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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Pompeo: From now on we target Iranian decision-makers, not proxies
2020-01-06
[IsraelTimes] US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the Trump administration has abandoned the previous US administration’s focus on countering Iranian proxy groups like Hezbollah and suggests the US strike in Baghdad that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani
was an example of the new strategy.

"We’re going to respond against the actual decision-makers, the people who are causing this threat from the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran," Pompeo says.

He also says any target the US military may strike in Iran, in the event Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
retaliates against America for killing its most powerful general, would be legal under the laws of armed conflict.

Pompeo was asked on ABC’s "This Week" about President Donald Trump
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
’s assertion Saturday on Twitter that the United States has 52 Iranian targets in its sights, "some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture."

The laws of armed conflict prohibit the deliberate targeting of cultural sites under most circumstances. The American Red Thingy notes on its website that the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their additional protocols, ratified by scores of nations in recent years, states that "cultural objects and places of worship" may not be attacked and outlaws "indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations."

Targeting cultural sites is a war crime under the 1954 Hague Convention for the protection of cultural sites. The UN Security Council also passed unanimously a resolution in 2017 condemning the destruction of heritage sites. Attacks by the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group and other armed factions in Syria and Iraq prompted that vote.

"Every target that we strike will be a lawful target, and it will be a target designed with a singular mission ‐ defending and protecting America," Pompeo says.
Posted by:trailing wife

#10  #1 Seek, Punish, Destroy.


Same policy for domestic enemies.
Posted by: JohnQC   2020-01-06 22:29  

#9  Cut off the toes,
the heads will topple.
Posted by: Skidmark   2020-01-06 14:07  

#8  Its the American way, from the start. That night after the battle of Breeds/Bunker Hill, the British officers' mess was notable by significant vacancies.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2020-01-06 09:37  

#7  Bush admin also parroted their stupid "all the world's people want western democracy" mantra.

Plus "Islam is the Religion of Peace" idiocy.

Plus "three cups of tea" nonsense.

Plus simultaneously going soft on Putin's Russia wrt missile defense for Poland - our ally, where we have legitimate interests - while bashing them on Chechnya and the Caucasus - their backyard, where we have zero legitimate interest.

Yes, OrangeMan + Pompeo (OM-POM) are different.

Globalism, good riddance.
Posted by: Lex   2020-01-06 09:02  

#6  Terrorist state actors no longer immune from being dusted.
Posted by: DarthVader   2020-01-06 09:00  

#5  Yeah, well, we have some evidence that the Orange man is different.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB   2020-01-06 05:29  

#4  
"We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them. "
George W. Bush, September 11th 2001

The Bush administration also announced a symmetrization strategy. But it never acted according to this strategy(*), not even against the Taliban.

(*) Saddam was tried by Iraq for crimes against Iraq and Iraqis.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660   2020-01-06 03:24  

#3  ^ Hear, hear.
Another vote here for Pompeo 2024.
Posted by: Lex   2020-01-06 02:10  

#2  I see no reason why we couldn't have a West Point graduate, seasoned strategist, and international negotiator as POTUS in 2024.
Posted by: Besoeker   2020-01-06 02:07  

#1  AMEN. Clarity, at last. After 25+ years, strategic clarity.

Seek, Punish, Destroy.

And then go back to balancing from offshore. No more land wars in Asia. No proxies. Go directly to & destroy the people who threaten US security.
Posted by: Lex   2020-01-06 02:03  

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