The Soleimani assassination may be legally justifiable, but that is not the same as smart or prudent. It makes little strategic sense given the many US vulnerabilities in the region and the need to contend w Russia, North Korea, & China. my latest for @FT https://t.co/QS8HXKRWX4 — Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) January 3, 2020

Make no mistake: any war with Iran will not look like the 1990 Gulf war or the 2003 Iraq wars. It will be fought throughout the region w a wide range of tools vs a wide range of civilian, economic, & military targets. The region (and possibly the world) will be the battlefield. — Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) January 3, 2020

One sure result of the US strike is that the era of US-Iraq cooperation is over. The US diplomatic & mil presence will end b/c Iraq asks us to depart or our presence is just a target or both. The result will be greater Iranian influence, terrorism, and Iraqi infighting. — Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) January 3, 2020

Let’s recall that we had a diplomatic solution to the seemingly intractable Iran mess in place before Idiot Boy and his Merry Men took over.

And now, in the wake of Trump’s singlehandedly abrogating the Iran nuclear deal, we have a mess and a half that could get a lot worse.

In case you haven’t seen the latest breaking news, a top Iranian military official has just been killed in what appears to have been a U.S. airstrike. As of this writing, however, the source of the airstrike has not been confirmed.

AP:

Gen. Qassim Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, was killed in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport Friday, Iraqi television and three Iraqi officials said. The strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF, the officials said. Their deaths are a potential turning point in the Middle East and are expected to draw severe retaliation from Iran and the forces it backs in the Middle East against Israel and American interests. The PMF blamed the United States for an attack at Baghdad International Airport Friday.

foreign policy specialists now bracing for US-Iran war after killing of Soleimani former Bush national security official Richard Haass: “If US behind the strike, then Iran will almost certainly go after US personnel in Iraq and elsewhere. This could spread and escalate fast” — John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) January 3, 2020

So I guess you don’t even need John Bolton to blunder into stupid, unnecessary wars. Looks like Donald Trump found his casus belli for the stupid thing he wanted to do. Not that he’s ever needed an excuse for evil.

And now, once again, a big chunk of the U.S. population will fall all over themselves to confuse toughness and idiocy.

Happy new year.

UPDATE: And now we have confirmation that it was a U.S. drone strike:

Breaking: Pentagon confirms US drone strike killed IRGC head Qassem Suleimani — Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) January 3, 2020

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