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The US Department of State ordered all non-emergency US Government employees to immediately leave Iraq, both from the US Embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Erbil.
@StateDept has ordered the departure of non-emergency USG employees from Iraq, both at the Embassy in Baghdad and Consulate in Erbil. Additional information on this alert can be found on the U.S. Embassy website at U.S. Citizen Services. https://t.co/iX96dAkyhT
— U.S. Embassy Baghdad (@USEmbBaghdad) May 15, 2019
The actions the departing employees should undertake are as follows:
- Depart Iraq by commercial transportation as soon as possible
- Avoid U.S. facilities within Iraq
- Monitor local media for updates
- Review personal security plans
- Remain aware of surroundings
CNN’s National Security Reporter Ryan Browne cited State Department as having said that the threat in Iraq has increased. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had reportedly said that during his visit to Baghdad on May 7th.
US Embassy Staff to leave Iraq amid tensions with Iran. @StateDept: “Given the increased threat stream we are seeing in Iraq, which we shared with the Iraqi government during the Secretary’s visit on May 7…the Secretary has decided to place Mission Iraq on ordered departure”
— Ryan Browne (@rabrowne75) May 15, 2019
There is no other reason provided, but it is likely related to the presumed possible attacks by Iran that the Trump administration continues maintaining will happen.
“These actions are not the prelude to a U.S. attack against Iran,” Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted. “There is clear & persistent evidence,supported by observable movements on the ground,that Iran’s proxy forces in Iraq and Yemen plan to attack Americans with the intent of inflicting mass casualties.”
He did also say that Iran is part of the reason for the decision:
“Iran’s IRGC has spent years building the capability to attack us using proxy forces. They believe they can inflict casualties on the U.S. without international condemnation because world will see it as the actions of independent Shia groups instead of Iran itself.
They also believe that our internal political divisions combined with the legacy of the Iraq War will lead a substantial % of Americans to doubt Iran’s role in such attacks or blame Trump. & they have built propaganda capability to spread narrative in social media.
The idea that the US President is creating a pretext to start war with #Iran makes no sense. While I may not agree with him on it, Donald Trump wants to wind down U.S. military presence in Middle East, not expand it.
We can debate whether the designation of IRGC provoked all this. But right now, Americans serving us in Iraq are facing a serious & imminent threat. Iran need to know that if they are attacked a UNITED States of America will respond decisively.”
Other senators said they had no knowledge of what was happening.
“The Trump administration has not provided any information to this committee on the intelligence behind their decisions or what they plan to do with Iraq and Iran,” Sen. Bob Menendez reportedly said.
Other US allies are also suspending their operations in Iraq.
On May 15th, the Dutch government has suspended a mission in Iraq that provides assistance to local authorities due to a security threat, Dutch news agency ANP reported. The Netherlands has about 170 military and civilian personnel in Iraq.
Germany, too, suspended its Iraq training mission due to “threats.” “The German army has suspended the training,” Defense Ministry spokesman Jens Flosdorff said. There was “generally heightened alert, awareness” for soldiers currently operating in the region, he added, but said training could be resumed within a few days as there was “no concrete threat” at the moment.
Germany was “orienting itself toward our partner countries, which have taken this step,” Flosdorff said.
Germany has some 60 soldiers stationed north of Baghdad to train Iraq security forces as well as 100 more troops in the Kurdish regions of northern Iraq.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said: “Obviously, we are watching the increasing tensions in the region with considerable concern and welcome any measure that is aimed at a peaceful solution.”
Angela Merkel herself, however, did say that the EU must unite and stand up against the US, China and Russia.
“There is no doubt that Europe needs to reposition itself in a changed world,” Merkel said. “The old certainties of the post-war order no longer apply.”
She added: “They [China, Russia and the US] are forcing us, time and again, to find common positions. That is often difficult given our different interests. But we do get this done – think, for example, of our policy regarding the conflict in Ukraine.
Our policies on Africa, too, now follow a common strategy, which a few years ago would have been unthinkable. So, we keep putting one foot in front of the other. However, our political power is not yet commensurate with our economic strength.”
The British deputy commander of the anti-ISIS coalition said on May 14th that Iran was not upping aggression through the militias it backs.
