5 ways the military industrial complex is a killer
Congress is poised to add $150 billion to the defense budget this week. Let's take a look at where that goes
Not showing up on the news yet but CNN just broke it.
Previous thread:
Iran 2-21-26
Started by metmike - Feb. 21, 2026, 8:12 p.m.
Let me remind readers that this exact same thing happened less than a year ago with the exact same countries under very similar conditions.
1. Donald Trump and Iran were negotiating and from many reports were close to an agreement, with a peace meeting planned the upcoming weekend, then SUDDENLY Israel bombed Iran and messed it up because they SUDDENLY discovered evidence that Iran was days away from making a bomb.
2. Donald Trump went from negotiating for peace and talking about an agreement with Iran to SUDDENLY bombing Iran because Netanyahu told him to.
3. Then, Donald Trump declared the war between Israel and Iran to be over and added that to his list of wars that Donald Trump has stopped. Seriously, that happened
We'll see if Donald Trump does the same thing as he did last June. Bomb Iran after Israel carried out the first strike. Then declare its over and that he stopped another war...........that he and Netanyahu started and stopped as the most powerful militaries in the world work together.
What will be the justification this time?
That the nuclear weapons program that President Trump insisted was completely obliterated less than 9 months ago came back from the dead and was on the verge of launching a nuclear bomb at Israel again?
Maybe we can make this an annual event.
The US starting out the year by negotiating with Iran. Then, Israel jumping in to stop the negotiations by telling the world that Iran is getting ready to nuke them so they have to attack Iran unprovoked. Then the US goes from negotiating peace to bombing Iran overnight, unprovoked based on nothing between our 2 countries but following Israel.
OK, that question was answered pretty quickly.
The US is bombing/attacking Iran right now and apparently it's a MAJOR strike.
Of course this is against International Law and also was UNPROVOKED.
We don't get to bomb another country because we're unhappy with the negotiations.
That is, unless you have a lunatic leader, Donald Trump. He didn't change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War for nothing.
Donald Trump's legacy
1. Stopping fake wars
2. Starting real wars and conducting massive attacks against International Law in numerous places while being unable to stop REAL wars.
3. Taking other countries and planning to take countries based on the justification of Donald Trump who has the most powerful military in the world.
4. Proclaiming that he deserves the Nobel PEACE prize all last year while abusing his military power to create havoc as the worlds most powerful psychopath.
Israel Announces Launch of Preemptive Attack on Iran
28 Feb, 10:35
https://caspianpost.com/iran/israel-announces-launch-of-preemptive-attack-on-iran
“The State of Israel has launched a preemptive strike against Iran to remove threats to the State of Israel,” he said.
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There we have it. Any time Israel or the US want to bomb a country, we can call it preemptive strikes for whatever excuse we want.
Illegal by International standards and by the US Constitution.
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Donald Trump has still not communicated why he is doing this.
He obliterated the nuclear weapons facilities last June. Is this, instead for a regime change?
Now our place in the world is to start wars/attack countries unprovoked if we don't like the regime?
NOW, the US and Israel are destroying FUTURE weapons in Iran BEFORE THEY EVEN EXIST.
Is this part of getting the heat off his crimes as a predator of women/Epstein files, his ruinous tariffs and worst approval ratings ever?
I get that Iran is an evil empire and the huge sponsor of world terrorism but at the same time, Israel is a rogue state run by a psychopath responsible for an ongoing horrific genocide that is still happening.
His partner in crime is the most powerful man in the world!
If Trump is for justice for the protester lives Iran took, then why is he letting Putin get away with his killing?
Netanyahu killed MANY times more innocent people, mostly children in women in Gaza than the number of protesters killed by the current Iranian regime.
How is Donald Trump partnering with a psychopathic, genocidal but charismatic lunatic that has killed so many Palestinians in cold blood but claiming to be standing up for ethical standards against another evil person?
