You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Home Front: WoT
Here's a foreign policy think tank openly advocating the use of false flag tactics in order to create a pretext to attack Iran.
2019-06-17
Remember the Maine!
Golly. A bunch of thinkers tossing ideas around back in 2012, when Barack Obama, who loved his deal with Iran, was president. Not exactly a smoking gun.

Posted by: Herb McCoy

#25  What I don't understand is there has been at least two times when the people were in the streets of Iran, seemingly against the government, and we apparently did nothing. I'm not sure what we could have done but it would seem to have been better to help the people than some false flag idiocy that McCoy is on about.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2019-06-17 23:22  

#24  "As Americans, it is our God-given right to mispronounce, misspell, f*ck, fight or kill anything we come across. That's why the French hate us."
-- I forget who
Posted by: SteveS   2019-06-17 21:54  

#23  We need a pretense?
Posted by: Skidmark   2019-06-17 20:53  

#22  Nice. Licking the bottom of the curley-toed shoes
Posted by: Frank G   2019-06-17 20:20  

#21  "In this very ornately carved crate
Awaits a great hater in state,
Entombed by a troll,
Herb McCoy," sez the scroll,
"In his pyramid of high school debate."
Posted by: Neville Jath2106   2019-06-17 16:50  

#20  tanks aren't used for thinking

EC, thanks for being you! Laughed my way through the Panzerlied (quietly, it being 0300 or thereabouts, and fudging the words a bit).
Posted by: Neville Jath2106   2019-06-17 16:20  

#19  Meh. This war came in 1979 and never left — we just haven’t yet started fighting back. In fact, Jimmy Carter tried to surrender when he was president, and Barack Obama was actively on the enemy’s side. If there were to be a false flag operation — though if we did such a thing it would be against our own equipment, not that of various powerless third parties — it would only mark the beginning of what should have been done in 1980 or 1983 or any time since 2003... or a number of other occasions in between.

But Iran’s Mad Mullah’s continue to be generous im providing the real thing. It was only a few years ago, on January 12, 2016 that Iran stopped two American boats in the Gulf, detaining ten sailors — a casus belli wrapped up in a pretty bow. Any discussion in 2012 would have had the reality of President Obama’s craven response in mind — and we have it all in our archives starting here.

A pity that Allah did not allow a repeat performance the other day, but if we are patient and good Iran will provide a perfectly legitimate excuse to rain hell down upon them soon enough.
Posted by: trailing wife   2019-06-17 15:51  

#18  Herb,

You apparently saw 1979 and let your mind go someplace weird. I said we never scraped them off the map FOR 1979, when they invaded our Embassy, committing to what had been the standard up to that point, an act of war. To my mind, since the first foot crossed the threshhold of our embassy, we have been at war with Iran. We haven't been bothered to exterminate them yet, but at whatever point we choose to do so, the reason has already been given.
Posted by: Silentbrick   2019-06-17 15:16  

#17  Carter was a pansy and 0bumhole was passive-aggressive. Neither knew how to negotiate properly.

War will come when one or the other side decide the time has come, not because of any false flag operation or overreaction to or intentional misinterpretation of an event.
Posted by: gorb   2019-06-17 14:49  

#16  Obama gave a craven bow to the Mullahs, just as you'd do
Posted by: Frank G   2019-06-17 14:17  

#15  A better story about US support for Ayatollah Khomeini overthrowing the Shah.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36431160
Posted by: Herb McCoy    2019-06-17 13:57  

#14  "Our young men and women in the military serving in the Strait of Hormuz, putting their lives in danger are being mischarachterized and trashed by this cockroach at Rantburg?????"

Who said this? This is a DC think tank.

Frank G back on the bottom of the pyramid of debate with name calling instead of arguments.

"We've also never scraped them off the map for 1979."

Uhm, Jimmy Carter met with Ayatollah Khomeini and approved the revolution. Khomeini pinky swore not to be hostile to the USA afterwards. Did we not know this? Mr. Human Rights Carter didn't like the Shah, a staunch US ally. Boy, do you people seriously not know this?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter%27s_engagement_with_Khomeini

This video just goes to show DC elites have been chomping at the bit for a war with Iran for a long time. Obama did a deal with them instead of a war, the neocons had to be pissed.

It's the ease with which they throw around these ideas, really. You'd expect using a false flag attack as a casus belli to start a war with Iran to be utterly repugnant, or if not then top secret, not bantered around casually.

A false flag incident to start a war with Iran has been within the Overton Window of DC for years. PNAC called for starting a war with Saddam in 1996, Albright in 1998. Did we not know this either? Things don't happen overnight.
Posted by: Herb McCoy    2019-06-17 13:42  

#13  The Iranians were supplying terrorists in Iraq while we were there. We've also never scraped them off the map for 1979. We don't need a reason or an excuse. As for Iran being stupid enough to attack the tankers, nothing I've seen in almost 50 years tells me they really aren't that stupid.
Posted by: Silentbrick   2019-06-17 13:01  

#12  Vote for #6 for Snark Of The Day
Posted by: magpie   2019-06-17 12:53  

#11  Sitting around and thinking all day every day sounds like an easy way to make a good living. I mean, it's not like there's any real work involved. Just kick back in a nice, comfortable chair and think about...stuff. Where do I apply?
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2019-06-17 10:45  

#10   In my country tanks aren't used for thinking.

Snark of the Day material! And nearly a coffee-spewing accident.
Posted by: SteveS   2019-06-17 09:12  

#9  False Flags operations do occur. Most regular folks think of them pejoratively. There is something about people being duped that they just don't like.
Posted by: JohnQC   2019-06-17 09:09  

#8  Considering this is the Washington Institute... I'll file this where it belongs. In the outside trash with my dog's shit.
Posted by: DarthVader   2019-06-17 08:58  

#7  From think tanks to various money losing publications supported by left or faux non-left billionaires, every time I hear some dimwhit like Boofay mumble that "the proles' taxes are not high enough," I wonder: What if that wasted money was re-directed to something worthwhile?
Posted by: M. Murcek   2019-06-17 07:39  

#6  In my country tanks aren't used for thinking.
Posted by: European Conservative   2019-06-17 07:29  

#5  But Herb is living in the anti-Neocons! No blood for oil! Nutcase era
Posted by: Frank G   2019-06-17 07:12  

#4  This isn't news -- it's a seven year old video.

Posted by: Rob Crawford   2019-06-17 07:07  

#3  The crank of an engine. Then... clink, clank.
Eyes fixed on the fog barely blink. Blank
Looks all around
As the source of the sound
Is revealed as... a Washington think tank.

Remember the CuComs!
Posted by: Thumper Tingle8166   2019-06-17 05:59  

#2  Our young men and women in the military serving in the Strait of Hormuz, putting their lives in danger are being mischarachterized and trashed by this cockroach at Rantburg?????
Posted by: Varmint Splat1454   2019-06-17 01:57  

#1  This low IQ fokker is being allowed to promote extremely false conspiracy theories about the current administration through comments and posts like this.
Posted by: Varmint Splat1454   2019-06-17 01:38  

00:00