Does Donald Trump ever consider the consequences of his actions? It appears that he does not. Or he simply doesn’t care. Like a kid, he does what he damn well pleases, in the moment. Impulsively. Without thinking. Without seeking or considering the advice of others. But remember, he’s already told us, he’s a “stable genius” with “great and unmatched wisdom.” So naturally he knows best, and he deemed it best to have Iranian General Soleimani killed with a drone strike. (Congress? Who consults Congress?)
Maybe he thought it would make him famous, like the killing of Osama bin Laden (ordered by his hated predecessor, Obama). Or maybe he thought it would draw media attention away from his impeachment (it has). Or maybe he thought it was a way to flex his muscles and remind everyone what a big, important man (or bully) he is. Or maybe he thought it would somehow improve his re-electability (we’ll see).
Or maybe, just maybe, he didn’t think at all.
Not to overlook all the other balls in the air that we are desperately trying to juggle. The next elections, climate change, just to mention a couple. Hard to tell just how long we can keep any of them in the air.
Yes, this comes on top of all the other deeply depressing concerns and makes me wonder just how much more we can endure. I hope this doesn’t turn out to be the final straw. Hurry, November. Hurry.
Starting a war has always been a reliable distraction in politics and with an all-volunteer military, it’s easier than ever. 1.5 million were drafted during the Korean war and 2.2 million for Vietnam. Deployment now is almost unnoticeable outside the nomadic military class.
But you can bet everyone in the world will know how the war started and who started it. And caring about our military goes far beyond the military itself. I don’t think the lack of a draft changes that.
Jim’s right, but why didn’t we have this kind of partisan divide when President Obama murdered Osama Bin Laden? I’m not up in arms over either one of these assassinations because for a long time I’ve been convinced that going back in time and killing Adolf Hitler in 1937 would have been a blessing. Same goes for any countries leader that threatens other countries and/or their citizens. Take off the snakes head.
The difference is that Bin Laden orchestrated 9/11 and killed almost 3,000 Americans — on American soil. He had a relatively small group of followers and was a man on the run after 9/11. Soleimani was widely known and revered as virtually a national leader and hero in his country. There was a clear reason for killing Bin Laden. I’ve yet to hear a specific reason for killing Soleimani (“he might launch a strike” is too vague).
I suggest you investigate Soleimani’s history, his allegiances and his religious goals.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50980093
Excellent article, as usual from the BBC. I stand corrected. I was not properly considering Soleimani’s past actions. Still, Trump spoke as though he was preventing some specific imminent action, for which he provided no evidence. I trust our military leaders to do the right thing. It’s unfortunate and potentially dangerous that they have an inept commander-in-chief.
All he wants is some sort of “I killed….” name. He can’t claim Osama Bin Laden – and I’m sure that eats him up that it was Obama that managed that kill. He wants so much to be better and more loved than Obama – and that will never happen.
That’s certainly been my impression — going all the way back to that nutty “birther” thing.
Ayup.
I still don’t understand the universal acceptance of killing Osama Bin Laden long after he stopped having any terroristic achievements or influence. OBL never commanded any national military resources, never had the open support or protection of any government and never pretended that was the case. In spite of all that, we (the editorial ‘we’) killed him to the unbiased applause of all US governmental branches and agencies.
Maybe it’s all Trump’s fault, but the Democrats hate him so much that they’ve lost sight of reason. IMNSHO.
Even the NYT draws the line there.
You don’t consider the planning and successful execution of the 9/11 attacks reason enough to have killed bin Laden? We killed him years after those attacks, but we’d been pursuing him all that time. It just took that long to find him.
As for me, I can’t argue with the NYT about the killing of Suleimani. I’ve not followed events in the Middle East and know very few of the names of individuals causing trouble there. I can’t even discuss the Middle East without first consulting Google to make sure whether I’m talking about Iraq or Iran, and whether a country there is currently an ally or a sworn enemy.
I believe that both killings were justified equally. I should have made that opinion more clearly.
I was just asking for some consistency.
Maybe any inconsistency is due to people like me who pay little attention to events in the Middle East. I knew exactly who bin Laden was. I don’t recall ever hearing the name Suleimani.
The Democrats in congress and the news agencies don’t have your excuse. Obama killed OBL and Trump did Suleimani… that’s the difference. Regardless of the equivalencies, one is revered and the other is hated by the complaining groups. That bias should be obvious.
It certainly could be the news agencies, in part. It seems I heard a lot about bin Laden and very little, if any, about Suleimani until he was killed. But again, since I don’t pay much attention to the Middle East, it could be I just overlooked past stories about Suleimani.
And, just sayin’, hating one president and revering the other may have nothing to do with who they killed.
They’ve hated him ever since he defeated Hillary Clinton. I don’t think Suleimani’s death has anything to do with them hating Trump.
I thought he was disgusting long before the election.
Me too, I’m just trying to be consistent. He’s a disgusting pathological liar, but I thought both assassinations were justified and worth the fallout.
Let’s just hope Suleimani’s death doesn’t start a war.
I don’t know why it didn’t show up here, but Curmudgeon-at-Large commented on Ya think? ————
I think you summed it up pretty accurately. I’m inclined to think he hasn’t spelled out a way forward because he doesn’t have one.
…the United States undertook a many years’ long objective to find the person responsible and being him to justice.
Based on the documented history of failed attempts on Suleimani’s life, a distinction without much difference.
A real difference is that OBL’s death didn’t pose much fear of retribution, whereas because of Suleimani’s political and military position in Iran might.