America-Targeting Iranian Warlord Killed. Since Trump Did It, Democrats Complain and Apologize

Yet, this cannot be politics as usual. We're dealing with some very dangerous people.

By Al Perrotta Published on January 3, 2020

It’s never a good thing to see #WorldWarIII trending. It is good when a long time murderer meets his maker.

So much for easing into 2020.

President Donald Trump ordered a military strike last night that killed Iran’s General Qasem Soleimani. You may not have known the name, but his hands are soaked in the blood of 608 Americans in Iraq alone. 17% of the fatalities in Iraq, by State Department estimates. And he was in Baghdad for the express purpose of killing many more. U.S. personnel faced “imminent attack,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this morning.

Soleimani led the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s (IRGC) Qud Forces. Think of them as the international muscle of the Iranian terrorist regime. Qud Forces have been declared a terrorist organization. Soleimani was in Iraq directing the pro-Iranian militias responsible for killing an American last week, and for the attempted violent takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. He was killed in an airstrike near Baghdad Airport.

Good riddance, you would think.

Reaction from Trump Enemies … and Iran

Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javid Zamiri called it a “dangerously foolish escalation” and “rogue adventurism.” Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani vowed “harsh retaliation” for this “heinous crime.” They sound like Trump’s foes.

Sen. Chris Murphy wouldn’t even wait until Soleimani’s body was cold to tweet his shot at the president.

His response would be taken more seriously had two days earlier he not tweeted:

Trump has instilled in Democrats the most amazing capacity to speak out of both sides of their mouth.  

The Washington Post, fresh off of calling ISIS founder Abu Akar al-Baghdadi an “austere religious scholar,” decided that Soleimani deserved the moniker of “most revered military leader.”

Rep. Ilhan Omar, who seems to have never met an Islamic terrorist she won’t defend, claims Trump’s just wagging the dog. That he “wants war.” That he killed a blood-thirsty guy planning to murder even more Americans as a “distraction.” 

A “distraction” from an impeachment effort that’s already a bust? An effort that has boosted his poll numbers? Her logic is as twisted as her love life. But what are we to expect from Omar? If on one side of town a group is shouting “Death to America” and on the other side is a group chanting “Make America Great Again,” which party do you think she’s going to?

Yet Omar is Winston Churchill compared to Hollywood actress Rose McGowan. McGowan decided to take it upon herself to “humbly apologize” to Iran on behalf of “52% of us” for killing this warlord. She declared that it’s America living under a “terrorist regime.”

Uh, you want to escape? Planes are flying into Tehran all the time from L.A. Here’s the link. You can get there for less than a grand. 

Playing Politics is Playing With Fire

It’s easy to mock these people whose Trump Derangement Syndrome is so severe they will side with a regime that’s been working to murder Americans for decades. Is hellbent on obtaining a nuclear bomb and missile technology to achieve its goal of bring death to America. And is fresh off killing at least 631 of its own people in recent protests. But while they play the “Trump Did It, Ergo We Must Be Against It” game, we can’t afford such foolishness. 

Nobody should be playing politics. When you take out a top general of another sovereign nation, however rogue, it’s serious business. When you take out the leader of Qud Forces, with its global tentacles, retaliation can take many forms in many places. It certainly doesn’t help matters that those paying Soleimani’s troops were given $1.7 billion in cold hard cash by President Obama. They’re mad. And that’s a heap of mad money.

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Some of the apologists for the Obama administration are blaming tensions with Iran on Trump. As if Iran hasn’t been shouting “Death to America” for 40 years, including all the while Obama was giving them their nuke deal. 

As worrisome, Iran has been placing agents on our soil for decades.  (Counter-terrorism expert Phil Little detailed some of these activities in his book Hostile Intentwhich I had the honor to work on.) 

More recently, the Iran-backed terror organization Hezbollah has been partnering with Latin American drug gangs to smuggle drugs into the United States. It’s a billion-dollar a year racket. Not only does this generate cash for terrorist operations, you have to assume they’re using those same networks to smuggle in weapons and more terrorists. No one says the white powder in the bags has to be cocaine or opiates. (In 2018, the U.S. accused Iran of developing chemical weapons.)

As Politico exposed, the DEA went after Hezbollah’s drug business with a multi-agency, multi-nation task force called “Operation Cassandra.” That operation was cut off at the knees by the Obama Administration. Iran asked Obama to drop the Hezbollah hunting as a gesture of good will in the Iran nuclear negotiations. Obama agreed, as one appointee testified, so as to not “rock the boat.” 

Another tidbit from the bombshell Politico article bears sudden relevance. Operation Cassandra also was prepared to nab a “central player”in Qud Force operations in the United States. Agents had discovered an “entire Quds force network” in the U.S. Obama’s DOJ refused to take the man down. The same DOJ that sent an armored SWAT teams to arrest an old political operative Roger Stone couldn’t even bother to send a parking ticket to Soleimani’s top operatives in the U.S.

Think rolling up Qud here in America would be paying dividends now that we’ve taken out Qud Force’s top general? And the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is vowing revenge. 

Think we would have been better off strangling Hezbollah’s side-gig of drug smuggling?

Think we would have been better off had we sent Iran gift coupons instead of $1.7 billion in hard cash in assorted currencies?

We know Iran’s terrorists have been casing the joint. For example, in June 2017, federal authorities arrested two Hezbollah agents who were conducting “pre-operational surveillance” on possible targets of attack, including the FBI’s New York headquarters and LaGuardia Airport. 

Wisdom and Peace

Fortunately, as dangerous as Hezbollah is, the terror group is also disciplined. They likely won’t do anything on American soil, unless ordered by Iran. And Iran probably doesn’t want the full out war an attack on the U.S. would bring. Trump also doesn’t want a war. (Perhaps some in The Swamp want a war. Certainly those who will root for anything that might harm Trump’s poll numbers are tempted to want a war. See how they hoped the U.S. Embassy attack in Baghdad would turn into another Benghazi?) So we can hope wisdom and peace will prevail.

But, make no mistake, there will be efforts to avenge Gen. Soleimani. Politico said Hezbollah wouldn’t initiate terrorist activities in the U.S. unless it thought a red line had been crossed. Iranian President Rouhani today spoke of a “red line” being crossed. So the passion for vengeance could well be vented on our soil. In any event, our troops, personnel and allies are at heightened risk around the world.

This is not a time for politics. It is not a time for parades or posturing. It is a time for prayer. To pray for the safety of our nation, our citizens, and our troops and personnel around the globe. And for our president and leaders to be guided by somber wisdom.

We’re grateful for the lives saved by stopping Soleimani’s schemes. May all other such plans be thwarted.

 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream and co-author, with @JZmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration . He’s also the co-author of the counter-terrorism memoir Hostile Intent. You can follow him at @StreamingAl. And if you arenโ€™t already, please follow The Stream at @Streamdotorg

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