It's a world where the powerful gatekeepers with powerful military's dictate what is right and what is wrong and use that to exploit their military's to do what they want.
Bomb who they want. Kill who they want. Take what we want. Make up the reasons for doing it. Who can stop them? NOBODY! So they exploit their powerful military's and control of the world with their morally bankrupt, sell serving objectives.
Israel and the United States started this!
Psychopaths in Power
Started by metmike - Jan. 20, 2026, 9:33 p.m.
OMG!
I just watched Trump's speech. This is completely unhinged. He's shouting at the top of his lungs half the time.
He's reviewing the history of Iran going back many decades ago and blaming that for part of the reason for this unprovoked attack.
He says that the US completely obliterated all the nuclear weapons program last year but Iran planned to start it up again as part of the reason to bomb them.
Bragging about how the US military is the most powerful military in the history of the world. Hugh? So that gives us the right to bomb the crap out of who we want, when we want, where we want and why we want to do it?????
What a moment we are living in. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That was the president of peace that only settles (8) wars????
When this one ends, if Donald Trump is still president he will insist that this was another war he settled!!!
Egads!
Donald Trump just posted that this is also retribution against Iran for hacking US presidential elections to stop Trump.
Donald Trump On Iran Attack: Watch The Full 8-Minute Statement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paTLHEKn0rc
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Donald Trump tells us in the beginning that this is about defending the United States from Iran, even mentioning the "Death to America" chants which were from Iranian PEOPLE(not just the regime he is trying to over throw) but then it morphs into this being a just cause of a REGIME CHANGE to save the people of Iran (the same ones that were chanting "Death to America") that he was blaming for doing this.
This was last June after the US and Israel bombed Iran, UNPROVOKED.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U6z539fjzc
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What TDS can do to people who ordinarily have sense. "Trump suddenly bombed Iran" by MM. Dear MM.
This started in 1979. Suddenly? This job was left to Trump by thousands of do nothing bureaucrats. Chief on that list has to be obama who dropped billions on Iran instead of stopping Iran he aided them in killing Americans. That was once before Obama, was called treason. Suddenly??
Thanks very much, mcfarm!
"This started in 1979"
That's exactly my point, mcfarm. Donald Trump going back over 4 decades to blame people that have died a long time ago for this attack?
This is 2026! Use criteria based on what is happening right now in 2026 for starting an uprovoked attack on Iran in 2026 NOT 1979, please!
If this is a regime change to supposedly save the Iranian people, then don't, at the same time blame the attack on the Iranian people chanting "death to America"
You KNOW the Iranian people have been doing that for decades.
Does using the words "Death to America in legal protests" for decades in Iran, suddenly in 2026 now justify massive military attacks/bombings from the United States?
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"What TDS can do to people who ordinarily have sense."
mcfarm,
I will consider that half a compliment because you referred to me as "ordinarily having sense"
Just to remind you for the umpteenth time. I voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and again in 2024 and been crystal clear/transparent on the reasons why. A person with TDS would never vote for Trump BY DEFINITION, especially in the last election that helped get him elected.
Iran–Israel relations
More than 50 students have been killed and some 60 more wounded in US-Israeli strikes that hit an Iranian girls' school in Hormozgan province, state media reported, citing a local official. Washington has not commented on the reported strike.
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If this 1 deadly attack killing so many children is true, especially so early in the attack, then this has already backfired massively from the get go. This just gave the Iranian regime the moral high ground with a huge group of innocent martyrs that can't be unseen.
Quite frankly, this is/was inevitable but Donald Trump is unable to see the negative consequences to so many of his ruinous actions because he is blinded by his pathological thinking:
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/117371/
Iran will ALWAYS have the moral high ground advantage in this war.
1. Israel and the United States started it.
2. There was no provocation or imminent threat to the United States or Israel to justify it.
3. The number of innocent people killed will pile up in Iran CAUSED BY Israel and the United States bombing the heck out of Iran.
