4 B-52s deploying to Middle East amid threat of "possible attack"

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: CBS News

4 B-52s deploying to Middle East amid threat of "possible attack"
UPDATED ON: MAY 7, 2019 / 12:15 PM / CBS/AP

Four B-52 bombers are being deployed to the Middle East in response to what administration officials said earlier this week are threats of a possible attack by Iran or allied fighters on American troops in the region. Two of the bombers are expected to leave Tuesday from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, arriving at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on Wednesday, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.

White House national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday that the U.S. was deploying a bomber task force and the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to the U.S. Central Command region, an area that includes the Middle East. Bolton said the movement was in response to "a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings." He didn't provide details, but said the U.S. wants to send a "clear and unmistakable" message to Iran that "unrelenting force" would meet any attack on U.S. interests or those of its allies.

"The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces," he said.
....

First published on May 7, 2019 / 11:11 AM

© 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-b52s-deploying-middle-east-iran-threat-today-2019-05-07/

[Blue_Tires]

1. I'm old enough to remember certain people on the left said

Trump was the "peace candidate" and Hillary the "warmonger"

[mopinko]

10. this was the bottom line for the trumpkin in my life.

mostly he is in it for the conspiracy theories. sure the deep state really keeps us in perpetual war, and spanky tearing that up would mean world peace.

i honestly dont get it. he isnt stupid, he isnt a bigot. he is an old hippie and used to be a good liberal. but he fell down the breitbart rabbit hole.
hoping the impeachment will bring him around.

[NurseJackie]

18. Susan Sarandon said that Hillary was "more dangerous" than Trump.

She obsessed about her IWR vote. (Oddly, she didn't obsess about the identical IWR vote of John Edward, when she was supporting him... only Hillary's.)

[still_one]

26. That is why anyone who voted for Stein is deplorable in my book. Sirota, Turner, Banks, Sarandon

[ProudMNDemocrat]

52. My only sister did. And I told her that her vote went to Trump...

She fumed when I also told her that Jill Stein was a Russian set up to help Trump win. But that is not the reason she wants nothing to do with me. Her loss.

[still_one]

55. In situations with family like that, I avoid engaging in those conversations. They are still family

and to maintain peace I avoid those specific discussions.

Sorry about your situation, and hope you are able to work things out on a non-political level

[ProudMNDemocrat]

57. Her cold letter to me.....

After 5 to her on my end to keep her in touch with me and my family said right out because of a brother we share, she wants nothing to do with me. No contact, nothing. I did send her a birthday card though.

So a reconciliation is not going to happen. I am dead to her and she is the Evangelical Christian. Go figure.

[still_one]

58. Sorry about what you've gone through. Take care

[IADEMO2004]

29. Speaking of old the last B-52 was made in Oct 1962

[patphil]

33. Not true!

The last B-52, Cindy Wilson was "produced" in February of 1957

[rzemanfl]

39. I am guessing she's been made recently. Now I have to

wash socks.

[IADEMO2004]

42. I think you bombed my post. LOL

[patphil]

44. Well, it turns out Trump is the piece president

Piece of Shit that is.

[dhill926]

2. and away we go....

jesus fuck almighty....

[LiberalLovinLug]

3. If Impeachment goes ahead.....he's going full wag

[dameatball]

4. Well, crap. That word "proxy" leaves a lot of wiggle room for Trump and Bolton.

There have been several references to "Gulf of Tonkin" recently. This brings back memories.

[playaseeker]

5. Yawn

Four 70 year old bombers ain't going to scare the Iranians very much

[groundloop]

21. No, but it'll sure the hell provoke trouble (and give Tiny an excuse to declare war)

It won't take much..... one of them strays too close to Iranian airspace, Iran fires a missile in retaliation, and BINGO, we're at war. That's just what Tiny wants to distract attention from his legal problems.

[Ramsey Barner]

22. Kinda depends what they're armed with.

Bolton is nuts. But we don't want the "smocking gun" to be a "mustache cloud."

[rzemanfl]

40. Please check your math. I am 71 and was born in 1947. n/t

[RKP5637]

6. Here we go again, plus whatever in Venezuela. Bolton and tRump want to play war. n/t

[pazzyanne]

7. U.S. was deploying a bomber task force and ...

the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to the U.S. Central Command region, an area that includes the Middle East.

