Why Obama, Bush, and Bibi All Passed on Killing Soleimani
Category: News & Politics
Via: krishna • 5 years ago • 27 commentsBy: Christopher Dickey, Noga Tarnopolsky, Erin Banco, Betsy Swan
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Until the Trump administration blew him away in Baghdad in the pre-dawn dark of Friday morning, Qassem Soleimani had made the very fact of his survival part of his considerable mystique. The powerful Iranian general commanded forces that had become the scourge of Iran’s adversaries abroad, especially the United States and Israel. Yet he came and went to the war fronts of the Middle East unscathed.
In fact, conscious decisions were taken under the George W. Bush administration, even when Soleimani was in the crosshairs, not to pull the trigger. Gen. Stanley McChrystal wrote last year , he had a shot in 2007 but let Soleimani go: “The decision not to act is often the hardest one to make—and it isn’t always right.”
Ali Khedery, a former U.S. adviser in Iraq, told The Daily Beast that not striking Soleimani when they had the chance was an “enormous frustration to me and many of my colleagues.”
Nobody could begin to be sure what would come next if Soleimani were killed, and no scenario looked good.
The calculus was a fairly simple one, says Chollet: “Do the potential risks of taking an action like this outweigh the gain of taking him off the battlefield?” The answer was yes.
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I can already anticipate the comments of some of the posters here. Obama, Bush, and Bibi are all cowards! They all are in love with a terrorist!
Or... that now people like Obama, Bush and Bibi would be "mourning the death of a terrorist"....
And that not only did American media not care about the 1500 protesters the regime killed this year nor the refusal of Iran to allow funerals for those it murdered . . . but Obama, Bush, and Bibi wouldn't care either.
And that assassinating unarmed Iranian citizens in the streets of Iran is all the rage now for the left . . . which of course means that Obama, Bush and Bibi also enjoy t& support hat sort of thing!
But while those sorts of bizarre ideas may be due in part to sleazy attempts to twist the facts to push some radical political agenda...the reason most people post that sort of nonsense here has a much simpler explanation...its simply a matter of ignorance about all the actual facts!
And that assassinating unarmed Iranian citizens in the streets of Iran is all the rage now for the left . . . which of course means that Obama, Bush and Bibi also enjoy t& support hat sort of thing!
And some of these factually challenged posters here have even come up with a cutesy name for describing why Obama, Bush and Bibi (as well as their top military leaders) decided, after consideration of all the actual facts..not to kill Soleimani.
Why did these 3 leaders and their top military people all finally make this decision?
Yes! It must've been because all three of them had a severe case of "TDS" ("Trump Derangement Symptom). Make up a cutesy phrase and keep repeating it-- and your ideas are thereby "proven" to be based on impeccable logic!
WTF is Bibi?
Netenyahu's nickname from when he lived in Cheltenham PA in the 60's and 70's
unaware of that
, among billions of other facts, but growing up at that time so near by, is interesting
something like a pellet
So, reasonable, informed people can - and have - disagreed about this issue. That’s a very different take from the one that says Trump insanely and wrecklessly started WWIII all by himself. A little common sense should tell us that career professionals were tracking this guy, had a plan to take him out, and that plan - along with pros and cons - was communicated to the president.
Boy this is really going to make me unpopular and probably have somebody yanking my liberal card, but...
I think all this talk of trmp starting WWIII is hyperbolic and hysterical. We all need to calm the fuck down and wait and see what the intel was on why trmp used a drone strike to kill this guy
Because shooting the plane down between Lebanon and Iraq was a guaranteed international mess.
This limited the mess, but the timing was just amateurishly horrific in light of the previous week's events.
Good point.
Here's my take and I'm much better informed on the subject than most (he said modestly).
First of all, no one here knows what the iranian reaction will be. (its even possible that the Iranians themselves haven't ywet decided what to do).
For example, they may do nothing major.
Or, its possible that they will retaliate but in a measured way. Which might lead to a series of relatively minor tit-for-tit provocations which the U.S. will respond to with our own minor "provocations".
But its also possible that this may escalate beyond what both sides want. (I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that "the powers that be" in both the U.S. and Iran don't want a major shooting war).
And there's always the possibility that unintended consequences happen, leading to a bigger escalation than either sides wants.
I suppose anything's possible re: the level of conflict-- but IMNSHO WWIV is highly unlikely.
How was it amateurish? You think Trump, that the left is always saying how dumb he is, just out of the blue said hey find Soleimani and kill him? This is something that was presented to him as a opportunity to strike. Obviously to anyone with half a brain they had been tracking his movements. The sniveling left always crying about Trump not listening to our military and when he does its the end of the fucking world. SMH
Yes, but apparently the same was true for Obama,Bush, and Bibi. But they choose not to do it.
Why?
C'mon Krishna, FFS I almost misspelled your name, I wouldn't want to get a ticket.
Anyhow, How would I know. You assume I'm privy to classified information? I think Congress will be briefed tomorrow but that doesn't mean us lowly peons will have any answers. The left will come out and spin everything bad and the right will come out saying it was justified, will you be surprised?
WASHINGTON — In the chaotic days leading to the death of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, Iran’s most powerful commander, top American military officials put the option of killing him — which they viewed as the most extreme response to recent Iranian-led violence in Iraq — on the menu they presented to President Trump.
They didn’t think he would take it. In the wars waged since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Pentagon officials have often offered improbable options to presidents to make other possibilities appear more palatable.
Trump was given a 'menu' of options for the Iran strike that included ships, missile facilities, and militia groups
Pentagon Officials Reportedly “Stunned” by Trump’s Decision to Kill Soleimani
No actually.
I had thought there might be a slim chance you had read the seeded article before commenting-- but that was a foolish assumption on my part because I actually do know that reading an article before commenting on it is a definite "no-no" for most people on Social Media sites such as Newstalkers.
(I believe it would be correct to say that reading something before commenting on it might even be considered "politically incorrect" ....)
I had thought there might be a slim chance you had read the seeded article before commenting-
Or, for that matter, even reading the brief excerpt at the top of the seed...
(Silly me!)
I did, maybe in your vast knowledge you are able to read between the lines but seeing your article is just a speculation opinion piece I wasn't able to formulate a left wing conspiracy theory.
Congress hasn't even been given the details yet on why we took him out so how the fuck would you know?
The "Why" I typed was not about why Trump did it-- rather, it was about why the others didn't.
Maybe my comment wasn't clear (that I was not asking why Trump did it but rather why the other 3 didn't):
Here's a copy and paste of my comment:
Yes, but apparently the same was true for Obama,Bush, and Bibi. But they choose not to do it.
Why?
("They" refers to those other 3. I was asking why those 3 all got briefed but still decided not to do it. Why did all 3 decide not to do it?)
they are pussies... simple.