The Catastrophic Stupidity that May [Have] Set Off a Larger Religious Conflict - emptywheel

"It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone - the United States or Israel or anyone - they were going to respond, and respond against the United States. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn't pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties."

Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Joint Chiefs Chair Dan Caine briefed lawmakers on the rationale for US military action against Iran. Rubio stated that US officials anticipated Israel would attack Iran and that Iran would respond by targeting American forces. To prevent higher casualties, the US decided to conduct preemptive strikes against Iran before Iranian attacks could occur. This explanation frames US military involvement as a defensive measure based on intelligence assessments of Iranian response patterns. The briefing occurred ahead of a House vote on a war powers resolution that could force Trump to end hostilities against Iran.

Read at emptywheel