"The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces," said John Bolton.

Follow three fingers back to Bolton, and war is exactly what the tRump administration is seeking.

[MarcA]

8. Saber Rattling for now. If drumph and his trash face removal from office,

now or 2020, who knows. After all their goal is to take U.S. democratic governance
and drown it in the bathtub to further Oligarchic ends.

[B Stieg]

9. Bombers are not defensive weapons...

What the heck is Bolton up to?

[cstanleytech]

11. Trying to ratchet the tension in the region up to provoke a war before an election.

Or in other words just the usual Repugnant tactic.

[Zoonart]

12. MF45 polling at 46%

which i can't for the life of me believe, but a war would put him over 50 for the first time since he took office.

[jayschool2013]

13. Remember the Maine?

Oy.

[Ghost Dog]

43. Absolutely.

At 9:40 on the evening of February 15, 1898, Maine sank in Havana Harbor after suffering a massive explosion. While McKinley urged patience and did not declare that Spain had caused the explosion, the deaths of 250 out of 355[57] sailors on board focused American attention. McKinley asked Congress to appropriate $50 million for defense, and Congress unanimously obliged. Most American leaders took the position that the cause of the explosion was unknown, but public attention was now riveted on the situation and Spain could not find a diplomatic solution to avoid war. Spain appealed to the European powers, most of whom advised it to accept U.S. conditions for Cuba in order to avoid war.[58] Germany urged a united European stand against the United States but took no action.[59]

The U.S. Navy's investigation, made public on March 28, concluded that the ship's powder magazines were ignited when an external explosion was set off under the ship's hull. This report poured fuel on popular indignation in the US, making the war inevitable.[60] Spain's investigation came to the opposite conclusion: the explosion originated within the ship. Other investigations in later years came to various contradictory conclusions, but had no bearing on the coming of the war. In 1974, Admiral Hyman George Rickover had his staff look at the documents and decided there was an internal explosion. A study commissioned by National Geographic magazine in 1999, using AME computer modelling, stated that the explosion could have been caused by a mine, but no definitive evidence was found.[61]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish%E2%80%93American_War

[stillcool]

14. truth or lie?

any odds?

[wiggs]

16. It should be assumed to be a lie, based on three years' worth of lies. nt

[C_U_L8R]

15. Trump is eager to drop the big one

[sarisataka]

17. .

[GreydeeThos]

19. 6060 842

606 — and I’m waitin’ for you
6060-842!

[Blue_Tires]

20. The BUFF is just for showing off

If war was really breaking out we'd be sending the B-2A Spirit and we wouldn't tell CBS news beforehand....

[Turbineguy]

23. Let's hope the Iranians don't take the bait

and instead make trump and company look like the fools they are.

[LiberalArkie]

24. If Iran would just elect a Southern Baptist as their leader, all this could be stopped.

[YOHABLO]

25. WTF does this have to do with Susan Sarandon? I suggest things are more dire than that.

It would be plausible that Trump is creating hysteria, to deflect from matters at hand. That being the investigation into his criminal escapades.

[still_one]

28. It has everything to do with her, and those who not only voted for Stein, but encouraged

others to do likewise

When she said the Democratic nominee was worse than trump, she deserves every bit of scorn, and ridicule for being an enabler, and helped bring us to where we are today

[YOHABLO]

51. You're blaming Susan Sarandon for Trump being elected? Sorry I can't go there.

[still_one]

56. They were a factor. David Sirota, Nina Turner, Briahna Joy Gray, Cornel West, etc were factors.

They encouraged people not to vote for the Democratic, up to the day before the election.

There were other factors, but they were part of it. On social media and news outlets they were able to influence some people not to vote for the Democratic nominee. It didn't take much either.

In those critical swing states, the Democratic nominee lost by less than 1%. Jill Stein received 1% of the votes in those states.

In other words, it didn't take much, add the other factors, and here we are today.

We simply disagree.

[Chin music]

31. Much more hysteria and I'm going to punch the

first trumper I see. I want our lives back.

[Chin music]

27. What do you call 4 B52's in 2019?

Bait.

[tymorial]

30. Thank God we have a secretary of defense.

Oh wait

[patphil]

32. All 4 of them?

There used to be 5, but one died.

