My latest in PJ Media:
Demonstrating that it learned nothing from the backlash after it called ISIS top dog Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi an “austere religious scholar,” the Washington Post called Qasem Soleimani, who was killed today in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, Iran’s “most revered military leader.” If Soleimani, who as head of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force was responsible for aiding numerous jihad terror activities worldwide, was revered at all, it was more by the Obama foreign policy team that saw him and his government as a valid partner for negotiations than by anyone in Iran. And tonight, the Obama team and the entire U.S. foreign policy establishment sees all of its core claims and principles proven false, and its recommendations rightly disregarded.
Not that they’ve noticed. They’re still asserting those principles as valid, and as a rebuke to Trump’s action in ordering this strike. Obama’s foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes, who boasted about how the Obama administration lied to sell the disastrous Iran nuclear deal, was full of consternation and indignation after the news broke of Soleimani’s death. He tweeted that “this is a really frightening moment. Iran will respond and likely in various places.”
Kelly Magsamen, vice president for National Security and International Policy at the hard-left Center for American Progress and former Obama Defense Department official as well as a member of the National Security Council (NSC) staff under Obama and Bush, tweeted: “I worked the Iran account for years at the NSC under two Presidents. I’m honestly terrified right now that we don’t have a functioning national security process to evaluate options and prepare for contingencies. God help us.”
Senator Chris Murphy (D, of course, CT) himself tweeted: “The justification for the assasination [sic] is to ‘deter future Iranian attacks’. One reason we don’t generally assasinate [sic] foreign political officials is the belief that such action will get more, not less, Americans killed. That should be our real, pressing and grave worry tonight.”
Rhodes, Magsamen, Murphy and those who are saying similar things are working from the assumption that while Iran (and other countries) may strike at the United States with impunity, the U.S. must never strike back, or do so only in an extremely limited way, for fear of retaliation. If they had been in the Franklin Roosevelt administration on December 7, 1941, they would have advised FDR not to do anything about the Pearl Harbor attack: Rhodes would have told him, “This is a really frightening moment. Japan will respond.” Murphy would have told him that retaliating “will get more, not less, Americans killed.” Once we did strike back at the Japanese Empire, Magsamen would have added, “I’m honestly terrified right now.”
This is the thinking of the foreign policy establishment in general. On Tuesday, I asked here at PJ Media, “Do the Iranian Mullahs Think Donald Trump Will React Like Jimmy Carter?” They would have been entirely justified in thinking that he would: Carter’s hypercautious, passive, weak and inept response to the Iranian hostage crisis represented the wisdom of the most revered foreign policy “experts” of the time, but the Iranian mullahs correctly saw his response as a manifestation of weakness and pusillanimity.
There is much more. Read the rest here.
Frank Anderson says
Respected RS, to accuse anyone on the Left to be “thinking” is to accuse a drunk of being sober. It just does not happen, cannot happen and will not happen. Thinking requires independence. The Left exists to create and enforce dependence.
Anjuli Pandavar says
This is absolutely amazing news! Congratulations to all those responsible. Qasem Soleimani was arguably the most dangerous man on earth. He had it coming.
FYI says
It was clearly the will of allah…allah saw it coming.
“For no calamity befalleth save by allah’s leave”
koran 64 v 11
So the calamity that befell solemeini was clearly permitted to occur by allah’s leave according to the koran and muslims must not question that.
All that islamic “prayer” on solemani’s part for nothing!
.And…to a god who has plans to bring catastrophe on any of his muslim followers whenever he feels like it:And who also does not permit final penitence koran 4:18 thus showing that he is in fact,unmerciful and not “the most merciful”.
Raja says
FYI, I don’t know if any Muslim would buy you logic. May be you are being sarcastic. Who is a filthy kafir or a man of book’ ‘to kill a nice Muslim?
Logic, reason, morality are out of bounds of the pious and mechanical man of “piece”
FYI says
muslims don’t buy logic:so I was using sarcasm…but they won’t buy that either will they?
Logic,Reason,Morality and…sarcasm are not easily understood by muslims: a religious group who claim to be the religion of “peace”{WHERE?},whose imperfect koran they say is “perfect” and whose “prophet” the perfect man is the most obvious false prophet and the most imperfect man in History.
