One of the world’s top terror masterminds is dead, and that’s an unalloyed good — no ifs, ands or buts about it.
Qassem Soleimani flew from Lebanon to Iraq early Friday to oversee plans to murder more Americans. It was supposed to be just another day at the office for the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force — but a MQ-9 Reaper drone ended his decades-long killing spree in a hit President Trump ordered on his convoy at Baghdad’s airport.
Soleimani’s forces killed at least 608 US troops in Iraq from 2003 to 2011, the Pentagon reported last year — and that doesn’t include those killed then and since by the many proxies under his control.
He had nearly that many Iraqis killed in the final months of 2019, ordering a brutal crackdown on protests against a corrupt, Tehran-dominated government. He helped kill far more at home, with over 1,000 peaceful protesters slaughtered in what Iranians call Bloody November. That’s why crowds took to the streets in the middle of the Tehran night to celebrate his death. His fighters helped Bashar al-Assad slaughter tens of thousands of men, women and children in the Syrian civil war.
Soleimani was a menace across the region. So you’d think the humanitarians of the left would cheer the demise of this butcher, as the right united in applauding President Barack Obama’s 2011 hit on Osama bin Laden.
Instead, the “but” brigade is out in full force, conceding Soleimani’s evil but warning that the world may be worse off because Trump ordered his death.
The monster “was a murderer, responsible for the deaths of thousands, including hundreds of Americans. But this reckless move escalates the situation with Iran,” tweeted Sen. Elizabeth Warren — leaving out the fact Soleimani was about to escalate by having more Americans killed.
“There is no question that Qassem Soleimani was a threat to [our] safety and security. . . . But there are serious questions about how this decision was made,” intoned Pete Buttigieg.
He “was responsible for directing Iran’s destabilizing actions in Iraq, Syria and throughout the Middle East, including attacks against US forces. But the timing, manner and potential consequences of the administration’s actions raise serious questions,” sniffed Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
Yes, Iran’s rulers may sponsor some atrocity in the name of revenge for Soleimani — but only by using terror networks he was crucial to building, networks it has always intended to use at a time of its choosing. And that’s the only “but” that matters here.