This assassination was an act of extreme recklessness on the part of the administration and taken without regard to what the actual consequences going forward would actually be. The fact that the Pentagon is using the words" defensive" and "deterrent" to describe its actions covers over the truth about how we got to where we are in the first place. The proximate cause of the escalation in tensions between the US and Iran was the Trump Administration's adoption of the "maximum pressure" policy of sanctions and withdrawal from the JCPOA. More short term factors include the mysterious attacks on PMF bases in Iraq during the summer which were attributed to Israel and also blamed on the US by factions inside Iraq. The series of attacks on Iraqi bases housing US troops by Kataeb Hezbollah may have been in retaliation for those strikes. The roots of the current crisis extends further back, however, to the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, which dismantled the Iraqi state and its security services and created a vacuum which was inevitably filled by Iran. As for why Trump did it, it's been obvious to me that Iran was always a weak spot for Trump, and with the pressure on him from the impeachment, he may have decided that he needs the support of every Republican, including the crazy neo-cons, in order to beat it back, making him vulnerable to the "advice" of berserkers like Lindsay Graham. The split in the responses in Washington to the assassination, with Graham, Rubio and Bolton (among many others), backing it while Democrats, including Biden, criticizing it may be an indication of what pushed Trump into making the decision he did.

It is my understanding, from press reports, that F-15E's, likely flying from the Al Dhafra base in the UAE, were involved in the air strikes. In any case, 30 minutes warning means that all aircraft involved in the strikes were were into Iraqi airspace already.

It seems to me that the public interest is such that Pfizer should either be forced by government mandate to carry out the necessary clinical trials or that the government itself, through NIH or other appropriate agency, do the research itself and deny Pfizer any financial benefit that may follow from positive results.

I have seen reports over the last few days that Egypt has pulled out of Bolton's Middle East Strategic Alliance, the so-called Arab NATO which is supposed to be aimed at Iran. Add that to Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi's insistence on playing an independent role in the region as a mediator (without which Iraq will probably never be rebuilt after 40 years of US instigated wars) and you just might have the seeds of a new, higher order beginning to appear in Southwest Asia, one where the peoples of the region insist on determining their own futures. perhaps this'll could be the beginning of the end of the neo-cons.

Yes, absolutely true. The Soviets didn't explode their first atom bomb until 1949 and prior to that resisted efforts that would have resulted in the US being the only possessor of the bomb. They also didn't reach parity with the US on ICBMs until sometime in the 1970's. There WAS a missile gap in the 1960-61, but it was the other way, in favor of the U.S.

This is one aspect of U.S. strategic policy making that's hardly ever admitted by the policymakers. U.S. decisions have strategic consequences that other powers will respond to. This is what the Russians have been trying to tell us for years and this is what we've been refusing to hear. Perhaps this can be attributed to the "sole super power" mentality that dates back to Dick Cheney's 1992 draft defense planning guidance in which he stated then, that it would be US policy not to tolerate any challenges to our status as the world's only superpower.

This is from the Pentagon update sent out by email, this morning: "DLA’s fuel capability arrived in Puerto Rico, including DLA personnel and 125 contract drivers for 114 fuel trucks. A DLA Rapid Deployment Team (5 personnel) will deploy tomorrow to support logistics command and control." Both governor Rosello and LTG Buchanan, in their public statements, are stressing the condition of the road system, pointing out that the interior of the island is where the problems are most challenging.