“There’s been no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria,” said Major General Christopher Ghika. “There are a substantial number of militia groups in Iraq and Syria, and we don’t see any increased threat from many of them at this stage.”
US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, contradicted Maj Gen Ghika, saying in a statement that his comments “run counter to the identified credible threats available to intelligence.”
To recall, Spain pulled out its frigate Méndez Núñez from USS Abraham Linclon’s carrier strike group. The move came due to concerns of Spain being dragged into a conflict involuntarily.
On Iran’s side, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said on May 14th that the country was not seeking a military confrontation. In comments quoted by state media, Mr Khamenei framed the conflict as a battle of wills, saying “our resoluteness is more unwavering than theirs”.
Supreme Leader says US will retreat without conflict https://t.co/wQe7npnXbL pic.twitter.com/AbPM7cgIGe
— IRNA News Agency (@IrnaEnglish) May 15, 2019
“Neither we are looking for a war, nor they are, as they know that it will not be in their interests,” said Mr Khamenei. He did say that negotiations wouldn’t be effective between Iran and the US.
“The definite option in front of the Iranian nation is resistance against the US,” Khamenei said, “which will [eventually] be forced to retreat.”
MORE ON THE TOPIC:
- Houthis Strike Key Saudi Oil Pipeline Amid Growing Concern Over Nearing US-Iranian Armed Conflict
- Spain Pulls Its Frigate Out Of USS Abraham Lincoln CSG, Says It Won’t Send Warship To Persian Gulf
- ‘Iranian Threat’: US Evacuates “Non-Emergency” Staff From Baghdad Embassy. Germany, Netherlands Suspend Training Missions
If terrorist states like America and Israel have nuclear weapons and ICBMs then what’s wrong if a peaceful country like Iran to have nuclear weapons and ICBMs for their own safety. Idiots safety first.
On May 3, 2017 the Department of Homeland Security released the most detailed files to date on the 1979-1983 Richard Kelly Smyth/Arnon Milchan/Benjamin Netanyahu krytron smuggling ring. The 100-page dossier (PDF) answers important questions about how highly sensitive US nuclear weapons technologies were smuggled out of the country in the early 1980s. The pages leave two key questions unanswered. The first is why Arnon Milchan was not indicted alongside his co-conspirator Richard Kelly Smyth. The second is why in 2016 Secretary of State John Kerry granted Milchan a long-term visa to reside in the United States even after career Department of State officials initially refused. The files, originally scheduled to be declassified in the year 2037, reveal that on December 6, 1979 the Israeli Ministry of Defense suddenly developed a need “of the utmost importance” for sophisticated devices invented and manufactured by EG&G called “krytrons.” Krytrons required a munitions license for exportation since they can be used to initiate the precisely timed conventional detonations necessary to create the “symmetric implosion shockwave needed for nuclear weapons.” Israel, which had just successfully conducted a joint nuclear test with apartheid South Africa, may have needed the devices for hydrodynamic testing and building up to 200 nuclear weapons for its own use, as well as agreed-to sales to South Africa. Detonating circuits for a single nuclear device can use two, four, or more, krytrons. By 1987, it became known to the US Department of Defense that Israel also had a hydrogen bomb project underway which may have necessitated reliable triggering mechanisms.
