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Former Defense Secretary James Mattis said in his book “Call Sign Chaos” that by plotting an attack on American soil in 2011, Iran had committed an “act of war” against the United States.
This was before President Trump was in office, before he withdrew the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), aka the “Iran nuclear deal,” and before Iran ratcheted up aggression against Israel, against US interests, and against other allies in the Middle East and worldwide.
The hapless Obama administration didn’t want to endanger the JCPOA by punishing Iran for its attack plot against Cafe Milano in Washington, DC. Instead, he fired Mattis, who had to learn about the plot, not from the administration, but from a duty officer at CENTCOM. The Obama administration did nothing about Iran’s naked, blatant act of war on US soil.
As Mattis writes, “Attorney General Eric Holder said the bombing plot was ‘directed and approved by elements of the Iranian government and, specifically, senior members of the Qods Force.’ The Qods were the Special Operations Force of the Revolutionary Guards, reporting to the top of the Iranian government.”
The Trump administration took care of business yesterday by finally targeting and killing Iran’s chief terrorist – IRGC-QF Commander Soleimani, along with the deputy commander of the Iran-backed Shia militias collectively known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and five other terrorist scumbags.
Mattis was correct when he noted that Iran’s aggression is an existential threat to our nation, and many have noted that Iran, and particularly IRGC-QF Commander Soleimani, have been waging war against the United States for several decades. The State Department in its announcement of the designation of the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) last April noted some of the “highlights” of IRGC-QF’s and Soleimani’s more egregious aggression against the United States.
The IRGC—most prominently through its Qods Force—has the greatest role among Iran’s actors in directing and carrying out a global terrorist campaign.
- In recent years, IRGC Qods Force terrorist planning has been uncovered and disrupted in many countries, including Germany, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Kenya, Bahrain, and Turkey.
- The IRGC Qods Force in 2011 plotted a brazen terrorist attack against the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. on American soil. Fortunately, this plot was foiled.
- In September 2018, a U.S. federal court found Iran and the IRGC liable for the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing which killed 19 Americans.
- In 2012, IRGC Qods Force operatives were arrested in Turkey for plotting an attack and in Kenya for planning a bombing.
- In January 2018, Germany uncovered ten IRGC operatives involved in a terrorist plot in Germany, and convicted another IRGC operative for surveilling a German-Israeli group.
The IRGC continues to provide financial and other material support, training, technology transfer, advanced conventional weapons, guidance, or direction to a broad range of terrorist organizations, including Hizballah, Palestinian terrorist groups like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Kata’ib Hizballah in Iraq, al-Ashtar Brigades in Bahrain, and other terrorist groups in Syria and around the Gulf.
In addition to its support of proxies and terrorist groups abroad, Iran also harbors terrorists within its own borders, thereby facilitating their activities. Iran continues to allow Al Qaeda (AQ) operatives to reside in Iran, where they have been able to move money and fighters to South Asia and Syria. In 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department identified and sanctioned three senior AQ operatives residing in Iran and noted that Iran had knowingly permitted these AQ members, including several of the 9/11 hijackers, to transit its territory on their way to Afghanistan for training and operational planning.
The Pentagon also noted yesterday that Soleimani was “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq” and all over the region, confirmed by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
This, of course, hasn’t stopped unhinged Democrats from condemning the strike as somehow illegitimate, because THEY weren’t consulted.
Congress didn’t authorize and American people don’t want a war with Iran, squealed Adam Schiff on Twitter.
Soleimani was responsible for unthinkable violence and world is better off without him.
But Congress didn’t authorize and American people don’t want a war with Iran.
All steps must now be taken to protect our forces against the almost inevitable escalation and increased risk. https://t.co/Z4HTnScFg7
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) January 3, 2020
Guess what, you oozing wart on the genitals of a syphilitic pig! No one needed to ask your permission to target a designated terrorist and sworn enemy of the United States who was plotting to attack American personnel!
Nancy Pelosi also squawked impotently that Trump didn’t get authorization from Congress to launch the strike against Soleimani’s convoy.
What that shriveled old hag doesn’t get is that Trump didn’t need their permission.
The UN added its own tongue to the terrorist taint by claiming that the US airstrike against Soleimani violated “human rights law.”
