Trump’s rescue story has many problems
Paul Craig Roberts
Trump’s description of the pilot rescue operation at Monday’s press conference is apparently false. Iran has shown documents and ID of Major Amanda Ryder from the site of what appears to have been a firefight. The documents show that the purpose was a raid on an Iranian nuclear facility that failed.
It is puzzling that the two rescued pilots were not on display at Trump’s Monday press conference. It is puzzling that they are identified by General Caine as Dude 44 Alpha and Dude 44 Beta. Two pilots in the US face no more threat than any other member of the US military. No national security is involved. The propaganda advantage of displaying them would override any concern with their security.
It is puzzling that the Iranians who have Major Ryder’s ID and papers have displayed no captives and no bodies.
The configuration of the US rescue force does not seem to conform to a normal rescue force. In the story told at the press conference no such force was used in the rescue of the first pilot.
If the rescue operation was in fact a defeated raid on a nuclear facility, Trump’s announcement that tonight he is going to destroy a civilization is likely his frustration at the failure and his fear that the true story will come out. To destroy a civilization implies the threat of nuclear weapons. It is difficult to believe that the US military would stand for this. But Netanyahu’s influence over Trump is likely greater than that of the US military.
Whatever the real story is, clearly we have not been told it.