4. Even if Israel or other countries lose innocent people from Iran's weak attempt to defend itself with missiles in Israel, it's totally justified because Iran was attacked unprovoked.
5. The overwhelming/massive advantage in military strength and firepower for Israel and the United States over Iran, as well as them starting this clearly makes this a David and Goliath story where the US and Israel are huge bullies, using their military's to get what they want from a weaker country.
6. Yes, Iran is an evil empire. No, this is not following International Law. Not following the US Constitution. Not following ethical laws or basic respect for humanity and people that are different than you or weaker than you.
Mike said:
“then it morphs into this being a just cause of a REGIME CHANGE to save the people of Iran (the same ones that were chanting "Death to America") that he was blaming for doing this.”
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Hey Mike,
This is admittedly confusing. However, I can assure you based on my Iranian-American friend’s accurate info that the Iranians chanting “D to A” represent only the ~20% of them who support the Mullahs. In many cases they’re paid by the regime to make them look like they have more support than they really have. So, there really are folks to save, the other 80%.
Edit: That being said, I’m not saying I’m in favor of US/Israel attacking now, especially based on the lack of success/big mess after the fact with regime change in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan
My friend prefers the US/Israel stick to covert actions rather than war strikes. He prefers the Iranians against the Mullahs, themselves, do regime change with only covert outside help.
Regardless, Trump isn’t doing this legally since he doesn’t have Congress approval.
Thanks, Larry!
So, there really are folks to save, the other 80%.
In your opinion, what % does the number need to be for the US and Israel to justify bombing/attacking Iran unprovoked?
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Also, as time goes on and there is no regime change with Israel and the United States uniting to decimate their country and kill more and more innocent people, do you think Iranian support will go up or down?
That was a rhetorical question.
It’s clear that if that happens the number of people in Iran that hate the United States will go up by the millions.
As we kill innocent people and get some of our brave soldiers killed while spending billions in tax payer money to enrich the military industrial complex.
Dont let the convincing propaganda from our morally bankrupt, self serving politicians along with like minded diabolical gatekeepers in Israel blind you/us to the stone cold realities of humanity and where this is going.
High Probability of another counter productive Middle East military intervention that backfires like all the other ones.
Propaganda is designed to be very convincing, telling us things that we wish were true. I get that. We must break our minds free from these self enriching crud’s that are stealing our intelligence for their agenda.
mcfarm,
Since you want to believe that history is a reason to justify this attack/war. Let's go ahead and look comprehensively at that history.
I will also ask you, of the many other wars in the Middle East, which ones were successful in the past and why do you think that this one will be different?
The conflict with Iran is the latest in a decadeslong series of regime change operations, long-term entanglements, and all-out wars that always seem to invite more problems
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_foreign_policy_in_the_Middle_East
See also: Iran-U.S. relations, Iran–Contra affair, and Israel's role in the Iran–Iraq war
US-Iran relations drastically changed since the Iranian 1979 revolution. It marked the fall of the Shah and its closeness with the Western world and the takeover of Khomeini with a return to Islamic law. In 1979 the US Embassy in Teheran was caught by protesters, and American civilians were taken hostages.[72] In 1980, the US changed policy to allow Israel to sell American armament to Iran during the war. The deal between US and Israel was coordinated by the State Department Counselor, McFarlane, with US Secretary of State Alexander Haig Jr. and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin agreeing to a 6 to 18 months period weapons' provision.[73]
This support to Iran was first explained as a way to have back the American hostages. Yet, the hostages were delivered before the US supply of weapons to Iran.[74] This armament provision lasts for more than the established period.[73] This was later known as the Iran-Contra Affair publicly divulgated in November 1985. US supplied weapons to Iran through Israel, and the profit gained went to finance the Contra rebels, opponents to the Nicaragua Sandinista Front
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Please tell me which of these wars and US interference paid dividends for the United States?
