“I believe, based on what I saw and what I know, that [the strikes] were intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft, and to kill personnel,” Army General Mark Milley told reporters on Wednesday.
“That’s my own personal assessment,” he added. “But the analytics is in the hands of professional intelligence analysts. So they’re looking at that.”
Milley did not elaborate whether those were the same analysts who “assessed” the truthfulness of the now-debunked ‘Russiagate,’ or the equally phantom existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, used to justify the 2003 invasion.
The overnight attacks on Al-Asad airbase and Erbil involved over a dozen ballistic missiles, fired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in revenge for the US drone strike that killed General Qassem Soleimani, one of the IRGC’s top commanders.
The Iraqi government confirmed that it had received advance warning about the strikes from Iran, enabling US troops to take precautionary measures and activate their “finest in the world” air defenses. No lives were lost as a result.
ALSO ON RT.COMNew sales pitch? US makes the world’s ‘finest’ anti-air systems, but sometimes they just don’t work, Pompeo explainsBoth Iran and the US declared victory and stood down on Wednesday morning, with US President Donald Trump describing the outcome as “a good thing for all parties concerned.”
It was a stunning turn from Tuesday’s hard line championed by Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and not everyone at the Pentagon seems happy about it, if Milley’s comments are anything to go by.
‘Worst military briefing ever’
Pentagon officials sent to Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers on the almost-war apparently didn’t do too well either. Emerging from the classified briefing, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) gave a blistering denunciation of what he heard as “probably the worst briefing I’ve seen, at least on a military issue,” adding that the military could not name a single instance in which they would feel it necessary to ask for congressional approval.
ALSO ON RT.COM‘No lives lost’: Trump holds fire on ‘big missiles,’ talks peace after Iran’s strikes on US bases in IraqExact details of the briefing are classified, but Lee hinted that the military apparently told lawmakers that they could not debate or discuss the strike that killed Soleimani, or whether a military intervention against Iran was legal, as that would signal division and weakness to Tehran.
“It is not acceptable for officials within the executive branch of government…to come in and tell us that we can’t debate and discuss the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran,” Lee fumed afterward. “It’s un-American. It’s unconstitutional and it’s wrong.”
CSPAN✔@cspan
.@SenMikeLee
: “It is not acceptable for officials within the executive branch of government…to come in and tell us that we can’t debate and discuss the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran. It’s un-American. It’s unconstitutional and it’s wrong.”
Lee and fellow Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) said the briefing convinced them to change their mind and support the War Powers resolution proposed by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), Hillary Clinton’s 2016 running mate.
ATTENTION READERS
We See The World From All Sides and Want YOU To Be Fully InformedIn fact, intentional disinformation is a disgraceful scourge in media today. So to assuage any possible errant incorrect information posted herein, we strongly encourage you to seek corroboration from other non-VT sources before forming an educated opinion.
About VT - Policies & Disclosures - Comment Policy
Come gather around the Camp fire for some robust rhetoric on the times that are in it. Lee Camp lays it out on six pertinent points about the Trump fiasco unfolding in the Middle East. You might want to turn down the volume …
https://youtu.be/ZEAp_UouT2Q
Would you agree that, under the US Constitution, the powers and authority ceded by the congress, were not congress’ to cede, and therefore unconstitutional? I wonder, would any US citizen have “standing” to challenge this in federal court, or would it take the collective of some state’s whole legislative body, for example?
No Iranian missile was knocked down, so those expensive patriot batteries we hear so much of are useless, poor US taxpayers.
ALL Americans in Power are the Biggest load of B@llsh1t to me Including Hogwash Trump …… How the Americans can continually Commit IMMORAL ACTS and then turn around and present their LIAR Explanations While completely disregarding the Monster Huge Facts very Shamelessly ……. it’s Shocking to me that ALL Americans in Power are Always Lying Pieces of Bullsh1t ….. Trump Ordered Assasination of a Rival in an opposing Government and then concocts LIES , More LIEs and then Bigger LIES still ……. so far the Norm on this Planet was Although you’re Rivals BUT You can’t do it BUT Seems the Muslims are the Declared SubHumans Who can Always be Ignored by the Colonizing Europeon Psychopath Mafia …… You can’t Kill Officials no matter how much You Disagree ,,,,, that was the Norm but maybe NO MORE …… mind you in the cold war with USSR there were lots of Soviet Headache Personalities but the Norm was that You don’t want to Open up Hostilities ……. Iran is Feigningly Fighting back , Iran is Punching back but These Iranian Punches are Light and Jokingly …… the Biggest losses to USA can come from exposing 9/11 by Iran but they’re not doing that either …….
What a charade. On a lighter note if you want to see some fine Persian sarcasm look this up on Twitter and watch the short clip “One Iranian attending Soleimani’s funeral ruthlessly mocked western media coverage of the events”.
Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), might consider his indignation at the Executive Branch in this matter when it comes time to voting up or down on the impeachment of its “leader”.
Comments are closed.