Killing Iran’s terror chief a no-brainer
Soleimani was a merciless bloodstained fanatic. — robson
The United States blew up a really evil terrorist and the left had a hissy fit. Ridiculous. But of all the criticisms that have rained down on Donald Trump, I think the most foolish is that he’s provoked Iran.
It wasn’t an easy call. Which is the most foolish, I mean. Blowing the guy up was a no- brainer. Qassem Soleimani was a merciless bloodstained fanatic who’d been slaughtering Americans, Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians and anyone else he could reach for decades. But NBC immediately trembled “Iran’s options for retaliation against the U. S. and Americans span the globe.” Likewise Maclean’s knee- jerked “The U. S. has gone rogue, and Canada may be caught in the crossfire.”
Other dumb comments included Michael Moore’s tweet: “Hello fellow Americans. Do you know this man? Did you know he was your enemy? What? Never heard of him? By the end of today you will be trained to hate him.” Because the U.S. is Oceania from 1984 or something.
The New York Times whined “Democrats Question Timing of Strike” as if they should have blasted him when they didn’t know where he was instead of when he carelessly stepped out of the shadows. As for it being a violation of international law, unlike his 30- year terrorist career, to its credit NBC noted that Barack Obama ordered more than 500 such airstrikes, killing thousands. But back to practicalities. What exactly is Iran going to do?
Radical congressperson Ilhan Omar tweeted “We are outraged the president would assassinate a foreign official, possibly setting off another war without Congressional authorization and has zero plan to deal with the consequences.” Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez tweeted “Last night the President engaged in what is widely being recognized as an act of war against Iran, one that now risks the lives of millions of innocent people.”
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh agreed: “The US’ actions in Iran have brought us closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East.” Not Iran’s actions.
They can hack, slay, bomb, build nukes, whatever. But Trump kills one lousy terrorist and we face a “disastrous war.” Meaning what? What millions will die?
Well, cue ominous music, because on Sunday the Times said “The fallout from President Trump’s targeted killing of Iran’s most powerful commander is now underway.”
After that story appeared, Iraqi lawmakers passed a non- binding bluff “Yankee go home” resolution. Which the Times spun as a defeat. “The killing of General Soleimani, intended as a shot against Iran, could accelerate an Iranian objective: pushing the United States military out of Iraq.”
Why isn’t the headline “Trump kills terrorist, escapes quagmire”? It’s because, to this mindset, every vigorous American act is scary because the United States is weak and Iran is strong. In introducing a war powers resolution House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Trump of “risking a serious escalation of tensions with Iran.” As if Iran was not already doing everything possible to destroy the Great Satan and openly promising to wipe Israel off the map. And as if Iran shouldn’t fear war with the U. S., not the reverse. ( As for Iran’s threat to build nukes, they were anyway.)
Maclean’s conceded that “Soleimani was a dangerous figure in the Middle East and a key to Iran’s regional ambitions.” But “The Iranian regime will not collapse. … What comes next will be devastating for the region.” Bosh.
Even this newspaper wrote “After an American attack in Baghdad took out the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, experts fear a new Middle East conflict, or at least a powerful Iranian revenge attack, is coming.” Do “experts fear” Iran trying to destroy Israel and bringing its armies and leadership within range of the West’s overwhelming military superiority?
What if Iran thought it could carry out terrorist attacks with impunity, as it long did? Would “experts fear?” If not, get other experts.
I do worry that the United States shows signs of decline including militarily. But as Adam Smith said, there’s a lot of ruin in a nation. To this day there are British submarines off the coasts of Iran not the other way around. Would you trade America’s problems for Iran’s? Or Britain’s for China’s?
Trump killed Iran’s chief terrorist. And the Iranians know he can do a lot more.