Look, let's get this straight. No one should shed any tears over the killing of Qassem Soleimani. He was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. soldiers and countless Iraqi and Syrian civilians. Another mass murderer has met his end. May he rot in hell.
That's not the point, though. Once more, this president's impulsiveness has resulted in a decision that will have long-lasting consequences in a region of the world where the U.S. already has a checkered past. Consider the following:
Contrary to claims made by Trump, America is not safer with Soleimani out of the way. Already, cities across the country are on heightened alert in anticipation of Iranian retaliation, which is almost certain to come; Americans throughout the Middle East are being told to leave; and since Soleimani was a general, every U.S. general now has a bull's eye on his back. If this is Trump's idea of safe, I shutter at what the alternative might be.
Secondly, just like his decision to pull out of Northern Syria, there is no sign of a coherent strategy at work here. Even if you buy the argument that Soleimani was a threat to American interests in both Iraq and Syria, he was not, as has been inaccurately stated, on the same level with Osama bin Laden. To the best of anyone's knowledge, Soleimani did not order the 9/11 attacks that took the lives of almost three thousand American citizens. That distinction singularly belongs to bin Laden. Killing him was not necessary.
Third, if the intent was to diminish the threat of war, Trump's order will have the opposite affect. Iran will almost certainly increase its presence in Iraq, where it now controls almost a third of the country. Russia, an ally of Iran, has already condemned the killing and, thanks to the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Northern Syria, is now a major player in both countries. If fighting does breakout, Russia is almost certain to intervene. This tinder box of a region is one match stick away from igniting.
But here's the kicker. Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran / Nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions was not only reeking havoc on the Iranian economy, it was causing wide-spread unrest within the Iranian population, who were taking to the streets in protest of the Mullahs. For the first time in over a decade, there was hope that the regime change America had been looking for since the Iranian revolution of 1979 was close at hand. Now those very same people who were protesting the government are carrying pictures of Soleimani and chanting "Death to America." Inadvertently, Trump has given the Iranian government the one thing it was looking for: a way to galvanize its people against the U.S. That's the problem with nationalism: every country has its own brand.
Trump is playing with fire, again. Iran is NO Iraq. It took U.S. forces just 21 days to topple Saddam Hussein's regime with less than 500 American casualties. A full blown war with Iran will take months to win and could potentially result in the deaths of thousands of U.S. soldiers, not to mention the huge loss of life among the civilian population. It is a war only a lunatic would wage and only a fool would believe is in our best interests.
With Trump, you get two rolled into one.
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