Richard Kelly Smyth commenced shipments from Huntington Beach-based MILCO International on January 7, 1980. To avoid required end-user certifications and licenses for munitions exportation, Smyth and Milchan conspired to classify the krytrons as harmless radio tubes. The first shipping documents falsely claimed the krytrons were “pentodes.” Later, to aid in the subterfuge, the pair used a company controlled by Smyth that exported radio components from the same Huntington Beach address called “Micro Secom Systems Corporation.” According to the file, Arnon Milchan’s Tel Aviv based import company HELI Trading received 60 percent of the gross profit on the transactions. According to a letter written by Richard Kelly Smyth, Benjamin Netanyahu was also an employee at Heli trading. According to an FBI file, Netanyahu met with Smyth in Israel several times during the smuggling operation. All the krytrons were delivered to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Telex correspondence reveals Smyth offering to reveal to Israeli buyers undisclosed NASA technology during a limited window of opportunity. A technical discussion over Pockels cells, used in Marx generators for igniting the conventional explosives in nuclear weapons, also appears in discussions about testing and acquiring higher capacity krytrons. By early 1983, on the pretext of investigating a burglary at MILCO, a FBI special agent discovered the smuggling ruse. Smyth, perhaps expecting the forbearance the Department of Justice repeatedly extended to previous smugglers working for the Jewish Agency to arm the Hagenah in the 1940s, forthrightly told the special agent he was “bending the law” in shipping the vacuum tubes to Tel Aviv, and that he knew they required an export license. A May 13, 1983 search warrant yielded details of the smuggling affair which Smyth and Milchan had code-named “Pinto.” A lightly-enough-redacted synopsis of the affair with biographical details makes it clear the Department of Justice knew Arnon Milchan was implicated. “At some time in 1979 [Arnon Milchan] and [Richard Smyth] entered into a conspiracy to illegally export certain U.S. Munitions List items, specifically, krytrons from the United States to the Republic of Israel without the required authorization of the United States Department of State.” In August 19, 1985 diplomatic correspondence with US Customs, the Israeli Ministry of Defense confirmed that it was the end user of the krytrons and, without specifying what use they were actually put to, confirmed “the krytrons were not and will not be used for any nuclear program…” MOD gruffly offered to “deliver you any unused Krytrons in our possession.” Smyth was indicted in 1985, but fled the US until apprehended and extradited from Malaga Spain in 2001. From jail, he reached out to Arnon Milchan for help, boasting “I still feel young and vibrant at 72 years since I run a mile every day” and congratulating Milchan that “I was delighted to hear your former employee, Netanyahu, had become Prime Minister of Israel.” After his US felony conviction and a prison sentencing, Smyth gained early release claiming poor health and advanced age. Arnon Milchan, who also initially fled the US in the mid-1980s, was never charged and remained free to produce motion pictures in California. In 2016, Milchan’s former employee Benjamin Netanyahu pressured then Secretary of State John Kerry to – against State Department wishes – issue Milchan a new long-term US resident visa. In Israel, Netanyahu is presently embroiled in a corruption probe that involves lavish gifts from Milchan. In the United States, the reclusive Milchan continues uninterrupted work in Hollywood. In March, 2017 the US State Department claimed the negotiations and details surrounding the 2016 Milchan visa can never be publicly released due to “confidentially provisions of section 222(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.” (PDF)
ps. the USA did not have the first working nuclear weapon….they stole them…..1945 may!!
I agree with you on that, Iran having nukes would bring peace in the ME. But also they should stop with the stupid populist threats on Israel.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LUYECqyThus
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bLhJkeBu-tU
I think the US military operation against Iran should be named Jared Corey Kushner operation because there is no better name than this.
We will see the roasted BBQ rats in the sea and in the region around Iran due to which more climate change and pollution in the environment will spread.
Do you remember the Magrav Technology, which Russia purchased and used with good effect on the USS Donald Cook and USS Theodore Roosevelt? Traumatising the sailors of the first ship and leaving both ships, having to limp into NATO member states, in order to have some Naval Healthcare, owing to having their electronics taken out? Well, funnily enough, the technology was invented by Iran. A very long time ago and no doubt, they have seriously advanced with their programmes.
U.S. proving that it has “combatants” occupying Iraq still.
embassy in Bagdad 16,000 personel and another 25,000 soldiers in various of its 25 bases in iraq as mentioned by PMU 1 week ago!!
and PMU has made clear, any attack on Iran or on their Forces will have a Major Backlash for US Folks in iraq!!!
I know. Thirty thousand boots on the ground . Hahah ,what a joke. Pulling out means the US admits they are hated by ALL iraqis ,even the ones who cheered them on taking down Saddam. Democracy American -style. American kid to his Dad ” why do they hate us Daddy?” They are jealous of our kindness and democracy son” lol
iraq 2.0
OMG, the Americans are actually moving people out of Iraq. I thought I’d never hear that.
My god im turning into a.language police.
quote from the article “There is no other reason provided, but it is likely related to the presumed possible attacks by Iran that the Trump administration continues maintaining will happen.”
likely related presumed possible maintining will happen
Olé!!!
