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US Evacuating Some Troops From Middle East Bases as It Considers Attacking Iran – antiwar.com
One of the bases the US is pulling troops from is the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which Iran previously attacked in retaliation for the US bombing its nuclear facilities
The US is pulling some troops from several of its bases in the Middle East, as European officials told Reuters on Wednesday evening that a US attack on Iran could come within the next 24 hours. The US pulled forces from bases in the region before the start of the 12-day US-Israeli war against Iran in June 2025.
One of the bases the US is pulling troops from is the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which Iran attacked in June in retaliation for the US bombing its nuclear facilities. Iran gave the US advanced warning ahead of the attack, giving the US military time to evacuate its forces and prepare to intercept the missiles.
Iranian officials have been warning they will strike US bases and ships in the region in response to any attack, and it’s likely this time they won’t give advanced notice.
“The President of #America, who repeatedly mentions the futile story of aggression against #Iran’s nuclear facilities, would do better to also mention the plowing of the American #AlUdeid base by Iranian missiles,” Ali Shamkhani, an aide to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote on X on Wednesday.
“It will certainly help in creating a real understanding of Iran’s will and capability to respond to any aggression,” added Shamkhani, who Israel tried to kill during the 12-Day War.
On Tuesday, President Trump brushed off Iran’s warnings, saying, “Iran said that the last time I blew them up.” He also held a meeting with his senior advisors at the White House on Tuesday evening to discuss the situation in Iran.
US officials told The New York Times that US intelligence has assessed that if Trump orders strikes on Iran, Tehran would likely retaliate with missile strikes on Al Udeid and possibly US bases in Iraq and Syria, an assessment that was discussed at the White House on Tuesday.
The Washington Post cited a US official who said the Trump administration “just doesn’t have the assets in the region to do a full kinetic strike without risking retaliation” since it pulled assets out of the Middle East for the attack on Venezuela. But the US does have at least three US Navy guided-missile destroyers in the region, and the B-2 bombers that it used to attack Iran back in June were flown from bases in the US.
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Max Blumenthal: Protecting Protestors or Manipulating Unrest? Trump and Iran
(extremely informative interview, in my opinion)
Related:
You Know They’re Lying About Iran – by Caitlin Johnstone
You’ve seen this all before. They run the same script over and over again. You know all the beats. The formula never changes.
“Oh no, the people in the targeted nation are being oppressed! They need freedom and democracy!”
“Hey, I bet we could use our powerful military to help them get the freedom and democracy! Wouldn’t that be swell?”
“Oh gosh, there are some people who don’t think we should use our powerful military to help the people in the targeted nation get freedom and democracy! They must have some sinister, suspicious loyalty to the Evil Regime which rules the targeted nation!”
“Look, I get that sometimes in the past we have used our powerful military in ways that were mean and unhelpful, but you need to understand that the Evil Regime is also very, very bad. Two things can be true at the same time, you know!”
“Oh no, now the Evil Regime is committing atrocities! You know it’s true because it’s in the news, and the news isn’t allowed to lie! We’ve got to DO something! We can’t just DO NOTHING!”
Don’t fall for it.
Don’t fall for the propaganda.
Don’t fall for the imperial concern trolling about human rights.
Don’t fall for the nuance policing and both-sidesing of the empire’s operatives and useful idiots.
Don’t let the empire apologists shout you down and shut you up.
Stand your ground. This is exactly what it looks like. You are right, and they are wrong.
They’re not doing anything new. They’re using the same old script. Hell, they’re even using a lot of the same actors. This is the same bullshit as always.
Once you’ve seen enough Hollywood movies, you get familiar with the formula. Boy meets girl, but he’s got some kind of secret or character flaw that will be discovered by the girl about three-quarters of the way through the film, it will seem as though all is lost, but he wins her back in the end. They churn out variations of this movie year after year, following the same formula every time.
This is like that. You’ve seen enough of these to know the formula by now.
Trust your gut. Have confidence in your own inner vision. You’ve got this.
There’s probably going to be a whole lot of narrative distortion dumped into the information ecosystem in the coming days, but they’re not going to make a sucker out of you.
You’re seeing things much too clearly now.
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Tonight’s musical offering:
The Beatles – Martha My Dear
Credited to Lennon–McCartney, the song was written solely by Paul McCartney, and was named after his Old English Sheepdog, Martha.
Dispatches from the Asylum 