"Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested that the Trump administration would not rule out going to war with Iran even though there is no explicit authorization from Congress to do so. Pompeo said this in the context of being asked whether the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) could be used to attack Iran on the basis that Iran supported the 9/11 attacks and is connected to Al Qaeda, which carried out the 9/11 attack...."
Larry Wilkerson pointed out the absurdities in Pompeo's reasoning by reminding Americans about how we made our last Big Mistake in the Middle East:
Pompeo is "Setting the Stage for a War with Iran"
"LARRY WILKERSON ..."There is almost no contact. (between Iran and al-Qaeda)
"There have been transits.
"There have been criminal transits of Iran and Iran generally tries to block those transits.
"But like the United States and any other country in the world today, it’s impossible to block everyone.
"There have been times where al Qaeda might have made overtures to the Iranian government or to parts of that government, like the Quds Force or I.R.G.C., but they’ve always been rebuffed.
"All we had to do is watch Iran’s fierce attacks on the terrorist groups in Syria and understand how Iran itself has been attacked by terrorist groups often supported money-wise by Muhammad bin Salman from Riyadh of course, and others like the Pakistani I.S.I., and so forth how Iran has responded to those attacks, fearing that its entire society will be disrupted by them, let alone the casualties they produced.
"So Iran has been a receptor, if you will, of terrorist attacks just like the United States, Europe, and other places have been.
"So Iran is not a sponsor of terrorism.
"With respect to Hezbollah, we understand why Iran backs and supports Hezbollah. It’s the only weapon that the region offers to counter Israel’s massive modern military arm.
"Iran doesn’t have an arm like that.
"Lebanon doesn’t have an arm like that.
"To say that Iran sponsors terrorism of any sort, let alone al Qaeda, is just preposterous. The greatest state sponsor of terrorism in the region and indeed in the world is Saudi Arabia, our ally."