Have they released the photos/video of Biden in the situation room?
I can't wait to see it.

On Jan 3, 2020 Trump ordered the drone strike on General Qassem Soleimani.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50979463

Does anyone else remember all the praise from American media?

Me either. Headlines read:

"Dangerous escalation" or "Trump destroys peace in the Middle East"

I hate the mainstream media.

And Soleimani was an active threat, or where as Al-Zawahri was a sick old man, twisted fuck incapable of not much, clearly outted by an adversary. Easily could’ve been the Taliban.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
I'm genuinely surprised that our "woke" armed forces can do anything at all anymore. I couldn't be more serious. Genuinely surprised.

And I don't want to hear President Huggies taking credit for this with his mumbling bullshit but that's exactly what he's going to do, over and over.

I’d like to think the special operations groups are immune from the worst of the woke propaganda, but I’d agree from what I’ve heard the greater military community is doomed.

This thread is truly interesting. I've been here a long time. IMO, members of this board are incredibly intelligent and hesitant to jump to conclusions without lots of dialog, debate, and proof, while always being skeptical of government fed stories. This administration has proven without question to be total liars and completely untrustworthy on 'any' topic, yet a large number of posters here have apparently bought this story hook line and sinker on little more than the word of the same liars who have been feeding us bald faced lies for 2+ years. Truly an interesting development...

quote:

Originally posted by captain127:
Touched on by another poster, we pulled out- sure. It a ground team was in country to verify target and hit. What would of happened to that ground team if the attack failed and they were identified?
This administration would certainly have left them to perish.

1. Whomever was on the ground, providing the data for the pattern of life and building the target package, were likely not American nationals but, recruited in-country assets. There's no embassy or 'safe havens' for Americans to operate out of in Afghanistan. There may be 1-2 involved on the ground but, their cover would have to be as as 'aide worker' or, some NGO mission, they would likely be acting as handlers. Whenever the details of this comes out, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a multi-national effort, perhaps a majority women effort given the Taliban's fear and odd behavior around females.
2. Clandestine services are all about doing work unsupported and unverified. Getting left-behind or, pushed aside for political reasons are very real possibilities. This wasn't a military operation where there's a giant infrastructure to support them, not to mention there's no cover of the Geneva Codes that uniformed members get, as if that part of the world even knows what that means or, cares. In-country, recruited assets is how intelligence gets collected and even acted upon. If I was a non-Muslim/Anglo-looking guy in Afghanistan, you're probably being pursued by the Taliban as various mid-level leaders are now paranoid, wanting to believe all Anglo foreigners are 'spys'.


Backing up a bit, this administration can't afford to have the word Afghanistan & Biden mentioned in the same breath. This news, regardless of how real or, not it is, only conjures up how fucked-up this administration (and military, they didn't do their part), managed the pull-out. The Taliban is in much better shape today, financially and materially, than it was on Sept 10, 2001, thanks to this POTUS and his feckless minions.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
This thread is truly interesting. I've been here a long time. IMO, members of this board are incredibly intelligent and hesitant to jump to conclusions without lots of dialog, debate, and proof, while always being skeptical of government fed stories. This administration has proven without question to be total liars and completely untrustworthy on 'any' topic, yet a large number of posters here have apparently bought this story hook line and sinker on little more than the word of the same liars who have been feeding us bald faced lies for 2+ years. Truly an interesting development...

You don’t think we smoked Ayman al-Zawahiri?

If that were the case, all the guy would have to do in order to make the US look like fools would be to post a video of himself saying "I'm not dead."

The guy is toast. I have no doubt of this.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
This thread is truly interesting. I've been here a long time. IMO, members of this board are incredibly intelligent and hesitant to jump to conclusions without lots of dialog, debate, and proof, while always being skeptical of government fed stories. This administration has proven without question to be total liars and completely untrustworthy on 'any' topic, yet a large number of posters here have apparently bought this story hook line and sinker on little more than the word of the same liars who have been feeding us bald faced lies for 2+ years. Truly an interesting development...

You don’t think we smoked Ayman al-Zawahiri?

I'm simply going to state I would not trust this administration if they told me water was wet. If we stroll back down memory lane just a year ago, we were told Joey B and crew had killed some terrorists responsible for the killing of 13 US Marines in the A-stan cluster[blank] withdrawal, only to find out later they blew up a car with a bunch of children in it. We have zero proof this guy was even alive at the point they tossed a missile into that building. Hell, we've been given almost no info whatsoever on the status of this dude prior to dropping expensive ordnance on that building, short of the small amount we've been told by certifiable liars. Credibility is everything, and this administration, along with the agencies working for it, have none.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
This thread is truly interesting. I've been here a long time. IMO, members of this board are incredibly intelligent and hesitant to jump to conclusions without lots of dialog, debate, and proof, while always being skeptical of government fed stories. This administration has proven without question to be total liars and completely untrustworthy on 'any' topic, yet a large number of posters here have apparently bought this story hook line and sinker on little more than the word of the same liars who have been feeding us bald faced lies for 2+ years. Truly an interesting development...

You don’t think we smoked Ayman al-Zawahiri?