[jberryhill]

38. They might be down to 3

[Freethinker65]

34. JFC. Can't Trump just pop a TicTac and grab some pussy instead?

[yaesu]

35. The last B-52 I seen was 20 years ago at a now closed airbase

I had no idea they were still in service, hell, the B1's are even getting old.

[MicaelS]

41. Extended service life until 2045.

And that is not a misprint.

[yaesu]

45. Even with all the upgrades their still just a carpet bomber as I don't think they have had

the weapons bay upgrade. They are also one big bullseye in the sky, like a previous post said, bait.

[Baclava]

47. Nuclear-Armed Cruise Missiles?

The B-52 Bomber: Getting Ready to Carry Nuclear-Armed Cruise Missiles?

The Air Force is now arming its fleet of B-52 Bombers with prototype nuclear-armed cruise missiles to prepare the aircraft for the possibility of launching the Long Range Stand Off (LRSO) weapon.

Through a $250 million deal, the Air Force will work with B-52 manufacturer Boeing to build missile carriage hardware and software, and “test” LRSO integration.

The Air Force has been working with industry on prototyping and design work on the emerging Long Range Stand-Off weapon nuclear-armed cruise missile, set to enter into a new phase of construction by 2022, service officials said. Raytheon and Lockheed, are now working on a $900 million Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction deal for the LRSO.

In recent years, the historic B-52 bomber has been able to carry JDAM weapons externally, but through a currently ongoing Internal Weapons Bay Upgrade, the aircraft will be able to internally house some of the most cutting edge precision-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions and Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles, among others

The 1760 Internal Weapons Bay Upgrade, or IWBU, will allow the B-52 to internally carry up to eight of the newest “J-Series” bombs in addition to carrying six on pylons under each wing.


https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/b-52-bomber-getting-ready-carry-nuclear-armed-cruise-missiles-47582

[DeminPennswoods]

36. Fortunately, the Iranians are smarter than Trump,

Bolton and Pompeo combined. Don't forget that Pooty-Poot is Iran's ally. He'll call Trump, tell him to back off and that will be that.

[Maxheader]

37. I'm worried the military won't be ready, or informed...

And will drop some special service guys into a really bad situation..

[Evolve Dammit]

46. This could become very serious very quickly. Pompeo abruptly cancelled a trip to Germany and

the US provocation on multi fronts (Venezuela, Iran) suggests that they really need a distraction to current political realities here. Bolton's wet dream to attack Iran, and Pence for Venezuela. There is so much we don't know as to who is calling the shots and getting the ear of Orange Julius. One thing is clear, they are not looking out for US.

[magicarpet]

48. Oh settle down...

War is simply a massive transfer of wealth.

It drains the treasury of wealth and fortune of the average tax payer and moves that money into the hands and pockets of the wealthy elite.

This is done on a massive scale - where the smokescreens of patriotism and freedom are clamored about as the reason to fight wars.

But the truth of the matter is some people get fucking rich when war is declared. And during war time accounting and cost justifications are pretty much heaved out the window, so war time returns on investments tend to be astoundingly profitable for the select few.

If you hate hyper capitalism,.. maybe you should move somewheres else.

Signed,
John Bolton the Warmonger.

[McKim]

49. Thank You!

Thank you! You explained the basis of our wars of choice so well! This is the distraction they need from their present troubles. But Trump no longer has the political capital to do this. The Iranians ARE smarter and will not take the bait.

[Ghost Dog]

50. Iran, weeks ago, has simply said that if attacked by the US,

they can retaliate, defensively, by attacking US assets in the region /and by closing the Strait of Hormuz.

This was a warning in response to the aggressive posturing of the US.

Israel and the USA's claims that Iran is threatening to attack are psyops, used to justify an even more aggressive US posture and threats.

[nitpicker]

53. CVN 72 was going through Suez already

Because of the homeport change.

I hope this is just grandstanding.

[sarabelle]

54. Trump admin is making shit up just to start a war with Iran to divert attention from his criminalit.

Are we going to stand for this. Where are our Dems in Congress? Where is the rest of the world?

When will we learn that we just can't use our bullying power to starve people and deny them medicine and other goods and believe they won't fight back? What is wrong with us?