So, Hegseth will throw his own country to the wolves just to deflect from his inexperience and ignorance. trump must be so proud of his acolyte.
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I keep saying it but this is literal treason. In 19xx, any general or SECRATARY OF DEFENSE would absolutely be convicted immediately for putting american lives in danger to benefit your own ego. It'd be national news for weeks. Its fucking embarassing and dishonorable.
Id throw their tagline back at them, but theyve never believed in being "great" in the first place.
Conservatives are hypocrites held together by agreed upon bigotry.
That's it, it's not that complicated.
They never believed anything they said.
Dictators want unqualified people in high positions, to ensure loyalty and control, as these individuals are less likely to challenge dictator's authority or policies.
The fact that the main US base in the Persian Gulf was destroyed has been known for months.
Here's a story about it from June:
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/iran-us-naval-base-bahrain-e87bbca3
I remember reading back then about how the navy was scrambling to evacuate the base because they couldn't stop the incoming missiles.
You had to either really read in between the lines or be following alternative news sources to understand that the Bahrain base was destroyed in March. Most people following mainstream news did not know how bad it was. Heck - most casual people are still like 'what war?'
Not really, it was a major article in the WSJ, it was in the NY Times. the BBC. It was in the military's own news site Stars and Stripes.
I wouldn't be surprised if most people were unaware, but most people seem unaware of just about everything.
A fact that was and is still wildly under appreciated.
The loss of those bases is massive and likely a turning point in this mess.
I don't think it's that massive. It's embarrassing and shameful, but the US navy has plenty of other bases that can take up the slack.
It was really stupid to start a war with Iran without first moving all the key personnel out of that base and redeploying them outside Iran's reach. The navy had to know that once a shooting war started, a base that was just across the narrow part of the Gulf from Iran, only 200 km away, was going to be extremely vulnerable. It is a sign of the kind of military that Hegseth runs that they had to abandon and evacuate that base once missiles started hitting it.
But, there's no need for the USN to be commanded from a building that's only 200 km from Iran. They can manage that fleet from the nearby base in Naples, or from a US base.
And, of course, if Trump hadn't alienated all the US's former friends and allies, there might be plenty of places between the Persian Gulf and Naples that would be willing to help with resupplies. But, as it stands, the US doesn't really have any friends anymore.
The navy had to know that once a shooting war started, a base that was just across the narrow part of the Gulf from Iran, only 200 km away, was going to be extremely vulnerable.
The "Navy" may have known, but the two military geniuses Trump and Hegseth didn't know, because they literally know NOTHING. A couple of weeks after it started, and it was clear we were already in a quagmire, Trump went on air to say "Who would have expected that they'd shoot back? Nobody expected that!"
Everybody expected that, literally EVERYBODY. That's why nobody did it in the past. Not because they were weak, or stupid, or secretly working for the Muslims, etc. It was because everybody knew they'd shoot back AND close the Strait.
Everybody except these two fucking morons, whose Dunning-Krueger has greatly overwhelmed their Imposter Syndrome, rendering them too stupid to know how stupid they really are.
Virtuosic Incompetence rules our military, this war, and this government.
This reminds of Dune where Raban is forced to hide that the Fremen and Paul halted spice production to save his own ass at the cost of countless others.
So... "a few shepherds with basically sticks and stones" managed to fuck royally the whole US navy? The navy of the strongest military of the world? The navy that, apparently was able to destroy anything in its path?
I mean, they were saying months ago that Iran's military was utterly destroyed and they won the war... How did they go from "we're winning the war and Iran's military is gone" to "our sailors are eating boot soles"?
1. The proximate cause: Bahrain hub destroyed, logistics broken
Multiple outlets trace the Lincoln’s supply shortfalls to the Feb. 28 Iranian missile and drone attacks that “heavily damaged” Naval Support Activity Bahrain, a principal logistics hub for U.S. carrier operations in the Gulf, forcing an abrupt pivot to more distant ports such as Diego Garcia and stretching resupply lines . The New York Times and subsequent reporting state the damage to Bahrain directly contributed to shortages and longer deployments for carriers conducting operations related to the war with Iran .
