Here is an article that ponders the question of why Trump went ahead and killed an Iranian general on Iraqi soil, thus sending both countries to an obvious hatred of the United States, and particularly of arrogant leaders in Washington.
Iranian leaders have sworn revenge, and Iraqis are now in the process of trying to boot remaining American troops out of the country, in an effort to erase any and all remaining vestiges of American influence and presence in that country.
This action has also sparked fears that this might initiate World War III, that with Trump continually threatening a disproportionately heavy-handed response to any attempts at revenge or reciprocation by Iranians, there is a serious threat of Russian involvement, as parts of Russia are quite near to the Iranian border. Also, there are fears that Iran might lash out at allies of the United States, particularly Israel, and that, again, this could trigger a much larger conflict that involves numerous other nations.
Iran participated in military exercises with China and Russia. Would it be possible that they get involved in this conflict?
One thing for sure: Trump surely expected to come across looking like a tough guy. Perhaps he even wants to seem unstable and willing to use nukes, for example, in hopes that fears of his instability might scare the Iranians enough to avert any very drastic actions on their end.
But in what is feeling like typical fashion, there are things that our supposedly "very stable genius" in the Oval Office apparently did not count on. After all, his launching so easily into actions that appear to have the country on the brink of yet another Middle Eastern war are underscoring the trend of his broken campaign promises, as he promised not to get the United States involved in yet more conflicts, particularly in that region, where Americans often seem distrusted and even hated. It also highlights his own cowardice when his time came to serve in the war of his youth in Vietnam, relying on bone spurs to get him out of that war, yet being so willing to send young Americans off to potentially die or get seriously wounded in another unnecessary conflict. Finally, it seems transparent that this helps to distract from unfavorable news back at home, with his recently attained status as being one of three presidents in American history to have been impeached.
In all likelihood, this was yet another action taken that appears - at least to people who do not give such things much in the way of long-term thinking - to be strong, bold, decisive action, but which, in fact, betrays his weaknesses. After all, despite how strongly his supporters are denying it, this could trigger a much wider war, and probably a little too easily to simply dismiss the idea that Trump really had not thought any of this stuff through before ordering the strike. The reaction has been immediate, with Iranian and Iraqi reactions in particular clearly showing that they seem to hate Trump and America. Europe has distanced itself from this strike. There are also plenty of detractors back at home, including a Democratic-led House that is finally beginning to realize that too much power in the hands of one president can indeed be very dangerous. You might think that they would have been better off reflecting on that possibility before granting American presidents too much power shortly after the 9/11 attacks, but maybe at least they recognize their mistake now, when we have such an emotionally erratic and seemingly immature man-child in the highest office.
One thing that seems sure is that all of the largely negative responses have done the opposite of what Trump and his entourage of yes men had hoped and believed, which is the likely desire to appear like a strong leader taking decisive, bold action. Let's face it: would it actually be all that shocking that this did not think all of these things, all of the possible - even likely - ramifications through enough?
Knowing Trump during these past three years, it seems likely that he just assumed this would be a huge success, and a welcome one, at that, to open a new year. And hey, it's an election year, so surely that would help his chances, right?
So, why did he do it?
My guess is that it was a mixture of things. He might indeed have received intelligence that Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was hurting Americans in Iran, even if prior to this he had insulted the intelligence community regularly, and harshly. And the obvious thing, that this was a diversionary tactic to distract an overly gullible American public from the bad news here at home. It also seems plausible that he is indeed a child in many ways, and wants to show off how tough he is by making what some would suggest was a bold strike, and at least thinking that he was flexing his muscles, so to speak. Again, childish, but look who were are talking about. If Trump has proved anything in these three long years since he took over, it is that he is very much like a child caught in an old man's body.
One way or the other, he took this action, and it truly feels like he did not think things through. That the response has been more explosive and much less favorable than he imagined it would be, that the waters have been muddied, and far from cleared.
And now, we live in a far more dangerous world as a result of this.
Also predictable - albeit tragic - his loyal supporters, who once applauded him for being staunchly opposed to getting the United States involved in such wars in this particular region of the world - are mindlessly and obediently applauding his every move, and especially his every boast, once again, while democracy and the rule of sanity seems, once again, to be going down the drain more quickly than ever.
Why Trump did it: A strategic distraction, or a spoiled child showing off his new toys? Iran killing pushed impeachment out of the headlines, showed off some hardware and impressed the Christian fanatics 936 266 HEATHER DIGBY PARTON JANUARY 6, 2020:
https://www.salon.com/2020/01/06/why-trump-did-it-a-strategic-distraction-or-a-spoiled-child-showing-off-his-new-toys/?fbclid=IwAR0jTnQI_PHFOsaNIMnODz-rJOkNzQaGuaIZ6-Wrkwa0AANKd8MKUm4f3ew
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