They don’t get Irony either do they?
The calamity that fell upon muhammed….has to be the funniest thing ever.
{You Tube acts17apologetics who killed muhammed?}
allah has the iranians in the palms of his TWO RIGHT HANDS
gravenimage says
I knew what you meant, FYI.
Westman says
It seems that Allah doesn’t like competition when it comes to judgement and killing of Muslims – Qasem Soleiman was drenched in Muslim blood. Maybe Khamenei is next on Allah’s blacklist?
Raja says
Jimmy Carter did stupid things and was also a bible totting man. As long as he was at the helm it was picnic for mullahs. When Reagan came to power the mullahs started negotiating for peace. You need good leaders to do ‘some justice’ even if that meant touching a foreign official. May be POTUS could have put solemeini on the “hit list” for war crimes /murders. May be he has.
If any nation feels that US means business in dealing with criminals, you can expect a sea change of behavior for better.
Obama officials seems to be shortsighted and not knowing human or war psychology. They must be pretty stupid not to understand Islam too, hence their concern now.
Kepha says
Jimmy Carter was the sort of person whom you’d like for a neighbor. But as a president, especially in international politics, he was way out of his depth.
Tom Schaefer says
Citizenfreepress has put a link to this article at PJMedia. Will likely get hundreds of thousands of views. Great job Robert!
Ray Jarman says
“Rhodes, Magsamen, Murphy and those who are saying similar things are working from the assumption that while Iran (and other countries) may strike at the United States with impunity, the U.S. must never strike back, or do so only in an extremely limited way, for fear of retaliation. If they had been in the Franklin Roosevelt administration on December 7, 1941, they would have advised FDR not to do anything about the Pearl Harbor attack: Rhodes would have told him.”
This statement reminds me of the attitude of Neville Chamberlain and other pacifists who permitted Hitler to gobble up nations as long as their nations were exempt from NATZI attack but they only emboldened Hitler. The Obama/Clinton and Obama/Kerry attitude of not confronting and even indulging Iranian hegemony by providing them with money that the Bush administration froze is so similar to the fools in Paris and London prior to 1936. I think that President Trump might be viewed as a Winston Churchill in the years to come. It is better to stand up to thugs than wait for them to strike or as the line from Hollywood goes, “When it is time to shoot, shoot.”
Knowing that Soleimani was behind the attack that killed my friend, Sean Smith, in Benghazi, I say thank you Mr. President.
gravenimage says
Agreed, Ray. Leftists here in the US are nattering on about how President Trump is “starting a war”, as if Iran had not been murdering Americans and besieging our Embassy.
Flip says
If this is a one-time killing of one or few jihadist targets, then it will turn out to be the same old “endless war” strategy. Essentially, a pathetic half-measure that is more appeasement than proper self-defense.
However, if this turns into the total destruction of the jihadist movement’s will to achieve their goals in this world, then it will be a dramatic return to a real, effective self-defense like we saw in WW2 and before.
I hope it is the latter, but I’m not optimistic. Trump, even if he believes in the latter, is just one person.
The leadership of the military, government, media, and–most importantly–academia & clergy all uniformly believe that a real self-defense of bombing your enemy into surrendering is immoral. They are wrong.
James Lincoln says
According to the excellent feature article by Robert Spencer:
Re: Rhodes, Magsamen, Murphy…
“If they had been in the Franklin Roosevelt administration on December 7, 1941, they would have advised FDR not to do anything about the Pearl Harbor attack…”
That is a true statement. And the Allied forces would have lost World War II…
gravenimage says
Iran’s al-Quds Force Chief Killed; U.S. Foreign Policy Establishment Hardest Hit
……………..
Yes–utterly absurd. Right now, Leftists on CNN and MSNBC are wringing their hands over this smart targeted killing, They always throw in the obligatory ‘of course he was not a good guy’, but it is obvious that the only person they consider bad is Donald Trump for taking Soleimani out.
They don’t appear to care about the murder of Americans and attack on our Embassy.
Kepha says
Maybe what would be better would be a couple of Hiroshima-class nukes dropped down the 12th imam’s well in Mashad and on Qom.