Boom.
Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani, the powerful head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, has been killed in an airstrike at Baghdad International Airport, Iraqi TV and three Iraqi officials officials said Friday.
The officials said the strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, which were responsible for the recent attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
An official with the PMF blamed the U.S. military for the strike. ‘The American and Israeli enemy is responsible for killing the mujahideen Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani,’ said Ahmed al-Assadi, a PMF spokesman.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that strikes had been carried out against two targets linked to Iran in Baghdad on Thursday but declined to give any further details.
American officials have made no public comments on the strike yet. The Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to inquiries from DailyMail.com. Soon after news of the strike spread, President Donald Trump tweeted an image of an American flag, offering no remarks or explanation.
The audacious airport strike is a potential turning point in the Middle East as U.S.-Iran relations teeter on the brink, and is expected to draw severe retaliation from Iran and and its Shiite allies against Israel and American interests.
Experts say that the killing of Soleimani will be viewed by Iran as a massive military provocation. ‘The pressure to retaliate will be immense,’ tweeted Middle East scholar and John Hopkins professor Vali Nasr.
‘Soleimani had cult hero status within IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) and among Shia militias in the region, and was personally the most popular regime figure in Iran,’ said Nasr.
The Pentagon confirmed he was killed “at the direction of the president”.
It comes after reports of a strike at Baghdad’s international airport, which is said to have killed a number of people.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also confirmed Gen Soleimani was dead, blaming an attack by US helicopters.
Iran has been escalating the pressure for a couple of years. This time, they pushed too hard by attacking American people on American soil… and we pushed back.
Probably not the response they were expecting, eh?
I’m glad we got the thug and he will be going to his 72 tweaker virgins.
However, the US and allies have to be prepared for the consequences for its actions.
Iran is going to hit back hard somewhere. It may not be against our military but could be in the form of a terrorist attack in the US or Europe.
It will be interesting to see what our coward allies will say about this.
https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/258575681275965440?s=21
https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/260421157201784832?s=21
Except, Pat, Trump has higher approval ratings than Obama.
And everyone agrees we got a bad guy, even the Democrats.
There’s always a Tweet.
Mar,
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.statista.com/chart/amp/19541/approval-ratings-obama-trump/
This was a good, measured, proportional response to an Iranian assault on our embassy, which was the latest of a series of violent provocations from the Iranian government.
And Pat, if you looked at the final poll, Trump 43% vs Obama at 41%.
Thanks for making my point.
Mar,
You must be looking at a different chart than I am.
Pat, from your article: “In the following September, both presidents’ 33rd month in office, Trump’s approval rating initially rose to 43 percent, while Obama’s rose very slightly to 41 percent.”
Again, thank you Pat.
Yamamato, Bin Laden and Soleimani limped into a bar in Hell….
Yamamoto, even.
Here’s a thought posed by Jim Wright.
“ One less terrorist in the world?
Sure, that’s a good thing.
I don’t think anyone is arguing that.
But here’s the thing: if killing that one terrorist precipitates a war that ends up killing hundreds of thousands more than that terrorist ever could, well, then you’re doing his work for him and YOU have become the monster.”
A deep thought for sure Pat, but since there’s no way of knowing future actions or repercussions, we have to judge based on historical information. No hand wringing will do.
Good to see you’re walking away from your dispute with Mar about approval ratings. Keep up those new year’s resolutions, they are good for you!
There’s no need to argue about the approval ratings. It would be like beating a dead horse.
But to be in a prepared position for an escalation of hostilities, I would encourage all military age Trump supporters to enlist so we can be fulling prepared should Iran escalate repercussions.
Well, Pat, there are a lot of volunteers out there who are signing up for the military, most are Trump supporters.
Pretty sure not too many liberals are signing up eight now..or ever.
“There’s no need to argue about the approval ratings. It would be like beating a dead horse.”
Especially when you lose the argument.
Mar,
Arguing with you would be like arguing about the age of the earth with Kevin. It’s pointless and goes no where.
Whelp so much for that resolution Pat. Congrats for making 4.5 days.
“Well, Pat, there are a lot of volunteers out there who are signing up for the military, most are Trump supporters”.
According to the Army Times that isn’t the case. They missed their recruiting goal by 10000+ in 2019, and can’t meet the goal of 500000 active duty troops.
Pat,
Who argues age of earth, besides evolution cultists?
BozoLogic Winner!!!
Sorry, dumbass. Terrorist is the monster. That didn’t change, and if his monster-masters declare war on the US, that makes THEM the monsters (and fried Muhammads, too.)
Hate to burst your bubble, Patsy.
By the way, I hope you know how to use a firearm in the event of an Iranian invasion.
>According to the Army Times that isn’t the case. They missed their recruiting goal by 10000+ in 2019, and can’t meet the goal of 500000 active duty troops.
How does that prove what Mar said is incorrect? Goals are a little like Predictions, aren’t they?
j:
I’ll let you figure that out. It isn’t too difficult.
“ Well, Pat, there are a lot of volunteers out there who are signing up for the military, most are Trump supporters.”
Do you have some exact numbers to support that claim?
Well, Pat, I’m not your personal librarian. Use that gnat brain of yours to prove me wring.
