Alarm as Pentagon Confirms Deployment of US Troops to Israel
"Netanyahu is as close as he has ever been to his ultimate wish: making the U.S. fight Iran on Israel's behalf," wrote one journalist.
There is a lot about this that is nuts, but one thing that really jumps out at me.
It seems like Netanyahu is planning an October surprise to shank Harris. And it seems like he is doing it in broad daylight. It certainly seems like a massive offensive strike on Iran one or two weeks before the election is a straightforward way to throw a close election to Trump.
But with this I have to ask: are Biden and Harris assisting with a plan that is clearly intended to cost Harris the election?
I want to say that they surely must've told Israel not to launch anything before election day. But based in their actions so far, it doesn't seem like they're imposing a "no election interference against us personally" requirement as a condition of their assistance.
I guess we'll see.
This is a weird thing to say, but I actually don't think that there's any indication that Harris or Trump would do anything substantially different with regard to Israel, but the biggest change is that if Trump wins, I suspect that coverage of this will disappear behind all the coverage of his domestic chaos. At least if Harris is president I think there is a chance we see the press maintain a modicrum of interest in covering this.
Either way, words can't describe my anger that Harris appears to be prepared to throw the election over her support for genocide. It is an unreal situation to watch.
Trump would tell Netanyahu to nuke the place and he'd fucking do it. It would be a catastrophe the likes of which we haven't seen since WWII.
The insanity is not that it is Republicans or Democrats
The insane part is that America is just sleep walking straight into a war that will probably escalate into something much bigger and no one wants to do anything about it.
God help us all
Nobody snatches defeat from the jaws of victory like a Democrat.
if they money you get from AIPAC is more than the money you get as US presidency and without the headache of being president, I wounder if Kamala care enough to be a president.
It seems like Netanyahu is planning an October surprise to shank Harris. And it seems like he is doing it in broad daylight. It certainly seems like a massive offensive strike on Iran one or two weeks before the election is a straightforward way to throw a close election to Trump.
Do you realize that israel government is waging war only because they are backed by USA?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Israel_in_the_Israel%E2%80%93Hamas_war
I'm not sure what your point is.
I understand that this is in a real sense the US's war, and that Biden is not being dragged into it, he's fully committed to it. I'm not sure what that changes about my observation that it's weird that Harris appears to be facilitating an electoral hit job on herself.
Yes, and zios will be even more backed by Trump (supposedly).
It's not even a hidden thing. Yahoo wants Trump. Grift recognize grift.
It feels like they are totally beholden to Israel.
If they push back hard, they alienate swing voters who like Israel from the old days, aka apocalypse.
This is actually a persistent myth: there is no evidence that they are beholden to a constituency that would punish them for any actions that curtail Israel.
Israel's actions are wildly unpopular across the electorate. They are unpopular with nearly all Democrats as well as most independents and a very large plurally of Republicans. I have seen numerous polls that show that there is a very significant number of voters that Harris is losing over this, and I have seen absolutely nothing to indicate that there is any measurable cost to her speaking out against Israel at all. Which is really sad. Because it means that this is absolutely a moral choice on her part. This is not an electoral choice at all.
If Harris is in on a plan to strike Iran it wouldn't cost her the election in the US. All they have to do is say, "We received credible intelligence that Iran had decided to sprint for a nuclear warhead. We had to act in a timely manner."
What would cost her the election is if an American soldier dies to an Iranian missile and Biden/Harris doesn't immediately go hard on Iran. Which makes this a ridiculously irresponsible move by Biden.
It wouldnt even need to be much of a shanking for her to lose. A simple paper cut might be enough.
Perhaps if he does that, then Joe and Harris will be forced to materially change their tune and take some real action in an attempt to save the elction.
This is one of those times we should remind ourselves that if we as Redditors can plainly see something so out in the open and obvious, then almost certainly the executive branch can see it too. The odds of them knowing something we don’t know are overwhelmingly greater than the reverse.
I see this often, and it's frequently, consistently not the case.
I understand the sense in this belief, but if you review history over just the last five years you can consistently see this not being true over and over. Going all the way back to the Iraq War: it was obvious at the time that the Bush administration was lying about their claimed evidence that there was an active program creating weapons of mass destruction. And at the time, there was a deafening movement of regular voters who loudly protested that we were absolutely convinced that it was complete and obvious bullshit.
And people like JOE BIDEN loudly expressed exactly what you're saying: they know things we don't know. They know what they're doing.
And they didn't! They did not have any meaningful information we didn't have!
Sadly, it's debatable whether they knew what they were doing. Did they expect it would be such a historic clusterfuck? That it would create decades of worsening outcomes for us? Probably not. But did they know they were making up a fake case for war because they wanted to let off some anger over 9/11 by killing hundreds and hundreds of THOUSANDS uninvolved Muslims, and build some new military bases near oil in the process? Yes. Obviously yes.
