On the occasion of the death of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, Jake Novak has an op-ed at CNBC which I commend to your attention. Here’s a snippet:
The killing of Soleimani doesn’t have the emotional power of the takedown of Osama bin Laden, and he wasn’t even as well-known to Americans as ISIS founder Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. But in many ways, taking him out means much more in terms of saving current lives. Remember that bin Laden and al Baghdadi were mostly out of business and in hiding at the time of their deaths. Solemani was busier than ever, directing mayhem all over the Middle East and beyond.
I rejoice in no one’s death. Otherwise I have no opinion of the incident. On one thing I agree completely with Mr. Novak: we have been at war with Iran since 1979. For that I hold Jimmy Carter responsible. It is impossible to do what presidents must and keep your hands clean at the same time.
On the one hand, what is the proportional response to Iran using proxies to shelling American bases and attempting to storm embessy a la 1979. Is a proportional response appropriate, is a disproportional response (to deter) appropiate?
On the other hand, if Trump isn’t prepared to escalate to the ultimate disproportionate response, is engaging in a tit for tat in irregular warfare with Iran an extremely futile exercise?
Anger and fire&brimstone speech is the expected Iranian response.
The next might be to turn a nervous eye to the heavens, from which rains death, and wonder who else is tracked. I would now expect hostage taking, threats, and maybe executions. But after the dust settles, this will have been the right move. And we didn’t miss!
If Iran’s been at war with us since 1979, we’ve been at war with Iran since 1953.
Soviet propaganda and Kermit Roosevelt’s resume padding. We didn’t oust Mossadegh. A clique of Iranian military officers did. We didn’t have a single operative in Iran at the time.
Some please us by their arrival others by their departure, Soleimani, fits in the second category.
As for whats next, lets hope TPTB remember Gen. Van Riper and Millennium Challenge 2002.
First, this is not just a high level murder. Events were already in motion in Iraq, and the killing has just added momentum.
Our killing Soleimani would be the equivalent of their killing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Milley. In any any event, every high-ranking official in the US government, both here in the US and overseas, is now a potential target for assassination.
We also killed a high-ranking Iraqi general, and there are reports that American troops have arrested some Shia militia leaders.
The important cleric al-Sadr has also ordered the reactivation of his militia, which was an effective enemy of US forces.
All this happened after the Iraqi legislature was called into special session to discuss the eviction of American troops from Iraq, due to the bombing of the Kata’ib Hezbollah militia base. Iraq does not have the conventional military power to do so, but they could wage an effective guerrilla war.
Events seem to be spinning out of control. Pretty soon Illinois eternal budget crisis might seem silly.
My opinion is that I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. This was a provacative and large escalation which will generate repercussions we can’t see at present.
Pompeo said already our next counter-strike would be Iranian oilfields.
Down this path they’ll be living like North Koreans.
Wasn’t Soleimani considered an “enemy combatant,†making his death not an assassination but a target of the rules of engagement with one’s enemy?
Yes, thank you.
Not sure where this goes, but at least we were smart enough to wait until Iran had helped defeat ISIS before we started going after them. Not sure yet how this benefits the US.
Steve
So, we were going after Iran?
I guess Iran shooting down our drone, Iran backed skirmishes that killed/wounded our guys, and then attacking and gutting our Baghdad embassy was Americans going after Iranians? Somehow, that logic seems backwards to me. Then, if our intelligence was correct, there were other Iranian attacks on US military installations and/or diplomats in the mill, which seemed real, being Soleimani and other higher-ups were killed a short drive from the US embassy on the night he was illicitly flown into Iraq. Coincidence?
Maybe there was some benefit derived by US military personnel deplored in the ME that they may be able to leave alive.