re: Official US/Israel vs Iran war thread

Here's the problem:

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For the seventh time since the Iran war began, the Senate rejected a measure Wednesday aimed at limiting President Donald Trump’s authority over the military conflict. It was the first vote since the 60-day deadline under the War Powers Resolution expired earlier this month.

The measure, introduced by Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, failed 50-49. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Rand Paul voted with Democrats in support, while Democratic Sen. John Fetterman opposed it.

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And...

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“I’ve suggested to the administration it would be helpful if Congress were to move forward with an AUMF,” Murkowski said before casting her vote.

An AUMF effort also would face steep procedural hurdles, since it is not privileged like war powers resolutions and is likely to remain stuck in committee.

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I'm not convinced it's because Trump doesn't want to bomb the shite out of them. If congress would untie our hands the military could really go to town...unhindered.

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My sense is that the reality is that the effectiveness of bombing has reached a point of diminishing returns.

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If that's the case, then Trump shouldn't have threatened on like 6 separate occasions to bomb their power plants and bridges if they didn't make a deal. At this point, this isn't just about optimal military strategy, but also our credibility as a nation. If the United States repeatedly threatens to do something, it should be taken seriously. Not at all sure why anyone should take the next threatening tweet Trump makes seriously when he's failed to back it up like 6 times in a row.

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I wish Trump would stop saying they want to make a deal badly.

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Him begging for a deal is embarrassing.

His messaging during the entire campaign has been a mess. Needed to just stay quiet and let the military do their mission but he can’t.

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At this point, I think the Arab states that asked Trump to hold off have major skin in the game. They will be the ones to be attacked if bombs start dropping.

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But what are the Arabs afraid of? Iran has no Navy, no Air Force, and all of their leadership have been assassinated. Iran has no ability to retaliate.

Or so we've been told.

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He didn't finish the job. He opened a can of worms and just decided to leave it alone. I thought he was decisive originally but he has lost the thread. He's the little boy that cries wolf and nobody believes him anymore

I can tell you Iran certainly doesn't.

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What happened is that we were overconfident that the Iranian leadership would capitulate after the tremendous beating that they took at the beginning.

They didn't, and now we're not sure what to do next.

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This is starting to really make Trump look weak, and it's embarrassing us on a world stage. China has no reservations of taking Taiwan, when all it would take is low approval numbers for the president and high gas prices for a couple weeks in the US to make the biggest obstacle back down and come to heel.

I wasn't in favor of starting all this with Iran, but once it started I became fully in favor of decisive and unquestionable victory. IF we believed in this strongly enough to start major action, spend billions on it, and lose American lives - we better finish the damn job and with an exclamation point. Leave no doubt.

The world is watching, and right now we're coming across as a joke. We started off scary and powerful, especially when you consider our initial knocking off of Khamenei right after we kidnapped Maduro - neither one inflicted so much as a scratch on an American asset.

All that strength projection has gone to waste now. Our military members in CentCom have to be pissed. I am pissed.

Trump has lost a lot of goodwill he had with his base that weren't so keen on a new war, but were willing to accept it with a decisive victory that would pay dividends in multiple other ways. Peace in the Middle East along with some new allies with loads of oil, weakening China further, taking a potential nuclear actor off the stage, knocking out the biggest state sponsor of terrorism, dealing a blow to the Muslim invasion, and - most importantly - proving American military supremacy to the rest of the world.

He can still come out with a surprise win here, but it's not looking good. It's ironic that he's holding off on kinetic action because he's worried about his approval ratings and the stock market, but it's his continuing to back down that are hurting both of those the most now.

I'm tired of it all. He'll back down in 3 days again saying they're making progress with great talks, and back down again, and again. Iran has to be loving this shite. They're bringing the world's greatest power to heel with no effort whatsoever because one man is worried about approval ratings that don't matter

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Very well said! The best post on this topic so far.

Next we lose midterms and have 2 years of lawfare

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Iran has no ability to retaliate.

Or so we've been told.

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Iran never stopped firing missiles and launching drones, they were and still are a threat to the oil infrastructure in the region. I think this whole mess will start to make more sense when you accept that.

The Arabs are concerned about Iranian drones taking pot shots at their major oil and gas infrastructure. A drone can hit key spots and knock stuff off-line.

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The UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia may need time to beef up their defense systems.

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To defend against what? Iran has no Navy, no Air Force and no command and control structure.

Or so we have been led to believe.