It蘑菇视频 the Assassination Game
The Middle East is on fire.
It’s been on fire for a very long time.
Our president, though, thought it might be of some value to perform an assassination.
It backfired.
First, a little background.
Most Americans can’t even find Iran on a map.
A recent Morning Consult and Politico poll indicates that only 28% of U.S. voters can point out Iran on a zoomed-in map.
In fact, of the 1,995 registered voters who took part in that poll, 32 of them think Iran is in the United States of America.
They didn’t ask, but I’d bet that some of those same folks can’t even find themselves in a mirror.
But somebody should’ve told them that Iran and the United States have been engaged in hostilities toward each other for decades.
President Trump decided he’d up the ante from smoldering embers to a full-blown conflagration with the assassination of a man whom we’re told was a bloodthirsty brute everybody knew deserved it.
I’m not convinced it was a worthwhile enterprise.
If most Americans don’t even know where Iran is, how many, do you suppose, know who Qasem Soleimani was? I guess we’re supposed to learn this stuff on the fly. Because heavens know who Trump will put in his crosshairs next.
I’m not saying Soleimani didn’t deserve his fate.
I’m saying a case for his demise wasn’t readily discernible, until after it happened.
Those of us who follow these things closely might be perplexed as to how to even spell the guy’s name.
I’ve seen his first name spelled “Qasem,” “Qassem” or “Qassim” – and his last name spelled either “Soleimani,” or “Suleimani.” That’s a clear indication that he might not have been on anybody’s hit list – other than Trump’s.
There are an estimated 57,000 U.S. troops spread across nine Middle East countries. An increase in hostilities could cause that number to increase.
This country can ill-afford to play a game of flinch with Iran, especially since, according to a recent Ipsos/Reuters poll, 54% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s decision to launch an attack against one of its leaders.
Could it be the American public is growing increasingly weary of war, and the associated Washington drama that accompanies it?
According to a study that was released in November, a total of $6.4 trillion will have been spent on post-9/11 wars by the end of the 2020 fiscal year.
So, what this country doesn’t need is to open up a brand-new war front, unless, of course, you’d like to prove you’re a tough guy.
Catch my drift?
There’s that nasty bit of nonsense about a threat to bomb Iran’s cultural sites.
“We have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD,” he tweeted on Jan 4.
That would be a clear violation of international law.
Fortunately, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper stepped in and calmed matters. He emphatically stated, “We will follow the laws of armed conflict.”
More fortunately, Iran’s answer to the killing of Soleimani was a dropping of 17 missiles on Iraqi airbases where U.S. troops are located.
They missed everything of value.
Bad aim? Possibly. Was it intentionally designed to diffuse the heated rhetoric?
Who really knows?
Trump appeared the following morning; taking his victory lap and doing what he likes to do best. He blamed Barack Obama for the whole thing.
He (falsely) claimed that it was money Obama gave to Iran, that paid for the missiles that were dropped on the Iraqi airbases.
That’s a lie.
He knows it, but he continues to say it anyway.
There’s nothing new about this.
According to a CNN analysis, Trump mentioned Obama, or the “previous administration,” 2.8 times a day from August to October of 2019.
In other words, he’s obsessed with Obama.
He’s always been obsessed, but it’s gotten worse.
It’s now a full-blown fixation.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight and 20-year TV news veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.