Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Friday, January 3, 2020




"For a president who repeated his determination to withdraw from the caldron of the Middle East, the strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, who for two decades has led Iran’s most fearsome and ruthless military unit, the Quds Force, means there will be no escape from the region for the rest of his presidency, whether that is one year or five. Mr. Trump has committed the United States to a conflict whose dimensions are unknowable, as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, seeks vengeance." --New York Times  

8 comments:

R.D. said...

Suleimani was the second highest ranking official in the government of Iran, as such his death was an assassination. Bin Laden was a stateless terrorist, as such his death was not.

Trump committed an act of war on Iran without consulting Congress.

Unknown said...

When we got Bin Lade, it was REJOICING by the Left AND the Right……but let the Right’s pres kill someone as awful as Soleimani and it’s hell to pay?

Dave Miller said...

Shaw... that comment about OBL and Trump in response to UNK was from me.

Look, here's part of the problem...

Pres Trump is a known liar. About everything. Crowd size, building the wall, health care initiatives, whether he paid off porn actresses, his marital affairs, his reasons for holding up congressionally mandated foreign aid for Ukraine. No one can credibly dispute this.

And this is an incident where those lies and history of struggles with the truth and the accuracy of his word affect how America perceives what is happening. Today, and the death of the Iranian general are why we need Presidents to tell the truth to the American people about the small stuff. So that when there is big stuff, we can have confidence in what they say.

But President Trump either doesn't believe that matters, or worse, believes we have no right to hear the truth.

Both are equally scary.

We're told by his Admin, and by him, that this attack was to stop a war. Can anyone tell me why we should believe him? Can any of the people who normally believe anyone accused of a crime who lies, the Trump Admin accepted of course, is not to be trusted, please explain why we should now trust a president who literally and verifiably lies every day?

This is why for years the GOP said character mattered. For a moment just like this.

Anonymous said...

Yikes! Maybe he should be impeached for that.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Dave, Sadly, true. I believe nothing Trump says, and you explained why.

No one disputes that Suleimani was a bad actor. This wasn't the way to deal with him.

Taking him out overtly as the Trump administration did, would be like Iran overtly taking out, say, Colin Powell. Our hands are not clean in the Middle East. Do people know the history of how we were responsible for the assassination of Iran's democratically elected presidnt:

Mohammad Mossadegh was a beloved figure in Iran. During his tenure, he introduced a range of social and economic policies, the most significant being the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry. Great Britain had controlled Iran's oil for decades through the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. After months of talks the prime minister broke off negotiations and denied the British any further involvement in Iran's oil industry. Britain then appealed to the United States for help, which eventually led the CIA to orchestrate the overthrow of Mossadegh and restore power to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Anon: Trump's already been impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. And he can be impeached for breaking more laws.

Les Carpenter said...

We have NO idea with any certainty how long Trump's stupid decision will affect our interests abroad or in the homeland. Our great Orange Blob of stinky goo made a BIGLY BLUNDER and we'll likely be paying a heavy price for it.

anymouse said...

RN -- very true. I suspect it'll haunt us for a very long time and cost us dearly in blood and treasure.