Hungry like a war pig…
Tag: perpetual war
CIA Prepares Criminal Referral of Tucker Carlson, as Israel and its Loyalists Demand His Arrest
On Friday morning, I taped an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s program to discuss the ongoing Iran War, growing Israeli influence in the U.S., and proliferating attacks on free speech in the West in the name of shielding that one foreign country from critique (I presume it will air in the next few days). Perhaps the most notable part of our conversation was what Tucker told me prior to the cameras rolling.
Tucker said he had learned from several high-placed sources — and he obviously has many within the Trump administration — that the CIA was preparing a criminal referral about him to the DOJ. The subject of the agency’s report of suspected crimes: conversations he allegedly had with Iranian officials and others in Iran prior to the start of the Trump/Netanyahu war. The clear implication was that Tucker had committed acts of subversion or even treason by speaking to Iranians in advance of the war that was about to be launched on their country.
Despite how innately shocking this claim is, I had and still have zero doubt that Tucker was telling the truth about what he heard. I have known him for many years, spent much time talking to him both in front of a camera and away from one, and never once has he lied to me or mislead me. Tucker has been in public life as a journalist and media figure since his 20s. There have been many harsh criticisms launched against him during those decades, many of which — as he will be the first to tell you — were ones that were quite valid.
Notably, many of the harshest attacks on Tucker came from me during my first decade after becoming a journalist (last year, Tucker discussed our friendship in a podcast conversation Chris Cuomo and he noted that, during the War on Terror and his ongoing war cheerleading, “nobody was meaner to me than Glenn Greenwald”; Cuomo said the same was true of him).
US Issues $10M Bounty For Location Info On Mojtaba Khamenei & Ali Larijani
The US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program has newly issued a $10 million reward for information on the whereabouts of Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani.
The alert calls for information on the two “Iranian terrorist leaders” at a moment of ongoing heavy bombardment of Iran by the US and Israel. Interestingly the State Department said that informants could make people eligible for “relocation”. The Pentagon on Friday said it believes the new Ayatollah is likely wounded and disfigured.
“These individuals command and direct various elements of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which plans, organizes and executes terrorism around the world,” the alert stated.
It actually also seeks information on other top security and government officials. Below is the official US statement in part:
Rewards for Justice is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on the key leaders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its component branches. These individuals command and direct various elements of the IRGC, which plans, organizes, and executes terrorism around the world.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), part of Iran’s official military, plays a central role in Iran’s use of terrorism as a key tool of Iranian statecraft.
Already amid the US-Israeli operation, at least 40 high-ranking government and military leaders have been killed. Many were slain in the opening days of the war, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
All of this seems part of a US-Israeli effort to foment spying and defections within Iranian ranks and society. There have been claims this week that Iranian citizens are feeding information to Israel – which of course means they are spying as assets.
DoW Identifies Air Force Casualties
The Department of War announced the death of six Air Force Airmen who were supporting Operation Epic Fury.
Maj. John A. Klinner, 33, of Auburn, Ala.; Capt. Ariana G. Savino, 31, of Covington, Wash.; and Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, Ky., were assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. and Capt. Seth R. Koval, 38, of Mooresville, Ind.; Capt. Curtis J. Angst, 30, of Wilmington, Ohio; and Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, 28, of Columbus, Ohio were assigned to the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, Columbus, Ohio.
The six Airmen died on March 12, 2026, in the crash of a KC-135 in western Iraq. The incident is under investigation.
Any country except for US and Israel can pass through Strait of Hormuz, Iranian Foreign Minister says
Iran said Saturday that all countries besides the US and Israel may pass through the Strait of Hormuz, in a desperate attempt at coalition busting less than a day after the US bombed military targets on its oil-critical Kharg Island.
“As a matter of fact, the Strait of Hormuz is open,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.
“It is only closed to the tankers and ships belong[ing] to our enemies, to those who are attacking us and their allies. Others are free to pass,” Araghchi told MS NOW.
President Trump has threatened to destroy Iran’s oil infrastructure on Kharg Island energy hub — through which 90% of its oil exports pass — if it refuses to allow safe passage.
Araghchi noted that many ships “prefer” not to undertake the journey due to “security concerns,” but insisted, “this has nothing to do with us.”
“And I can say that the Strait is not closed, but it is only closed to American, Israeli, you know, ships and tankers, and not to others.”
Major UAE Fujairah Port In Flames As Iran Vows Escalation For Kharg Island Attack
Upon the overnight major US attack on Iran’s key oil hub of Kharg island, here’s what Iran’s military is threatening to do by way of response and escalation – which was also entirely predictable:
“If Iran’s oil, economic, or energy infrastructure is attacked, we will immediately destroy energy and economic infrastructure across the region belonging to companies with American shareholders or ties to the U.S.” –IRGC spox
Iran continues launching widespread missile and drone attacks on Israel and neighboring Gulf Arab states and has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has vowed that any US site or any country hosting it will feel pain. “This war proved one thing quite clearly: American bases in our region do not protect anyone – they are a threat,” he wrote on X. “America sacrifices everyone for Israel and does not care about anyone but Israel.”
He added, “Anyone clothed by the US is literally NAKED!” And in fact this retaliation is already in progress on Saturday.
A missile struck a helipad inside the US Embassy compound in Baghdad, and debris from an intercepted Iranian drone hit an oil facility in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has informed the United Arab Emirates that US “hideouts” are “legitimate targets” after the US struck Iran’s Kharg island. —Al Jazeera
Associated Press images meanwhile showed a column of smoke rising over the embassy compound in the Iraqi capital and a fire at the Fujairah port, offering confirmation.
