Donald Trump has blundered into a crisis of his own making with Iran. By Mohamad Bazzi
When Trump took office, there was no US
crisis with Iran. He created one
The Trump administration’s assassination on Thursday of General Qassem Suleimani could turn out to be its biggest foreign policy blunder. The killing could lead to a war with Iranian proxies across the Middle East, belying Trump’s supposed desire to extricate the US from its endless conflicts. But its most likely immediate effect will be to ratchet up pressure on the Iraqi government to expel US troops from Iraq. And that would mean Iran extending its already substantial influence over Iraqi government and society.
The Trump administration was quick to portray the assassination as a pre-emptive strike, saying Suleimani had been “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.” Earlier on Thursday, the US defence secretary, Mark Esper, had warned from Washington, “The game has changed”. But Trump has consistently increased tensions and courted confrontation with Iran. Since he took office in January 2017, he has wavered on many foreign policy issues, but he has been dependable on one thing: he considers Iran the greatest threat to US interests in the Middle East, and the world’s biggest state sponsor of terrorism.
The current conflagration has its roots in a burgeoning protest movement in Iraq that has demanded that both Iran and the US stop interfering in the country’s affairs. The peaceful protests began in early October, and Iraqi officials, urged on by Suleimani, responded with a bloody crackdown that killed hundreds of protesters. Iranian-allied militias and politicians responded to the protests in part by trying to divert attention to US influence in Iraq. On 27 December, the Iran-backed Kata’ib Hezbollah group fired rockets at a military base in Kirkuk, killing a US contractor and wounding several US and Iraqi troops.
Donald Trump’s assassination of Qassem Suleimani will come back to haunt him
The Pentagon responded with massive retaliation, launching airstrikes against five militia bases in Iraq and Syria. The strikes killed at least two dozen and wounded 50 fighters. Thus began the latest cycle of tit-for-tat violence – over a holiday weekend when most Americans were not paying attention to the news. Iraqis rallied in anger at the continued presence of 5,000 US troops in Iraq. Members of the Iraqi parliament began calling for the expulsion of US forces and an end to security cooperation with Washington....
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/03/us-airstrikes-iran-donald-trump-foreign-policy-iranian-middle-east
Chauncey DeVega: Trump is mentally ill but our real sickness runs much deeper
The Trump administration’s assassination on Thursday of General Qassem Suleimani could turn out to be its biggest foreign policy blunder. The killing could lead to a war with Iranian proxies across the Middle East, belying Trump’s supposed desire to extricate the US from its endless conflicts. But its most likely immediate effect will be to ratchet up pressure on the Iraqi government to expel US troops from Iraq. And that would mean Iran extending its already substantial influence over Iraqi government and society.
The Trump administration was quick to portray the assassination as a pre-emptive strike, saying Suleimani had been “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.” Earlier on Thursday, the US defence secretary, Mark Esper, had warned from Washington, “The game has changed”. But Trump has consistently increased tensions and courted confrontation with Iran. Since he took office in January 2017, he has wavered on many foreign policy issues, but he has been dependable on one thing: he considers Iran the greatest threat to US interests in the Middle East, and the world’s biggest state sponsor of terrorism.
The current conflagration has its roots in a burgeoning protest movement in Iraq that has demanded that both Iran and the US stop interfering in the country’s affairs. The peaceful protests began in early October, and Iraqi officials, urged on by Suleimani, responded with a bloody crackdown that killed hundreds of protesters. Iranian-allied militias and politicians responded to the protests in part by trying to divert attention to US influence in Iraq. On 27 December, the Iran-backed Kata’ib Hezbollah group fired rockets at a military base in Kirkuk, killing a US contractor and wounding several US and Iraqi troops.
Donald Trump’s assassination of Qassem Suleimani will come back to haunt him
The Pentagon responded with massive retaliation, launching airstrikes against five militia bases in Iraq and Syria. The strikes killed at least two dozen and wounded 50 fighters. Thus began the latest cycle of tit-for-tat violence – over a holiday weekend when most Americans were not paying attention to the news. Iraqis rallied in anger at the continued presence of 5,000 US troops in Iraq. Members of the Iraqi parliament began calling for the expulsion of US forces and an end to security cooperation with Washington....
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/03/us-airstrikes-iran-donald-trump-foreign-policy-iranian-middle-east
Chauncey DeVega: Trump is mentally ill but our real sickness runs much deeper
