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Three US troops killed in drone attack in Jordan, more than 30 injured | CNN Politics

First on CNN: Three US troops killed in drone attack in Jordan, more than 30 injured | CNN Politics

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/28/politics/us-troops-drone-attack-jordan/index.html

Three US Army soldiers were killed and more than 30 service members were injured in a drone attack overnight on a small US outpost in Jordan, US officials told CNN, marking the first time US troops have been killed by enemy fire in the Middle East since the beginning of the Gaza war.

First on CNN: Three US troops killed in drone attack in Jordan, more than 30 injured | CNN Politics

18 comments

asg101

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dafuq they doing there to begin with? Death to the empire.

Idliketothinkimsmart

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In Syria, not Jordan:

https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/4819096-jordan-says-attack-targeting-american-soldiers-was-not-its-soil

ComradeSalad

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That is a PR move from Jordan, the US base is not fully public and "backed" by Jordan.

The large drone struck a logistics support base in Jordan known as Tower 22. It is along the Syrian border and is used largely by troops involved in the advise-and-assist mission for Jordanian forces.

The small installation, which Jordan does not publicly disclose, includes U.S. engineering, aviation, logistics and security troops. Austin said the troops were deployed there “to work for the lasting defeat of ISIS.” Three officials said the drone struck near the troops’ sleeping quarters, which they said explained the high casualty count.

The U.S. military base at al-Tanf in Syria is just 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Tower 22. The Jordanian installation provides a critical logistical hub for U.S. forces in Syria, including those at al-Tanf, which is near where the borders of Iraq, Syria and Jordan intersect. In a statement on Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency, the country “condemned the terrorist attack” that targeted the U.S. troops. That report described the drone strike as targeting “an outpost on the border with Syria” and said it did not wound any Jordanian troops.

https://apnews.com/article/biden-american-service-members-killed-jordan-iran-5cb774fd835a558d840ae91263037489

v12riceburner

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why is Jordan pretending the base is in Jordan?

420stalin69

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Im reading Al Tanf is actually in Syria

DankZedong

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Yanks and geography 🤷

darkcalling

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In this case it's almost certainly deliberate to avoid bringing up the moral quandary of the fact they were illegally in another country trying to topple its government (and have been for a decade) and are in violation of international law in being there. Versus the much more palatable, self-righteous narrative of Americans being in a base they were invited to in a country they were invited to which is hosting them. As the story develops they may have to drop the facade and admit they were in Syria but the first knee-jerk reaction of either the military propagandist giving them this story or the loyal dogs of empire at CNN was to obscure that fact.

Addfwyn

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Isn't being in countries illegally while trying to topple their government something the US is particularly proud of? Or do they like to keep that thin veneer of deniability?

darkcalling

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Syria has been a failure for them. They've also been engaged in all kinds of tactics they'd rather not come to light like the fact they're basically responsible for and puppet-masters for the whole Islamic State extremist group.

And the US tries to cloak its actions wherever possible behind a veneer of international law/institutions or "norms". In Syria's case the justification was the use of chemical weapons on civilians which it turns out was a false flag of sorts. In Iraq they successfully fooled enough people to get a coalition together on the basis of weapons of mass destruction. Libya was done on the basis of protecting civilians from a 'dictator'. Afghanistan obviously had the pretext of 9/11. Vietnam assistance was requested by the French colonizers and a puppet regime they installed. In Korea they had a UN mandate. It goes on and on. That way their paint their actions as grounded in law, respect for civil institutions, concern for human rights while casting other countries as villains.

They carefully engineer pretexts for their own ability to act while trying to use the law and conventions to bind their adversaries from similar actions.

At this point the PR looks bad because we've been there for so long, we haven't won or really achieved anything other than ruining the lives of millions of human beings. It raises the question again of whether we should still be in Syria after a decade at all as most Americans have forgotten and the government would prefer it that way lest they start asking questions and re-examining the lies that started it all.

ComradeSalad

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Al Tanf was the main base. The target hit was a small US outpost in Jordan called Tower 22.

WaterBowlSlime

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Thank you for your service, drone

201dberg

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Good, fucking leave.

Addfwyn

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Been staring intently at this map I got here for a while, but struggling to find out how USians are "risking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans" by stationing themselves in Syria (which is where they were, let's face it). There would be no fellow Americans to risk their safety for if they just went the fuck home.

Sidenote: The framing of their headline photo of Biden being centered in front of the Isn't Real flag instead of the US flag is just chef's kiss. From a sympathetic article no less.

ComradeSalad

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They have explicitly stated that they were in Tower 22, a US base in Jordan. The Syrian base was also hit, but the fatalities occurred at the Jordanian outpost.

And to answer your question. “They’re there to bring freedom and protect the people there from the evil terrorists! Which ones? We don’t care!”

lil_tank

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“We shall respond,” President Joe Biden said while speaking in South Carolina on Sunday before staring in the void for ten straight seconds, mouth half opened muttering incomprehensible sentences

DankZedong

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Ukraine or the Middel East, where will the US start first?

supersolid_snake

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Who is lesser armed and more helpless?

Kirbywithwhip1987

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Just fucking go already if you don't want the trolling to continue!