Qasem Soleimani was an Iranian soldier. He lived by the sword and died by the sword. He met a soldier's destiny. It is being said that he was a BAD MAN. Absurd! To say that he was a BAD MAN because he fought us as well as the Sunni jihadis is simply infantile. Were all those who fought the US BAD MEN? How about Gentleman Johhny Burgoyne? Was he a BAD MAN? How about Sitting Bull? Was he a BAD MAN? How about Aguinaldo? Another BAD MAN? Let us not be juvenile.
The Iraqi PMU commander who died with Soleimani was Abu Mahdi al Muhandis. He was a member of a Shia militia that had been integrated into the Iraqi armed forces. IOW, we killed an Iraqi general. We killed him without the authorization of the supposedly sovereign state of Iraq.
We created the present government of Iraq through the farcical "purple thumb" elections. That government holds a seat in the UN General Assembly and is a sovereign entity in international law in spite of Trump's tweet today that said among other things that we have "paid" Iraq billions of US dollars. To the Arabs, this statement that brands them as hirelings of the US is close to the ultimate in insult.
Somehow the Ziocons around Trump have forgotten that the present state of Iraq refused to yield to Obama's demands for a SOFA and in effect expelled the US from the country.
The Iraqi parliament is going to vote in emergency session over the issue of the death of al-Muhandis. Will they vote to expel the US from their country?
Will we go if they vote that way? We should. If we do not, then we will be exposed as imperialist hypocrites.
Truump should welcome such a vote. He wants to get out of the ME? What greater opportunity could we have to do so?
Let us leave if invited to go. Let the oh, so clever locals deal with their own hatreds and rivalries. pl
Colonel,
Not sure where to begin....I don't see how Qom does not move towards the establishment of a credible Iranian nuclear deterrent. They will be responding to the wishes of the Iranian people. On the other hand, after the Navy shot down Iran Air 655, I believe it was followed by Iran's acceptance of UNSR 598, and the poison chalice. However, my sense from being there in 2016 and again after Trump reimposed sanctions in 2018, the ordinary people want their government, whatever its form, to move towards the establishment of a credible nuclear deterrent. I am very discouraged and can't help but ask, if it gets ugly, will we revisit Korematsu? Have we considered the possibility of military defeat abroad?
Posted by: mac | 03 January 2020 at 09:13 PM
Col. Lang:
Was Abraham Lincoln an evil man? Or Stonewall Jackson?
Trump has murdered RobTrump has publicly owned the muder of Robert E. Lee.
The Shia and Iran is in mourning.
And who knows what tomorrow shall bring.
Posted by: Babak Makkinejad | 03 January 2020 at 09:56 PM
It appears that Pompeo is designating parts of the Iraqi Military, the PMU, terrorist organizations:
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/01/03/world/middleeast/03reuters-iraq-security-usa-designation.html
Posted by: reggie meezer | 03 January 2020 at 10:09 PM
Tulsi has my vote too.
I wasn't sure I'd vote for her before Trump killed this guy, but now I'm ready to commit.
Posted by: plantman | 03 January 2020 at 10:30 PM
J,
The problem for Israel is that their idiot Likudniks have gotten them between a rock and a hard place. The IRGC has embarked on a long term effort to deploy precision guided ballistic and cruise missiles to Lebanon and Syria. The more they deploy the worse the next war will be for Israel. If you think 2006 was ugly, just wait until Hezbollah starts striking Israeli water desalination plants and other critical infrastructure targets. So a war now would be bad, but the longer that Hezbollah has to prepare the worse it is going to get.
Posted by: JamesT | 03 January 2020 at 11:25 PM
Foreign nationals will be delighted to stop interfering in US elections when the US stops interfering in ours, better yet, when the US packs it up and leaves. Your country is the gravest threat to life in the known history of this planet, and the planet is sick and tired of you guys.
Grin go ho me, the sooner the better. And stop thinking that the world won't be able to kick you out.
Posted by: Paco | 04 January 2020 at 03:13 AM
The president of the USA publicly gloating about murdering a foreign high ranking official and a high ranking military figure of an occupied country. And all the subjects -they cannot be called citizens, they are plain slaves- of that so called exemplary republic clapping and flag waving. As much as I was astounded as a child in history class learning of Caligula and his consul horse or Nero burning Rome while playing the lyre, future history class children -if there are any left- will be shocked by the shameful episode the USA is writing in the history book.
Posted by: Paco | 04 January 2020 at 03:25 AM
The strike was so egregious that: if the Iraqi Parliament does not vote for the US to leave, it will be a de facto passive endorsement of the strike and a legitimizer of it.
Posted by: JMH | 04 January 2020 at 07:26 AM
Paco
You can't do any better than to come to SST to shit on us when we are trying to tell the truth? Don't come back.
Posted by: turcopolier | 04 January 2020 at 08:51 AM
A Pols
Nobody expects that a president generates all the ideas. The question is which ones he listens to.
Posted by: turcopolier | 04 January 2020 at 08:55 AM
https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/39946?fbclid=IwAR0PEsYDP5utocMcOu1X0wIBgM4CDDnvvJM8ORbhaIoK2EQPDM1axdKUbrg
Same is true for Russia.
Ignorant empire dont last.
