Today's News (2020/1/5)
Jan. 5th, 2020 09:45 pmJesus fuck.
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RUMOUR LEVEL ONLY - DO NOT CREDIT - DO NOT QUOTE
I have heard - and I must stress, _heard_ - that 39 C17s have flown out in the last couple of days, and that 747s are being chartered as quickly as can be managed.
What this means, I don't know. _As I understand it_, each of these can transport 134 ground troops (seated), or 102 paratroopers and equipment to deployment, or a lot of different kinds of cargo, and so on. The Iraqi parliament have told the US to get out, so the simplest answer is "troop and equipment removal." If they're in 134-seat configuration, that math works out reasonably well.
But we don't know. Likewise, we also don't know how many 747s are involved, if that part of the rumour is correct. So much depends upon things like cargo load/configuration and the like.
So you can see why there's a lot of tags attached above. This is a _rumour_.
I'm hearing other things too, but they aren't solid and I doubt them, so I won't repeat them here. That may change over the coming hours.
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Scoop: Trump officials tried to stop Iraqi expulsion vote
https://www.axios.com/trump-iraq-parliament-us-troops-vote-iran-11771de3-f3a0-42d9-82fd-10d13dbf76cd.html
The Trump administration tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade top Iraqi officials to kill a parliamentary effort to force the U.S. military out of Iraq, according to two U.S. officials and an Iraqi government official familiar with the situation.
Why it matters: The Iraqi parliament passed a resolution today calling on the Iraqi government to expel U.S. troops from Iraq, after the U.S killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani and a leader of an Iraqi militia with a drone strike near Baghdad airport.
* This resolution could ultimately lead to the U.S. military being forced out of Iraq. But the outcome remains uncertain, and the prime minister who needs to sign it recently resigned.
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Maggie Haberman - twitter.com/maggieNYT
White House correspondent for NYTimes, analyst for CNN. RTs don't imply agreement.
NEWS from AF1 - POTUS doubled down on cultural sites in Iran as appropriate sites for retaliation.
https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1213978687193911296
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Iranian foreign minister to Trump: Targeting cultural sites is a war crime
https://thehill.com/policy/international/middle-east-north-africa/476809-iranian-foreign-minister-to-trump-targeting
Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, warned President Trump on Sunday that the president’s threat to target sites of cultural significance if Tehran retaliates for the killing of a top military leader in a U.S. drone strike would be a war crime.
"Having committed grave breaches of int'l law in Friday's cowardly assassinations,![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
realdonaldtrump threatens to commit again new breaches of JUS COGENS," Zarif tweeted, referencing the death of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Quds Force, in Iraq. "Targeting cultural sites is a WAR CRIME."
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Apparently 45 has decided tweets count as War Power Act notifications?
"These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner. Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!"
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1213919480574812160
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Hoda Katebi - twitter.com/hodakatebi
BREAKING: US CUSTOMS & BORDER PROTECTION NATIONALLY HAVE BEEN ORDERED TO DETAIN & "REPORT" ALL IRANIANS ENTERING THE COUNTRY DEEMED POTENTIALLY SUSPICIOUS OR "ADVERSARIAL" REGARDLESS OF CITIZENSHIP STATUS. 60+ Iranis held last night at the US/Canada border for 11+ hrs / thread
https://twitter.com/hodakatebi/status/1213883793435586560
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jane arraf - twitter.com/janearraf
NPR international correspondent. Cairo-based, covering Iraq and other places on the crossroads of this-is-amazing and you-can't-possibly-be serious.
This is stunning - #Iraq prime minister tells parliament US troops should leave. Says twitter.com/realDonaldTrump called him to ask him to mediate with #Iran and then ordered drone strike on Soleimani. Says Soleimani carrying response to Saudi initiative to defuse tension when he was hit.
6:05 AM · Jan 5, 2020·Twitter Web App
https://twitter.com/janearraf/status/1213823941321592834
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Trump doubles down on striking cultural sites in Iran
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/pompeo-us-military-would-only-hit-lawful-targets-in-iran/
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump insisted Sunday that Iranian cultural sites were fair game for the U.S. military, dismissing concerns within his own administration that doing so could constitute a war crime under international law. He also warned Iraq that he would levy punishing sanctions if it expelled American troops in retaliation for a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad that killed a top Iranian official.
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Iranian Americans returning to U.S. detained for hours at Blaine crossing, group says — but Customs and Border Protection says it’s not true
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/iranian-americans-returning-to-u-s-detained-for-hours-at-blaine-crossing-group-says-but-border-patrol-says-its-not-true/
There are two versions of what happened Saturday night when more than 60 Iranians and Iranian Americans were returning to the U.S. at the Blaine border crossing after attending a Persian pop concert in Vancouver, B. C.
According to Washington’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), they were detained, some for as long as 11 hours.
According to U. S. Customs and Border Protection, “Social media posts that CBP is detaining Iranian-Americans and refusing their entry into the U.S. because of their country of origin are false. Reports that DHS/CBP has issued a related directive are also false.”
The people detained had traveled to British Columbia to see Masih & Arash Ap, the Persian duo who are called “the voice of love,” on their Canada Tour 2020, according to CAIR.
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Trump says he'll sanction Iraq if US troops forced to leave
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/476869-trump-says-hell-sanction-iraq-if-us-troops-forced-to-leave
President Trump said Sunday that the United States would not leave Iraq on “friendly” terms and threatened to impose sanctions on the country if forced to withdraw American troops.
“If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever. It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday afternoon when asked about the vote by Iraq’s parliament to end U.S. troop presence in the country.
“If there’s any hostility, that they do anything we think is inappropriate, we are going to put sanctions on Iraq, very big sanctions on Iraq,” Trump added.
