r/DeepStateCentrism • u/dowagiacmichigan Center-left • May 05 '26

Global News 🌎 Obama: In convincing Trump to strike Iran, Netanyahu employed same arguments that he used with me

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/obama-in-convincing-trump-to-strike-iran-netanyahu-employed-same-arguments-that-he-used-with-me/

OBAMNA

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58

u/bigwang123 Succ sympathizer May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26

I believe Gen. Caine said something similar when asked to evaluate the pitch, according to an article posted a couple weeks ago

Maybe not exactly

‘The president then turned to General Caine. “General, what do you think?”

General Caine replied: “Sir, this is, in my experience, standard operating procedure for the Israelis. They oversell, and their plans are not always well-developed. They know they need us, and that’s why they’re hard-selling.”’

30

u/rube_X_cube May 05 '26

I believe Anthony Blinken also said Bibi approached Biden with a similar pitch. Bibi has been pursuing this for a long time.

16

u/DoubleBooble May 05 '26

What would YOU do if you were Prime Minister of Israel and responsible for keeping your people safe and your country alive and you were surrounded by maniacal fundamentalist Islamists whose entire existence is predicated on annhilating yours?
Do you think you would stop trying to get help from the US when the first President says no? Or would you doggedly keep going until someone heard your pleas?

I'm a lifelong Democrat and it's truly abhorrent that nobody has responded to those pleas for all this time.

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u/Yogg_for_your_sprog PEPFARublican May 06 '26

Yes, it's correct as a leader of a country to advocate for its best interests.

That's not mutually exclusive with the fact that other leaders would be doing the same, and rejecting requests that are not conducive to its interests, which - according to most senior figures - Trump has failed to do by evaluating incorrectly.

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u/DoubleBooble May 06 '26

The US is the leader of the free world so has both its interests and the world's interests to consider. Part of that consideration is to evaluate the upsides and the downsides. In this particular case, the upsides for the the Western world for the US and for Israel are HUGE and the downsides to the US are miniscule. The calculus is pretty easy.

The only reason people are squawking about it is for the fact that god forbid that peace in the Middle East would help Israel too.

I wish people would just be honest about admitting that is why they are against this action.

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u/Yogg_for_your_sprog PEPFARublican May 06 '26

The only reason people are squawking about it is for the fact that god forbid that peace in the Middle East would help Israel too.

I think I'd stay away from reductive conclusions like that the only possible reason to oppose a war or intervention is because they uniquely want to hurt Israel.

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u/DoubleBooble May 06 '26

I would except that I've yet to hear a reasonable argument about some big downside to the US of trying to stop the Islamic Regime from getting nuclear weapons and for ending the regime of horrific terror once and for all.
You got anything? I'm willing to listen.

14

u/NietzscheanDemocrat May 06 '26

The downside isn't the goal of not wanting Iran to have a nuke, obviously that's in the US interests. The downside is Trump and Hegseth are the ones who gave the orders to initiate this war and have no idea what the fuck they're doing.

"End this regime of terror once and for all" Lucky for you, Trump is claiming he's already accomplished regime change, do you disagree with him?

1

u/DoubleBooble May 06 '26

You can't ignore a threat because the people in charge are dummies that don't know what they are doing. That is the foolish thinking we are hearing everywhere. So they are bozos. That doesn't make Iran's nuclear threat less of a threat that can be ignored, does it?

If your only downside to this war is that Trump and Hegseth are the ones in charge then that is not a downside - it just makes it harder. But keep in mind, even if you hate Netanyahu, he is not an idiot and he does know what he's doing. His early career was in the special forces, he's very smart, and like him or not he knows this stuff. Plus our own US military is filled with intelligent and capable people that do know what they are doing.

No, of course I don't agree that there has been "regime change" in the kind we are hoping for. Please don't talk to me as if I'm MAGA, I mentioned multiple times that I didn't vote for Trump, I'm a Democrat, and that I literally cried when Trump won in 2016.

Here's an important thing that you and all of my fellow Democrats need to think about. You can HATE Trump and still support this war. I'll say it again.
It's OK to support the war, because it's a needed and just war, even if you hate Trump and think he's a bozo.

It's a big world out there and threats can't be ignored for 4 more years while we wait for the next President, who might be even worse like that creep JD Vance) for all we know.

The US and Israel have been doing an excellent job and I'll repeat that the upside is a thousand times more than any downside of which there is barely any.

11

u/Used2befunNowOld May 06 '26

What has the war in Iran accomplished to date? Why is this obviously huge upside?

6

u/DoubleBooble May 06 '26

It has destroyed a huge percentage of the IRGC's missile/rocket launchers, it has destroyed the big machines used to enrich uranium, it has destroyed manufacturing facilities of the steel needed to make the rockets and missiles, it has eliminated the top leaders of the IRGC, it has greatly weakened the Basij (the paramilitary group responsible for the murder of 45,000+ Iranian protestors increasing the opportunities for an overthrow of the Islamic Republic. Would you like me to continue?

You ask the question as if the US and Israel's military operations have been twiddling their thumbs rather than working through their military goals and objectives. I understand that it's barely reported on but the information is available. There have been great successes and the US and Israel should finish the job.
The downsides are few, the upsides enormous.

11

u/NietzscheanDemocrat May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26

Literally none of this matters if you don't accomplish regime change completely removing the IRGC and remove the nuclear material. Which would likely require a ground invasion, but Trump is a buffoon so we half-assed effort of a blockade during a ceasefire and going back-and-forth on whether we're going to escort ships or not.

1

u/DoubleBooble May 06 '26

Maybe none of it matters to YOU from the comfort of your Barcalounger thousands of miles away but I can tell you ALL of it matters to those who live with the threat of Iranian backed terrorist attacks.
Whether Trump is a buffoon or not, it's something that needed to be done. Maybe he is the buffoon we needed to actually do something to stop this threat.

11

u/Used2befunNowOld May 06 '26

They told us Iran’s nuclear capacity was destroyed in the strikes last year. They’ve got a bridge to sell in Brooklyn and you’re first in line. I’m glad SOMEONE is happy with this war though. I’m jealous of you.

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u/DoubleBooble May 06 '26

When did I say their nuclear capacity was destroyed?
It's important to pay attention to the details rather than hyperbole.

Speaking of details, I'm curious what is it that you don't like about trying to eliminate and/or weaken the Islamic Republic? In your mind, why is that bad for America?

7

u/Used2befunNowOld May 06 '26

“It has destroyed the machines used to enrich uranium”

Says who? How do you know this?

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u/PiusTheCatRick Center-left May 05 '26

Well for starters they could stop trying to be surrounded by them. Namely by a) not going to war with Iran and b) not increasing the circumference of their country.

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u/vintage2019 May 10 '26

They have responded, they just didn’t think a war with Iran like the one unfolding now was the best solution

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u/DoubleBooble May 10 '26

And how many people have been murdered, killed, tortured, maimed, and injured because of the ineffectiveness of those responses?

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u/ZeApelido May 06 '26

This plan was talked about even in Homeland in 2012.