Sen. Tom Cotton calls for unauthorized 'retaliatory strike' on Iran with 'the fire and fury...

[DonViejo]

Sen. Tom Cotton calls for unauthorized ‘retaliatory strike’ on Iran with ‘the fire and fury of the military’

Published 2 hours ago on June 16, 2019 By David Edwards

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Sunday called for a “retaliatory strike on Iran” after Trump administration officials alleged that the country is behind attacks on oil tankers.

“Well, Iran for 40 years has engaged in this kind of attacks, going back to 1980s,” Cotton told CBS host Margaret Brennan. “These unprovoked attacks a warrant retaliatory strikes,” he added. “We can make a military response in the time and matter of our choosing.”

“A retaliatory strike?” Brennan pressed. “As someone who sits in Congress, do you believe that he can act, the administration can act without coming to Congress first?”

“Yes, Margaret,” Cotton replied, “going back to President Washington and all the way to President Trump, the fastest way to get the fire and fury of the military unleashed on you is interfering with the open navigation in the sea and air and this is what Iran is doing in one of the most important choke points.”

“The president has the right to act to defend American interests certainly it would be keeping in what President Obama did unwisely in Libya,” he argued.

video
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/06/sen-tom-cotton-calls-for-unauthorized-retaliatory-strike-on-iran-with-the-fire-and-fury-of-the-military/

[beachbum bob]

1. based on what? Liar in cheif's word? Bolton's word?

[Sneederbunk]

2. Don't they have one of those cages for Norman Bates?

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Someone's itching to nuke Iran for taking over the American Embassy 40+ years ago.

[Harker]

9. Trumpsky has practically said he'd like to use them.

His ugly name will echo through history one way or another.

[RKP5637]

4. FFS, here we go again. Iraq warmed up. n/t

[shanti]

17. Iran would make

Iraq a walk in the park, comparatively speaking.

[RKP5637]

18. Definitely! No matter what the fool in the WH thinks, Iran is no push over. n/t

[shanti]

19. Here's the thing:

Americans have never had any foreign military attacks on the continental U.S. They have NO IDEA how things would be if it were so. The coastlines would, of course, be attacked first, and the deplorables in the flyover states wouldn't give a damn...for a while anyway. Being on the coast, it scares the bejeezus out of me!

[RKP5637]

21. We have so many mentally ugly people in the US. That and what you said is truly

frightening for the future of the US.

[empedocles]

5. fox this morning, Rep from Texas, supports everything about trump

slavishly. The 'con 'hoped Iran was ready for revolution'.

[Harker]

6. The rabid warmonger

makes the run of the mill variety appear reasonable by comparison.

Tick... tick... tick...

[RKP5637]

14. Well said!!! K&R!!! I am so fed up with America and its F'en wars!!! My whole life the US has

been at war with someone over some crap. The MIC is probably licking it's chops over more potential profits!

[democratisphere]

8. Let's see. We want to start a world war so oil prices will skyrocket

and the Saudi's and other energy producers will have a windfall followed by sustained higher prices. Drumpf hates America and Americans and will bankrupt our country.

[BlueStater]

10. Such a pathetic little man he is. n/t

[Liberal In Texas]

11. War monger. Amercan wasn't attacked. Nothiing American was attacked.

So where are the "American Interests?"

And congress is supposed to declare war. Not the president!

[smirkymonkey]

12. We knew MF45 was going to start a war, most likely with Iran.

He has been itching for this. And now that he realizes that his poll numbers are not where he expects them to be, this is the perfect opportunity to create another diversion from all his other failures as a president and human being. It will only be another disaster in a long line of disasters.

[backtoblue]

13. Tehran Tom has a primary challenger

Josh Mahony of Fayetteville

Not where I can pull up his campaign site, but this race needs some light shed...

Oh, and F&_$ you tom.

[SWBTATTReg]

20. Good news!! nt

[Blue_true]

23. It is a republican primary. The other person is likely crazier than he is. nt

[BannonsLiver]

25. I don't think we're anywhere near done with this lunatic

Arkansas will keep sending him to DC in perpetuity. He’ll probably run for President at some point.

[Leghorn21]

15. Molly Jong-Fast:

“Going to war with Iran will not make Tom cotton a real boy”

Link to tweet

[struggle4progress]

22. The danger of Tom Cotton

By James Downie
Opinions editor
June 16 at 6:11 PM

... the Arkansas Republican has managed to surprise interviewers twice in recent weeks with just how welcoming he is of conflict.

On Sunday’s “Face the Nation,” Cotton followed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who forcefully argued that evidence proves Iran was behind Thursday’s attacks on two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. It should be noted that other countries such as Germany and Japan do not believe that the evidence released so far proves that Iran was behind the attacks. But overconfident predictions about intelligence have never backfired on the United States, aside from that one war about supposed weapons of mass destruction that dragged on for years with hundreds of thousands of deaths. Regardless, when host Margaret Brennan asked whether the president had the authority to strike Iran, Pompeo thankfully dismissed the idea, saying, “I don’t want to get into hypotheticals.”

Cotton took a different view ...

... In May, Cotton appeared on PBS’s “Firing Line,” where host Margaret Hoover asked him, “Could we win a war with Iran?” Cotton answered “yes” with a speed that seemed to surprise Hoover: “That didn’t take you a second,” she replied. And it was here that things got alarming: “Two strikes,” said Cotton, “the first strike and the last strike,” would be enough to win.

This is, to put it mildly, delusional ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/06/16/danger-tom-cotton/?utm_term=.3975e1e9d742

[VOX]

24. Funny how much they love BIG government when they're in power.

They pivot from “drowning it in the bathtub” to irradiating it into Godzilla:

-Adherence to the rule of LAW by the nation’s top executives and their supporting political party? NO, says big RW government.
-Women’s equality and reproductive rights? NO, says big RW government.
-Concentration of extraordinary power in the executive branch? YES, says big RW government.
-Secured national elections? NO, says big RW government.
-Go to war WITHOUT the consent of the people (Congress)? YES, says big RW government.
-Conspire with a hostile foreign power to win elections and financial gain? YES, says big RW government.
-A fair shake for POC and GLBTQ folk? NO, says big RW government.
-Quality healthcare for Americans? NO, says big RW government.
-Minority rule by the outdated Electoral College, gerrymandering, and voter suppression? YES, says big RW government.
-Denial of science and the existential threat of climate change? YES, says big RW government.
-Profiting monetarily off one’s office while “serving”? YES, says big RW government.

Sadly, this list could go on and on. If these criminals aren’t tossed out one way or another, we are all thoroughly (sorry, but...) fucked.

IMPEACH NOW. It doesn’t get rid of the problem, but it brands the S.O.B. as the asshole he is. And who knows what insanity the 2020 election will bring? There are no guarantees anymore.

Hold 45 accountable, NOW.

[trev]

26. "Shock and awe"

Haven't we heard this from Republicans before?

[Doodley]

27. I wish somebody would end this before it's too late.

[ProudLib72]

28. Can't the Rump take some pictures in front of the "Mission Accomplished" banner

and call it quits? He gets his photo op. His base gets to claim he's the most wonderful thing ever. We don't actually go to war. Everybody wins.

[walkingman]

29. Fuck you, Tom Cotton and all your war monger buddies.

[CentralMass]

30. ++