[ourmandave]

Again, little to no information for the US public. No approval from Congress.

Calling for the people to rise up. You can't bomb your way into regime change. Are we supplying arms to groups?

Is there a plan beyond pointless death and regional chaos the president would like to share?

[guerrilla]

> Are we supplying arms to groups?

Yes. The US supports the monarchy, the Kurds and MeK. The CIA was revealed to have armed MeK (despite designation) and my guess is that they do with the Kurds too. The CIA also talks to the Balochi groups as well although I don't know how organized or armed they are.

Needless to say, "regime change" would in reality mean civil war like Syria or collapse like Libya.

[etc-hosts]

The US has spent a lot of time and money on MEK but I don't think they are very effective. Or will be very effective. My understanding is the leader of MEK has n't been seen in years(is probably dead), and MEK members are only allowed to marry other MEK members, so the number of MEK members is way down from their 80s highpoint, and it's not getting better.

[aucisson_masque]

Or Irak.

The list of exemple is long enough, no need to add Iran.

We already had ISIS thanks to the mess in Irak and Libya.

[kenjackson]

A plan? Actually there is. This is all part of the backdrop to end US elections. We can’t have elections in the middle of a major war. And if we do have them we must greatly constrain how they are held while we are at war.

[jjk166]

We had elections during WW2, the largest war of all time; we had elections during the civil war when confederate troops were 30 miles from DC. An air campaign in the Middle East is just another tuesday by comparison. This theory falls flat on its face - it is not a reasonable pretext for suspending elections, and this administration does not bother with creating pretexts for its power grabs.

[jimt1234]

I've been trying to avoid the news for a little over a year now. I needed a detox. ... Is this true? That is, are there legitimate proposals to cancel or constrain the November elections in any significant way? Or, is this all speculation?

[petre]

What, is the US Ukraine? Is it under attack?

[idontwantthis]

That's an absurd stretch with no basis in fact or history.

[muwtyhg]

> We can’t have elections in the middle of a major war.

Yes we can? Is there any provision in the US Constitution that allows delay of election because of war? We have had elections during most of our recent wars (Iraq, Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan).

Trump could definitely try. Or pull an emergency card out of his ass. But it doesn't mean there is any provision for cancelling elections because of this 'war' with Iran (which they aren't even calling a war, but a "special combat operation" to get around congress having the war powers)

[actionfromafar]

So, I heard Epstein started a war in the middle east...

[Natfan]

> is there a plan...

probably not, outside of making more revenue for raytheon

[thisisit]

Campaign to move the headlines from Epstein to something else, perhaps?

[gruez]

>No approval from Congress.

To be fair that's been the case for decades. Trump's hardly new in this.

[qup]

Needs to notify Congress within 48 hours (and he did beforehand), and has 60 days before needing Congress to declare war.

[wat10000]

For better or for worse, the War Powers Resolution acts as standing approval.

[Ylpertnodi]

...In a couple of weeks.

[parineum]

> No approval from Congress.

I don't support it but there's blanket approval from Congress from the AUMF.

[richk449]

This authorizes an attack on Iran?

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This joint resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Authorization for Use of Military Force’’. SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES. (a) IN GENERAL.—That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.

[pphysch]

And when was that approval passed?