I content that every single one made many things worse. Worse for that country. Killing people in that country. Worse for our relations with that country. Costing us our brave soldiers to lose ground. Costing tax payers billions.
What makes this current endeavor an exception to any of that????
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Basically, the difference in understanding the above authentic truths and not is believing in the current propaganda brainwash to justify this current war or seeing the truth.
https://quincyinst.org/militaryindustrialcomplex/
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.“
– President Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953, “Chance for Peace”
Seventy years ago, President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his “Chance for Peace” speech, tallying up the costs of United State’s Cold War militarization and comparing our extraordinary expenditures on weapons to Americans’ unmet needs.
Today, America’s $858 billion war budget is at one of the highest levels since World War II. When the 20 year and $2 trillion war in Afghanistan ended, Pentagon spending went up. Defense spending is now higher than during the peak of the Cold War, or the heights of the Vietnam or Korean wars. America spends more than twice as much as China on its military forces; America spends more on war than the next nine countries combined.
“Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”
America’s massive military budget fails to keep America safe while enabling Washington’s continued pursuit of global U.S. military primacy, a strategy which has yielded massive, costly failures. “Is there no other way the world may live?” Eisenhower asked. Yes — a foreign policy that emphasizes military restraint and diplomatic engagement and cooperation with other nations will serve American interests and values better than policies that prioritize the maintenance of U.S. global dominance through force.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_complex
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_military_buildup_in_the_Middle_East
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https://quincyinst.org/research/profits-of-war-top-beneficiaries-of-pentagon-spending-2020-2024/#
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Congress is poised to add $150 billion to the defense budget this week. Let's take a look at where that goes
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/defense-budget-reconciliation/
Again, our side, the supposed good side bombing an all girls school and killing at least 60 girls, wounding at least 63 from the get go is a catastrophic blunder that we can’t fix.
This operation was bound to keep killing more and more innocent people with time and gradually erode the support/increase condemnation but for that to happen on a scale this horrendous just hours after we started dropping the bombs has just decimated the credibility of the so called “Good Guys”…….right from the start.
This was a CRIME AGAINST THE IRANIAN PEOPLE.
Especially the attempts to bamboozle people with the idea that we are doing this to free the people of Iran from this oppressive regime.
The only ones that we are truly setting free from Iranian leadership are those we send to Allah…….who weren’t asking for it.
Trump’s bombing of Iran marks the eighth military intervention of his second term. The president spent his political career pledging the opposite.
https://www.ms.now/news/trump-iran-strikes-regime-change-vance-hegseth
Throughout the 2024 campaign, Trump promised to “expel the warmongers” from government and branded himself as the “peace” candidate against a Democratic opponent he warned would trigger “World War III.” Vice President JD Vance built his foreign policy reputation on denouncing Middle East interventions as disasters. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth just last December pledged to end “regime change” and “undefined wars.”
The record of statements from Trump and his top officials reveals a consistent pattern of anti-interventionist rhetoric that has collided with the administration’s choice to bomb Iran.
Here’s what they said then — and what they’re doing now.
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https://zeteo.com/p/team-trump-iran-war-regime-change
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https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-tweets-saying-obama-start-195454701.html
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The White House
Mike asked
“In your opinion, what % does the number need to be for the US and Israel to justify bombing/attacking Iran unprovoked?”
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MM,
Iran is a pretty unique country in having about worst leaders on globe while 80% can’t stand them with many wanting US/Israel to take them out. The strong majority of citizens (mainly secular Persians) are totally different from their leaders (far right extremists limiting freedom). Although I fully understand the sentiment of the Iranians against the horrible regime (made more understandable by what my friend tells me) and that many want Israel/US to go after regime change, I don’t know that there’s any % that justifies to me the US going in unprovoked, especially w/o Congress’ approval:
-illegal w/o Congress
-Trump campaigned on not starting/staying out of wars
-Expensive and costs both countries’ lives, including the Iranian children already killed
-After regime change, it’s become huge mess/worse in other cases
-Is DT doing this to divert attention from Epstein?
