Posted on 01/15/2020 5:18:37 AM PST by SJackson
In the immediate aftermath of the killing of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, the media were aflame with predictions that World War III was imminent. Instead, it now seems likely that his well-deserved death has opened up untold possibilities for Middle East peace.
The general’s abrupt departure from this mortal coil defused the rash brinksmanship of the Iranian leadership, and removed the primary provocateur of so much violence and misery in the Middle East.
Soleimani had a special place at the top of the ayatollahs’ theocracy. He and his Quds Force had the specific responsibility to spread Iran’s power throughout the world — and particularly the Middle East. “Quds” is the Arabic name for Jerusalem, and that city is an ultimate target of Iran’s terrorist game-plan. The “liberation” of Jerusalem, after all, would mean the utter destruction of the “Little Satan” — Israel.
As Julian Reichelt, the editor-in chief of Germany’s Bild newspaper, wrote, “President Trump has freed the world of a monster whose aim in life was an atomic cloud over Tel Aviv.”
Soleimani’s portfolio was worldwide in scope, but his principal efforts were directed towards establishing Iranian hegemony in the Middle East. To this end, he had an active hand in every conflict in the Middle East for decades. If there was trouble to make in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, or anywhere else, Soleimani was the principal troublemaker.
Israel was, of course, an obsession for Soleimani. He was the principal architect, funder, and orchestrator of the north-south pincer situation that Israel now confronts. In Lebanon to the north, Iran’s proxy Hezbollah is a terror organization with over 100,000 missiles aimed at Israel. Through Soleimani’s expertise, Hezbollah now rules Lebanon politically as well as militarily.
In Gaza to the south, Hamas was a major beneficiary of Soleimani’s funding and his provisioning of smuggled armaments, including the ubiquitous rockets that have tortured southern Israel for over a decade. But — as if to illustrate Soleimani’s bloodthirsty intentions — his first love in Gaza was the even more radical terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). PIJ, the number two military force in Gaza, is even more committed to reckless terror than Hamas.
Soleimani’s exploits in Iraq and Syria are well-covered in our media. Essentially, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continues to rule only because of Soleimani’s efforts on his behalf. The Iranian general has brought in terror proxies from Lebanon and other areas to do Assad’s dirty work in putting down the civil war in Syria, and in crushing the equally loathsome Islamic State insurgency. In fact, Soleimani’s fingerprints are all over every human-rights abomination in Syria, including his genocidal action against the rebel-held city of Aleppo.
Soleimani’s control of the Assad regime in Syria is matched by his similar successes in Iraq. Iraq, like Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, is now effectively an Iranian puppet state thanks to Soleimani’s bloody efforts.
Finding anyone to replace him in sheer savagery and competence could prove an impossible job for Iran’s Supreme Leader. Moreover, other senior key Iranian proxy leaders were also wiped out in the US strike in Iraq that killed Soleimani. At a minimum, the planning, coordination, and execution of Iran’s nefarious plans have been disrupted in a major way. This can only be a positive development in the Middle East.
If Lebanon’s Hezbollah is stymied in its efforts to build factories to upgrade its rockets with precision guidance systems, Israel will be the major beneficiary. If expeditionary Iran-proxy Hezbollah militias are disrupted in encroaching on — and threatening — Israel’s Golan Heights from Syria, the threat level to Israel will be mitigated. And if Hamas and PIJ suffer a funding crisis and a shortage of rockets to lob at Israel’s south, that will be a very welcome development.
Freed of Soleimani’s potent tentacles, Iraq and other countries may have the opportunity to extricate themselves from Iran’s oppressive, murderous machinations.
In other words, Soleimani’s removal opens up many good possibilities, particularly for Israel.
As for the dire downside predicted worldwide upon Soleimani’s elimination, the Iranians have so far disappointed. After years of giving Iran’s Quds Force a relatively free hand in exporting chaos around the world, perhaps the United States and others will conclude that a passive approach to Iran’s infamies has only invited more infamies. Perhaps America’s bold move in eliminating Soleimani has exposed Iran’s vulnerability to forceful, dramatic action.
