Posted on 01/18/2019 8:07:14 PM PST by MtnClimber
The September 8 Iranian missile attack on Kurdish leaders meeting in Koya in northern Iraq was widely described in the press at the time as “a warning to Washington, Riyadh, and Jerusalem.” For it was taken as a demonstration of Iran’s military prowess. The attack included seven Fateh 11-B missiles, and apparently they hit their mark exactly, killing nearly a dozen high-ranking Iranian Kurds. Now, four months later, its significance can be more soberly evaluated......
The strike on Koya showed Iran’s enemies that it now had missiles than were both longer-range and more accurate than anything it had previously used. The attack should be seen in the context larger than that of Kurdish-Iraniani hostilities. It was a threat, too, to Saudi Arabia, that the Iranian-backed Houthis could now receive and use these ballistic missiles to target Riyadh, and inflict the kind of damage that so far the Houthis have been unable to do with less advanced Iranian weapons...…..
But the Trump Administration is not worried; in mid-July, with his characteristic all-caps flair, President Trump made a Twitter threat the Iranians must surely be taking to heart: “NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE.”
As for Israel, the Israelis are still less likely than Washington to have been cowed by this Iranian demonstration of missile prowess. Consider how Israel has responded to the only Iranian challenges — two — it has had to face. In February, Israel reported that a single armed Iranian drone flew into its airspace. Israel promptly shot it down, and then to make point, it then launched massive air raids on Iranian-linked targets in Syria, and claimed to have wiped out half of Syria’s air defenses in the process.
(Excerpt) Read more at jihadwatch.org ...
A very insightful article. I highly recommend.
I believe the President is 100% serious about Iran.
The Iranian mullahs got used to ValJar working with the Lying Kenyan.
There’s a new sheriff in town.
Not sure how the Iranian Shiites put up with Zer0 trying to put in the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the middle east revolutions. Maybe the Shiites thought they would be easy pickings or easily coopted.
For those who don’t know, the main difference between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims (who kill each other) is that the Sunni Muslims believe that their Imams should be selected based on adherence to the Koran while the Shiite Muslims believe that their Imams should be selected based on the quality of their bloodlines to Mohammed.
I would think the Saudi Sunnis would be really mad at Obama for giving an ocean full of cash to Iran.
FYI
“But that attack is unlikely to worry Washington, for any Iranian missile attack on American tankers would be met with an overwhelming response. As for Israel, it has already demonstrated, over many months, how ferociously it can respond. Washington’s overwhelming response is likely but still only theoretical; Israel’s answer has actually, and repeatedly, been given, with the promise, always, of “there’s more where that came from.” An Israeli officer explained: “If it rains in Israel, it will pour in Iran.””
Pay attention World Leaders. THIS is how you prevent wars. You maintain an overwhelming ability to respond and then you use it when the enemy provokes its use. These provocations will be intermittent and intended to find the one time you don’t respond in kind. THEN, you have lost deterrence and you are at war. Many more people will die if your will wavers and you lose deterrence than if you judiciously respond in kind to each provocation. It’s chess with human lives. But that is the game you signed on to play when you became the leader. (Note to Obama. Your “leading from behind” cost many more good men’s lives than were necessary. You failed to lead. The only thing that kept America out of a war while you occupied the Presidency was the fear you would be replaced by a conservative.)
But given our low expectations of that media, getting things one-third right — the Koya attack was a warning only to Riyadh — is, I suppose, in the current environment of slovenly reporting, the best that we can hope for.
The US does not want a large scale open war in the Middle East. But will not stop if provoked. I'm convinced that is also the case with Turkey. Yes, NATO ally. (sort of) We can in Syria extract huge revenge, without the news reporting or knowing who did it. But the targets WILL.
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