I'm simply going to state I would not trust this administration if they told me water was wet. If we stroll back down memory lane just a year ago, we were told Joey B and crew had killed some terrorists responsible for the killing of 13 US Marines in the A-stan cluster[blank] withdrawal, only to find out later they blew up a car with a bunch of children in it. We have zero proof this guy was even alive at the point they tossed a missile into that building. Hell, we've been given almost no info whatsoever on the status of this dude prior to dropping expensive ordnance on that building, short of the small amount we've been told by certifiable liars. Credibility is everything, and this administration, along with the agencies working for it, have none.

For clarity on ABBEY GATE retribution: the day after that attack the US did in fact launch a successful mission to kill the ISIS attack planner in Nagharhar. The CIVCAS event you’re referring to happened a day before we pulled out and after we killed the guy in Naghahar, and was targeting someone US forces thought was another VBIED attempting to strike our forces during the incredibly vulnerable phase of our final retreat.

The RPA CIVCAS strike in downtown Kabul was certainly an embarrassment and a failure and certainly senior leaders attempted to cover it up to their shame. But we did in fact kill the guy responsible for killing the Marines in a separate strike east of the city a few days early.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
This thread is truly interesting. I've been here a long time. IMO, members of this board are incredibly intelligent and hesitant to jump to conclusions without lots of dialog, debate, and proof, while always being skeptical of government fed stories. This administration has proven without question to be total liars and completely untrustworthy on 'any' topic, yet a large number of posters here have apparently bought this story hook line and sinker on little more than the word of the same liars who have been feeding us bald faced lies for 2+ years. Truly an interesting development...

You don’t think we smoked Ayman al-Zawahiri?

I'm simply going to state I would not trust this administration if they told me water was wet. If we stroll back down memory lane just a year ago, we were told Joey B and crew had killed some terrorists responsible for the killing of 13 US Marines in the A-stan cluster[blank] withdrawal, only to find out later they blew up a car with a bunch of children in it. We have zero proof this guy was even alive at the point they tossed a missile into that building. Hell, we've been given almost no info whatsoever on the status of this dude prior to dropping expensive ordnance on that building, short of the small amount we've been told by certifiable liars. Credibility is everything, and this administration, along with the agencies working for it, have none.

With a cool missile, It's less likely the story will change about who actually pulled the trigger like it did with Bin Laden. The video footage of the killing of Bin Laden looked amazing based solely on the Situation Room expressions of Obama and Hillary. I'm sure one day they will release an unedited version.
I wonder if they will give what's left of him a burial at sea to honor his Muslim faith like they did with Bin Laden? That's the least our military could do for someone who was responsible for killing 3000 Americans on 911.

I'd really like to believe that that scumbag glanced up and had a couple seconds to see that flying ginzu knife coming at him.

I believe he is dead. Ether we got him, or he died years ago and no one put out the press release since all the jihadi cool kids left AQ for ISIL long before that. I was expecting for this guy to put out a recording on 20th 9/11 anniversary right after our botched withdraw from Afcrapistan giving the west and us specifically the middle fingers celebrating our loss. But not a peep from any of them. Not even a word from some low level, sacrificial puppet.

He is dead. All the news reports from news outlets left and right all indicate that career CIA folks have been hunting and tracking for him for years. Glad they got him. As far as I am concerned all of the credit should go to the career CIA people.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
Do some of you really think Biden is lying about this?
I am no fan of Biden, but that is crackpot stuff.
I had no idea there was a missile like this. Kind of cool it is that accurate and deadly.

Well the guy has been reported dead twice already (once 2 years ago) so who knows.
DNA confirmation? Good luck.
I trust goobermint like I trust rattlesnakes…and the snakes DON’T have an agenda.

Agreed about the missile tech, cool stuff.

I know a lot of intel officers active and retired who were focused on that region for the past 21 years hunting HVT's. The flow if intel has been mind numbing. Many, many low and mid-level targets were found and vaporized as a result over the years. The only way this guy, and also Bin Laden, survived as long as they did was host government services hiding and shielding them. The fact that this guy was pink misted in Kabul tells me that local police and intel services knew he was there. My guess is the intel was traded or sold to US intel services.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
I had no idea there was a missile like this. Kind of cool it is that accurate and deadly.

I first read about the “Ginsu” missile some months ago, and was struck by what it signifies. Being able to target an inert, nonexplosive missile precisely enough to kill an individual from thousands of feet above is yet one more thing that astonishes an old guy like me who remembers how things used to be.

How many of us who have watched the first Star Wars movie focused on the fact that Luke had to use his Force-enhanced skills to deliver a precision strike on the Death Star? It was about the time of the movie that I recall hearing about precision guided bombs’ having been used to destroy a bridge in North Vietnam that had withstood countless prior attacks by conventional “dumb” weapons, but I suspect no one associated with the movie when it was being planned and written was aware of the fact. Would the producers today of such a movie about a technologically advanced society have a character relying solely on his flying skills to accomplish Luke’s feat?

It’s just one more example of how technology has changed the world in an eyeblink of human time to the extent that most adults have no understanding or appreciation of.

I’ve used a bunch of R9X. They’re impressive when they work, which isn’t common. They’re the toughest weapon to laze in.

nevermind

quote:

Originally posted by arabiancowboy:
I’ve used a bunch of R9X.

When was your experience? Have things improved?
Would the CIA have used the missile against such a high profile target if there were concerns about its effectiveness?

(Not disputing your comment, just very interested.)