Oops

Sq 17 said:

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Queso1 said:

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I thought the Colin Powell line was "if you lie about WMDs enough, the American people will support your neocon agenda."

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You can only run that scam once,

granted the true believers that support your side will always believe

but the other 60+% won't get fooled again

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The damned this is, even if they weren't full bore going for nuclear weapons before this, they sure as hell will be in the future if any sort of the current recognizable government survives into the future. They could have been hemming and hawwing previously just for the concessions but now, they know for certainty that nuclear weapons means survival for their government and way of living (in their eyes of course).

This is what sucks most about this dilemma. If we don't solve this problem now, we are more likely than not, just kicking that can down the road and making it worse in the process. I just can't see solving the problem now without major escalation of the war to include at a minimum, limited ground incursion by US forces. If that happens, it would be a political bloodbath, more service members will die, and we will be in yet another intensely unpopular ME war. Again.

If things keep going the way they are we'll have a DarthTrump account to go with DarthPutin

The more I look at this picture the funnier it is. Trump has more flare than either Patton and MacArthur. Also, MacAuthur is not wearing the right hat and his pipe was a corn cob pipe. One could argue that MacArhur was Trump before Trump was Trump.

Whoever set MacArthur in the picture should be fired! That's terrible.

BREAKING: The US has removed Iran-related sanctions from the US Treasury's website.

The move comes amid reports that President Trump is aiming to announce a deal with Iran by the end of this week.

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) August 5, 2026

Nvm, post above might be wrong.

This is false, and does not meet Iran’s demand that the US should lift all sanctions on Iranian oil, petrochemical products, and gas.

OFAC today delisted one Iraqi carrier, Fly Baghdad Airlines, and its two aircraft. The owner stayed sanctioned, OFAC re-anchored his listing… https://t.co/feHPMwal6o

— The Hormuz Letter (@HormuzLetter) August 5, 2026

PaulsBunions said:

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Nvm, post above might be wrong.

This is false, and does not meet Iran’s demand that the US should lift all sanctions on Iranian oil, petrochemical products, and gas.

OFAC today delisted one Iraqi carrier, Fly Baghdad Airlines, and its two aircraft. The owner stayed sanctioned, OFAC re-anchored his listing… https://t.co/feHPMwal6o

— The Hormuz Letter (@HormuzLetter) August 5, 2026

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Well, now we have a known propaganda handle correcting a known liar and **** wall thrower. No idea what's true now.

All part of the plan.

Funny how military service or lack thereof for POTUS only matters when Trump is in office....makes you think

This post is incredible.

unimboti nkum said:

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It does seem that this is where we're at with this war.

[You're free to critique Trump's handling of this conflict, but the pic you posted has nothing to do with it. Stop derailing the thread and do not repost material that we remove -- Staff]

DeschutesAg said:

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Im Gipper said:

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Just about every country in the world tries to influence American domestic and internationally policy. Yet you only seem to care about one. And you only care about that one despite it being surrounded by counties that would literally slit your throat on live TV for being an infidel.

Can anyone explain how this makes any sense? I just don't get it. But I'm old, so maybe its some new thing.

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I'm old, too. It is not a new thing.

A large percentage of Americans don't like it when any foreign country or its advocates use PACs, hundreds of millions in money, bribery, extortion, propaganda, threats, intimidation tactics, lies, false accusations, paid hacks, million-dollar ad campaigns, and/or disinformation to buy our politicians and strongly influence our voters.

It doesn't matter if it is Russia, China, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, France, Japan, the UK, etc etc etc.

Regarding the ongoing Iran War which most Americans oppose, the war has heightened the political feelings, public anger, and electoral blowback against any politician or candidate in either party who has accepted money and therefore allegedly been bought by pro-Israel groups.

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That's a wide range of activities there, from legal to very illegal. I have only seen a couple of whacko's around here say all of that is what Israel is doing...

DeschutesAg said:

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bobbranco said:

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Keyno said:

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Now we are asking for a 1.5 trillion military budget?

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More misinformation you spout.

The 1.5 trillion budget request predated Epic Fury.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/07/trump-calls-record-defense-budget-00715298

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The Iran war and other foreign military operations were being discussed and planned last summer. The requested $1.5T defense spending is directly connected to the foreign policy actions we're seeing right now by our country's Administration.

Unfortunately this one has has turned into a mess which is proving to be extremely difficult to wrap up and find an acceptable exit and ending.

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Send proof. Otherwise it's your unverified opinion.

DeschutesAg said:

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YouBet said:

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One could argue that MacArhur was Trump before Trump was Trump.

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Not even remotely close.

Insane that Trump posted that on his account.

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My point being that MacAuthur was a bloviating prima donna and pretty extreme narcissist. This is historical fact, my man.

I'm not saying he and Trump are exactly the same. Just that MacAuthur had some Trump in him.

Quote:

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Iran and Oman were finalizing a draft agreement Wednesday to reopen the Strait of Hormuz that would give Tehran oversight of ships entering the Persian Gulf but wouldn't let it levy tolls or service fees, people familiar with the matter said.

