Who’s Next? Trump Crossed a Line with Soleimani’s Assassination

1/3/20
There’s a reason why the United States never just killed Nikita Khrushchev. Or Fidel Castro. Or the ayatollah. In simplest terms: if we kill them, we make it easier for others to do the same to us. By his title, Qassem Soleimani — the recently deceased leader of the Quds Force, the special ops component of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — may not have ranked among those heads of state. But in Iran, the Middle East, and the Muslim world, he was much more than a mere general. That’s true in the Pentagon as well. “Suleimani is arguably the most powerful and unconstrained actor in the Middle East today,” retired Gen. Stan McChrystal wrote in Foreign Policy a year ago. So now that President Trump has crossed that line, who’s next? Why not start with Syria’s dictator Bashar al-Assad? Many have argued — Republicans and Democrats — that had President Barack Obama ordered a strike on Damascus (or at least fully armed and supported the Syrian rebels when it looked like they had a real chance) to kill Assad, whether by intention or luck of the wind, it would have prevented the prolonged civil war that has caused half a million civilian deaths, created two million refugees, and fostered ISIS and terrorist attacks in European cities. He has no nuclear weapons, no air force, no real military power to speak of, no friends outside of Moscow and Tehran. Just bomb him.

Kim Jong-un, well, he’s a bit trickier. For starters, he has nuclear weapons. But, hey, he doesn’t have any intercontinental ballistic missiles that can reach the continental United States, or the ability to miniaturize a nuclear bomb to put on board. At least, he hasn’t publicly shown he has that capability, although the Pentagon is treating him as if he does. Of course, in the interim, tens of thousands of artillery shells may obliterate Seoul and U.S. bases in South Korea — but hey, as Defense Secretary Mark Esper said about Iran, enough is enough. And just look at Xi Jinping. Smiling atop his Beijing palaces like he’s the next Mao. Finally, the most obvious next target of all: Vladimir Putin. What’s keeping Trump from dropping a bomb on Putin’s head? No, really, that’s a serious question. What do the Russians have on Trump? Kidding. About all of this. The killing of Qassem Soleimani is not the end of the U.S.-Iran conflict. It’s the beginning of a new era. This was no mere battlefield drone strike of a long-sought terrorist leader. Soleimani was arguably the most powerful secular leader of Iran; he operated in public internationally. Others can argue whether this technically counts as an assassination, but Trump has once again tossed a norm of political leadership out the window. Trump is not a world leader who follows precedent. With the Soleimani assassination, Trump has ignored an unwritten rule meant to keep the world safer from political assassinations that lead to world wars.

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The elephant-in-the-room retribution by Iran could very well be the twilight-targeting of a US government/military official. Remember, Tehran didn't change the twilight-war rules, this was strictly Donald Trump's doing.

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ecofarm said:

Only a moron could believe Iran would do anything to jeopardize its nuke program.

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Rexedgar said:

You’ve been pushing the “Iran will do nothing” scenario across multiple threads for a few days now. What happen if you’re wrong?

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ecofarm said:

It'll be the first time.

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Rexedgar said:

You’ve been pushing the “Iran will do nothing” scenario across multiple threads for a few days now. What happen if you’re wrong?

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NeverTrump said:

In a decade, if we're still around, he'll be saying he was against it from the beginning and vote for a guy who promises no wars in the middle east.

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ecofarm said:

Only a moron could believe Iran would do anything to jeopardize its nuke program.

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redrover said:

While Trump has failed to unite the American people. You have to give him credit for uniting the Iranian people. Going after cultural sites is consistent with Trump's Christen base. In the fourth century it was the Christians who went on a reign of terror destroying many of the treasures of the ancient world.

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Rexedgar said:

Ok, Gen Xer!

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jamesbyoung said:

okey dokey millennial croakey!

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Rogue Valley said:

Who’s Next? Trump Crossed a Line with Soleimani’s Assassination

The Iranian was much more than a general. Who else is Trump willing to kill?





As the New York Times reported, the Pentagon presented Donald Trump with a long list of potential Iranian targets. The type of targets that both Iran and the US understood to be fair game in their decades-long "twilight or shadow war". This mutual understanding didn't include killing the General that is arguably the second most powerful/influential official in the Iranian government. While there is no denying that Qassem Soleimani was an individual with very bloody hands, his blatant assassination by the United States (read Donald Trump) changes the calculus in the ME. It may have been an immediate "feel-good" strike to take his mind and the media headlines far away from impeachment, but this decision will have serious and long-term consequences for America in the Middle East, the likes of which we can only guess at. The first consequence could very well be the Iraq government expelling US forces from Iraqi territory. Trump has now doubled-down on his seemingly boundless stupidity, threatening to destroy cultural sites in Iran. Unless such sites are serving a military purpose, such destruction would constitute a war crime under international conventions and various US military manuals. The elephant-in-the-room retribution by Iran could very well be the twilight-targeting of a US government/military official. Remember, Tehran didn't change the twilight-war rules, this was strictly Donald Trump's doing.

Related: As Tensions With Iran Escalated, Trump Opted for Most Extreme Measure

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Rexedgar said:

You’ve been here what, two weeks?

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BahamaBob said:

I find it amusing that the Democrats still subscribe to the 16th century belief that offices are off limits in combat. I want them to explain to the families of the hundreds of Americans this man is responsible for why it was OK for him to kill with impunity.

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ecofarm said:

The Iranian regime dictates the knowledge and opinion of their subjects. It's a totalitarian theocracy. Let's not pretend those people are anything but slaves.

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Jredbaron96 said:

Slaves that use twitter to organize protests?

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ecofarm said:

View attachment 67271433

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ecofarm said:

The Iranian regime dictates the knowledge and opinion of their subjects. It's a totalitarian theocracy. Let's not pretend those people are anything but slaves.

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bomberfox said:

Why would they be more united now than ever then?

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BahamaBob said:

I find it amusing that the Democrats still subscribe to the 16th century belief that offices are off limits in combat. I want them to explain to the families of the hundreds of Americans this man is responsible for why it was OK for him to kill with impunity.

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ecofarm said:

Iran is about to get nukes and wipe Iraq out. Totalitarian theocracy ftw.

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