What fork tongue snakelike human wrote that!!! Is there such a low understanding of language that no one sees its all conjured up bs?
i dont like these implied nuances!!! It means nothing, its something to tie another lie in it down the line.
Im not a writer, but goddamn that profession has taken a shitkicking. Its up to you to swim or drown, your drowning right night now
I think Indian Rob is writing for them.
I forget which jewish arsehole it was in Chicago who said ‘America creates her own reality’, but whoever it was forgot about Vietnam.
As for “nuance’s “, what do nonces have to do with it :)
it was sec of defense Donald Rumsfeld i beleive.
Thanks for the ‘Known Known’ , Mike :)
original soviet GRU report to Stalin and his generals 1945….
People’s Commissariat for the Defence of the USSR Department of Military Reconnaissance of the Red Army 23 March 1945, Moscow To the Chief of Staff of the Red Army, Army General Gen. Antonov Report: Our reliable source in Germany reports: “Recently the Germans have carried out two major explosions in Thuringia. They took place in a forest area under the strictest secrecy. From the center of the explosion trees were felled up to a distance of five hundred to six hundred meters. Fortifications and buildings erected for the experiments were destroyed. Prisoners of war, who were in the explosion centre, were killed, and often no traces of them remained. Other prisoners of war who were at some distance from the centre of the explosion wore burns on their faces and bodies, the degree of which depended on the distance to the centre. The tests were conducted in a remote area. The highest level of secrecy is applied in the test objects. Entry and exit is only permitted with special identification cards. SS commandos have sealed off the area and interrogated anyone who approached it. The bomb probably contains U235 and weighs two tons. It was transported on a specially designed flat wagon. Together with it tanks with liquid oxygen were brought. The bomb was permanently guarded by twenty SS men with dogs. The bomb explosion was accompanied by a strong detonation wave and the development of high temperatures. In addition, a strong radioactive effect was observed. The bomb represents a sphere with a diameter of 130 centimetres.” The bomb consists of: 1. a high-voltage discharge tube which draws its energy from special generators 2. a ball of metallic uranium 235 3. a retarder 4. a protective box 5. the explosives 6. a detonation plant 7. a steel jacket All parts of the bomb are assembled into each other. The initiator or detonator of the bomb Consists of a special tube that produces fast neutrons. Special generators create high voltage in the tube. As a result, the fast neutrons act on the active substance. Fissile material The active substance of the bomb is uranium 235, which is a sphere into which the initiator is inserted through an opening. The opening is then closed with a plug made of uranium 235. The protective sheath The uranium ball is enclosed in an aluminium casing coated with cadmium. This greatly slows down the thermal neutrons released by uranium 235, which could cause premature detonation. Explosives Behind the cadmium layer is an explosive consisting of porous trinutrotoluene impregnated with liquid oxygen. Trinutrotoluene consists of blocks that have a special shape. The inner surface of the blocks has a spherical diameter which corresponds to the outer surface of the cadmium. A detonator with two electric igniters is installed to each of the blocks. Cover Trinutrotoluene is covered with a protective cover made of a light aluminium alloy. The blasting device is attached to the top of the case. Outer casing The outer shell of armoured steel is mounted above the blasting device. Hood A hood made of a light alloy can be mounted on the armoured shell for the subsequent assembly of the bomb on a type “V” missile. Assembling the bomb The ball, made of metallic uranium, is placed in a protective container made of aluminium coated with cadmium so that the opening in the ball matches the opening in the container. The initiator is inserted through this opening and then the opening is closed with a plug of uranium. The cadmium-coated aluminium ball is then sealed with a plug on which the last block of trinutrotoluene is placed. Liquid oxygen is also pumped through the opening covering the trinutrotoluene. The bomb is then ready for use. The detonator of the bomb The bomb is ignited with the aid of a high-voltage discharge tube. It generates a neutron current that attacks the active substance. In the process of the effect of the neutron current on the uranium, from which element 93 is released, it accelerates the formation of a chain reaction. The explosive device also causes the explosive to explode, causing an impact directed towards the centre, which is triggered by the explosion of the outer layer of trinutrotoluene mixed with liquid oxygen. This allows the uranium to pass the critical mass. Before ignition, the uranium ball is irradiated with gamma rays, which have an energy of not more than 6 million volts, which should lead to an increase in its explosive capacity. No doubt the Germans are testing a bomb with great destructive power. In the event of their successful testing and production of such bombs in sufficient quantities, they will have a weapon capable of slowing down our offensive.” Head of the Military Reconnaissance Headquarters Lieutenant General Iljitshov 4 copies: Copy No. 1 Gen. Stalin copy no. 2 Gen. Molotov copy no. 3 Gen. Antonov copy no. 4 to the files 16 sheets Source: Letter of 23.3.1945 from Lieutenant General Ivan I. Ilitshov, Chief of the Headquarters for Military Reconnaissance, to General Antonov, Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, to Stalin, Molotov, Antonov, Archives of the President of the Russian Federation, Fund 93, Division 81 (45), List 37.