And after the fact, the people who claimed that they knew things that we didn't became president and Secretary of State.
They do not know something we don't know. They are doing exactly what this looks like. Biden would absolutely go to war with Iran just to serve the cause of Zionism even though he knows that Benjamin Netanyahu is a fascist. That is exactly what this is. There's not chess logic behind this, you can absolutely know everything you need to if you read newspapers regularly.
Oh come on, the header is a clickbait. There is a US military base in Israel already, it's been there for years. The article is about an announcement that they are sending another missile defense battery with personnel alongside
There are 100 more US soldiers deployed, aren't there? I'm not a US citizen, but I still wonder why more troops are needed to help Israel in an war of aggression that violates international law.
Oh thank you
I'd like to refer you to my reply to a similar comment: https://slrpnk.net/post/14228501/11555288
Yeah, I see someone already told you that American soldiers have been there already, long ago this new deployment. But they didn't bother to prove it to you, and you didn't believe them.
Well, let me Google it for you. Very quick search reveals this article from 2017:
https://apnews.com/general-news-2ccf317f293d4be59b92cec5554c3db4
Back then it was "dozens of soldiers", nothing close to thousands another person claimed, though. But I think it's safe to assume the numbers grew since then.
It's only a huge deal if we talk about doing the same for actual allies like Ukraine instead of Netanyahu's rogue regime
Nothing to see here, y'all! \s
I feel so bad for the people being deployed and their families. These people are being positioned to be triggers for a war against Iran. They believe it will be easier to manufacture consent for that war if the administration (whichever one we have) can point to dead Americans. Sick shit.
There's plenty of dead Americans already on both sides of this conflict. But somehow the brown ones don't get mentioned.
We both know the only color that will matter here is green. The second an American soldier is killed by an Iranian missile Trump and the GOP will campaign on full war with Iran. I honestly don't know what's going on with Biden, this is ridiculously bad for any attempt to reduce tensions.
Manufacture consent? That's gotta be the phrase for what's been happening with media coverage about anything China related. The media really seems to be playing up the idea of a war with China so that the population would accept and support said war. We should not. I don't really like China and they've even ruined my favorite videogame, but war is good for noone.
I hate how I can't even comfort myself by knowing this idiocy will cost them the election because these fucks are the less horrible option.
Yep, this is coming from the most 'leftist' candidates we are allowed to vote for. Pretty fucked up options we get to choose from. I hate it here.
You can always vote more left, and should vote more left if you live in a dem stronghold like California.
US President Joe Biden has said he is "absolutely, positively" urging Israel to stop firing at UN peacekeepers during its conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, following two incidents in 48 hours. Source
Some hours later: Biden absolutely, positively sends troops to help Israel out. WTF...
To support UN peacekeepers, right?
... right?
"absolutely, positively"
Wtf is going on in this comments section? They are sending an anti air battery to protect them against rocket fire, but the bulk of the comments are acting like they are sending in troops to go in on the ground into Gaza/Lebanon.
Does really noone even bother to read the article?
This emboldens the bully Israel. Now they know that no matter who they pick on, they will never feel any real counter-attacks because the US will stop them all. This encourages them to continue their attacks and to pick new fights because there will never be any consequences. If Biden wants to encourage Netanyahu to stop his wars of aggression, he needs to make Israel second guess their attacks.
This move absolutely counters his message for a ceasefire. This will embolden them to keep fighting.
Lemmy is too obsessed with elections and swallowed the bait. Seeing everyone's reaction I did.
Luckily I've looked a bit further down the thread to find something not about elections, and saw this comment.
The title is hella misleading and clickbait. We should restrict people from posting such BS.
Clickbait bullshit. The Department of Defense statement clarifies the US "troops" are just the crew required to operate the air defense battery equipment the US has been supplying to Israel for a while now.
This is not the first time the United States has deployed a THAAD battery to the region. The President directed the military to deploy a THAAD battery to the Middle East last year following the October 7th attacks to defend American troops and interests in the region.
Again, nothing new or different about this. The US is not putting boots on the ground to shoot people up. At least not yet.
No, you're very mistaken. Let me explain.
In the past, the US has stationed supporting troops off of Israel, in battleships far away. It's meant to provide support while keeping things calm.
The reason that putting any soldiers IN Israel is significant is that it means that if Iran tries to kill any Israeli soldiers, they can't do it without risking killing Americans. And if they kill an American, it is understood that we will retaliate and they will be at war with the United States of America.