Le Roi, reading comprehension a wee bit off today?
If I could figure out your twisted logic on this one I wouldn’t have asked the question. I see you’re still a dumb hick.
Patsy quotes some goofball: “if killing that one terrorist precipitates a war that ends up killing hundreds of thousands more than that terrorist ever could, well, then you’re doing his work for him..”
1) Please name one war that has been precipitated by the singular taking out of a known terrorist.
2) If you find one, quote the number killed during said war
3) Of that number, how many of the “hundreds of thousands” were themselves aligned with terrorism
As for your friend, Jim Wright, he seems…. not well….
“Will you stupid sons of bitches just pull down your pants and compare? Get out a ruler. Biggest cock wins. We shouldn’t have to slaughter another million people just because you dick-waggling children want to see who can piss the furthest.”
… to the point of delusion….
“I expect Iran will appeal to the world, say they’re being goaded into war by the US. They’ll be right.”
The Iranian version of “war” is talking a big game while hiring their poorer Arab brothers to go die in their stead. Their puffery has little military capability behind it. Decapitating Iran’s proxies is smart strategy that allows time for international pressure to build on Iran to stop exporting terrorism.
Trump didn’t invent any of this. All he did was green light existing strategy. Iran has offered provocations over the past couple of years not offered to the past few presidents. Attacking an embassy was an ill-considered gift. We’ve had the technology to cleanly hunt the puppeteers for years. So have at least a couple of other countries victimized by the Iranians. The message received in nation’s capitals around the world is that Iran’s puppeteers are now in season and there’s no tag limit.
Saw a funny meme earlier. A caption “Dear Donald, will you be sending us pallets of cash as your predecessor did?” And a pic of Donald smiling with the caption “Sure thing, wait at the airport for it.”
DEMOCRATS:
BRAVE ENOUGH TO KILL UNBORN CHILDREN.
NOT BRAVE ENOUGH TO KILL OUR VICIOUS ENEMIES.
Jason, which other presidents literally shipped pallets of cash?
Mar intelligently said, “ Well, Pat, I’m not your personal librarian. Use that gnat brain of yours to prove me wring.”
Ok, you can’t backup what you said with facts. You could have just said it was your opinion and left it at that.
The Community Organizer. Worked in the ‘hood, ya’know.
Pat, I can prove my point but why don’t you can put your lazy fingers and gnat brain to work and prove me wrong.
I already know the answer, but I just can’t help your welfare mentality brain to do your work for you.
Pat:
Take a look at this:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/10/fewer-americans-serve-military-pentagon-panic
And this:
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2018/10/15/support-for-trump-is-fading-among-active-duty-troops-new-poll-shows/
Mar babbled, “ Pat, I can prove my point…….”
Yah, right.
I guess this opens the door for everyone to make things up and then not have to provide evidence that it’s the truth. That makes a debate a lot easier for a lazy person.
Le Roi, congratulations on reading the headline. You actually did more work than Pat the Gnat.
But Le Roi, you didnt read the article. It’s not a valid poll. The paper even admitted it. The poll is made up of just subscribers of the Miliatary Times and it it’s not an actual reflection of all the troops.
But at least you did some work, Le Roi, Unlike Welfare Queen Pat, who just sits on his fat butt eating bon bons all day and thinking he believes he has more than 5 brain cells in his skull.
Wow! Looks like I got under Mar’s skin.
All he has left is acting like a grade schooler and name calling. Not too intellectual for such a highly educated individual.
Awful. Just awful.
mar:
I did read more than the headline, including the part that says:
“Between Sept. 20 and Oct. 2, Military Times in collaboration with the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) at Syracuse University conducted a voluntary, confidential online survey of U.S. service members. The survey included 19 questions on service members’ opinion(s) related to the current political climate, policy and national security in the United States”.
“The survey received 829 responses from active-duty troops. The IVMF used standard methodology to estimate the weights for each individual observation of the survey sample. The margin of error for most questions was roughly 2 percent”.
No where does it say it isn’t a valid poll, nor does it say that only MT subscribers took the poll. So despite you high level of education you still don’t know much.
Think harder, Dad29 and Jason. Think back…
JJf, your article is about cash to IRAQ. Dad29 and Jason are referencing cash sent to IRAN in violation of sanctions against IRAN.
The article also says the money to IRAQ was from ” Iraqi oil sales, surplus funds from the UN oil-for-food programme and seized Iraqi assets.”, so it was actually their money, as opposed to the US funds clandestinely sent to IRAN by Obama in spite of sanctions against that country.
And there is this explanation:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/03/01/was-obamas-1-7-billion-cash-deal-with-iran-prohibited-by-u-s-law/
Yes, Mike, I was talking about pallets of cash, not the destination. Did you read the casual manner in which it was disbursed?
I’m waiting for the explanation of the four-dimensional chess that Trump is playing.
You two are fact checking a meme I saw and shared. Great work for 2020. Maybe you two should take a day off, get some custard?
JIffy, while you’re waiting, please hold your breath.
And then there’s Politifact on the Obama pallets.
Golly, Dad29, you are such a sweet Christian-minded man, at every step!