No American will mourn Quassem Soleimani’s passing. He deserved to be brought to justice for his crimes against American troops and thousands of innocents throughout the region. He supported terror and sowed chaos in an already dangerous region. The Administration’s statement says that its goal is to deter future attacks by Iran, but this action almost certainly will have the opposite effect. President Trump just tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox, and he owes the American people an explanation of the strategy and plan to keep safe our troops and embassy personnel, our people and our interests, both here at home and abroad, and our partners throughout the region and beyond. I’m not privy to the intelligence and much remains unknown; but Iran will surely respond. We could be on the brink of a major conflict across the Middle East. I hope the Administration has thought through the second — and third-order consequences of the path they have chosen. But I fear this Administration has not demonstrated at any turn the discipline or long-term vision necessary — and the stakes could not be higher.
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Thanks for sharing.
I think this statement is terrible – as are all the statements from Democrats (Warren included) that begin with stating that this man was bad and deserved to die.
We’re concerned about process and having a “strategy.” We have no moral clarity about war being bad and unacceptable. This is not opposition, it’s a procedural complaint.
But this is what we should expect from not having anything resembling an opposition party in this country.
In the House, they passed an amendment from Ro Khanna that would withhold funding and require approval for any action against Iran, and they also narrowly passed an amendment from Barbara Lee that would revoke the AUMF. The Senate rejected both amendments. The NDAA returned to the House and just three weeks ago they passed a $738B package without those amendments. Make no mistake – this was a $738B check for Donald Trump to do what he wanted, with no checks. This is the consequence of that gross failure from Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats to actually check the President on what really matters.
This party is a bad joke.
The dog in the White House is wagging its tail.
The timing of this attack, on the eve of the 2020 return of the House and Senate, is not coincidental.
“”Tonight’s airstrike risks provoking further dangerous escalation of violence. America– and the world — cannot afford to have tensions escalate to a point of no return. The full Congress must be immediately briefed on this serious situation and on the next steps under consideration by the Administration.” Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi
Informative article on the Iranian Commander assassinated by an American drone strike today. He undoubtedly helped kill Americans in Iraq, but he also helped the US target Al Qaeda and Taliban leadership after 9/11. Had the US not encircled Iran by occupying its neighbors, included it in the Axis of Evil, and unilaterally pulled out of an nuclear agreement that Iran was largely in compliance with we would likely not be in this position today. Remember that before the next news cycle convinces you that their side is evil and our side is right. Iran is not blameless, but both sides have hurt each other over the past sixty years, and it will take careful diplomacy to restore our relations and take us back from the brink. I pray that the leaders of both countries make those overtures.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/09/30/the-shadow-commander/amp
“It’s not a war; it’s a pageant.” Wag the Dog answer from consultant Robert DeNiro to Hollywood film director Dustin Hoffman when asked what he was looking for?
A pageant is a pretentious show that conceals a lack of real importance or meaning.
I fear this is what con artist Trump really wants as a distraction from his impeachment / re-election troubles.
I would add the following.
In stark contrast to the contempt with which Trump treats the Democrats within the ‘Gang of Eight’ in Congress – completely failing to brief them prior to this raid – not only did the Obama-Biden administration BRIEF Congress, it also followed Article One of the United States Constitution (as well as the War Powers Act, a federal statute) and sought congressional approval before engaging in any prolonged intervention in Syria.
More to the point. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/03/donald-trump-iran-soleimani-093371
“Consultation with Israel
Pompeo held several phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent weeks, suggesting that Israel was not surprised by the strike against Soleimani.
Before departing on Thursday morning for Greece, Netanyahu told reporters in Israel, “We are in continuous contact with our great friend the U.S., including my conversation yesterday afternoon. I want to make one thing clear: We fully support all of the steps that the U.S. has taken as well as its full right to defend itself and its citizens.”
In other words, Netanyahu is entitled to know, but not the U,S. Congress.
Should be impeachable on Monday.
Yeah, but that can take a number:(
Still want to argue that our constitutional processes are working?
A rogue President initiates a war clearly designed to distract attention from his ongoing impeachment and consults only GOP members of Congress. Americans who love our democracy are completely powerless to stop this exploding tyranny.
Our constitutional form of government lies in ruins. Who knows what will happen tomorrow.
We haven’t had a coup. All the branches are still there. I fully expect an election in November. Yes there has been strain, but nothing we can’t overcome.
@All the branches are still there:
Whatever it is that is standing in for Congress is more like a Disney animatron then an actual functioning part of government.
