The Pentagon has confirmed it is sending a THAAD missile defence system and US troops to Israel, publicly acknowledging that US troops will be on the ground assisting in Israel's defence.
They're air defense operators, just like gets deployed around Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure.
If you want to feel bad about anything, it's that this will significantly reduce the likelihood that Iran can threaten Israel with ballistic missiles.
THAAD is really good at what it does, and something tells me that the Iranians aren't going to want to waste their entire stock pile on fruitless saturation attempts. To say nothing of their concerns of killing American troops.
As in, this provides Israel even greater latitude on their quest to start a hot war with Iran, without dramatically increasing any threat to their military bases and government buildings. Well, at least not from ballistic missiles.
As in, this provides Israel even greater latitude on their quest to start a hot war with Iran, without dramatically increasing any threat to their military bases and government buildings. Well, at least not from ballistic missiles.
That's also a very good point. It's like shielding a bully while they continue to bully other people. While I wouldn't mind seeing that bully getting smacked by the other people they oppress, I also don't want to see more people dying either. However, I know Iran has been targeting military targets and not civilian ones. So...
Anyway, this is all just fucked up and I want to see an end to this senseless violence and death, and I want to see Israel getting what they fucking deserve. That is the whole country should cease to exist in terms of land and borders and the land be returned to Palestinians after what they fucking did.
THAAD can be overwhelmed similar to Israel's own missile systems. There has been a THAAD system in Israel since 2019 so it already failed during Iran's retaliation.
The US is sending around 100 US troops with the new system so there will be additional interception capabilities. But it remains unlikely this will affect a saturation missile attack.
This is like, technically a weapon. It's a tool for destroying enemy missiles in the air before they impact their target. It's about as purely defensive of a weapon as you can get.
The US soldiers are operating the missile defense system, so there's not room for Israel to "creatively" repurpose them. They aren't assisting in any missions in Palestine, they're purely defending against Iranian missiles.
The US providing this defense however allows Israel to be even more belligerent without fear of retaliation, possibly the only thing stopping them from expanding their genocide faster.
There is no such thing as a defensive weapon. Its entire purpose is shielding them from the consequences of their own actions. Its just the armor of the tank that is Israels military. Its an integral part of the weapon.
And now they will claim the US soldiers were attacked after placing them in the line of fire and use it as another excuse to go to war with Iran and continue exterminating Palestinians. It truly is sickening that they are fully participating in genocide.
Sending US troops in any capacity seems to me that US hawks are wanting to increase the chances of US troops being killed. Which then means that the US can then justify sending everyone in that they want.
Use the excuse of "they attacked 'Merica" and do the same shit that happened in Afghanistan and Iraq (just with Israel "inviting" them in and as a "supporting" army). Which will of course ignore all of the US citizens that have been murdered by Israel.
They want so badly to bring back the "hero" trappings that WW2 had, but they will be siding with the fascists this time around. And would have "perfect" excuses to attack China and Iran via false flag shit (again using Nazi tactics). Hell, they might even pull-off something with Russia that can be used for the death spiral that NATO Article 5 promises. Be like all the shit that made sure WW1 would happen if literally anything popped off.
Seriously, it's one of those few bridge-crossing arguments which most people will agree on, from the communists to the liberals to the nationalists. Look at all that money going to the other side of the world. Look at the local living conditions. If the governments aren't keeping people poor, desperate and dying on purpose, then the choice of where to spend the money is obvious!
That's not what's going on here, but okay I guess.
Edit to insert a comment I wrote elsewhere:
In case people aren't clear, these soldiers are the operators of the additional THAAD system they are deploying to Israel. These aren't infantry being sent to kick in doors alongside the IDF. THAAD is a ballistic missile defense system with no offensive capabilities. We already have a THAAD unit deployed to Israel.
Don't be mad because you expect to see headlines saying US Soldiers are killing civilians in Gaza. Be mad because this enhances Israel's ability to continue escalating conflict with Iran and hiding behind US cover when Iran strikes back.
Now if Iran sends a ballistic missile in and kills one American what will the US do compared with what the did a few weeks ago when the IDF purposely shot an American protester in the Westbank?
I don't think Iran will need to wait that long. This looks like the US/Israel are planning a joint operation counterattack on Iranian facilities. Which will trigger a retaliation in turn as Iran escalates in kind. Etc, etc.
The big difference now is that the US military will officially be getting its hands dirty in the region, much like we did in Desert Shield / Storm and in Libya. Very possible that the ghost of John McCain finally gets its long-sought-after bomb bomb Iran.
Try to scare Iran into not attacking. Iran targets military installations including missile systems so there is now a chance that they will blow up legally (at least according to USA) stationed US soldiers there. Or worse, this might be a deliberate provocation and they want Iran to blow them up to have some bloody shirt to blind the people into yet another war.
Iran has already taken on US military installations in Syria and in Iraq. It seems very likely that there was a US presence at some of the military installations that Iran has already attacked in Israel.
It's more likely that they are being sent because they are trained to operate THAAD and sending them is more efficient than training IDF troops to operate it.
Iran launched missiles at US bases in Iraq a few years ago with very little in the way of retaliation.
The response to my comment suggests you're right on that.
"Advocating for protecting a peaceful allied democracy, which has been actively fighting to improve its democratic system and root out corruption for years, from being destroyed and annexed by one of our two notable national enemies? Preposterous!"
It's not as though the US is actually losing money over this. We're making weapon sales and using old lend lease practices. And when the war is over, and Putin's regime pushed out, investment in the country would also be lucrative. There is no reason for the US not to want Ukraine to survive.
On top of that, again, these are peaceful, innocent people (who willingly gave up nuclear weapon technology in order to achieve that peace), who are now being invaded and slaughtered by a foreign nation. Having their children abducted and indoctrinated into the idea that there is no Ukraine. It's genocide.