Only if you consider that murderous, terrorist swine “human,” which I do not.
And Chris Murphy (D-ildo, CT) somehow decided that targeting the commander of a designated FTO that was plotting attacks against Americans qualifies as an “assassination” under Executive Order 12333.
Soleimani was an enemy of the United States. That’s not a question.
The question is this – as reports suggest, did America just assassinate, without any congressional authorization, the second most powerful person in Iran, knowingly setting off a potential massive regional war?
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 3, 2020
I swear, if Trump had targeted Hitler’s bunker, these psychotic Democrat shitcrackers would be crying that the United States is evil for targeting the bunker while a woman was inside and that Eva Braun was an innocent female victim of US aggression. Meanwhile, the New York Times and Washington Post would be crying about the anti-Semitic Trump targeting a Jewish/African man in his home.
Facts are these.
The United States was in Iraq legally.
It targeted an enemy combatant in Iraq – a warzone – during operations authorized by the Obama administration.
As Jim Mattis stated, Tehran was waging a war against the United States.
Iran-backed militias attacked the US Embassy in Baghdad with the authorization, and probably at the direction, of the IRGC-QF and Soleimani.
And once again, as Mattis pointed out, this is an act of war against the United States – with a top military commander on the ground with his minions launching attacks against American personnel.
So HELL NO, Trump didn’t need any kind of permission from the drunken Pelosi or the deranged Schiff to protect American lives abroad during a legitimate deployment.
Jim Mattis was right in 2011 when he said Iran committed an act of war on American soil by plotting the Cafe Milano attack in DC. He was fired for his trouble by wretched politicians in the Obama Administration who wanted to salvage the JCPOA at the expense of American lives and American security interests.
Well done, Mr. President and crew. Well done.
Featured photo: Wikimedia Commons; CC 4.0; cropped, altered
GWB says: No one needed to ask your permission to target a designated terrorist and sworn enemy of the United States who was plotting to attack American personnel!
Well, yes and no.
The Constitution requires Congressional approval to go to war.
The law (War Powers Act) requires notification within 90 days of an action that could constitute war. Because they recognize that you can’t get Congress together and have them debating while we’re attacked.
Of course the other law (the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists) says we can thwack whomever committed 9/11 or their support. Well, as you note, Iran has harbored AQ. So, entirely legit target.
And, then, there’s the fact this didn’t happen in Iran, but in Iraq. There we have an operating agreement, and we had an active, viable threat against our nation and its forces.
And, lastly, the fact is Iran declared war on us 41 years ago. There’s a legitimate question as to whether the President needs a declaration of war from our Congress when he already has one from theirs.
(Yeah, I’m repeating you.)
in Iraq – a warzone
Is it still? We seem to have satisfied the objectives of the Iraq AUMF (why does that sound like a bowling league?), so is it still a warzone? Legally, as opposed to practically – almost everywhere in the ME is practically a warzone.
Marta Hernandez says: This doesn’t really qualify as an action that could constitute war under the WPA. It was a designated terrorist in a place where we are legitimately deployed, not in Iran. Fuck Iran.
GWB says: Yes, a designated terrorist. But an actual functionary of a foreign gov’t. Killing him is legitimately an act of war. (If we killed the British Director Of Special Forces, they’d rightly consider that an act of war.) What complicates it is solely that we haven’t done the simple thing of acknowledging their state of war already existing against us for the last four decades.
Again, if we did things right (like declaring war against our actual enemies, instead of “terrorism”) we wouldn’t be having that confusion, at all.
Marta Hernandez says: It doesn’t matter that he’s a functionary of a foreign government. He was inside a sovereign nation – not his own – directing attacks against us. If we killed the UK SF director while he was in Afghanistan actively plotting an attack against the US, it wouldn’t qualify under the WPA either.
It would be part of military operations against someone who was plotting a lethal attack against us. Period.
Complicated? A bit. But not as much as you think. The key is that we did NOT do this in Iran, we targeted an enemy in a combat zone, and that we have intelligence confirming that he was there plotting actual attacks and directing actual attacks against US personnel.
Thatisall.
Again, if we did things right (like declaring war against our actual enemies, instead of “terrorism”) we wouldn’t be having that confusion, at all.
Agreed.
