Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Assessment of the Day

By Adam Ford

"Cards on the table: I agree with this expert. I think the leaders of Iran had to save face in front of their people and the world after the U.S. brazenly murked their country's second most-important person at an international airport. After the huge crowds at the funeral, and the open weeping by the ayatollah at the funeral, they had to do something and it had to look tough.

"So they fired some missiles in such a way that they did not kill anyone. Intentionally. Because they were deathly afraid of many, many more murkings raining down from the sky should they kill American troops.

"That's what I think.
Now, to add to the insanity of the past day, mere hours after Iran shot their BB guns at us, a commercial Boeing 737 crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 176 on board. Seriously.

Iran immediately said it was a technical failure that caused the crash. Then they announced that they were not going to turn over the black box with flight data. Then some aviation experts came out and said the plane crash was likely a "shootdown event." They provide pictures.

Watch the video; the plane is on fire as it falls out of the sky.

I would not be surprised if Iran, on pins and needles waiting for a response from the U.S. military, shot down this airliner by mistake. I don't know this, of course, but I think it is likely.

If THAT all weren't enough for you, two earthquakes hit Iran's nuclear site mere hours after the plane crash. Seriously.

So here's what happened in Iran in 24 hours:
  • A stampede during the funeral procession for Gen. Soleimani killed at least 56 and injured hundreds.
  • Gen. Soleimani was buried.
  • Iran launched missile attacks against U.S. air bases in Iraq as revenge for Soleimani's killing.
  • A Boeing 737 passenger jet crashed minutes after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 176 passengers and crew members on board.
  • Two major earthquakes rattled Iran's only nuclear site.
I'm going to go ahead and guess that this morning Iranian leaders were weeping once again, only this time with joy, after listening to Trump indicate that they were not all going to die today."