I know this is going to sound flippant but honestly: is anyone surprised? This admin’s response said it all. It was, as usual, inconsistent from person to person and vague on details. Half the people speaking on it sounded like a student called in class who is trying to BS their way through an answer because they never read the book.
> there had been questions as to why the various highly advanced air defense systems and sensors, both American and Qatari, which would normally provide alert to an impending attack on Qatar, had not provided warning and defense.
Yeah good question, and their response is basically saying that they didn't have it turned on ?
> we had no indications and warnings of, because our surveillance and all our attention was not put on [it],
What is the point in it then ? Surely they're there to notify you in real time?
I don't buy this, maybe if I can put my tinfoil hat on, they did know but play dumb because Quatar is such a critical partner in the middle east, and to let Isreal do what they want and launch a strike would be seen very unfavorably by the Qataris.
This way they get to claim "oh we didn't know about it". And expect everyone to just believe that.
Or it is how they say and it feels that those notification systems are not really sufficient.
How long until this pattern of communication breaking down in the downwards direction from the admin to CENTCOM induces a reciprocal failure in communication upwards from CENTCOM to the admin?
There are claims that Israel considered hitting Turkey but backed off and went ahead with Qatar as they feared the destruction of NATO(US would have been obligated to support Turkey but considering the thing? between Israel & USA, the actual US response could have totally destroyed the alliance) which could lead to unconfined wider consequences to Israel.
I have a prediction: Antisemitic conspiracy theories are in the pipeline to get mass popular appeal and the wider Jewish communities will suffer greatly of this. It honestly disturbs me deeply because some of the nicest and smartest people I ever met are Jewish and I developed respect and admiration towards their culture. Which puzzles me seeing what's happening in Palestine. Are they captured by cabal or something?
I always try to make sense of America's Middle East policy in a way that doesn't veer into antisemitic conspiracy theorist thinking and it just doesn't compute. At all.
For instance, apart from ups and downs here and there, the Arab petro-states have been reliable US allies. Support military actions in the region, notify Western powers of their unruly citizens getting chummy with terrorists, etc. For instance, years before 9/11, Saudi Arabia expelled Bin Laden, voided his citizenship, and notified the US & allies, IIRC.
They have rivers of oil & gas - a cheap, superabundant energy source.
They buy hundreds of billions worth of US weapons. Spend hundreds of billions on Western contractors. Israel, by contrast, buys US weapons with US money. Basically, the US gives it to them for free.
Yet, the US won't even sell their Arab allies top-end stuff. In fact, Congress has a law on the books guaranteeing Israel a Qualitative Military Edge, QME. So, America can't sell the Arabs - some of their best allies - F35s or any of the cool toys, just because Israel says so.
Now, America also seems comfortable with Israel bombing their best allies, destabilizing their entire region, offending the region's Muslim majority, which weakens the legitimacy of all their royal houses.
For what? The chump change AIPAC offers?
What do you think these countries will do when China reaches out and offers them the new J35 stealth fighter? Egypt, which collects lots of US cash to leave Israel alone, is currently trying it out, as I'm sure, many of the other Arab states are.
China's rapid rise means that they can now offer these countries weapons that match top-end Western systems 90-95%, at 30-40% of the cost. And China is a more logical, reliable geopolitical player.
I just don't know. Is this erosion of American power worth it for whatever Israel is offering?
> The U.S. military was unaware of the unprecedented Israeli ballistic missile strike earlier this month on a Hamas compound in Doha, Qatar, until it was already inbound
This has that Dr. Strangelove feel to it. "Looks like the missile is already inbound, might as well commit to support the attack"
> The IAF hit a compound where negotiators for Hamas were meeting to consider a Gaza ceasefire proposal put forward by the U.S. government. The attack killed six people
Right... and someone remind us, how many billions of dollars does US send to Israel's military, directly and indirectly?
This just led to a defence pact with Pakistan (with nuclear weapons) and Saudi Arabia. Turkey is significantly ramping up domestic military production. The scale and threats will only increase as long as Israel continues attacking several countries.
