Qassem Suleimani, 1957-2020

A big deal. I'm waiting to see what shoes drop next.

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Ignored post by jon-nyc posted

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No kidding.

I'd like an explanation of what the long term strategy is with respect to Iran. So far, it's not apparent.

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Ignored post by wtg posted

RealPlayer

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I thought Trump said he was getting us OUT of the Middle East...

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Piano*Dad

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Trump also wants to be the BIG MAN who does things that wimpy Bush and effete Obama did not. Those presidents avoided going after Suleimani when they had a chance because of the risk of a wider conflict with Iran.

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Ignored post by Piano*Dad posted

CHAS

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Trump has created a job opening.

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Ignored post by CHAS posted

jodi

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I follow an Iranian woman on Instagram (I do not follow that many people, and it’s all art related) who does absolutely beautiful paper marbling. It is a little freaky to see her posts come up on my feed now. They are very, very angry. With lots of anti-American/anti-trump videos.

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Jodi

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Ignored post by jodi posted

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There's so much about Iran and its culture we don't hear much about. We used to hear about its engaged, West-leaning youth culture, and I'm sure it has an intriguing arts scene (as Jodi hints at). I think they don't really want to be our enemies. But then I haven't followed all the news about their support for terrorism and all that. This Suleimani killing is bad news.

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“It's hard to win an argument with a smart person. It's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person." -- Bill Murray

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Nina

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Of course they are angry. I'm angry. I have zero confidence that Trump has any strategy or policy whatsoever, other than to destroy Obama's work in Iran.

I don't trust Trump to avoid tweeting us into a full-scale war, which would be disastrous. This is well beyond a wag the dog canned crisis.

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Ignored post by Nina posted

Piano*Dad

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Lets just say I'm not shedding any tears for Soleimani, despite the nationalist anger Iranians may feel. The Quds force he led is rather like combining the Seals with the NSA, parts of the CIA, the Praetorian Guard, and the Mafia.

These are the folks who happily blew up Jewish children in Argentina, and Soleimani happily salted Iraq with IEDs to kill US soldiers and keep the pot boiling before and after the surge.

Not necessarily an unbiased source, but I suspect many of the items on this list of Quds activities are true:

Extensive Record of assassinations and bombings

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Nina

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Agreed. But this feels more like an opportunity for Trump to grab headlines ("I took down Soleimani, a bigger deal than bin Laden, take that Obama!") than any well planned action. The fallout may be a lot more than he (or we) bargained for.

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Ignored post by Nina posted

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Agreed, Nina.

Adding to that, I think that Trump's style with respect to these situations seems to be to play a huge game of transactional chicken. He ups the stakes and then waits for the other guy to back down.

May have worked in financial situations like real estate deals, but more complex scenarios (like foreign policy), not so much.

He backed the Iranians into a corner multiple times. It looks like he's trying to provoke them/force them into some action, but I think he just kept upping the ante without a clear goal in sight and now has a hell of a problem on his hands.

I don't think he *ever* had a plan for what he wanted out of this. Except to win at something, anything, so he could crow about it. (I'm talking about when it started when he walked away from the nuclear deal.)

Middle East, North Korea....gosh, we're so much better off than we were three years ago....

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Ignored post by wtg posted

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From the NYT article that P*D posted originally:

quote:
“From Iran’s perspective, it is hard to imagine a more deliberately provocative act,” said Robert Malley, the president and chief executive of the International Crisis Group. “And it is hard to imagine that Iran will not retaliate in a highly aggressive manner.”

“Whether President Trump intended it or not, it is, for all practical purposes, a declaration of war,” added Mr. Malley,

quote:
“General Suleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region,” the Pentagon said in a statement. “General Suleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more.”

It did not elaborate on the specific intelligence that led them to carry out General Suleimani’s killing.

Those deaths happened a long time ago..Assad's not a nice guy either. Is he next?

The intelligence probably had to do with WMD....

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CHAS

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But Assad is Putin's friend. Trump won't
touch that.

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Ignored post by CHAS posted

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For those who might say "but, but, but...what about Osama Bin Laden...OBL was a non-state actor....

We assassinate a member of the government of country 1 (Iran) while he is in country 2 (Iraq).

We are basically guests in country 2 and have an agreement to act in certain ways.

Apparently country 2 isn't real happy about the way this played out and is thinking about throwing us out....

Foreign Affairs has a couple of good pieces.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com...mani-strike-lead-war

https://www.foreignaffairs.com...s-iraqi-relationship

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Ignored post by wtg posted