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator
Pull EVERYONE out and y’all Yankees go home already! Fucking thieves and mass murderers!
I am an American but these Pax Americana motherfuckers empirial-ing their spiky asses around the world, looting and destroying millions of lives, DO NOT REPRESENT ME! EVER! Not even for a fucking nano second!
There’s a sense of Déjà vu: the invasion of Iraq, 2003. But events seem to be fulfilling a pattern of history with the lead up to World Wars One and Two. All the signs are for the Third. https://www.ghostsofhistory.wordpress.com/
Bolton, was the US Envoy to the UN, under Bush and remember his words to the Director of the OPCW, with regards knowing where his children were, when the OPCW were not on board with the lies that led to the Iraq War?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a736e0c26a28af0f19d8bdcd71ef36b28baccb6310506089acd27a9e17b03c0c.jpg
Elliot Abrahms, war criminal and US Ambassador to Venezuela.
Pompeo – 1986 – 1991 served in the US Forces. Wasn’t the first Iraq War, back in 1991? Plus, Harvard educated, whose students are very loyal to the CIA. Then look at his investments and interests and no doubt, he wishes to keep them sweet. In 2006, he sold his interest in Thayer to Highland Capital Management. The announcement said clients of the firm included “Lockheed Martin, Gulfstream Aerospace, Cessna Aircraft, Boeing, Spirit AeroSystems, Raytheon Aircraft and others”.[30] It was renamed Nex-Tech Aerospace. Koch, seem to have a decent relationship with Pompeo and wonder why they hold interests in his companies? Not forgetting, when Pompeo was President of a company, which provides equipment for oilfields, which again goes back to his links with the Koch Brothers.
For all the worried people claiming it’s New Iraq, it’s just the elections coming in USA, Trump needs to show he has an iron fist, America is not prepared for war with Iran. Remember this: Iraq has no mountains and it had 0 modern toys from Russia and China. American people had a lesson from Afghanistan.
Trump using the pretext of Iranian threats to make a pull-out from Iraq and Afghanistan?
Good point. I never thought of that if it turns out be be correct.
Interesting, but, Trump has stated he hopes he does not go to war with Iran. Play on words, with ‘hope’. Remember, he has a Presidential Campaign, in just a year’s time and needs to stay in the White House. How many of his voters, chose him owing to him wearing the ‘peace keeper’ banner?
Trump Tells Aides He Does Not Want War with Iran – Reports… https://sputniknews.com/us/201905171075070671-trump-tells-aides-no-war-iran/
Venezuela coup failed. Pompeo was ignored when he went to Brussels and all the nations who signed the Iran Nuclear Deal, including the UK. (Russia, China, UK, France, Iran and Germany on behalf of the EU) Would love to have been a fly on the wall, when President Putin and Sergei Lavrov held frank discussions with Pompeo.
Wonder if it had any bearing on Trump now wanting to negotiate with Iran. A nation, like Cuba and North Korea, which has no Rothschild Central Bank. Syria, has no Rothschild debt and Venezuela paid their off, under Chevez, but, I believe has a small amount of Rothschild debt now, together with a vast amount of natural resources. Russia threw the Rothschilds out of Russia. Appears a pattern is forming, concerning nations who do not owe anything to the Rothschilds and how they end up being demonised.
The time has come for Russians to send tactical nukes to Iran. Amin
yes
It’s just a precautionary measure in case of retaliation for US air raids which can be likely. Invasion? No chance of happening