The effigies of President Donald Trump, Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are burned by government-organized demonstrators. Threats abound from Ayatollahs, Democrats in Congress, leftist media, celebrities, and academics who lament Soleimani’s death.
Iranian citizens have no such remorse.
A notorious terrorist Quds Force commander, Qassem Soleimani was killed on Jan. 3, 2020, in a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad International Airport. President Trump ordered the strike because Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack U.S. troops and officials.
Soleimani has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians and Western military personnel. U.S. Central Command documents reveal that Soleimani’s command killed more than 500 U.S. service members in Iraq between 2005 and 2011. He was linked to an assassination attempt on Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States.
In November 2019, Iran-backed air strikes killed a U.S. citizen and wounded four soldiers. U.S. military then struck targets in Iraq and Syria killing two dozen Kata’ib Hizbollah Iranian paramilitary. Following that, Iranian paramilitary and protesters stormed the American Embassy in Baghdad. Setting fires and destroying whatever possible, chanting “Death to America,” they plastered anti-American graffiti on the walls. U.S. personnel were trapped inside. President Trump vowed it would not be another Benghazi.
Immediately, 100 Marines from Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force were deployed from Kuwait to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad; 750 more soldiers were deployed to the region, and battleships were re-routed to the Gulf. Marines arrived. Protesters left. Soleimani was taken out the next day.
Missile strikes were fired on U.S. Air Base Ain-Assad in retribution of Soleimani’s death. President Trump confirmed that damages were not serious and no Americans were killed. Sanctions will be increased in retaliation for the strikes. The government-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting asserts that over 80 U.S. troops were killed and 200 wounded.
Soleimani’s acolytes praise him, and claim that his death will destabilize the Middle East. One might question who professes knowledge of a stabilized Middle East. History does not evidence such.
Chaos followed when President Barack Obama withdrew forces from Iraq in 2011. Violent killings began. Shiite and Sunni divisions deepened. Al Qaeda and ISIS prospered. Iran opened religious offices in Iraq’s holy cities, posted banners of Ayatollah Khomeini, supported political parties, sent Iranians to Iraqi seminaries, sent workers to build hotels, made contracts for sewage and water infrastructure, used covert military actions, and portrayed itself as the protector of Iraq.
Obama signed the Iran nuclear agreement in 2015, withholding information about side deals such as the $400 million in hard currencies and $1.3 billion in cash carried in secret flights to Tehran.
As the world’s largest sponsor of terrorism, Tehran would threaten the world if it had nuclear weapons. President Trump pulled out of the nuclear agreement and instituted sanctions to weaken Iran’s leaders.
Protests that spread across Iran started with an increase in gas prices. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps placed forces in the streets and squares across the country. Protesters/resistors want regime change. They know the mullahs are millionaires; there’s corruption; money is spent on proxy wars in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, and Yemen and not at home; there’s high unemployment and a weak currency.
More than 3,000 have been killed, and thousands arrested with reports of torture. The tremendous violence and organized resistance is concealed by the media. The Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran publishes pictures of martyrs daily.
Iranian media outlets show tear-stained Ayatollah Khamenei, Prime Minister Javad Sharif, and thousands of so-called mourners bestowing benevolent status to Soleimani. The resistance are torching Soleimani’s posters across the nation. The Bassij Paramilitary Base was set ablaze.
Wouldn’t it be magnificent if Soleimani’s death provides a lightning rod for freedom seekers to sweep the board of Iran’s leadership?
