The Soleimani assassination is one of the chief examples of stupid, hardline presidential decision-making. It is a cautionary tale of what presidents should never do.
Friedman’s article is also dumb because of how shortsighted it is. He doesn’t examine the long-term consequences of the assassination. The assassination strengthened hardliners and provided evidence that the U.S. could never be trusted and bore aggressive intentions towards Iran. It also (predictably) caused Iran to move closer to China and Russia and to shore up its ties with its own proxies and allies in the ME.
It makes no sense to examine only the immediate, hyper-short-term consequences of the assassination, especially now that several years have passed since it happened. This is one of the problems of our political and media class: they can’t think in longer term timelines because they’re glued to the short-term news cycle.
And one horrible consequence was the downing of a passenger jet shortly after the assassination by IGRC resources at maximum alert level after the killing of their general.
If Trump hadn't assassinated Soleimani that flight would have reached it's destination unimpeded, even if the mistake was made primarily by Iranians, it was a feature of the escalation that did take place after the assassination.
There is no end to the cycle of attempting to redeem the idiocy of our leaders. Eventually, they move from front page outrage to their burial out the National Cathedral as great Americans and thus masters who guided the world through their greatness far superior to every other leader on the planet. Just look at the gradual exultation of Bush/Cheney to saintly status. There will be no greater hope for the United States than some day (if we are amount to anything good) writing an honest history and holding our leaders accountable in real time.
Friedman’s article is also dumb because of how shortsighted it is. He doesn’t examine the long-term consequences of the assassination. The assassination strengthened hardliners and provided evidence that the U.S. could never be trusted and bore aggressive intentions towards Iran. It also (predictably) caused Iran to move closer to China and Russia and to shore up its ties with its own proxies and allies in the ME.
It makes no sense to examine only the immediate, hyper-short-term consequences of the assassination, especially now that several years have passed since it happened. This is one of the problems of our political and media class: they can’t think in longer term timelines because they’re glued to the short-term news cycle.
Sometimes, I think COVID may have saved us from WW3 due to the assassination consequences.
And one horrible consequence was the downing of a passenger jet shortly after the assassination by IGRC resources at maximum alert level after the killing of their general.
If Trump hadn't assassinated Soleimani that flight would have reached it's destination unimpeded, even if the mistake was made primarily by Iranians, it was a feature of the escalation that did take place after the assassination.
There is no end to the cycle of attempting to redeem the idiocy of our leaders. Eventually, they move from front page outrage to their burial out the National Cathedral as great Americans and thus masters who guided the world through their greatness far superior to every other leader on the planet. Just look at the gradual exultation of Bush/Cheney to saintly status. There will be no greater hope for the United States than some day (if we are amount to anything good) writing an honest history and holding our leaders accountable in real time.