Qasem Soleimani

Interestingly, after the US attack on Iraqi Militia fighters on 31 December 2020, and the assassination of General Qassem Suleimani, on 2 January, the first thing President Trump could come up with was bragging that it was him who gave the order to murder the popular military leader. General Qassem Suleimani was the commander of the Iranian special Quds Force. The Quds Force was created during the Iran–Iraq War as a special unit from the broader Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

In the early hours of January 3, 2020, the United States military assassinated Iran’s most powerful military commander, General Qasem Soleimani.
Soleimani’s killing, accomplished by means of a drone strike in Baghdad, was done without the authorization of the Iraqi government. It thus constitutes a grave breach of Iraqi sovereignty.

The U.S. military-industrial-congressional triangle (MIC) is comprised of the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Armed Forces; industry, the corporations that sell goods and services to the Pentagon and allied governments; and U.S. Congress, which authorizes funding for the Pentagon to purchase industry’s goods and services. The MIC is insulated. It is entirely removed from the will of the U.S.

On Saturday U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted a not so cryptic threat that he was planning to attack over 50 important Iranian cultural sites if Iran continued to threaten to retaliate for the U.S. assassination of Iranian Gen. Qasem Solemani. “Let this serve as a WARNING” he wrote, that if Iran struck any American “assets” in retaliation for the assassination of its top General Qasem Soleimani, “we have targeted 52 Iranian sites” of historic and cultural importance, that will “BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD” in his signature mix of upper and lower case text.

The weekend saw more than 70 spontaneous or hastily organized demonstrations across America in opposition to the Trump administration’s warlike actions against Iraq and Iran. On January 3, the United States carried out a drone strike in Baghdad that killed Major General Qasem Soleimani of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

By killing top Iranian military commander, Qasem Soleimani, American and Israeli leaders demonstrated the idiom ‘out of the frying pan into the fire.’

In what can only be described as one in a long series of reckless, thoughtless and short sighted acts that serve only the narrowest interests, the Trump administration assassinated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. This assassination, which was an act of cowardice, one may safely assume was concocted by Benjamine Netanyahu, another corrupt, reckless coward who is fighting for his political life. This, like the rest of the Trump administration’s Mideast and Iran policy,  had to have been prescribed by the Prime Minister of Israel.

By killing top Iranian military commander, Qasem Soleimani, American and Israeli leaders demonstrated the idiom ‘out of the frying pan into the fire.’

The murder of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, in the early hours of January 3 by US forces, only highlights the extent to which US strategy in the Middle East has failed. It is likely to provoke reactions that do not benefit US interests in the region.

President Trump was understood to not want a Mid-East war that might blight his rosy re-election prospects (so long as the US stock market stays inflated, and the economy doesn’t tank). Pat Buchanan, the three-times US Presidential candidate, warned Trump that if there is a potential landmine on Trump’s road to reelection, it may be found in the Middle and Near East: “Not infrequently, foreign policy has proven decisive in presidential years”. Plus Iran was not seeking any major confrontation; Hizbullah wasn’t; Iraq wasn’t; and the Israeli Security Establishment wasn’t.