2. Operational consequences: longer trips, Diego Garcia and exposure
The loss of the Bahrain hub forced the Pentagon to use Diego Garcia, farther from the Gulf, as an emergency logistics node; that longer transit, and the vulnerability of alternate ports to Iranian strikes, created measurable strain on sustainment cycles and contributed to the Lincoln approaching nine months at sea without a liberty port, increasing wear on people and materiel . Reporting links that logistical shift to additional Iranian targeting — for example, ballistic missiles aimed at Diego Garcia — and to the effort to keep continuous operations like the maritime blockade and airstrikes functioning .
3. Political overlay: accusations that Hegseth “hid” the damage
Television commentators and pundits framed the narrative as an intentional concealment by Pete Hegseth — the phrase that he “hid” the destruction appears on MS NOW and other clips — but those pieces present the allegation without producing internal memos or a paper trail proving intentional concealment [1]. The reporting available shows Hegseth and the Navy publicly pushing back, calling media descriptions “completely misrepresented,” and declining to confirm specific supply shortfall details in some interviews, which opponents interpreted as evasive .
TL;DR: Of course he did. The next base to supply them is 2,200 miles away. They fucked up super bad again.
Minutes away to a conservative pundit complain that the resupply base name is Hispanic instead of an Union general and Trump forcing everyone to change the name
Minutes away to a conservative pundit complain that the resupply base name is Hispanic instead of an ~~Union~~ Confederate general and Trump forcing everyone to change the name
FTFY
This is embarrassing for the Navy because the combat units weren't able to protect the base, because the Seabees weren't able to repair the base in a timely manner, and/or because the logistics units weren't able to re-route the supply lines effectively. Take your pick!
Worse than embarrassing. Trump and his ilk have made it clear that they don't really care about the conditions on the Lincoln as long as those conditions don't become publicly known. With competent leadership there would be a contingency plan in place for this exact scenario, but instead we're stuck with a MAGA TV personality that should be working on a used car lot next to a junkyard.
Well yes, but the point I was trying to make is that the issue (and the embarrassment) extends well beyond the Lincoln. This debacle puts the effectiveness of the entire Navy itself into question.
I mean, for the past 75 years, THE thing that the US Navy was best at, that set it apart from and above any other organization in the world, was its amazing logistics. We had dedicated ice cream barges in WWII, for crying out loud! The fact that we're apparently unable to resupply ships for months because of some relatively minor regional war is a decline of the same magnitude as the one the Ukraine war revealed about Russia.
also trump doesnt want the war to stop, otherwise the news is going back to concentrating on domestic issues,ICE and epstein files
I think this proves an assertion that I have made in the past: America excels at battles, but is unfit for war.
America used to have stamina, but the focus on ultra-tech and now "manhood" has robbed it of that important thing.
I'm not sure America excels at battles. Seems like sucker punches is what they're best at.
To be fair, the best way to win a battle is to sucker punch.
Yeah but the US also wants everyone to like and respect and trust them.
You can't do both.
Also kinda hard to win when you have no plan after said sucker punch.
Vs small nations/groups that have no real ability to fight back.... eh kinda works (not in Afghanistan or Iraq though). For some reason I keep thinking about Black Adder goes forth and him talking about how his war experience vs the "Watutsi" was not applicable as they where armed only with fruit. This conflict is the states in the trenches trying to fight like their enemies have no strike abilities, and now all the us bases are gone they don't have the local logistics.
NOT supplying our Troops is how you SUPPORT the Troops!
-Republicans!
Was the damage done by drones or missiles?
Its tragically embarrassing either way, but even more so if drones because the whole fucking world knew Iran would be using drones to cause damage and the US ignored everything Ukraine learned and wanted to pass on.
And apparently this snake wants to run for president
I hope he does, that should be entertaining.
I’m afraid that very notion is part of how we got here. I wouldn’t tempt the fates like that again.
Both of Trump's election wins were the Democrat's elections to lose. If Hegseth ran for office, it's very possible he could win just as a result of the Democrats fumbling again. -The bar is so low.
Is 2026 any different to the past? When Rumsfeld was in charge of the Iraq invasion soldiers jeered him because they were having to hack their vehicles with scrap metal to make them safe. His response was just belligerent.
It doesn't matter how many times Republicans fuck the troops, the troops still vote for them.
Because basic training involves breaking the soldier psychologically into actually believing in God and country.
Did they destroy the entire base without killing anyone? What else are they hiding?
I always though the US-Military is almost allmighty. It's nice to see there are clear limitations to their power.