Posted by: Somkuti Balint | 04 January 2020 at 11:22 AM
It's on:
Following the #US assassination of #Qassem_Soleimani "The red flag was raised over Jamkaran mosque in #Qom #Iran & it won't be taken down until revenge against the US is fulfilled" via
@Sara_Haj
.
https://twitter.com/ejmalrai/status/1213453920493821952
Posted by: reggie meezer | 04 January 2020 at 11:24 AM
Babak
I fear tomorrow's uncertainty for us all will be especially acute for Americans of your ethnicity. Take care.
Posted by: Barbara Ann | 04 January 2020 at 11:31 AM
FWIW: Trump is trying to negotiate for de-escalation with the Iranian officials.
Yesterday via teh Swiss Ambassador , his message according to IFP news:
'if you want to take revenge, do it in a way that's proportional to US attack'. But Iran has rejected the request angrily & said we'll give our own response in due time and appropriate place
Today the Qatari deputy FM/PM was sent to Tehran to negotiate on behalf of the US with the Iranian FM. First he went to show his respects to the Supreme leader and then he reported the second message from the US:
offered "nuclear deal" and lifting sanctions in exchange of no response
Posted by: The Beaver | 04 January 2020 at 12:34 PM
on FP I liked Stephan Walt's take most.
the standard tale or analyis via Politico.
Why the Death of an Iranian Commander Won’t Mean World War III, RAY TAKEYH
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/01/03/iran-loses-its-imperial-strategist-093175
Author profile:
https://militarist-monitor.org/profile/ray-takeyh/
******
Do you recall or were you aware at all of the 2011 Iranian assassination blot in, of all places Washington DC? Well he was the mastermind mind behind it. Imagine. As of a lot else, I recall too.
Well General Qasem Soleimani wasn't mentioned explicitely at the time as far as I recall, there may be some "Western image" merging going on. And in some cases mentioned he wasn't even in charge.
Welcome back to the future. In the Twilight Zone your special forces and their friends may be my enemies or to use the more easy post 9/11 shortcut: terrorists. Let's see if it is quite as easy to get us back there.
An attempt at a portrait of Qassem Suleimani by Dexter Filkins, September 2013
The Shadow Commander
Qassem Suleimani is the Iranian operative who has been reshaping the Middle East. Now he’s directing Assad’s war in Syria.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/09/30/the-shadow-commander
His for me new and somewhat varing image from true-believer-to-true-believer was that the he created Shia Crescent almost singlehandedly with his terrorist group. Well post 9/11 it wasn't yet called that. It was according to e.g. Mr. Faster Please: forward brave soldiers, first let's take Syria and then Iran.
Rest in Peace General.
Posted by: vig | 04 January 2020 at 12:45 PM
One can only hope that this was Trump's way of giving the Neocons enough rope to hang themselves. Every time he makes noises about leaving the middle east they call for his head. So the next best thing is to arrange to get kicked out. An ugly and dangerous way to do it though. He does seem to have a blind rage for Iran so perhaps he actually does want to start a war with them. Too many moving pieces to tell...
Posted by: EEngineer | 04 January 2020 at 02:08 PM
Why is Tucker Carlson the only media personality in the mainstream media who calls it as it should on so many topics?
https://www.foxnews.com/media/tucker-carlson-blasts-washington-establishment-for-pushing-war-with-iran.amp
Watch the latest video at foxnews.com
Posted by: Jack | 04 January 2020 at 02:13 PM
Colonel Lang called it. As per somebody on Twitter, Soleimani's handwritten will reads:
“My wife, I have chosen my burial place in the cemetery of the Martyrs of Kerman, Mahmoud knows it. I want my gravestone to be simple. Just write ‘Soldier Qassem Soleimani.’ No more titles and phrases.”
Posted by: PeterYangYeovil | 04 January 2020 at 02:19 PM
Sir,
Trump broke some serious norms here. As you note Soleimani was an active duty Iranian general and killed by US forces who are supposedly in Iraq to train Iraqi military personnel.
Conservative commentator Mike Cernovich sates:
https://twitter.com/cernovich/status/1213385440805310464?s=21
Would the Iranian retribution list include the big ziocon financiers? That would be a gamechanger as the new rules of assassination extended to the Party of Davos.
Posted by: Jack | 04 January 2020 at 02:59 PM
It has to be aimed at the low IQ individuals. So this guy was just another evil mustache man: Hitler, Stalin, Castro, Ho, Saddam, Bin Laden, etc.
This is the conditioning. Almost a century's worth.
The man was a legitimate target and he died with his boots on.
Hopefully we don't go all Guns of August. Hell of a way to start what was already going to be a crazy year.
More concerning to me: is it true that Trump told the Zionists before he told anyone in our Congress? What do the "Constitutional Conservatives" have to say about that?
Posted by: Vegetius | 04 January 2020 at 04:09 PM
Vegetius
"More concerning to me: is it true that Trump told the Zionists before he told anyone in our Congress?" Tell me about that.
Posted by: turcopolier | 04 January 2020 at 04:24 PM
It might be a good idea for the Rich and Powerful to cancel the 2020 party weekend at Davos.
Posted by: Something To Think About | 05 January 2020 at 03:34 AM
Yes, I would be interested too. Maybe not for quite the same reasons.
Is that the earlier Publius Flavius?
Posted by: vig | 05 January 2020 at 07:23 AM