As the news came in that Quds leader Qasem Soleimani was killed by an American airstrike, I could only think one thing; “how will the Washington Post manage to honor him?” While they described former ISIS Caliph Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi as an “austere religious scholar,” they managed to be equally gracious to his Shia counterpart, who they eulogized as a “revered military leader.”

Meanwhile, rather than shower blessings on the deceased terrorist, some downplayed that this was even a big deal at all.

Filmmaker Michael Moore tweeted out a picture of Soleimani with the caption”Hello fellow Americans. Do you know this man? Did you know he was your enemy? What? Never heard of him? By the end of today you will be trained to hate him. You will be glad Trump had him assassinated. You will do as you are told. Get ready to send your sons and daughters off to war.”

Moore is assuming that the rest of the American public is like him – not having known who Soleimani was until the past twenty-four hours. That’s simply not the case, and if you didn’t know who he was, learning about him today should make you realize how evil of a man he truly was. While we obviously shouldn’t go to war with Iran – we also obviously should feel no sympathy for Soleimani. As the Daily Wire’s James Barrett notes:

U.S. State Department says Soleimani is ultimately responsible for operations leading to 17 percent of all deaths of U.S. personnel during the Iraq War. As reported by Fox News, the State Department announced in April 2019 that Iran was responsible for the deaths of 608 U.S. soldiers during the Iraq War (2003 to 2011). “U.S. officials say the Guard under Soleimani taught Iraqi militants how to manufacture and use especially deadly roadside bombs against U.S. troops after the invasion of Iraq,” The Associated Press reports. Iran has denied the claim.

Soleimani has since been replaced today by Esmail Ghaani, a Brigadier general in the Quds.

From Ghaani’s perspective, it must feel like he was just gifted a target on his back. And he’s right.