-Iran stronger/has much larger pop. than other cases. My friend estimates 5 million who’d risk their lives for the Mullahs. That’s a lot!
There are going to be many different opinions.
Larry,
Outstanding, very thoughtful response!
The Military Industrial Complex.
https://www.counterfire.org/article/us-the-military-industrial-complex-today/
But is it truly the arsenal of democracy?
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/military-industrial-complex-ukraine-israel/
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https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/debt-ceiling-military-spending/
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Six US senators want to investigate the military industrial complex, but nothing will change as long as America seeks to dominate the world
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/war-profiteers/
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https://tlaib.house.gov/posts/tlaib-introduces-bill-to-stop-politicians-profiting-from-war
Members of Congress should not be able to use their positions of power to get rich from defense contractors while voting to pass more funding to bomb innocent civilians. The American people deserve better. We are sick of politicians profiting from endless wars.”
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https://responsiblestatecraft.org/congress-ndaa-vote/
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https://mises.org/mises-daily/living-reality-military-economic-fascism
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The data below is several years old. It's WORSE now.
https://jacobin.com/2022/10/pentagon-budget-military-contractors-lobbyists-biden
https://www.pogo.org/analysis/representatives-are-too-invested-in-defense-contractors
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https://www.transparency.org.uk/publications/usa-defence-arms-industry-corruption-risk-exports-saudi-uae-middle-
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Elon speaking about war
Started by cutworm - April 23, 2024, 10:23 p.m.
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/103454/
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Top firms rake in millions lobbying for foreign nations on US defense budget
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https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/lobbying?ind=D
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Dozens of armed services committee and Defense Department personnel swung through the “revolving door” in 2023.
Revolving-door practice gives 'at minimum, the appearance of corruption and favoritism,' report says
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This was years ago:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/us-and-israel-should-bomb-iran-senator-lindsey-graham/3016390
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https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/99662/#99695
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Basic_Principles_of_War_Propaganda
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Military-IndustrialComplex Clinches Nearly 450,000% Return on InvestmentAfter Industry Gives $10 Million to Congressional Defense Committee Members, DOD Receives Potential $45 Billion Spending Increasehttps://www.citizen.org/article/military-industrial-complex-contributions-report/ |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_highest_military_expenditures
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https://econofact.org/u-s-defense-spending-in-historical-and-international-context
metmike: I am not against spending a great deal of money in DEFENSE spending. REAL DEFENSE spending.
However, this industry is dominated by corrupt profit making incentives that drive it towards using our military weapons in NON DEFENSE endeavors and now, we are seeing that in the aptly renamed Department OF WAR!
This is not free. We pay for this at the expense of spending for much more critical needs in our country, like HEALTHCARE.
Good MM it was meant to be a compliment. Ordinarily you make great sense, right up until someone utters Trump. Now to the Iranian mess others left Trump. How many GD times have been promised by our leaders that Iran will not go nuclear? And until someone says they are not going nuclear and backs those words up we have mess to clean up. Like or not that is reality. Sooner we get started the better. That country has had hundreds ,hell hundreds of thousands of time to cooperate. They played this game way too long.
President Donald Trump has called for regime change following the massive US and Israeli attack, which prompted an unprecedented wave of retaliatory strikes by Iran.
https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-iran-attack-02-28-26-hnk-intl
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https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-888283
Taking their leader out is a GOOD THING.
However, this guy was 86 years old and in poor health. He had outlived most expectations for the length of his leadership. I'm certain that they have planned on his replacement for many years because of his age.
Will this regime decide to capitulate because Trump and Netanyahu are putting extreme pressure on them?
Did Hamas throw down their weapons and surrender like Trump claimed they would when he declared the Gaza War was over ~5 months ago?