Iran War Exposes America’s Unfixed Supply Chains
One of the more fascinating sidelights of our war of choice in Iran is how it has reinforced the devastating consequences of our hollowed-out industrial base, consolidated commercial sector, and overreliance on long intermediated supply chains.
For example, the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz carries implications for not only oil but also fertilizer, right at the height of the spring planting season. About one-third of the world’s fertilizer ships through the strait, and without access, prices have jumped and farmers are anxious. Yet there are enough natural resources in the United States—nitrogen, phosphate, potash—to serve all our fertilizer needs; in fact, in the 1930s and ’40s one of the largest fertilizer producers in the world was the Tennessee Valley Authority. This production was wound down in the 1970s; today the industry is dominated by two to four firms, and that may end up having existential implications for hungry people the world over.
A more comically shortsighted example concerns our depleted stock of munitions, one of the few industrial capacities America has retained but which still is imperiled by concentration and outsourcing. These are of course the basic materials necessary to prosecute a war, and you’d think it would be the one item countries would retain the ability to produce themselves. But our trillion-dollar military operates more like a welfare program to help underprivileged Northern Virginia contractors buy second homes and luxury yachts, not as a force that has what it needs when it needs it. Pacifists should rejoice; stupidity in military supply chains puts a binding limit on how many brown-skinned people we can kill.
In the 1990s, dozens of military contractors were reduced to five prime integrators, something demanded by Clinton Defense Secretary Les Aspin and his deputy (and future defense secretary) William Perry at a meeting known as the “Last Supper.” Nearly all weapons and delivery systems now flow through Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics. Executives at these companies were called into the White House last Friday—less than a week after the war began—to discuss how to accelerate offensive and especially defensive weapons production amid a shortage that already was weighing on the military. This was after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the war was saved by shifting to smaller bombs rather than “exquisite” munitions for the campaign. If that was the case, why have the meeting?
Specifically, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile systems are so complex that only 96 get built per year; about one-quarter of the U.S. stockpile was used last year in Israel’s brief war with Iran, with many more flying every day as this war continues. Patriot interceptor systems are cheaper and easier to build, but inventories were a quarter full before the war started. Offensive Tomahawk missiles can be produced with greater frequency as well, but as of October last year the stockpile of that weapon was far short of its target. Something like $5.6 billion in weaponry was burned off in just the first two days of the Iran campaign. Trump’s lying aside, analysts who know something are clear on this point: The nation has a few weeks of bombing left before running out of the precision munitions typically used in modern warfare.
PressSec Demands Retraction of ABC Report on Alleged Iranian Drone Threat
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called on ABC News to retract prior reporting that the FBI warned of an Iranian drone attack on California in retaliation for US actions.
ABC reported that the FBI had assessed that Iran had considered or aspired to conduct drone attacks in California, according to law-enforcement sources cited by the outlet, and that investigators were examining intelligence indicating Iran had explored the possibility of launching drones from ships or other platforms near the US West Coast.
Leavitt said the report was inaccurate and demanded that ABC issue a correction or retraction, arguing the reporting misrepresented intelligence about potential Iranian retaliation.
No Iranian attack on California has occurred, and officials said authorities continue to monitor potential threats.
Israel plans major ground operation in Lebanon: ‘We will do what we did in Gaza,’ officials say
Israel is planning a significant expansion of its ground operation in Lebanon, with the aim of taking control of all territory south of the Litani River and dismantling Hezbollah’s military infrastructure, Israeli and U.S. officials told Axios.
“We’re going to do what we did in Gaza,” a senior Israeli official said, referring to flattening buildings used by Hezbollah to store weapons and launch missile attacks.
The Trump administration supports a broad Israeli operation to disarm Hezbollah, but is also pressing Israel to limit damage to the Lebanese state and is calling for direct talks between Israel and Lebanon that would lead to an agreement at the end of the war.
Israeli officials said that until a few days ago Israel was still trying to avoid escalation in Lebanon in order to focus on the Iranian arena. That changed after Hezbollah fired more than 200 rockets in less than 24 hours in what officials described as a coordinated attack with Iran.
“Before this attack we were ready for a ceasefire in Lebanon, but after it there is no way back from a large-scale military operation,” a senior Israeli official said.
Overnight Saturday, Hezbollah again fired rockets toward northern Israel, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officially announced that the attack had been coordinated, including missiles launched from Iran. Heavy damage was reported in the Hatzor HaGlilit area in that combined barrage.
According to Axios, three infantry and armored brigades have been stationed along Israel’s northern border since the start of the war with Iran, with some of the forces carrying out “limited incursions” over the past two weeks.
The IDF said Friday it was reinforcing troops and transferring reservists to the north as part of preparations for the possible expansion of the ground operation.
“The goal is to seize territory, push Hezbollah forces north and away from the border, and dismantle the military positions and weapons depots in the villages,” the senior Israeli official said.
A History of Iran Propaganda
This week on CounterSpin: House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Brian Mast declared of Iran: “This murderous regime has posed an imminent threat against every American both at home and abroad for the last 47 years”—leading many at home and abroad to reach for their dictionaries.
The Trump White House’s war on Iran is unpopular in the US: “Even the highest level of public support for this conflict falls far lower than that at the start of most other conflicts, including World War II, the Korean War and the Iraq War,” reports the New York Times.
That may have something to do with the parade of rationales offered; Popular Information has a roundup of the 17 different reasons the Trump regime has given to date for why we went to war. All of it normalized by corporate media that allow recorded history to be put up for debate, that pretend we haven’t seen what we’ve seen, leaving today’s warmongers free to draw up a historical narrative, or several, that serve their present purpose.
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