Tradomg one terrorist for another, Iran’s 80-year-old Supreme Leader Al Khamenei replaced 62-year-old Al Quds’ chief Qassem Soleimani with his compatriot 62-year-old Esmail Ghaani. Picking Ghaani, Khamenei wants a seamless transition to Iran’s state-terrorism operations, responsible for funding Shiite militias in Middle East and North Africa. It was Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, head of Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah, that attacked an Iraqi military base Dec. 28, 2019 killing an American contractors. prompting 73-year-old President Donald Trump to give the green light on the Jan. 2 predator drone attack at the Baghdad airport. Khamenei puts the responsibility for revenge against the U.S. or its allies in the hands of Ghaani, a far more low-key figure in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Al Quds Force, responsible for Iran’s state-sponsored terrorist operations.
Speaking today on ABC News “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos, 56-year-old Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted that the world was a safer place without Soleimani. Since vaporizing Soleimani and al-Muhandis, Trump’s critics in the domestic press and Democrat Party have argued that U.S. interests are mover vulnerable, subject to more attacks. “This was a bad guy, we took him off the playing field. And that’s important because this was a fellah who was the glue, who was conducting active plotting against the United States of America, putting American lives at risk,” Pompeo told Stephanopoulos. Democrats say extra-judicial assassinations put Americans at greater risk because of possible reprisals. Broadcast journalists, like Stephanopoulos, cut their teeth as Democrat operatives, use the airwaves to attack the opposition, not inform the public about key foreign policy decisions.
Trump’s decision to take out Soleimani and al-Muhandis was an easy one when Pentagon officials informed him he had two high-value targets for a predator drone strike. It took the Pentagon over 10-years to kill Sept. 11 mastermind Al-Qaeda Leader Osama bin Laden, getting better when they got Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] Abu Bakr al-Baghdad in five years. Stephanopoulos asked questions to Pompeo implying that the U.S.—and world—was less safe with Soleimani and al-Muhandis off the streets. Yet with other charismatic leaders, killing Soleimani should slow Iran’s state-sponsored terrorism by creating less Shiite recruitmemt. “President Trump made the right decision to stop Qassem Soleimani from the terror campaign that he’d been engaged in against America,” Pompeo said, refuting Stephanopoulos, suggesting that Soleiman’s targeted assassination would beget more terrorism.
Trump’s action prompted discussion of the 1973 War Powers Act, requiring the Executive Branch to inform Congress about military adventures. On the campaign trail, 77-year-old former Vice President Joe Biden said Trump had “no authority” to intervene in Iraq. Biden spent much of his time as Vice President supplying arms-and-cash to Syrian rebels seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Former President Barack Obama and Biden failed to inform Congress that the Pentagon was supplying arms-and-cash to Syrian rebel groups for over six years. Pompeo said the intelligence assessment said Soleimani represented a clear-and-present danger to U.S. national security. “We’re having to clean up their mess,” said Pompeo, referring Obama’s 2015 Iranian Nuke Deal that handed Iran $16 billion in cash and another $150 billion in sanctions relief.
Handing the job of revenge to Ghaani presents problems for Ayatollah Ali Khameni knowing that any military action against the U.S. or its allies could result in a massive U.S. military strike. Trump’s decision to go after Soleimani and al-Muhandis indicates that he’s ready to hit Iran hard. With street uprisings against his repressive mullah regime, Khamenei can’t push too hard without threatening his rule. “We’ve told the Iranian regime, enough. You can’t get away with using proxy forces and think your homeland will be safe and secure,” Pompeo said. Iran has backed a proxy war against Saudi Arabia since 2015, prompting warnings from the U.S. When Iran hit Saudi’s largest oily Abaiq-Khuris oil refinery Sept. 19, 2019, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. warned Iran of retaliation. Taking out Soleimani and al-Muhandis directly relates to Iran’s past aggressive actions.
Attacking the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iran found out they’re looking at a different kind of U.S. president in Trump. Unlike Obama—or even Bush—Trump has revived President Ronald Reagan’s terrorism policy of swift-and-effective retribution. Reagan lived through the Oct. 23, 1983 truck-bombing of the marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 307 U.S. soldiers. Iran’s fingerprints, while not proven, were all over the carnage, with Hezbollah playing a possible role. Kataib Hezbollah leader al-Muhandis miscalculated the consequences of attacking the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, prompting Trump to hit Soleimani and al-Muhandis hard. All the hand-wringing in the U.S. media—and Democrat Party—fails to see Iran’s growing threat to U.S. national security. Whether Iran retaliates or not, Trump had no choice but to draw a red line when it came to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
