I would like to make five observations about the U.S. military drone strike which killed Qassem Soleimani, the leader of the Quds Force which is the elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.
First, I believe that the killing of Soleimani is an entirely appropriate response in view of the attack on diplomatic personnel U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. That attack had Iran's fingerprints all over it. If Iran is involved then Soleimani was the head of the snake.
Second, while this act certainly escalates matter I do not believe these actions will lead to World War III much less the reinstatement of the Draft. I remember the possibility of the Draft being reinstated being bandied about during the early days of the War in Iraq, but there was never any serious consideration given to it. Everybody needs to slow down and find some reason with which to engage.
Third, it doesn't inspire confidence that Democratic presidential hopefuls are angrier at the killing of the head of a state sponsored terrorist organization and more preoccupied with bashing President Trump than being concerned with the well being of American diplomatic personnel endangered in Baghdad. While it is reasonable for top Democrats to object to not being made aware of the mission their objections ring hollow when Nancy Pelosi and company defended President Obama for not seeking Congressional authorization to go into Libya back in 2011. I don't honestly believe Democrats would have batted an eyelash had President Obama ordered the drone strike on Soleimani. Couple that with Democratic support for the restoration of the Iran nuclear deal, Trump could easily portray Democrats as being supportive of the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism and this is likely to work in the President's favor.
Third, even if one agrees that Trump's decision to order the military to kill Soleimani is the right decision, his foreign policy is still haphazard and incoherent. Trump takes a hard line on Iran while placating an equally evil regime in North Korea. I cannot help but wonder if Trump would have made such a decision if U.S. forces were still in Syria. After all, Soleimani has been a major source of support for the Assad regime during the nearly decade long war in Syria and worked closely with Vladimir Putin when Russia increased its presence in Syria in 2015. Had U.S. troops still been in Syria would Soleimani turned his attention to diplomatic personnel at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and put himself into President Trump's crosshairs?
Fourth, it is interesting that Soleimani was killed by the U.S. military rather by the Mossad. After all, Soleimani has long been a key adversary against Israel providing critical support to Hezbollah during its 2006 war with Israel along the border with Lebanon as well as Islamic Jihad in Gaza. If it was in anyone's national interest to do away with Soleimani it is Israel. But Israel has refrained from doing so. Ehud Yaari, a fellow at the Institute for Near East Policy in Washington, D.C., said Israel refrained out of concern that such an act could spark a war. Indeed, in a 2018 profile of Soleimani for the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, former FBI agent Ali Soufan noted when Mossad had the opportunity to kill Imad Mughniyah, the mastermind of the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, they passed up an opportunity when he was in the act of embracing Soleimani. Mughniyah was killed by Mossad later that day in 2008.
Of course, Israel also might have been held back by the Bush Administration in 2008 just as they were by the Obama Administration in 2015 when they went so far as to warn Iran that Israel was seeking to kill Soleimani. It seems to me that if Israel had been given free reign to kill Soleimani, Democrats would not be feeding on left-wing Twitter's fears that the Draft will be reinstated any day now.
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