Trump’s Benghazi
From the Washington Post:
Protesters storm U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, trapping diplomats and setting the stage for a long siege https://t.co/cjBP9vGiAc
β The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 1, 2020
From the New York Times:
Demonstrators again swarmed outside the U.S. Embassy in Iraq on Wednesday. Troops fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse them, but after a few hours the militia leaders who had organized the demonstration called on the crowd to leave. https://t.co/55f4sL0TAW
β The New York Times (@nytimes) January 1, 2020
Back in 2012, Burt Likko wrote an essay about the American Ambassador who was killed at Benghazi.
About a month later, Nob Akimoto wrote an essay explaining the difference between a consulate and an embassy.
(Featured image is the Flag of Iraq.)
No, it is not Benghazi. Not even close for a multitude of reasons. Not the least of one is that in Libya you are talking about a converted private residence compared to the Baghdad Green Zone which is a military facility in and of itself with multiple layers of defenses. The video and pics are the outer areas which are local controlled technically “the embassy” as in on the grounds but not the actual embassy itself which is why you saw no US Personnel, they are there not on the 4th wall out of 4 walls. There are aspects of this that deserve attention, such as the Iraqi government clearly allowing this, but it is not Benghazi, or Hanoi, or anything remotely as serious as any of that.Report
Another crucially important reason this isn’t another Benghazi: Libyans aren’t Iraqis. π
((cc: Megan McCardle))Report
The real reason this isn’t another Benghazi is that Trump is President.Report
What? The us is engaged in a covert operation to buy up anti aircraft missiles from the rebels in Iraq too? I’m shocked!Report
Your tax dollars at work. But I guess it’s cool, not like anyone could figure out anything better to do with them.Report
Maybe we should just leave. Calling what’s in Iraq an ’embassy’ is a seriously Orwellian euphemism. It’s a military installation helping to prop up an arguably hostile government out of imperialistic hubris.Report
Can we get this comment a little more love? What on earth are we still doing over there?
The whole region has been a drain on the American treasury and psyche for several generations now.Report
What’s the goal of staying? It was initially about the oil, to keep it from flowing to China. What’s the rationale nowadays?
Trump, it should be noted, isn’t scaling back our presence in the ME but ramping it up.
My guess? Lotta money for important people in the ME. (“All politics is local.”)Report
The Bee goes straight for the jugular:
Report
Sounds like he did just that:
“US Embassy in Baghdad Invaded after SecState Pompeo Slashed Security Funding, Took no Preventive Steps in wake of US Airstrikes”
https://www.juancole.com/2020/01/secstate-preventive-airstrikes.htmlReport
It could be worse. The Shia militia commander who invaded the US embassy was an Obama White House guest.Report
President Trump’s personal attorney has been on the payroll of the Iranian Mujahidin e-Khalq (MeK) for years now.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/giuliani-mek-terrorist-group-money-bolton-iran-214479Report
Rumor has it that the mob of Shia militia formed spontaneously, outraged over some horrible movie about singing cats.Report
From multiple sources: Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed late on Thursday in an air strike on their convoy in Baghdad airport.
Earlier Iran’s leader had been laughing that Trump couldn’t do anything to Iran in response to the embassy attack. I guess he was wrong.Report
There is a TSN post up on this topic nowReport
Here’s a New York Post from 2014.
Headline:
The shadowy Iranian spy chief who helped plan Benghazi
From the article:
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