DonM says: Congress has the power to declare war, not to go to war, not to prevent war, not to even to advise and consent. Trump didn’t declare war, so he is in the clear on that. Perhaps Congress would like to declare war in response to Iran’s war crimes? Crickets chirping.
GWB says: Having said all that….
This is why I’m an advocate of not getting our fingers in the rest of the world’s pies. Very few alliances. Even fewer “interventions”. And almost no aid to anyone.
The less entangled we are, the easier it is to properly handle our Constitutional requirements for going to war. because we’ll have to actually GO to war. We won’t be in the midst of it, already.
bob sykes says: Killing a senior official of another country is an act of war. It is also an act of stupidity. Every senior official in the US government now has a target on his back. The assassination of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, would be a close equivalent to killing Soleimani. Nothing will happen until the three-day mourning period is over.
We also killed a high-ranking Iraqi general. The Iraqi legislature will meet (tomorrow?) to discuss the expulsion of all America troops from Iraq. They do not have enough military power to make that happen, but they could justify a reign of bombings and assassination of American troops in Iraq.
These killings serve no American purpose. They do not improve our security. They do serve Israel’s interests. Once again, our delusional neocons prove the reality of ZOG.
Marta Hernandez says: ZOG? Really, you twisted anti-Semitic fuck? If Mark Milley was in a warzone, in a sovereign country, directing attacks against another country’s Embassy, they would be fully within their right to take him out too. He was an enemy combatant, who just happened to have been a high-ranking military official. And the fact that you’re comparing the CJCS to fucking Soleimani just underscores how twisted and sick you are.
The Iraqi general was the deputy commander of the PMF – the Shia militant forces under direct control of Soleimani and Tehran.
Go spew anti-Jew hatred elsewhere.
GWB says: Every senior official in the US government now has a target on his back.
Well, it’s a good thing they aren’t wandering around directing acts of war against an Iranian ally while in enemy ground, then, isn’t it?
As far as expelling US troops? Here’s my opinion on that. Note that I don’t consider permission to be there a prerequisite.
“Every senior official in the US government now has a target on his back.” In other words — exactly the same as it has been for the last 30 years.
April 18th, 1983: ” “This is part of the Iranian revolution’s campaign against imperialist targets throughout the world. We shall keep striking at any crusader presence in Lebanon, including the international forces.” That was a bombing at the US embassy in Beirut. 63 people dead.
October 23, 1984. 241 Americans dead at the barracks in Beirut. The suicide bombers were trained, funded and supported by your dead Iranian buddies.
September 20th, 1984: Hezbollah (trained, funded and supported by your dead Iranian buddies) bombed the US Embassy Annex in Beirut. 24 people dead.
Remember February 17th, 1988? Hezbollah (trained, funded, and supported by your dead Iranian buddies) kidnapped, tortured and eventually murdered US Army Colonel William R. Higgins.
So *now* “every senior official” has a target on his back. I suppose the embassies that house “Senior Officials” (or are American Ambassadors *not* “senior officials”?) that were getting bombed into rubble … don’t count?
Synova says: Oh for jebus sake, dude!
How is that different from two days ago?
GWB says: Oh, and we’re deploying ~3k troops over there, it looks like.
I am trying not to get my hopes up that a greater purpose is being aimed for: the liberation of Iran.
Tom says: The only problem I have with the missile strike against Soleimani is that he did not suffer enough.
Charles N. Steele says: Iran is already an economic wreck thanks to Trump’s sanctions and Iran’s expensive foreign aggression. Now is the time to tighten the sanction screws. If Iran responds with any sort of attack, strike the Kharg Island oil terminals. More than 90% of their exports are oil and gas or petroleum derived. Eliminate that. Iran is weak and vulnerable. Instill in the regime a feeling of despair; make them beg for peace.
Joe in PNG says: The sovereignty of Iran and Iran’s officials ends at the Iranian border.
Once Soleimani illegally crossed that border to conduct combat operations, that protection was gone, finished, kaput.
Now, I know most leftist tend to think that Iraq and Iran are the same country, same people, same religion (looking at you, AOC!), but they are not.
David Byler says: Marta, i do so love your way of saying things
Marta Hernandez says: Heh, thanks! 🙂
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