That's the point of sending 100 troops to offer "tech support". It's to deliberately create conditions that could start a war. If you ask a general, they'll claim that it's just shrewd tactics, because letting Iran know all this means that good judgment will prevent them from attacking Israel. But every war in history is preceded by people making those claims (even when they don't believe them) before going to war.
This is foreplay. This is how you flirt when you're a NatSec pervert thinking of going to war against someone.
And don't you think that 100 troops deployed in Israel means that the US is actively defending Israel? We're already past the point of the US enabling Israel aggressions and rabid rogue actions and the large scale genocide. The US will fight the wars started by Israel
Yeah we don't share our real defense tech with allies, even Israel. THAAD is legit platform we field and this would not let any IDF forces near.
Imagine dying not to protect US people or not even their interest.
Won't be the first time.
Biden is really trying to start a whole new war and make the Democrats lose this election.
Honestly, I think Biden supports this unwaveringly because it aligns with US policy to keep the region destabilized.
I mean they helped overthrow the Shah, aided the Taliban in fighting the soviets, invaded Iraq and Kuwait (which led directly to the creation of jihadist state -- ISIS), aided a US-aligned faction in the Syrian civil war, helped put down the 2011 democratic revolutions... there is so much more.
And for what? To keep them from realizing they are all arabs and are sitting on the largest collective reserves of oil in the world...
Evil Empire.
He is petty enough to do that. We'll and doesn't seem to give a shit about what terrible things Israel does
Biden has always been a narcissist. And many 80 year olds do get pretty petty and selfish, from what I've seen. We really need an age cap on government service so we dont have to go through this again. On supreme court justices and congressman too. Dying on the bench or in office of old age is wildly unacceptable for such important roles. GTFO.
You’ve already been participating: The failed aid pier had one use, and it was a military one.
It's been more than 75 years of participation.
Now we’ve got to fucking participate in it?
Ah yes, killing all those innocent civilians hidden in incoming Iranian ballistic missiles...
Right. We will be defending Israel from the incoming Iranian ballistic missiles after they kill innocent civilians on a scale larger than they already have been, prompting a response from Iran large enough that the iron dome is not capable of handing it. Which totally doesn't make us participants. We're not directly doing the bloodshed, just enabling it and defending Israel from feeling any consequences.
So hold on, no troops in Ukraine, because they're not NATO, but troops in Israel no problem?
Or is it because US is scared shitless of Putin? Or is it because a lot of prople sympathise eith Putin?
Maybe there's no profit in aiding Ukraine?
We have a top secret base there, just like Korea and Vietnam early troops usually come in and break shit you can't let go.
No it's because Russia is preoccupied and we're testing near peer weapons from 3+decades ago there with little to no risk to mainland usa. It's morally wrong sure but it does at least make sense.
I mean sorta but not really, we're selling most stuff at a loss. The benefit is really seeing how well our stuff works against the enemy or was designed to fight. Don't get me wrong people are getting rich but that's from buying more weapons to replace the ones we sold.
Biden is trying really hard to lose the election for the democrats.
What blackmail does Netanyahu have on the guy? This is such a bad move.
What blackmail does Netanyahu have on the guy?
It’s either court centrist Zionists or let Trump win. There’s no alternative.
It's a numbers game. There are WAY more Jewish people in the US than there are Arabs (~7.5 vs 3.5 million, according to a quick Google search).
Strategically, those Jewish voters are also more likely to switch to a Republican vote than the Arabs, regardless. It would take 2 Arabs (or any other Democratic voter) sitting out to counter a single Democratic voter switching to a Republican vote.
Granted, none of this accounts for voter locations (because only the 7 swing states matter), voter enthusiasm, claims of national security, or (most importantly of all) ethics.
People are downvoting you because they don’t like the outcome, not because they disagree with your argument.
Now why exactly are we doing that?
The second paragraph of the article provides their explanation.
Yeah, the "explanation" is so dumb and misleading that it's not worth quoting. Just say that it exists. That's good enough for the imperial core.
Oh shit. Either he’s trolling Harris’s campaign or they really are a cult. Very popular decision joe, sure people will forget till november.
I got to believe Bibi has him by the balls somehow. It's the only thing that makes sense.
Can we article 25 this fool? Harris might have a better chance if she's already been president for a bit anyway.
It’s quite obvious the Israelis have many US politicians either in their payroll, or have dirt on them. That-s pretty much standard operating procedure for the Israeli intelligence services. They are masters at those things. All you have to see is their depth of infiltration in Muslim countries.
I hate that, but I must admit they are impressive.
But Harris will most likely just send more troops. She did confirm she „supports” israel.
Harris might have a better chance
For sure. Good luck grabbing her by the balls.