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RUMOUR LEVEL ONLY - DO NOT CREDIT - DO NOT QUOTE
I have heard - and I must stress, _heard_ - that 39 C17s have flown out in the last couple of days, and that 747s are being chartered as quickly as can be managed.
What this means, I don't know. _As I understand it_, each of these can transport 134 ground troops (seated), or 102 paratroopers and equipment to deployment, or a lot of different kinds of cargo, and so on. The Iraqi parliament have told the US to get out, so the simplest answer is "troop and equipment removal." If they're in 134-seat configuration, that math works out reasonably well.
But we don't know. Likewise, we also don't know how many 747s are involved, if that part of the rumour is correct. So much depends upon things like cargo load/configuration and the like.
So you can see why there's a lot of tags attached above. This is a _rumour_.
I'm hearing other things too, but they aren't solid and I doubt them, so I won't repeat them here. That may change over the coming hours.
-----
Scoop: Trump officials tried to stop Iraqi expulsion vote
https://www.axios.com/trump-iraq-parliament-us-troops-vote-iran-11771de3-f3a0-42d9-82fd-10d13dbf76cd.html
The Trump administration tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade top Iraqi officials to kill a parliamentary effort to force the U.S. military out of Iraq, according to two U.S. officials and an Iraqi government official familiar with the situation.
Why it matters: The Iraqi parliament passed a resolution today calling on the Iraqi government to expel U.S. troops from Iraq, after the U.S killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani and a leader of an Iraqi militia with a drone strike near Baghdad airport.
* This resolution could ultimately lead to the U.S. military being forced out of Iraq. But the outcome remains uncertain, and the prime minister who needs to sign it recently resigned.
-----
Maggie Haberman - twitter.com/maggieNYT
White House correspondent for NYTimes, analyst for CNN. RTs don't imply agreement.
NEWS from AF1 - POTUS doubled down on cultural sites in Iran as appropriate sites for retaliation.
https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1213978687193911296
-----
Iranian foreign minister to Trump: Targeting cultural sites is a war crime
https://thehill.com/policy/international/middle-east-north-africa/476809-iranian-foreign-minister-to-trump-targeting
Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, warned President Trump on Sunday that the president’s threat to target sites of cultural significance if Tehran retaliates for the killing of a top military leader in a U.S. drone strike would be a war crime.
"Having committed grave breaches of int'l law in Friday's cowardly assassinations,
realdonaldtrump threatens to commit again new breaches of JUS COGENS," Zarif tweeted, referencing the death of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Quds Force, in Iraq. "Targeting cultural sites is a WAR CRIME."-----
Apparently 45 has decided tweets count as War Power Act notifications?
"These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner. Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!"
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1213919480574812160
-----
Hoda Katebi - twitter.com/hodakatebi
BREAKING: US CUSTOMS & BORDER PROTECTION NATIONALLY HAVE BEEN ORDERED TO DETAIN & "REPORT" ALL IRANIANS ENTERING THE COUNTRY DEEMED POTENTIALLY SUSPICIOUS OR "ADVERSARIAL" REGARDLESS OF CITIZENSHIP STATUS. 60+ Iranis held last night at the US/Canada border for 11+ hrs / thread
https://twitter.com/hodakatebi/status/1213883793435586560
-----
jane arraf - twitter.com/janearraf
NPR international correspondent. Cairo-based, covering Iraq and other places on the crossroads of this-is-amazing and you-can't-possibly-be serious.
This is stunning - #Iraq prime minister tells parliament US troops should leave. Says twitter.com/realDonaldTrump called him to ask him to mediate with #Iran and then ordered drone strike on Soleimani. Says Soleimani carrying response to Saudi initiative to defuse tension when he was hit.
6:05 AM · Jan 5, 2020·Twitter Web App
https://twitter.com/janearraf/status/1213823941321592834
-----
Trump doubles down on striking cultural sites in Iran
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/pompeo-us-military-would-only-hit-lawful-targets-in-iran/
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump insisted Sunday that Iranian cultural sites were fair game for the U.S. military, dismissing concerns within his own administration that doing so could constitute a war crime under international law. He also warned Iraq that he would levy punishing sanctions if it expelled American troops in retaliation for a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad that killed a top Iranian official.
-----
Iranian Americans returning to U.S. detained for hours at Blaine crossing, group says — but Customs and Border Protection says it’s not true
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/iranian-americans-returning-to-u-s-detained-for-hours-at-blaine-crossing-group-says-but-border-patrol-says-its-not-true/
There are two versions of what happened Saturday night when more than 60 Iranians and Iranian Americans were returning to the U.S. at the Blaine border crossing after attending a Persian pop concert in Vancouver, B. C.
According to Washington’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), they were detained, some for as long as 11 hours.
According to U. S. Customs and Border Protection, “Social media posts that CBP is detaining Iranian-Americans and refusing their entry into the U.S. because of their country of origin are false. Reports that DHS/CBP has issued a related directive are also false.”
The people detained had traveled to British Columbia to see Masih & Arash Ap, the Persian duo who are called “the voice of love,” on their Canada Tour 2020, according to CAIR.
-----
Trump says he'll sanction Iraq if US troops forced to leave
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/476869-trump-says-hell-sanction-iraq-if-us-troops-forced-to-leave
President Trump said Sunday that the United States would not leave Iraq on “friendly” terms and threatened to impose sanctions on the country if forced to withdraw American troops.
“If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever. It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday afternoon when asked about the vote by Iraq’s parliament to end U.S. troop presence in the country.
“If there’s any hostility, that they do anything we think is inappropriate, we are going to put sanctions on Iraq, very big sanctions on Iraq,” Trump added.
