The Greene County Democrat

Tag: Iranian war

  • Newswire: Pentagon official threatens Vatican and Pope Leo XIV over Iran War criticism

    Newswire: Pentagon official threatens Vatican and Pope Leo XIV over Iran War criticism

    Pope Leo XIV

    By Zack Linly, NewsOne

    On a regular basis, members of the Trump administration, especially President Donald Trump himself, prove they are not the champions of free speech that they purport themselves to be, and now their glaring constitutional hypocrisy has Pentagon officials threatening the Vatican and Pope Leo XIV — who is no fan of the president — just because the pope joined most of the world in criticizing Trump’s disastrous war on Iran.

    According to a detailed report by the Free Press, on Easter Sunday, while Trump was threatening to bomb Iran’s bridges and power plants and unleash “Hell” on the nation, Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost, delivered his State of the World speech, during which he urged world leaders to lay down their weapons, choose peace and relieve themselves of the “desire to dominate other.” The global leader of the Catholic Church also condemned “the imperialist occupation of the world” and warned that God rejects the prayers “of those who wage war” — which seems to be a direct rebuke of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has been hosting a monthly Christian worship service at the Pentagon since the Iran war began, and has been praying to his god that “every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation.”

    So, according to the Free Press, Leo’s speech angered some officials at the Pentagon, resulting in Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s U.S. representative, being summoned to a closed-door Pentagon meeting, where he received a stern lecture from Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, who reportedly told Pierre: “The United States has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side.”

    Besides the fact that these so-called Christian leaders of a so-called Christian nation are out here threatening to unleash the U.S. military on the world’s highest authority on all things Christ, just because the pope said things that are Christ-like, we really should be more concerned that Trump officials keep boasting about how they can do anything they want because they have the most powerful military.

    Remember when Trump was talking about “running” Venezuela and taking over Greenland, and White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller defended those remarks by beating his little bird chest and declaring, “We are in charge because we have the United States military stationed outside the country,” and “we’re a superpower, and under President Trump, we are going to conduct ourselves as a superpower” as if he himself had ever served even a day in the U.S. mlitary.

    MAGA minions keep defending the Trump administration against allegations that it’s an authoritarian regime, and the administration just keeps undermining that defense by vocally vindicating its accusers.
    The truth is that Trump and his band of stooges — who have been given way more power than incompetent, imbecilic sycophants like them should ever have — have been scrambling and struggling to control the narrative around which side is “winning” regarding the conflict in Iran, and they’ve been getting increasingly frustrated with endless criticism, both globally and domestically, and the growing consensus that this war and the administration’s lack of competent leadership makes the nation look weak.

    Trump is even out here threatening news outlets for reporting statements of “victory” made by Iranian leadership that have also been reported by Iranian media, which brings us to a reminder that the Pentagon recently tried to ban every mainstream news outlet from reporting on it after all of those outlets refused to bend to its new policy that reporters cannot obtain or solicit any information that hasn’t been pre-approved by the Department of Defense. Thankfully, a federal judge stepped in and essentially told Hegseth and other Pentagon officials that they were out of their freedom-of-the-press-defying minds.

  • Newswire: Trump announces ceasefire with Iran, fends off allegations that the US caved

    Newswire: Trump announces ceasefire with Iran, fends off allegations that the US caved

    by Zack Linly, NewsOne

    On Tuesday evening, after weeks of mixed messaging on our progress in the Iran war turned into threats to end the nation’s entire “civilization,” President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to announce a two-week pause on his plans to start bombing Iranian bridges, electricity plants, and factories because a ceasefire has been negotiated. And because we’ve all heard this song before, folks on social media seem to largely believe that Trump caved to end the war that is bringing his administration nothing but embarrassment and bad press. 

    Meanwhile, Trump, his Cabinet, and MAGA-friendly media outlets are working overtime to spin the narrative that it was actually Iran that caved, ignoring all evidence to the contrary — including the myriad of reports that the missile strikes have not ended.

    “Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” Trump wrote Tuesday evening. “This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE! The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East. 

    We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate. Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated. On behalf of the United States of America, as President, and also representing the Countries of the Middle East, it is an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution.

    Now, to anyone who isn’t a MAGA sycophant, dedicated to spinning Trump’s confused social media posts into golden nuggets, it looks like Trump stumbled across an excuse to back off from his tough talk and save a little face in the process.

    After all, Trump has been claiming for weeks that  Iran is “begging” for a deal, and that the administration “had very, very strong talks,” and “points of agreement,” only for the Iranian government to deny the “talks” are even happening. Trump previously told reporters that a 15-point proposal to end the war was sent to the Iranian government, and that it “gave us most of the points,” only for the Iranian government to completely reject Trump’s terms shortly after.

    Now, Trump is saying Iran’s 10-point counter-proposal to the U.S. is a “workable basis on which to negotiate,” which really makes it seem like he was the one “begging for a deal,” especially since the contents of Iran’s 10-point plan seem to largely benefit Iran.

    I mean, Iran even included a $2 million toll on ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz that no one had to pay before Trump decided to help the Israeli government launch an unprovoked war on Iran. What exactly are we winning here?

    That’s a lot of tough talk, only for Trump to eagerly announce that he is open to Iran’s demands, which, again, came after the nation rejected his.

    And that’s why Trump and his administration are scrambling to force-feed Americans the narrative that it’s a mutual deal that both nations will benefit from, and he’s out here launching investigations against any media outlet that says otherwise.In fact, Trump had another one of his social media meltdowns after CNN reported, “Iran claims victory, says it forced US to accept 10-point plan,” and that the Iranian Security Council said in a statement, “The enemy, in its unfair, unlawful, and criminal war against the Iranian nation, has suffered an undeniable, historic, and crushing defeat.”