https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/what-qassim-soleimanis-killing-means
What Qassim Soleimani’s killing means
by Tom Rogan
FTA:
Soleimani masterminded a failed 2011 plot to blow up the then-Saudi ambassador and dozens of diners in a Washington, D.C., restaurant.
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Trump’s shift here is hard to overestimate. Until now, Trump had been keen to keep avenues of diplomatic intercourse open toward Iran. Trump had avoided direct military retaliation against Iran even after it downed a U.S. drone last summer. But this killing slams the door on diplomacy in a most public way.
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This will also cause short-term strife for U.S. political interests in Iraq. Soleimani and Muhandis represented a powerful bloc of Iranian-aligned interests. But a bloc that was under growing pressure. They’ll now seek to unify erstwhile competitors such as Muqtada al Sadr into punishing America for what has occurred.
Ultimately, however, the U.S. holds the cards here.
https://freebeacon.com/columns/trump-calls-the-ayatollahs-bluff/
Trump Calls the Ayatollah’s Bluff
And scores a victory against terrorism
FTA:
Reciprocity has been the key to understanding Donald Trump. Whether you are a media figure or a mullah, a prime minister or a pope, he will be good to you if you are good to him. Say something mean, though, or work against his interests, and he will respond in force. It won’t be pretty. It won’t be polite. There will be fallout. But you may think twice before crossing him again.
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That has been the case with Iran. President Trump has conditioned his policies on Iranian behavior. When Iran spread its malign influence, Trump acted to check it. When Iran struck, Trump hit back: never disproportionately, never definitively. He left open the possibility of negotiations. He doesn’t want to have the Greater Middle East—whether Libya, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, or Afghanistan—dominate his presidency the way it dominated those of Barack Obama and George W. Bush. America no longer needs Middle Eastern oil. Best keep the region on the back burner. Watch it so it doesn’t boil over. Do not overcommit resources to this underdeveloped, war-torn, sectarian land.
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Deterrence, says Fred Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute, is credibly holding at risk something your adversary holds dear. If the reports out of Iraq are true, President Trump has put at risk the entirety of the Iranian imperial enterprise even as his maximum pressure campaign strangles the Iranian economy and fosters domestic unrest. That will get the ayatollah’s attention. And now the United States must prepare for his answer.
The bombs over Baghdad? That was Trump calling Khamenei’s bluff. The game has changed. But it isn’t over.
In other words, the Trump Administration attempted every diplomatic and economic option at its disposal, but Iran doubted Trump had the intestinal fortitude to back that up with any other credible threat if Iraq continued to reject diplomatic and economic approaches.
Iraq provoked POTUS by attacking the Iraqi embassy and the US military responded 13 hours later by taking out their George S. Patton.
I wonder what Iran’s next move is going to be, given their next move was clearly going to be an escalation of their PREVIOUS military provocation.
The press has the perspective of a goldfish. They won’t acknowledge what happened literally less than 24 hours prior.
Mount Rushmore may end up being the B team. They may need a new place for the A squad, which currently only has one member.