Qassem Soleimani and Iran

by Gary Fouse

I have held off on writing about the killing of Iran’s Qassem Soleimani and the resulting tension of the past few days in order to see where the dust will settle. It appears that it will take some time before it all plays out. I am no geo-political expert, but here is what I think at the moment.

As an American who is still smarting over the hostage crisis and Iran’s outrageous conduct ever since, I applauded the killing of this man. The world is a better place without him around. If it is true that he was organizing some sort of operation or attack against American troops or civilians, then I consider it completely justified. The question is whether it was wise since the irrational leaders of Iran are sure to respond.

That is a question that will be answered by future events. I concede there is a great chance of this escalating into a full-blown war with Iran. Just what we don’t need, another Middle East war, another country we would have to occupy, hold, and rebuild. Most of all, more American soldiers dying in an effort to bring stability and peace to this forsaken region.

The scenario is easy to predict: The Iranians carry out a terrorist attack in which Americans are killed, and brag about it. Trump, who is no Jimmie Carter and no Barack Obama, will respond by bombing some 52 sites in Iran, and here we go.

But I will say one thing: Sooner or later, the US -and the world- are going to have to deal with this regime. The Cold War against the Soviet Union never broke out into a shooting war because the Soviets, bad-intentioned as they were, were not crazy. They thought logically. The leaders of Iran are not like that. They are thinking about that 12th Imam, whoever the hell he is.

It would be nice to think that the Iranians will conclude that Trump is as crazy as they are and decide to behave themselves for a while. I doubt it. I also have no hope that the Iranian people can rise up and bring this regime down. What I suspect is that we need to prepare ourselves. I would hope that our erstwhile allies in NATO will stand with us. Will they? How will their own populations react? I can only see riots in the streets with the leftists and the Muslim communities running amok.

The Iraqi Parliament has just voted for the US military to leave Iraq. Again, I am a dummy when it comes to geo-politics, but maybe we should respect their wishes and get the hell out-along with our money. It may be the perfect out for Trump and for our nation. Personally, I am burned out when it comes to the Middle East. The only country I care about in that region is Israel and its safety. But as long as that regime remains in power in Iran, the world is at risk.

We can all pray for peace, but we need to be ready to pray for the safety and success of our troops. I have no doubt they would prevail in a war against Iran, but it’s going to be quite messy.

This is not a nice world we are leaving for our children and grandchildren.