Meanwhile, the Judiciary, the Senate, and the entire Executive branch appears to be bought and paid for by Vladimir Putin.
The Israeli and Saudi governments are increasingly two sides of the same coin. Forcing the US to do their dirty work in the Middle East which they are more than capable of doing on their own. Other than fighting ISIS and working with the Kurds again, I say wash our hands of the Middle East and focus on fighting bigger threats like climate change and cyber terrorism.
Yeah but we can also say #thanksObama for continuing his predecessors violation of the congressional prohibition on overseas assassinations and keeping drone strike authorization entirely within the Executive branch. He made little to no effort to close Gitmo, rollback the Patriot Act, our repeal the AUMF. These extralegal and extrajudicial killings must end. His failure to end then is undoubtedly a black mark on an otherwise good presidency.
He needed Congressional approval to close Gitmo and didn’t get it. Please don’t buy the talking points!
He’s the commander in Chief. If he can kill anyone he wants without congressional approval, an argument he used that Trump is now building on, he can close down a detention center that was extralegal to begin with. If Congress never authorized it and the executive branch created it, why do we need an act of Congress to shut it down? Talking points from whom? The right wanted to double Gitmo.
Congress and the DoJ should have investigated, charged, and prosecuted the prior administration with war crimes. They did absolutely nothing, citing a desire to “move on”.and “heal”.
That decision made it clear that any administration can do whatever it wants without regard to Congress, law, or morality. Donald Trump and the Trumpists are symptoms, not causes.
We gave away any chance of bringing Presidential military power under control when we allowed Obama to continue the actions and we didn’t prosecute many Bush officials. It was one of the biggest failures of the Obama years.
It’s too late to now question “Would you want Donald Trump to have this power?” and bring things under control.
It is worth noting that Trump is twisting the 2003AUMF to take out the Iraqi government Saddam Hussein to authorize the strike against Soleimani who was one of the most decorated soldiers to have fought Saddam in the Iran-Iraq War. We can thank Obama for using that same framework to wage war against ISIS in Iraq, an entity that did not exist when that law was passed and is not named in that law. Neither is Iran.
There is a strong likelihood any additional action will be justified by that 2002 AUMF and Trump will argue he does not need to go back to Congress. It is vital every Democrat in Congress, even the hawks, insist on a new legal framework for any action going forward. This next phase requires a new vote and a new debate.
This next phase requires absolutely NOTHING.
Donald Trump will do whatever he pleases. The GOP majority in the Senate and minority in the House will continue to grovel before him while aggressively dismissing any effort to slow him down.
Check your history, my friend. We gave away any chance of bringing Presidential military power under control when we learned that the incident in the Tonkin Gulf that was used as a pretext to turn Vietnam into a full-fledged war was intentionally fabricated by LBJ and did NOTHING. We had another chance when Ronald Reagan illegally fought the Contras (and secretly sold weapons to Iran, a terrorist nation, to fund it) and we did NOTHING.
Congress has been abrogating its oversight responsibility and refusing to exercise its authority to limit presidential military authority for generations — the last formally declared war was against Korea, almost 70 years ago.
I knew and agree with all of that. I want Congress to repeal these authorizations and begin to do its job.
Obama sought Congressional approval for air strikes. But he did not seek approval for the CIA’s arming and training of anti-regime militants, which was far more consequential than the proposed air strikes.
Congress refused to authorize military engagement in Syria, but Obama asked the CIA do it anyway. It’s hardly a proud moment for Democracy and it’s part of the reason why we have stumbled into a war with Iran that no one wants.
Am I the only one who had never heard of this guy until he was killed?
Why does Biden begin with the “No American will mourn Quassem Soleimani’s passing” genuflection?
It was not a ‘passing’. It was an assassination.
The use of the term “assassination” has itself become a focus of debate. Most Dems won’t use it. Bloomberg attacked Bernie for using the word and said Bernie’s comments were “outrageous.”
Debates about semantics and process . . .
We are so far gone.
Well if we call it an assassination then we are acknowledging that it violates our own laws and international law. Which it does. So it’s a good shibboleth to see who really will investigate Trump over this and who will not. We may get very lucky and Iran does not retaliate (it is a much more rational actor than we give it credit for) or retaliates in a way that does not generate headlines (cyber) and everyone moves on to the next thing. I would much rather we call hearings and investigate this entire decision making process to assess the capabilities of our commander in Chief.
If “assassination” is verboten, I would accept some alternatives such as “execution” or “murder”