Not even close!
We'll see what happens.
We can be confident that the replacement for this leader was chosen years ago and that persons political belief system closely aligns with the guy just assassinated (or he wouldn't have been picked). Along with that 1 replacement, there are others in the regime.
People indoctrinated with a belief system that defines their thinking don't just change their minds overnight for reasons X, Y and Z that somebody else decided for them.
It's almost impossible to change a person's religious view, right???
These people have a faith in their POLITICAL belief system that's almost as tenacious as the faith that we have in whatever religion that we were indoctrinated into growing up.
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Not to be overlooked is the extraordinary expensive that this is costing US taxpayers(while enriching the Military-Industrial-Political complex).
The assumption here by Donald Trump is that the protesters will take over the government but it could end up in a massive slaughter of those protesters who are mowed down by this regime.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Republic_of_Iran_Armed_Forces
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What kind of gun control laws does Iran have?
https://www.quora.com/What-kind-of-gun-control-laws-does-Iran-have
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https://www.globalfirepower.com/countries-listing.php
Iran is #16, just after Israel. We have an overwhelming advantage with our bombs and technological advantages thru the air but on the ground, they have too much firepower for us to have any hope of defeating them.
I feel very confident that Netanyahu made this decision and dragged Donald Trump in.
Sadly, Netanyahu has completely obliterated his credibility on anything related to military actions by exposing his true mentality with a 2+ year horrific genocide in Gaza. If not for what he did in Gaza, I would give him the benefit of the doubt.
Netanyahu has blatantly lied hundreds of times and is a diabolical psychopath.
Iran is without question, led by an evil regime that has sponsored terrorism for decades, so it's impossible to feel bad for them about this happening.
However, one has to chose which diabolical psychopaths to align with.
In this case, at this time, I choose to follow International laws, the Constitution, the truth and other rock solid principles/rules.
It wasn't Iran that violated all of those realms the past 24 hours!
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It's extremely good to take out this leader to hold him accountable for his crimes.
However, what about the tens of thousands of innocent children and women that Netanyahu killed in cold blooded murder/genocide?
Why isn't this war criminal, Netanyahu being held accountable for his horrific crimes?
Instead, we are supposed to cheer for this psychopath and war criminal with this endeavor because now, he going after actual evil?
The rules are dictated by the most powerful men with the most powerful military's.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Criminal_Court_arrest_warrants_for_Israeli_leaders
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THE HAGUE (AP) — The world’s top war-crimes court issued arrest warrants Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the 13-month war in Gaza.
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And the total insanity of this:
Netanyahu's participation, despite an ICC warrant seeking his arrest for war crimes in Gaza, will add to concerns over the objectivity of the board.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/21/israels-netanyahu-to-join-board-of
And what about Donald Trump? Why not take him out?
He's the extremely unpopular leader of a regime he appointed that has pledged allegiance to Donald Trump. Violating International laws by murdering people on boats with impunity. Illegally taking a country by force with his powerful military.
Bombing/attacking 8 different countries in just a year. Causing massive economic chaos and instability around the world with illegal tariffs. Destroying long lived relationships with our allies. Threatening to take Greenland.
Exploiting MUCH, MUCH more power than Iran to disrupt the world.
Wreaking much more havoc on the world in the last year than Iran has.
However, like Netanyahu, as the most powerful man in the world there is nobody, no country MORE powerful than him to stop him from doing what he wants as the BIGGEST bully.
Iran has been a bully in their own right, make no mistake but Donald Trump, in the last year and Netanyahu in the last 2+ years make Iran look like they are not that bad.
We know with absolute certainty that Donald Trump is unable to grasp the understanding of something as absolute as the economic principles of global trading between poor and rich countries and the impact of illegal tariffs, including who pays them.
Why would anybody think that in an area so much more complicated as this one, that he has the ability to comprehend the consequences of his decisions?
