mean with Saudi Arabia and Turkey realigning with the Russia/Chinese axis.  America wont be able to resupply its troops in its illegal occupation of 70 percent of the country.

    Remember Ukraine  was totally worth, losing your currency reserve status, domination of the middle east,  and having to bail out all those banks.

     

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/19/irans-raisi-welcomes-invitation-by-saudi-king-official

     

    • #21
  22. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Doug Watt (View Comment):
    Here is a list of countries that had over 100 soldiers in Afghanistan:

    Does “over 100” mean anything? There are probably four dozen NGOs in Afghanistan with over 100.

    • #22
  23. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Doug Watt (View Comment):
    Here is a list of countries that had over 100 soldiers in Afghanistan:

    Does “over 100” mean anything? There are probably four dozen NGOs in Afghanistan with over 100.

    As arbitrary cut-offs go, it’s not bad.

    • #23
  24. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Doug Watt (View Comment):

    BDB (View Comment):

    Doug Watt (View Comment):

    Metalheaddoc (View Comment):

    Have any of the NATO countries (other than the UK) had any real combat experience since 1945? Does the burgeoning Eastern Coalition have any fear of the Belgian or Norwegian army? At least the Eastern European countries have oppression under the Soviet boot fresh in their minds and will put up a fight. I fear the soft Western armies function more as SJW programs and civil service jobs.

    Here is a list of countries that had over 100 soldiers in Afghanistan:

    NATO Allies and Partners with at least over 100 soldiers as part of the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan include Poland, Mongolia, Portugal, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria

    Ukraine took the lead of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan on 11 August 2003.

    Missing from the list is the UK and Germany, and some European nations that had under 100 soldiers in Afghanistan.

    US forces have conducted training exercises with Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Poland on a regular basis as well as the Baltic States, to include winter warfare training.

    Hear, Hear, and that list feels incomplete.

    Yes, the list is incomplete. Countries like Croatia, Italy, Greece, and others were also involved in Afghanistan.

    I believe that Australia had far more than 100, but maybe I just had a lot of exposure at Kandahar.

    • #24
  25. Gary McVey Contributor
    Gary McVey
    @GaryMcVey

    Stad (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: Joe Biden won over 50 million votes — perhaps many more than that. He currently enjoys popularity ratings of over 25%. I just don’t understand…

    Which is why the election is suspect in the minds of many. Biden has by far a worse personality and manners than Trump, yet he got over 81 million votyes? More than Barack or Hillary?

    I don’t have to like it, but yes, he did. Why is that hard to believe? Look who Obama ran against: McCain and Romney. Nobody hated those two, and nobody hates them now except some conservatives.

     

    • #25
  26. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    Stad (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: Joe Biden won over 50 million votes — perhaps many more than that. He currently enjoys popularity ratings of over 25%. I just don’t understand…

    Which is why the election is suspect in the minds of many. Biden has by far a worse personality and manners than Trump, yet he got over 81 million votyes? More than Barack or Hillary?

    I don’t have to like it, but yes, he did. Why is that hard to believe? Look who Obama ran against: McCain and Romney. Nobody hated those two, and nobody hates them now except some conservatives.

     

    Nobody hated McCain and Romney, especially when they were running for President?

    Do tell, what color is the sky in your world?

    • #26
  27. Gary McVey Contributor
    Gary McVey
    @GaryMcVey

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    Stad (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: Joe Biden won over 50 million votes — perhaps many more than that. He currently enjoys popularity ratings of over 25%. I just don’t understand…

    Which is why the election is suspect in the minds of many. Biden has by far a worse personality and manners than Trump, yet he got over 81 million votyes? More than Barack or Hillary?

    I don’t have to like it, but yes, he did. Why is that hard to believe? Look who Obama ran against: McCain and Romney. Nobody hated those two, and nobody hates them now except some conservatives.

     

    Nobody hated McCain and Romney, especially when they were running for President?

    Do tell, what color is the sky in your world?

    Evidently it’s clearer than yours. In what imaginary universe were they more hated than Trump? In my lifetime no president has been as loved and hated as Trump. 

    Once Trump was elected, he increased his vote by millions…and increased Democrat votes by millions more. 

    • #27
  28. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    Stad (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: Joe Biden won over 50 million votes — perhaps many more than that. He currently enjoys popularity ratings of over 25%. I just don’t understand…

    Which is why the election is suspect in the minds of many. Biden has by far a worse personality and manners than Trump, yet he got over 81 million votyes? More than Barack or Hillary?

    I don’t have to like it, but yes, he did. Why is that hard to believe? Look who Obama ran against: McCain and Romney. Nobody hated those two, and nobody hates them now except some conservatives.

     

    Nobody hated McCain and Romney, especially when they were running for President?

    Do tell, what color is the sky in your world?

    Evidently it’s clearer than yours. In what imaginary universe were they more hated than Trump? In my lifetime no president has been as loved and hated as Trump.

    But you didn’t write “nobody hated those two more than they hated Trump,” you wrote “nobody hated those two.”  Evidently you forgot “binders of women” etc.

     

    Once Trump was elected, he increased his vote by millions…and increased Democrat votes by millions more.

    Still waiting on evidence those “millions more” Democrat votes were legitimate votes from actual people.

    • #28
  29. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    Stad (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: Joe Biden won over 50 million votes — perhaps many more than that. He currently enjoys popularity ratings of over 25%. I just don’t understand…

    Which is why the election is suspect in the minds of many. Biden has by far a worse personality and manners than Trump, yet he got over 81 million votyes? More than Barack or Hillary?

    I don’t have to like it, but yes, he did. Why is that hard to believe? Look who Obama ran against: McCain and Romney. Nobody hated those two, and nobody hates them now except some conservatives.

     

    I never hated Romney, and I always disliked McCain.  However, I voted for both of them with a smile on my face because I knew the alternative (Barack Hussein Obama) was bad . . .

    • #29
  30. Metalheaddoc Member
    Metalheaddoc
    @Metalheaddoc

    Doug Watt (View Comment):

    Metalheaddoc (View Comment):

    Have any of the NATO countries (other than the UK) had any real combat experience since 1945? Does the burgeoning Eastern Coalition have any fear of the Belgian or Norwegian army? At least the Eastern European countries have oppression under the Soviet boot fresh in their minds and will put up a fight. I fear the soft Western armies function more as SJW programs and civil service jobs.

    Here is a list of countries that had over 100 soldiers in Afghanistan:

    NATO Allies and Partners with at least over 100 soldiers as part of the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan include Poland, Mongolia, Portugal, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria

    Ukraine took the lead of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan on 11 August 2003.

    Missing from the list is the UK and Germany, and some European nations that had under 100 soldiers in Afghanistan.

    US forces have conducted training exercises with Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Poland on a regular basis as well as the Baltic States, to include winter warfare training.

    But what did they do? Did they participate in combat operations? Did they lead combat operations or just do whatever the Americans told them to do? I suppose training exercises are all well and good. I guess that is how you learn. But training and experience aren’t the same. I know I am talking out of my arse since I have never participated in anything remotely dangerous or hostile. I just fear that just as the mighty feared Red Army has been exposed as a paper tiger, so will the rest of NATO when push comes to shove. 

    Tonga sent troops to Afghanistan too. That doesn’t make them some kind of formidable fighting force. 

    • #30
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