[Disclaimer: This picture is not actually the memo we will be discussing. But it’s entertaining.]
Oh, boy. A memo got out to us, and it’s not good. We’re in a really, really poor position. From what it said, we’ve definitely lost the war. It produced no results except to put a nastier regime in place. Everything else was a failure. Killing civilians by “accident”. Putting up a Naval Blockade that did nothing. Bombing military sites and didn’t finish that job. And guess what? We do not come off well, no matter what spin they put on it. With gratitude to Raw Story:
A bombshell CIA memo distributed to administration policymakers the week revealed that Iran is in a far stronger military and economic position than President Trump has publicly claimed — directly contradicting the president’s rosy assessments about the state of the war.
According to a Washington Post report, the leaked classified intelligence assessment found that Iran can survive the U.S. naval blockade for at least three to four months before facing severe economic hardship — significantly longer than the White House has suggested.
More critically, the Post is reporting, the CIA determined that Tehran retains substantial ballistic missile capabilities despite weeks of intense U.S. and Israeli bombardment.
Iran has maintained approximately 75 percent of its prewar inventories of mobile launchers and about 70 percent of its prewar stockpiles of missiles, according to a U.S. official familiar with the assessment.
Even with all they threw back at us, 70% or more is still available? Ouch. It seems that we’re not nearly in a good position against that. Our Tomahawk munitions are running low; they are our best missile to use. There have to be more that are low, even though it hasn’t come out yet. Yup, we did a crappy job, and we lost. Just take your toys and go home, guys. We need to get the ball rolling on replacements ASAP. Also, remember they destroyed, or nearly so, all our bases in the area. That needs to be fixed, too. Looking at *so* much money to do all this.
The intelligence community found evidence that the Iranian regime has been able to recover and reopen almost all of its underground storage facilities, repair some damaged missiles, and even assemble new missiles that were nearly complete when the war began, the report notes.
The CIA’s more sobering assessment stands in sharp contrast to Trump’s public statements. On Wednesday, Trump claimed Iran’s missile capabilities had been devastated, telling reporters: “Their missiles are mostly decimated, they have probably 18, 19 percent, but not a lot by comparison to what they had.”
The president’s claim that Iran retains only 18-19 percent of its original missile inventory directly contradicts the intelligence community’s findings that Tehran maintains around 70-75 percent.
If you will allow me to vent for a moment or three, I *knew* the bunker busters didn’t do much damage compared to what was said. If you look at the pictures, it shows the exterior was destroyed, but they didn’t do much of anything underground. And I’m not a military specialist by any means, but I feel they did not do as much damage as they were supposed to. If I’m wrong, please feel free to correct me.
Iran has been able to reopen most of its underground. It’s been just under a year since they were hit. They can repair and refit damaged missiles. They’re building more. Tell us how we’re doing so well in the “war”. Anyone can say a war is on with Iran, that we are winning, when we have embarrassed ourselves in the face of the world. Sheesh, give it up already. But Trump doesn’t want his legacy to include that we lost a war that shouldn’t have been started.
One U.S. official who spoke to the Post suggested the CIA estimate may even be optimistic about Iran’s vulnerability.
“The leadership has gotten more radical, determined and increasingly confident they can outlast U.S. political will and sustain domestic repression to check any resistance” inside Iran.
“Comparatively, you see similar regimes lasting years under sustained embargoes and airpower-only wars,” the official told the Post and suggested that Iran could endure prolonged economic hardship far longer than the administration has publicly indicated.
Three current and one former U.S. official confirmed the intelligence assessment’s outlines to the Post, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
Okey dokey. …. Iran can outlast almost anyone in the world, it seems. That should not give us warm, fuzzy feelings of confidence. And how many sleeper or undercover cells do they have here? Are they going to incite something that would lead to martial law, as Trump wants so badly, even though it’s a waste of our military? I sincerely hope that it doesn’t come down to that. If things are bad now, how much worse would they get?
See you soon!
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that of all of the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, except one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to continue our quest to tell the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
As usual this regime will ignore expensively established facts and truth in favor of it’s own fantasies and spend your hard-earned tax dollars fighting those same fantasies, instead of dealing with truths. Like competent people do.
… and there are no competent people in this administration, let alone Hegseth. Well, okay, there’s Susie. But he’s a special kind of stupid. Why in the hell they didn’t check with intelligence before they started the war, I don’t know. We would have had better places to aim for our munitions instead of just throwing everything at the country. Yes, I know, preacher, choir. It’s such a glaring error that it bugs me.