If you take this senior military leader at their word, between this and Russia's incursion into Poland, it seems like foreign nations see the current US administration as a doormat that can be walked over.
Only a fool will believe that Israel will attempt this kind attack without informing US and UK counterparts and getting confirmation that they would stand down even disable the warning systems.
The moderators of this site feel like explaining why they let this kind of post be flagged? No sense even guessing the idiot reason of whatever baboon did the flagging since they abound and have their own brainless logic, but the moderation at HN could adapt slightly better standards.
Some pearl clutcher feel like chiming in that it's "not relevant to tech!!!?"
Well, neither is this, for example, yet it's on page one of hacker news with 360+ comments and no problems with being flagged by some assclown.
Even if they didn't know about the operation, they knew when the missiles were inbound... and did nothing. VS interceptions againt well telescoped attack like Iran. The interpretation that US protection fall backs to no interception is bad optics.
18 comments
[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 37.8 ms ] threadYeah good question, and their response is basically saying that they didn't have it turned on ?
> we had no indications and warnings of, because our surveillance and all our attention was not put on [it],
What is the point in it then ? Surely they're there to notify you in real time?
I don't buy this, maybe if I can put my tinfoil hat on, they did know but play dumb because Quatar is such a critical partner in the middle east, and to let Isreal do what they want and launch a strike would be seen very unfavorably by the Qataris.
This way they get to claim "oh we didn't know about it". And expect everyone to just believe that.
Or it is how they say and it feels that those notification systems are not really sufficient.
I have a prediction: Antisemitic conspiracy theories are in the pipeline to get mass popular appeal and the wider Jewish communities will suffer greatly of this. It honestly disturbs me deeply because some of the nicest and smartest people I ever met are Jewish and I developed respect and admiration towards their culture. Which puzzles me seeing what's happening in Palestine. Are they captured by cabal or something?
For instance, apart from ups and downs here and there, the Arab petro-states have been reliable US allies. Support military actions in the region, notify Western powers of their unruly citizens getting chummy with terrorists, etc. For instance, years before 9/11, Saudi Arabia expelled Bin Laden, voided his citizenship, and notified the US & allies, IIRC.
They have rivers of oil & gas - a cheap, superabundant energy source.
They buy hundreds of billions worth of US weapons. Spend hundreds of billions on Western contractors. Israel, by contrast, buys US weapons with US money. Basically, the US gives it to them for free.
Yet, the US won't even sell their Arab allies top-end stuff. In fact, Congress has a law on the books guaranteeing Israel a Qualitative Military Edge, QME. So, America can't sell the Arabs - some of their best allies - F35s or any of the cool toys, just because Israel says so.
Now, America also seems comfortable with Israel bombing their best allies, destabilizing their entire region, offending the region's Muslim majority, which weakens the legitimacy of all their royal houses.
For what? The chump change AIPAC offers?
What do you think these countries will do when China reaches out and offers them the new J35 stealth fighter? Egypt, which collects lots of US cash to leave Israel alone, is currently trying it out, as I'm sure, many of the other Arab states are.
China's rapid rise means that they can now offer these countries weapons that match top-end Western systems 90-95%, at 30-40% of the cost. And China is a more logical, reliable geopolitical player.
I just don't know. Is this erosion of American power worth it for whatever Israel is offering?
This has that Dr. Strangelove feel to it. "Looks like the missile is already inbound, might as well commit to support the attack"
> The IAF hit a compound where negotiators for Hamas were meeting to consider a Gaza ceasefire proposal put forward by the U.S. government. The attack killed six people
Right... and someone remind us, how many billions of dollars does US send to Israel's military, directly and indirectly?
Some pearl clutcher feel like chiming in that it's "not relevant to tech!!!?"
Well, neither is this, for example, yet it's on page one of hacker news with 360+ comments and no problems with being flagged by some assclown.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45372442
big surprise there.
https://www.npr.org/2025/09/20/nx-s1-5547884/the-pentagon-re...