US Baghdad embassy hit

Fox News and CNN reported that [on Sunday a] rocket struck a dining area, which was at least partially burned by the blast. A U.S. official told Fox News that no injuries or deaths were reported and that all personnel were safe and accounted for.

  The Hill

And that may be true. It may also be b.s. like the claims about the Iranian rocket that hit a US base after Trump had General Soleimani killed.

Oh, wait...

Three rockets struck the US Embassy compound in Baghdad on Sunday, leaving one person injured, a US official told CNN initial reports indicate.

The official said the injury was minor and the individual had since returned to duty.

A State Department spokesperson said Sunday evening that they "are aware of reports of rockets landing in the International Zone," but did not address the US embassy itself. The State Department did not respond to a query as to whether any embassy employees were injured.

[...]

The State Department did not directly blame Tehran for the rocket strikes in the Iraqi capital, but the spokesperson's statement made reference to Iranian threats in the region and past attacks by Iranian-backed militias on US interests. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

[...]

[T]he whole of Iraq is on a heightened state of alert as tensions between the US and Iran have dramatically increased in recent weeks after the US killing of key Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iran's retaliatory missile attack on an Iraqi base housing US troops.

  CNN

UPDATE 2/10:

Impeach them all

The State Department abruptly canceled two classified congressional briefings Wednesday that were supposed to focus on embassy security and the U.S. relationship with Iran, Capitol Hill aides said, infuriating lawmakers and staffers seeking answers on the fallout from President Donald Trump's decision to kill a senior Iranian general.

[...]

Congressional staffers had planned to ask questions about the shifting explanations and wanted to receive a global threat assessment for U.S. personnel.

[...]

“Staff are furious,” a House aide said about the scuttled embassy security session. “This briefing is required by law every month, and today's was the most important we've had scheduled in a long time. The State Department has given us no explanation whatsoever.”

[...]

"We know they will vaguely claim it was a logistical issue, even though this briefing had been already locked into the schedule for days," the Senate aide said.

  Politico

The Trump administration is staging a coup against Congress. I bet they figured Pompeo would have to answer questions about the Parnas revelation about Marie Yovanovitch being stalked by Trump's mafia.

Iraqi airstrike protests - update

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Tuesday that 750 U.S. soldiers will deploy "immediately" to the Middle East after violent protests at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.

In a series of tweets, Esper said that more U.S. forces stand ready to deploy to the region.

[...]

The deployment follows the arrival of 100 U.S. Marines at the embassy in Baghdad earlier Tuesday in response to the protests, which reportedly came in response to the U.S. airstrikes on Sunday that targeted Iranian-backed militants.

The retaliatory strikes came after a U.S. contractor was killed and American troops were wounded in an attack on Friday, which the U.S. blamed on the Iranian-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah militia.

  The Hill

A case of true overkill. This article doesn't mention that there were five different airstrikes that killed at least 25 people.

Iraq air strike follow-up

Dozens of protesters broke into the US embassy compound in Iraqi capital Baghdad on Tuesday after smashing a main door and setting fire to a reception area.

[...]

Witnesses at the scene reported flames rising from inside the compound and at least three US soldiers on the roof of the main building inside embassy.

[...]

The US ambassador to Iraq and other staff were evacuated from the embassy.

Earlier, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the embassy to protest US air attacks that killed 25 fighters from an Iran-backed Shia group in Iraq this week.

Shouting "Down, Down USA!" the crowd hurled water bottles and smashed security cameras outside the embassy grounds.

Iraq's caretaker prime minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said that crowds should leave the compound "immediately."

"We recall that any aggression or harassment of foreign embassies will be firmly prohibited by the security forces," Abdel Mahdi's office said several hours after the attack began.

[...]

Tuesday's attempted embassy storming took place after mourners held funerals for fighters killed in a Baghdad neighbourhood, after which they marched on to the heavily fortified Green Zone and kept walking till they reached the embassy.

[...]

The protesters raised flags of the powerful paramilitary group Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces), of which Kataib Hezbollah [the target of US air strikes two days ago] is part, and several people climbed over the wall of the embassy and chanted "death to America" and "no, no America", witnesses said.

[...]

