Friday, January 3, 2020

Initial Notes On The Assassination Of Qassem Suleimani

  1. The assassination of Qassem Suleimani is a de facto declaration of war on Iran.
  2. Trump does not understand Iran well enough to know who to target, so who told him to target Qassem Suleimani?
  3. The Senate now faces a choice: impeach Donald Trump or abdicate its constitutional authority to declare war to the Presidency.
  4. The House now may impeach Donald Trump for declaring war without the consent of the Senate.
  5. “Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and I discussed the decisive defensive action @realDonaldTrump employed in Baghdad to protect American lives. I emphasized that de-escalation is the United States’ principal goal.” – Secretary of State Pompeo, tweet.
  6. People are talking about preventing war with Iran. It's too late. There is going to be a response, probably not a conventional military response, but something brutal. At best, we can prevent escalation.
  7. It is not clear to me that any peace with Iran can be remade. It may be Trump has entangled us in war for years to come.