Yesterday right after the Iranians launched their missile attack against bases housing Americans in Iraq, I wrote about a number of surprising aspects of the attack. Since then, more has come out and there are further surprises. Here's an update
1. I said last night that the Iranians had attacked the US consulate in Erbil. Apparently that's wrong. The target was the airbase in Erbil. Since 80% of the missiles launched at Erbil by Iran failed to work properly, and since one hit in an open field near the airbase, there was some confusion about the actual target. Most reports now say it was the airbase.
2. The performance of the Iranian missiles was so poor that many reports are now saying that Iran missed on purpose. The media says that Iran was just carrying out a face saving move so that it could tell its people that it retaliated for the killing of General Soleimani. These reporters point to the tweet from the Iranian foreign minister that says Iran made a proportionate response and is now done.
So was that an intentional miss by Iran? Are the Iranians really that cagey that they would launch missiles expecting no response from the USA? Maybe. The reporters, however, don't seem to credit the possibility that Iran just launched a sloppy and haphazard attack that failed miserably. Maybe the message from the foreign minister was his way of trying to head off an American response to the attack from Iran. People with more information than we have will make that determination. Ultimately it will be up to President Trump to make the call.
3. Iran has embarrassed itself. If this was a phony attack so that it could claim to have responded, then it is unlikely to work. Despite all the measures taken by Iran to isolate its people, the actual results of the attack will become known inside Iran. How many Iranians will be angry that their government would lie so blatantly to them about a life and death matter like war with the USA? Certainly, across the world, other nations will see the Iranian BS for what it is. Iran is either totally inept when it comes to this sort of fighting or it is totally dishonest. That's not much of a choice.
1. I said last night that the Iranians had attacked the US consulate in Erbil. Apparently that's wrong. The target was the airbase in Erbil. Since 80% of the missiles launched at Erbil by Iran failed to work properly, and since one hit in an open field near the airbase, there was some confusion about the actual target. Most reports now say it was the airbase.
2. The performance of the Iranian missiles was so poor that many reports are now saying that Iran missed on purpose. The media says that Iran was just carrying out a face saving move so that it could tell its people that it retaliated for the killing of General Soleimani. These reporters point to the tweet from the Iranian foreign minister that says Iran made a proportionate response and is now done.
So was that an intentional miss by Iran? Are the Iranians really that cagey that they would launch missiles expecting no response from the USA? Maybe. The reporters, however, don't seem to credit the possibility that Iran just launched a sloppy and haphazard attack that failed miserably. Maybe the message from the foreign minister was his way of trying to head off an American response to the attack from Iran. People with more information than we have will make that determination. Ultimately it will be up to President Trump to make the call.
3. Iran has embarrassed itself. If this was a phony attack so that it could claim to have responded, then it is unlikely to work. Despite all the measures taken by Iran to isolate its people, the actual results of the attack will become known inside Iran. How many Iranians will be angry that their government would lie so blatantly to them about a life and death matter like war with the USA? Certainly, across the world, other nations will see the Iranian BS for what it is. Iran is either totally inept when it comes to this sort of fighting or it is totally dishonest. That's not much of a choice.
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