When one of the first things you see for the day is that Geraldo Rivera went against his Fox cohorts and lambasted Trump’s decision to assassinate Iran’s Qasem Soleimani, you know it’s going to be a weird day.
In case you’ve been unplugged this morning, things took a bit of a drastic turn in Iraq overnight. According to reports, unmanned drones fired several missiles at a convoy in Baghdad and killed several Iranian nationals, including their top military commander, General Soleimani.
Join our Pro-Community.
✅Access to ALL content.
✅Affordable ($10.00/month).
✅Access to the CTN editorial staff.
✅Access to our CTN trading dashboard.
✅Access to our exclusive telegram channel where all our pro-members and editorial staff are in.
✅Ability to request content/research material!
Now don’t get me wrong, Soleimani was a dangerous man that has been responsible for the loss of hundreds if not thousands of American lives, so I’m not shedding a single tear over the man’s death. The attacks on the Baghdad Embassy also required an answer from us, failure to do so would have likely only emboldened additional attackers.
However, was there really an “imminent threat” from Qasem Soleimani that warranted this strike without Congressional approval? What did our intelligence community report? Why did Trump believe them now, when he has bent over backwards to discredit almost every branch?
With his impeachment and impending Senate trial, Trump is desperate to bring his approval numbers up. Just take a look at his Twitter feed to see the desperation. And then consider these old beauts.
Why Now?
So, I have to ask, what was so imminent that we had to kill Soleimani now? It isn’t like he has been hiding in a cave in Afghanistan, we’ve been tracking him for quite some time.
There’s no denying the fact that Trump knew that this would escalate things. In no way did he think this strike would force Iranian leaders to the negotiating table or scare them so bad that they would run and hide.
It would be hella interesting to hear what his military advisors had to say before the attack.
Surely this wasn’t a “wag the dog” scenario. Was it?
There’s no way Trump would order strikes that could start WWIII just to take eyes off impeachment — is there?
His “tough guy” stance always plays well with his base and they’re out in force today, but of course it’s next to impossible to tell which are real accounts and which are simply bots.
Iran’s “harsh revenge” statement in response to Soleimani’s death spurred several U.S. cities to go on heightened alert statuses this morning, but I really don’t think it’s attacks here at home that we have to worry about. No, it won’t be another attack on the Baghdad Embassy, that place is locked down and has some of the best of the best “first in, last out” Marines ensuring the building stays safe.
Where will their retribution transpire? Where they have the most power… oil and the Middle East.
Oil Turmoil?
Oil prices already spiked 2.5% this morning, the first rise in months, and the Dow is down triple digits as investors’ nerves ratchet up a few knots. Even gold saw a 1.5% increase this morning, which is almost always assured in times of war.
Other Embassies in the region are much “softer” targets than Baghdad and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see an attack in Turkmenistan, Pakistan, or even the U.A.E. However, we’re likely to see attacks around Iraq get ramped up, which in all likelihood will result in the loss of more American service men and women.
Disrupting commerce in the area will be another goal of the Iranian regime, especially in the Gulf of Oman with the hopes of causing oil prices to climb even higher. Oil field and pipeline attacks are almost assured but no matter how it goes down, you can bet your bottom dollar that Iran will respond.
Why? They’ll feel that they have to.
If they do nothing, they’ll look weak and under the thumb of Trump. Something they simply won’t allow to happen.
Iranian citizens are already filling the streets in protest. Soleimani is revered in the country, achieving a cult-like status complete with his image being prominently displayed through the country even before his death. Now his face is virtually everywhere.
Sanctions have severely weakened the Iranian economy and contrary to what President Trump has said, there’s no evidence that the Iranian people “love America.” In fact, the familiar sight of Iranians burning the American flag were on display first thing this morning and these displays of anger and hate are almost guaranteed to continue.
Trump pulled out of the Iranian Nuclear deal without a second thought (not that he ever thinks twice) and all but assured us that the regime would be begging to get to the negotiating table. That hasn’t happened and “crushing” sanctions have made life extremely hard for the citizens of Iran and do you really think they blame their own government?
I’m thinking… NO
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on quoted this morning saying that “The world’s a much safer place today” in regards to Soleimani’s death, but even some of our closest allies are disagreeing with this view.
To which Pompeo claimed, “they’re wrong.”
However, the funniest line to come out of his mouth today was when he said, “The Iranian people understand that America is a force for good in the region.”
It feels like I woke up in Bizzaro world.
