Donald Trump’s administration argued that it was perfectly acceptable to kill the top military official of another country, because there was an imminent threat. No big surprise, POTUS lied. The impact of his action took America to the very edge of World War III. Fortunately, Iran was the grown-up in the room, but news about Trump’s ill-fated act reveals an entirely different scenario.
Evidence surfaced that Trump authorized the assassination of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimoni seven months ago. In June, Trump authorized killing the general in June on the condition that POTUS had the final signoff. The commander-in-chief rested his trigger finger at the point when the Iranians killed just one American. That event occurred when an American contract worker died in a blast and Iranian proxy forces attacked the American Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.
The blame for tensions with Iran falls solely on Donald Trump. It began when he withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018. Then, the president’s administration started squeezing the country with “punishing economic sanctions,” known as Maximum Pressure. That ploy did not pan out. Instead, Iran became aggressive, especially through its various proxies. These were the proxies that the general had set up inside of surrounding Middle Eastern countries.
The U.S. government had been following Soleimani for decades. He definitely was one of the bad guys, but until now, presidents weighed the consequences, which were significant. The commander-in-chief did not do that. Instead, he trusted his gut, and America’s citizens saw what those consequences were this month.
A senior Trump official said, according to NBC News:
‘There have been a number of options presented to the president over the course of time. [It was] some time ago.’
Defense Secretary Mark Esper gave Trump a number of options two weeks ago. They included the assassination of Soleimani as the worst option. He offered the president the pros and cons of each alternative. However, the president was set on taking out the general.
According to the former diplomat with a senior appointment at the Department of Defense (DOD) Eric Edelman:
“There were a lot of us who thought he should be taken out. But at the end of the day, they decided not to do that. [They worried] the danger of escalation and the danger of having a conflict with Iran while we already had our hands full in Iraq.’
Trump has surrounded himself with a circle of ultra-conservative hawks. These were former National Security Adviser (NSA) John Bolton, Vice president Mike Pence, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Soleimani was in charge of the Quds Force, which set up the satellite proxy groups. according to NBC:
‘President George W. Bush “designationed the Quds Force a foreign terrorist organization om 2007/ Four years later, the Obama administration announced new sanctions on Soleimani and three other senior Quds Force officials in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States.’
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
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