Speaking from the scene in Baghdad, Al Jazeera's Simona Foltyn said there was no indication of an armed confrontation so far.

"This entire funeral procession, consisting mostly of PMF members and their followers, has entered through these gates without any resistance whatsoever from the Iraqi security forces that are supposed to guard the Green Zone," she said, speaking from outside the US Embassy.

[...]

The US attack - the largest one targeting an Iraqi state-sanctioned group in recent years - and the calls for retaliation represent a new escalation in the proxy war between the US and Iran playing out in the Middle East. The US military said "precision defensive strikes" were conducted against five sites belonging to Kataib Hezbollah, which is a separate force from the Lebanese group Hezbollah, in Iraq and Syria.

  alJazeera

Two sources at the demonstration witnessed the attempt to break into the embassy, adding that security personnel fired tear gas to repel the attack. Video and photos on social media show demonstrators smashing the windows of the embassy and burning items outside its walls.

[...]

Questions have also been raised as to whether Iraqi forces allowed the protesters to reach the US embassy, a highly fortified building in a ares that is usually restricted.

The strikes and protests also come at a time of high tensions between the US and Iran, and have stoked fears of a new proxy war in the Middle East.

Washington has tightened the economic squeeze on Tehran this year through its "maximum pressure" campaign, while Iran has responded with what it calls for "maximum resistance," including reducing its compliance to the international nuclear deal.

The Trump administration pulled the US out of that deal in May 2018, sparking a campaign of provocation between the two nations.

  CNN

Government spending is a problem for you?

Why in god's name he said $250,000 in the first place is beyond me.  Who actually believed that?  And yet, twenty one million????

“We’re going to have it built very quickly and inexpensively,” Trump told reporters at a March press event with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following his December decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocate the US Embassy from Tel Aviv. “They put an order in front of my desk last week for $1 billion. … We’re actually doing it for about $250,000, so check that out.”

[...]

Trump has repeated versions of this claim multiple times, gradually raising the price tag up to $400,000, including during a bilateral press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in April.

[...]

Documents uploaded this week to the official database of federal spending show that Maryland-based joint venture Desbuild Limak D&K has been awarded a $21.2 million award to design and build “addition and compound security upgrades” to the embassy in Jerusalem’s Arnona neighborhood. That’s in addition to the $335,000 spent to get the facility, formally a US consulate, ready for its ritzy grand opening as an embassy back in May.

[...]

The Israelis gifted land in Jerusalem for the United States to build a permanent embassy, the aide said, but the United States is unable to use it because of zoning issues.

  Al-Monitor

They gave us land we can't use? Priceless. We're now the world's patsy.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Jesus Christ, this administration is evil

Don't tell me that was too far for HuckaSanders?

Jerusalem protests update

FURTHER UPDATE:



FURTHER UPDATE:



UPDATE 5/15:

Only just now?

I can't believe they didn't think they'd need to get that done prior to the opening.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Congratulations, Israel!

So far.

UPDATE:



I can't believe they didn't think they'd need to get that done prior to the opening.



A little earlier:



This is just going to keep going up.

Trump put his name on another building...

The US embassy in Jerusalem!



...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Blackmail?

In 1995, Congress passed a law requiring the federal government to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama all campaigned on relocating the embassy and executing this law. But once in office, every one of them invoked a waiver in the law that allows them to hold off on the move if they deem it necessary to the national security interests of the United States to do so.

[...]

A trio of GOP senators [Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and Nevada Sen. Dean Heller] have introduced legislation that would cut security, construction, and maintenance funds for U.S. embassies around the world in half [except for the embassy in Tel Aviv] until the president moves the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

  The Intercept

Is that not a matter of national security?

Ironically, Cruz and Rubio loudly attacked the Obama administration for failing to properly secure the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

[...]

Eight months after the attack, Cruz wrote in the National Review: “Our brave men and women who continue to put their lives on the line every day in similar, dangerous situations deserve to know we are doing everything possible not only to protect them in the event of a terrorist attack, but also to deter these attacks from happening again. Better late than never.”

In the summer of 2016, Rubio lamented in a Breitbart post that “leadership was sadly lacking in this case and resulted in disaster” and called on the government to properly secure diplomats in the future.

It may be ironic, but it's par for the Congressional course.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.