You think it's just Biden that has hands in this? Israel would never have been so bold if the USA didn't move it's embassy to Jerusalem and that choice was not Bidens.
Governments and rulers had every peasant below them by the balls for centuries. What are you going to do about troops being deployed to aid israel?
cult
I have only heard this used in referring to Republicans. How did you come up with that description, especially in this context?
One day closer to World War 3, I guess.
Remember you HAVE to vote for the genocide!
Doubt either GOP or DEM would change course. Any third party that said f Isreal that support abortion rights and right to bear arms?
In an alternative timeline, Biden finally grows a pair, cancels this and other weapon shipments and the election ends with a landslide.
It’s right there Joe, it would be a bigger power move than him stepping down.
He needed 2 or 3 years to explore student loans. Maybe this is more complicated, so it will take infinitely longer.
In the alternate universe where that could happen, we wouldn't have gotten anywhere close to the Israel situation, or a string of conservative Democrats in office.
Our best hope is to pull a multiverse switcheroo and swap our Biden (and our Harris) with doppelgangers from the universe where the Democrats are the party of the left.
to stop Netanyahu right.... right ??? padme shook face*
Stop him? But he isn't finished yet...?
Well time to find out if Iran has a nuke and if we get to solve climate change by inducing a nuclear winter(yes I know nuclear winter isn't real).
yes I know nuclear winter isn’t real
That's not a consensus view.
According to a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Nature Food in August 2022, a full-scale nuclear war between the United States and Russia, which together hold more than 90% of the world's nuclear weapons, would kill 360 million people directly and more than 5 billion indirectly by starvation during a nuclear winter.
Another paper published that year, from the Tohoku University Earth science scholar Kunio Kaiho, compared the impact of nuclear winter scenarios on marine and terrestrial animal life with that of historical extinction events. Kaiho estimated that a minor nuclear war (which he defined as a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan or an event of equivalent magnitude) would cause extinctions of 10–20% of species on its own, while a major nuclear war (defined as a nuclear exchange between United States and Russia) would cause the extinctions of 40–50% of animal species...
There isn't currently a scientific consensus, as wikipedia should be pointing out, with studies differing massively depending mostly on what model of soil uptake and preservation in atmosphere is used.
We know that the majority of in air debris would not come from the explosion, which is designed to minimize fallout in all modern weapons and deployment models, but from the resulting fires. We also know from previous tests the resulting fires don't actually last long as they tend to burn through areas quickly.
In short it's not a sure thing, and if any cooling effect does occur it wouldn't start to touch the average heating we've introduced through climate change.
Is anyone really alarmed, this was inevitable.
As an aside, "THAAD battery" sounds like someone harnessed exasperation towards a rich kid and converted it into electricity 😁
The people are fools and leaders are cunts.
Oh fuck.
They got lithium? Or oil? Or Jesus Christ! They got jeebus?
Genocidal cult, meet your daddy.
"the Israelis are clearly planning something for Iran that is going to cause a retaliation they know their own systems are unable to take."
This has me very worried. What the heck are they planning that the US would send its troops to operate a THAAD? What are they going to do that would cause that severe of a response from Iranian forces?
"Nothing in current law authorizes the United States to conduct offensive military action against Iran."
Alas, that's technically wrong, because of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AuthorizationforUseofMilitaryForceof2001#Effortsforrepeal
The 2001 AUMF has been widely perceived as a bill that grants the President powers to unilaterally wage perpetual "worldwide wars"
Vance is right about one thing - the 2001 AUMF has got to be repealed.
If you only had scrolled down just a little bit:
That's funny (but sadly very true). I see it now, it just federated late to my instance.
BTW, why'd you downvote me? I'd have thought from that comment we're actually agreed, but your downvote confused me on your viewpoint..
Sounds like someone is trying to immanentize the eschaton.
So, a couple weeks ago Biden was "feeling comfortable" with a ceasefire, but now it seems that he's comfortable with escalating it by sending american troops. Very cool!
100 troops is not enough to invade Iran, you silly armchair-general fucks commenting here.
Not the point.
What happens when Iran manages to kill an American soldier a week before the election?
So why did he send them? To help with tel aviv mcdonalds understaffing issue?
Anti missile and aircraft systems are obviously the #1 targets in any attack. And the Israelis gain much more by letting them get hit than by making sure those units are protected in any way. They might even secretly shoot at them themselves to speed things up. I would not want to be one of those THAAD operators.
No, but 100 dead troops is enough to grandstand about to get enough outrage to justify an all-out war in the region.
Unless the US military is stupid to keep all 100 of them in a single easily bombable location, there's no fucking way on this green earth a single one of them will die in any combat, especially if they are simply manning air defense outposts spread across the country like what the article that no one here reads actually said.