The parties have agreed on the main points of the draftwhich would set up an inbound lane near Iran and an outbound lane near Omanand have shared it with the U.S., countries in the region and Iran's top leaders, who still needed to sign off, they said.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told reporters Iran had reached an agreement with Oman to create a safe route through the Strait of Hormuz and that an outline of the main points was being completed.

A deal could still fall apart or fail to open the strait. Kazem Gharibabadi, deputy Iranian foreign minister, said the agreement with Oman wouldn't necessarily open the waterway unless the U.S. met unspecified conditions, state media reported.

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YouBet said:

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Quote:

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Iran and Oman were finalizing a draft agreement Wednesday to reopen the Strait of Hormuz that would give Tehran oversight of ships entering the Persian Gulf but wouldn't let it levy tolls or service fees, people familiar with the matter said.

The parties have agreed on the main points of the draftwhich would set up an inbound lane near Iran and an outbound lane near Omanand have shared it with the U.S., countries in the region and Iran's top leaders, who still needed to sign off, they said.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told reporters Iran had reached an agreement with Oman to create a safe route through the Strait of Hormuz and that an outline of the main points was being completed.

A deal could still fall apart or fail to open the strait. Kazem Gharibabadi, deputy Iranian foreign minister, said the agreement with Oman wouldn't necessarily open the waterway unless the U.S. met unspecified conditions, state media reported.

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The devil is in the details. The last line concerning the US meeting unspecified conditions caught my eye.

If you want to see the weekly strategic petroleum reserve level since they started keeping track: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=WCSSTUS1&f=W

All kinds of answers out there on how low it can go before either 1) irreversible damage, 2) we reach the floor that the military keeps for their own strategic reserve, 3) at a certain point there will be oil down there, but we wouldn't be able to pull it out because it's either sludge or will slowly ooze out of the cavern walls

It's really pretty simple. Much of what he has said consistently in the past doesn't align with where he is at today.

YouBet said:

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That is just egregiously bad. Goodness.

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Could have been worse. At least he didn't post a pic of himself as Jesus… again…

Eliminatus said:

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HaroldShipmanAg said:

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Funny how military service or lack thereof for POTUS only matters when Trump is in office....makes you think

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Well, to be fair, he has been the only one to openly fantasize to the public about wearing the uniform while putting himself as an equal to two of our most celebrated military leaders in history. All while headlining one of the more intensely unpopular wars of his own making that has seen a number of old man empty threats and mishaps. Makes you think what an incredibly dumb thing to post, especially now of all times. Not even Biden did **** like this.

This is not a life or death thing of importance but still doesn't mean that there is any defending this. Unless China gets squirrelly soon, I think it very possible that Iran may come to define Trump's second term. Considering how it is going so far, not a great thing to be remembered for.

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This what I don't get Trump is trying to get take care of an issue that previous POTUS have punted on or done a bad job in handling but it seems this thread and board are actively rooting against him to spike the football on him and his supporters...Really weird to see.

Well, it distracted from a chosen conflict, and some are just furious Trump hasn't kept gas under $3/gallon this year as the priority item (plus DSA-Democrats who of course hate Trump and want Americans, but more importantly the Israeli partners to lose anyway). That's the priority to some, and it's not hard to figure out who they are. Heck, democrats don't even want to fund the pentagon.

Anyway, Pompeo did a good sit down regarding the conflict and risk of not taking on the Iranians this year.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo:

There are those within my party, the Republican Party, who think President Trump made a mistake... They would describe this as a war of choice.

That's just a false, straw man argument, right? This was no war of choice.

We've been… pic.twitter.com/YLcbtsmwvc

— Clash Report (@clashreport) August 6, 2026

He also said (Clash report for some reason breaks these up);

Quote:

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Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo:

At least Chairman Kimand I spent way too much time with that son of a gunhasn't conducted massive terror operations and killed thousands of Americans over the last decade.

The Iranians would have behaved very differently had they possessed the kind of nuclear program that Chairman Kim has.

The world would be a fundamentally different place.

Q: Do you still believe that some kind of regime change is possible in Iran?

Mike Pompeo: 100%.

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So, that's the retort to the criticism we shouldn't have touched Iran. Now, the constant deal-no deal on ending it has been incredibly frustrating. The IRGC doesn't have solid command and control now and anything we agree to with someone over there can/is quickly torn up by some rocket/drone launches, or another faction.

Add, we all know it's hurt domestically politically.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson:

The first quarter the economy was beginning to take off like a rocket, and then we got into this skirmish with Iran. pic.twitter.com/T5hmSuerZt

— Clash Report (@clashreport) August 6, 2026

He would later go on to say we are going to win this election whether we resolve the Iran situation before the election or not.

Total Asia oil imports back near normal, China net product exports still running higher than last year despite low refinery runs. Meanwhile back to 0 loadings in the Persian gulf and US inventory draws tapering to 0 as the US nears operating minimums.

All this means continued… https://t.co/m9ibk5RmVb

— AllThingsVentured (@AllVentured) August 5, 2026