I smell post-hoc Tonkin bullshit
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The US had been actively (and effectively) de-escalating under Obama, but any diplomacy is obviously out the window permanently at this point.
Despite Trump’s “no more war” rhetoric on the campaign trail, the past few years look exactly like someone playing Risk or Civilization and trying to goad their opponent into war: escalation of troops, economic sanctions, discarding weapons treaties, cancelling diplomatic meetings, insults, threats, and, well, murdering civilians at random. And now murdering their top general.
But out of spite, not because he made a good decision. Unless one is a huge war hawk or just likes the idea of the president being a dick to Iran, this isn’t exactly a Big Win to sell voters on.
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The de-escalation would be even more efficient if they’d stopped the civilian-killing drone strikes on Middle East, especially the double-tap ones, which are essentially terrorism.
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…which is not to say that Soleimani was comparable to Mandela. He wasn’t a politician; he was a military commander. The Quds Force is basically Iran’s version of the US Green Berets.
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Obama did temporarily (and slowly) de-escalate the relationship with Iran, but at the same time he massively escalated US bombing campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and across Africa.
Echoes of Nixon, Linebacker II and Cambodia.
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He did not order it without some military and/or senior policy hard-on fuckwits deciding to tell him it was feasible at that point, in the first place. They knew he’d go for it.
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That’s actually what I’m more interested in — who advised him that this was a good option? By all accounts, Trump was down at Mar-a-Lago during this, so he wasn’t actively following the situation. Some advisor came up with this plan and offered it to Trump and he OK’d it while on vacation.
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IOW, SNAFU
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…and consent is manufactured to sell wars.
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How long until the US gets declared as a terrorist organization? It’s about time.
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Every Republican president in our lifetime has started a war prior to his reelection campaign. This is actually the one time El Douche is just toeing the historical Republican line.
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How to de-escalate a tense military situation:
- Cancel all treaties, issue threats, yell a lot, send in troops
- Kill a bunch of civilians
- Assassinate the military leader of a country
- ?? Profit?
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Don’t forget the fake vaccination campaign to catch Bin Laden, which killed the polio eradication program in those parts of Pakistan. Obama is a nasty bastard. Unlike Trump he is smart and charismatic, but no less evil when it comes to foreign policy.
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That was the CIA. Stay on topic.
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By the end of today’s news cycle they will believe it is a Big Win. And they don’t care if it’s a good decision. If the God Emperor made it it IS good. It’s a war. His weak supporters will become strong supporters, and some detractors will say “Well, I might not like him, but we have to support the President during a war.”
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That isn’t a very good analogy. If we assassinated this guy in Iran it would be an apt analogy.
If someone assassinated the head of the CIA in Saudi Arabia somewhere, it would be a better analogy. No one would wonder why an enemy foreign power tried to kill him. People would wonder why the head of the CIA was there; probably wasn’t for a “cultural exchange”. And the blood on the hands of the CIA would make their actions somewhat justified.
While I can agree with the overall problem of the US’s actions in the Middle East, I am not going to defend Soleimani or Quds Force. They are murders who have capitalized on events to further destabilize the region and expand Iran’s influence. Fuck those guys. There was graffiti on the walls of the embassy saying “Soleimani is my commander” etc. This guy isn’t a boy scout.
I can agree that this move is a bad one, and the reason being is it may prompt Iran to directly retaliate. By all means pointing out this isn’t a good tactical move is a good criticism. I am completely against starting another war with Iran, even if I find myself against the policies and actions of their government. I am very curious if the top brass was for or against this strike.
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Don’t forget a lot of weak hand-wringing from the moderate dems. The progressive wing will come out strong but the middle will be wishy-washy and cost respectability and votes. Damn it all to hell!
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And the “moderate centrists” will - reluctantly, of course - fall into line and give Cadet Bone Spurs whatever he wants. Then the Republicans will crow about owning the libtards, crack down on dissent, and coast to an easy win in November. Game. Set. Match. That’s how it will go down.
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