US interests, as well as Israel’s precarious situation, will almost surely be improved now that the main architect of Middle East terror and aggression has been removed from the battlefield.
..................
Peace, overly optimistic but a reduction of violence in the region, absolutely.
Nonsense.
Yes it does and a whole lot more!
Wait. I thought the media told us WWIII was starting. What happened to WWIII?
IMHO we are seeing a pattern here. The libtards seem to be running through each of their failed paradigms presenting them, almost in sequence, as a “test” to see if Trump can do what they have been claiming can’t be done for decades. In each instance Trump seems to have the uncanny knack of analyzing each of these “Gordian Knots” and just slicing them in half. It’s glorious!
If the Americans, Israelis and West (Panzy Europeans) would eliminate another 36 Sulemanis, one after another in Iran, Iraq, Hizbollah in Lebanon, Islamic Jihad in Gaza then they might be in disarray. But taking out a single “martyr” won’t do too much.
Salami man ..that’s my spelling of his name.
What happened after the general was deleted was a missile attack that resulted in jitters that resulted in an airliner being shot down
that act illustrated to all the world that the Iranian military is incompetent.
There is little doubt that Soleimani’s actions killed many in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and many American soldiers in Iraq. He successfully projected the Mullah’s power beyond Iran. By Islamic standards he was a great general and leader. He was popular and respected by most Iranians. Hence he was a threat to the mullahs. Clearly he had the potential to become President of Iran. Things would have gotten interesting. Was he at his core the loyal servant and sword of the mullahs or was he an Iranian patriot and nationalist? As President of Iran, might he like other generals in history such as Caesar, Ataturk, De Galle, Pinochet among others been a transformative figure. Given his power and the respect of the people might he had the inclination to change Iran’s constitution, remove the mullahs from secular power and lead Iran out of its medieval misery? We’ll never know.
Nonsense?
Giving Suleimani and his bosses billions of dollars on pallets, obtaining nothing in return, and expecting that to make the world a safer place, now THAT’S nonsense.
I'll let you all find the links and details of the Kushner Peace Plan of which most has been leaked. It (IMHO) is brilliant, so different than any other plan of the last 40 yrs. But with Iran's main trouble maker now having lunch breakfast and dinner with Che and Castro, Peace has a chance, especially if Iran collapses within which IMHO they are on the verge of. I saw Dominos being set up (around 3/17 I realized holy smokes, they are going for a M.E. Peace Deal), the Syrian Strike, the Moab in Pakistan and out Spec-Operators in Yemen, that was the 1st wave. The diplomatic behind the scenes was PDJT's meetings with El-Sisi, the big meeting in Saudi-Arabia and some of the frank things said to the Arab world by our President. Frankly I think they are tired of this ****, their ego and image and where they want their kindoms and societies in the next 10, 20 50, 100 yrs, is not this proxy war against Israel.
I hope Carter lives long enough to see this, and if it happens before this November buy Duct Tape Stock (humor not investment advice) as our liberal / progressive friends and relatives heads will explode from "this guy" aka PDJT got it done, they will loose what is left of their minds.
Or did the Mullah's see him as a threat and set him up to be wacked. Now do they pull a Gorbachev and go for an Iranastrokia, as we continue to squeeze their family jewels is the question....
Are you daft? Of course it does.
Next day after the attack, I read that there were 45 IRGC and Hezbollah leaders that were targeted and destroyed in the series of attacks (not 1).
No it doesn't. Taking out a single person isn't going to change the dynamics in the region. The hatred will continue. The terrorist organizations will still kill people. Iranian influence will remain. Soleimani will be replaced, maybe with someone less capable and maybe with someone more capable. Nothing has changed in the long run. Or probably even in the short run.
Perhaps. But that hasn't changed either.
Soleimani was not that. He was a faithful servant of the Mullahs and the leaches that bled Iranian oil money dry.
The People of Iran do not love the Mullahs. They intend to attempt again to get rid of them.
Will we help them? Not sure.
Pres. Trump has made it clear that the USA is not anti-Iranian, but is anti-Terrorist. There are signs that the Iranian people know that.
Y-you mean the MSM is completely wrong?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.