Trump the Decider

Gene HealyThe MQ-9 Reaper attack that took out Iranian General Qassim Suleimani was a drone strike for peace, President Trumpexplained last week: we took action “to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war.” That’s a theory, and it’s going to be put to the test. “All is well!” the president tweeted last night as a salvo ofIranian missiles fell on U.S. positions in Iraq: “So far, so good!”Trump ’s decision to target Suleimani—a figuredescribed as the Iranian equivalent of “an American Vice President, chairman of the Joint Chiefs and CIA director rolled into one”—wasn’t the first time the U.S. government has aimed lethal force at a top government official. There’s the checkered—and occasionally absurd—history of the CIA’s Cold Warassassination attempts, including the Kennedys ’ efforts to kill Fidel Castro. But we’ve also gone after legitimate targets in congressionally authorized wars: the downing ofAdmiral Yamamoto ’s plane in WWII and the attempteddecapitation strike against Saddam Hussein at the start of the Iraq War. Ready. Fire. Aim.The Suleimani killing was something new under the sun. It marked the first time an American president has publicly ordered the assassination of a top government official for a country we ’re not legally at war with.This is where you ’resupposed to acknowledge that the Quds Force commandant was an evil guy who got what he deserved. Done. But that ’s got nothing to do with whether the mo...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs