The Americans may have assassinated Soleimani, but the illegal aggression has not thwarted the Quds Force general’s plans for West Asia one bit, and may have even accelerated them.
By Pepe Escobar, posted with permission and cross-posted with The Cradle
Two years ago, the 2020s started with a murder.
Baghdad airport, January 3, 00:52 AM. The assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), alongside Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes, deputy commander of Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi forces, by laser-guided AGM-114 Hellfire missiles launched from two American MQ-9 Reaper drones, was an act of war.
This act of war set the tone for the new decade and inspired my book Raging Twenties: Great Power Politics Meets Techno-Feudalism, published one year later.
The drone strikes at Baghdad airport, directly approved by then US President Donald Trump, were unilateral, unprovoked and illegal: an imperial act engineered as a stark provocation capable of triggering an Iranian reaction that would then be countered by American “self-defense,” packaged as “deterrence.”
Call it a perverse form of double down, reversed false flag.
The imperial narrative barrage spun it as “targeted killing:” a pre-emptive op squashing Soleimani’s alleged planning of “imminent attacks” against US diplomats and troops.
No evidence whatsoever was provided to support the claim. And then-Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, in front of Parliament, offered the ultimate context: Soleimani, on a diplomatic mission, had boarded a regular Cham Wings Airbus A320 flight between Damascus and Baghdad. He was involved in complex negotiations between Tehran and Riyadh, with the Iraqi Prime Minister as mediator, and all that at the request of President Trump.
So the imperial machine – following trademark mockery of international law – assassinated a de facto diplomatic envoy. In fact two envoys, because al-Muhandis had the same leadership qualities of Soleimani – actively promoting synergy between the battlefield and diplomacy – and was absolutely irreplaceable as a key political articulator in Iraq.
Soleimani’s assassination had been “encouraged” since 2007 by US neo-cons – supremely ignorant of West Asia’s history, culture and politics – and the Israeli and Saudi lobbies. Both the Bush Jr. and Obama administrations resisted it, afraid of an inevitable escalation. Trump could not possibly see The Big Picture and its dire ramifications when he had only Israel-firsters of the Jared-of-Arabia Kushner variety whispering in his ear, in tandem with close pal Saudi Crown Princeling Muhammad bin Salman (MbS).
The measured Iranian response to Soleimani’s assassination was carefully calibrated to head off vengeful, unrestrained imperial overkill: precision missile strikes on the American-controlled Ain al-Assad air base in Iraq. The Pentagon received advance warning.
Yet it was precisely that measured response that turned out to be the game-changer. Tehran’s message made it graphically clear that the days of imperial impunity were over: we can hit your assets anywhere in the Persian Gulf and beyond, at the time of our choosing.
So this was the first “miracle” that the Spirit of Soleimani engineered: the precision missile strikes on Ain al-Assad represented a middle-rank power, enfeebled by sanctions, and facing a massive economic/financial crisis, responding to a unilateral attack by targeting imperial assets that are part of the sprawling Empire of Bases.
That was a global first – unheard of since the end of WWII.
And that was clearly interpreted across West Asia and vast swathes of the Global South as fatally piercing the decades-old hegemonic armor of American” prestige.”
Calculating The Big Picture
Everyone not only along the Axis of Resistance – Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus, Hezbollah – but across the Global South has been aware of how Soleimani led the fight against ISIS in Iraq from 2014 to 2015, and how he was instrumental in retaking Tikrit in 2015.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, in an extraordinary interview, stressed Soleimani’s “great humility”, even “with the common people, the simple people.” Nasrallah told a story that is essential to place Soleimani’s modus operandi in the real – not fictional – war on terror that still deserves to be quoted in full two years after his assassination:
“At that time, Hajj Qassem traveled from Baghdad airport to Damascus airport, from where he came (directly) to Beirut, in the southern suburbs. He arrived to me at midnight. I remember very well what he said to me: ‘At dawn you must have provided me with 120 (Hezbollah) operation commanders.’ I replied ‘But Hajj, it’s midnight, how can I provide you with 120 commanders?’ He told me that there was no other solution if we wanted to fight (effectively) against ISIS, to defend the Iraqi people, our holy places [5 of the 12 Imams of Twelver Shiism have their mausoleums in Iraq], our Hawzas [Islamic educational institutions], and everything that existed in Iraq. There was no choice. ‘I don’t need fighters. I need operational commanders [to supervise the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units, PMU]. This is why in my speech [about Soleimani’s assassination], I said that during the 22 years or so of our relationship with Hajj Qassem Soleimani, he never asked us for anything. He never asked us for anything, not even for Iran. Yes, he only asked us once, and that was for Iraq, when he asked us for these (120) operations commanders. So he stayed with me, and we started contacting our (Hezbollah) brothers one by one. We were able to bring in nearly 60 operational commanders, including some brothers who were on the front lines in Syria, and whom we sent to Damascus airport [to wait for Soleimani], and others who were in Lebanon, and that we woke up from their sleep and brought in [immediately] from their house as the Hajj said he wanted to take them with him on the plane that would bring him back to Damascus after the dawn prayer. And indeed, after praying the dawn prayer together, they flew to Damascus with him, and Hajj Qassem traveled from Damascus to Baghdad with 50 to 60 Lebanese Hezbollah commanders, with whom he went to the front lines in Iraq. He said he didn’t need fighters, because thank God there were plenty of volunteers in Iraq. But he needed [battle-hardened] commanders to lead these fighters, train them, pass on experience and expertise to them, etc. And he didn’t leave until he took my pledge that within two or three days I would have sent him the remaining 60 commanders.”
A former commander under Soleimani that I met in Iran in 2018 had promised me and my colleague Sebastiano Caputo that he would try to arrange an interview with the Major General – who never spoke to foreign media. We had no reason to doubt our interlocutor – so until the last Baghdad minute we were part of this selective waiting list.
As for Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes, killed side by side with Soleimani in the Baghdad drone strikes, I was with the journalist Sharmine Narwani and a small group who spent an afternoon with him in a safe house inside – not outside – Baghdad’s Green Zone in November 2017. My full report is here.
Soleimani may have been a revolutionary superstar – many across the Global South see him as the Che Guevara of West Asia – but behind several layers of myth he was most of all a quite articulated cog of a very articulated machine.
Years before the assassination, Soleimani had already envisaged an inevitable ‘normalization’ between Israel and Persian Gulf monarchies.
At the same time, he was also very much aware of the Arab League’s 2002 position – shared, among others, by Iraq, Syria and Lebanon – that this ‘normalization’ cannot even begin to be discussed without an independent and viable Palestinian state under 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Soleimani saw the Big Picture all across West Asia, from Cairo to Tehran, from the Bosphorus to the Bab-al-Mandeb. He had certainly calculated the inevitable ‘normalization’ of Syria in the Arab world as well as the timeline followed by the Empire of Chaos to abandon Afghanistan – though probably not the extent of the humiliating retreat – and how that would reconfigure all bets from West Asia to Central Asia.
It’s not hard to see Soleimani already envisaging what happened this past month. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu went to Dubai and signed quite a few trade deals with deep political significance, sort of burying a visceral intra-Sunni rivalry.
Abu Dhabi’s Mohammad bin Zayed (MbZ) seems to be betting simultaneously on an Israel-Emirates free trade deal and a détente with Iran. His security advisor Sheikh Tahnoon met with Iran’s President Raisi in Tehran in mid-December, even discussing Yemen.
But the key issue in all these dealings is a breakthrough land transit corridor that may run between the UAE, Iran and Turkey.
Meanwhile, Qatar – a privileged interlocutor of both Turkey and Iran – is engaged in financing the costs of the Gaza administration, in a delicate balance with Israel that somewhat replays a similar role by Doha in the negotiations between the US and the Taliban.
What Soleimani could not accomplish, side by side with al-Muhandes, was to set a viable Iraqi path after the inevitable imperial retreat – even though their assassination may have accelerated the popular drive for the definitive expulsion of the Americans. Iraq remains deeply divided and hostage to petty, provincial politicking.
Still, the Soleimani Spirit persists when it comes to the Axis of Resistance – Tehran-Baghdad-Damascus-Beirut – faced with massive imperial subversion, still surviving every possible challenge.
Iran is increasingly solidified as the key node of the New Silk Roads in Southwest Asia: the Iran-China strategic partnership, boosted by Tehran’s accession to the SCO, will be as strong geoeconomically as geopolitically.
In parallel, Iran, Russia and China will be all involved in the reconstruction of Syria – complete with BRI projects ranging from the Iran-Iraq-Syria-Eastern Mediterranean railway to, in the near future, the Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline, arguably the key factor that provoked the American proxy war against Damascus.
Hellfires are not welcomed.
The end of Global-Homo-Pederast American Empire can’t come fast enough…..an evil straight from rancid, stinking Hell itself….
Good evening everyone specially Mr Raesky and his crew flying “the saker”, they keep doing a superb job, and would like to totally agree, those cretins followers of some crazy “death cult” as Raesky has put somewhere must be wiped out and for the good of humanity’s health the sooner the better. Cheers for everyone and saravá for Pepe Escobar from (rainy) Vale do Ipiranga.
The exact reverse of the YINON Plan implemented by our Israeli/Dual Partners. Divide & Conquer through Sectarian Divisions.
I love it when their Plans fall flat on their face, especially when they’ve sold the Family Silver in the process on the Road To Nowhere.
It’s already game over for the zios
God Bless General Soleimani!! …..I say this as an Irish Catholic…..
US Missiles have George Floyd written on them…..
Is there anything left in America that is clean or nice? It’s all too much for the human unit.
A nation consumed by hate, lies and war. They also murder each other on an epic scale month after month while everything crumbs and decays around them. The good news is the stock market is at all times highs. Every increase moves America closer to the Sun.
Is 2022 the year the worlds down trodden, abused and starving, rise up as one and destroy 800+ military bases at the zero hour? “The Great Reset,” but not exactly what DAVOS aristocracy ordered. Americas will not have the cognisance to process the truth.
USA forces Iran to build nuclear bomb.
The United States is the cancer of the world. Today, some countries, in a movement of resistance, are striving to get rid of this evil and leave in its place a better, more peaceful and economically viable world. But since American domination is based on the corruption of national governments, the most important thing is to define well who will be the representative of each nation. The Resistance Movement must be joint, each of us must free ourselves from the nefarious influence that has plagued the world for centuries.
I am an atheist. There is no god to save me from my demons. And yet, even in my sinful heart I pray for Soleimani. If there is no god out there, there is that inescapable darkness, something dark lies deep in the heart of man, that is awakened by such atrocities. This darkness will overcome the perpetrators and deliver — not vengeance — balance.
– ABC
Yes. It was a cold-blooded, premeditated, murder of an honourable man.
January 3rd was indeed a portentous anniversary of the American-Israeli state sponsored assassination of General Suleimani. While the Americans, Israelis, British, Saudis, and Western regimes in general may be celebrating, Iran has not forgotten nor forgiven this crime:
As the article below suggestively asserts:
“A Resistance Axis security source exclusively confided to The Cradle that the Resistance has retaliated against the killers of the top Iranian and Iraqi commanders.
The source outlined that an operation in Erbil killed two high-ranking US and Israeli commanders. The first was Lt. Col. James C. Willis, 55, of Albuquerque and of the Red Horse Unit, a US commander killed in an operation in Erbil, although according to a Pentagon report, he died in a ‘non-combat incident’ at Qatar’s Al-Udeid base. This person was involved in the assassination of Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis.
The second person involved in the assassinations, according to the source, and to have been killed in Erbil was Israeli Col. Sharon Asman of the Nahal Brigade. Officially, Asman is said to have died of ‘heart failure.’ The source did not elaborate on the timing of these operations.”
Thousands of Iraqis converge on Baghdad airport to pay tribute to Soleimani, Al-Muhandis
https://thecradle.co/Article/news/5355
Also, Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo should make sure that they have their life insurance policies updated and paid in full.
Iranian president promises revenge if Trump, Pompeo are not tried for Soleimani assassination
https://thecradle.co/Article/news/5386
Here is the problem with murdering General Qassem Solemani, and it’s a really big problem.
If a nobody, can murder another man, Qassem Solemani, then confess in public that he murdered a man, and the murderer suffers no consequences then we are all f*cked. That precedent states that it is OK for us to murder each other.
Personally, I don’t like it, but if that is what you chose then bring it on.
If Soleimani’s vision included “an inevitable ‘normalization’ between Israel and Persian Gulf monarchies,” then I daresay we can honor his life’s work without necessarily signing on to his vision.
Revenge will also befall the Danes, Norwegians and Finns who were partially manning that US/GB base in Westen Iraq that the killer drones were launced from — or on those Nordic politicians and generals who sent them there.
The satanic Washington Regime represents evil on steroids. The acme of evil. For 70 years it has rampaged its way across the planet, slaughtering, butchering, starving and immiserating hundreds of millions. And this will never change until Americans are faced with the true enormity of their crimes, like the Germans starving and freezing in the rubble of their ruined cities in 1945. They have to watch THEIR children starving in front of them and dying for lack of basic medicine to even begin to understand the enormity of their guilt. Nothing in human history would be so richly deserved. And this day may arrive a lot sooner than they appreciate, either through long overdue retaliation against their endless aggression, or just inevitable economic, financial, social, moral and spiritual collapse. Not just the Regime but every last American can go burn in hell. The Devil himself deserves some sympathy at having to put up with that arrogant, obnoxious, self obsessed, sub human American filth.
Problem (if a problem) that many americans dont have a clue of whats going on. They are tottaly out in the dark of what their terrorist state is doing. The empire/terrorists hides behind the ignoramuses (not all are ignorant of course). All of them regardless will suffer the consequences and then many will wonder why,
As always, Pepe gets us to think while learning more!!
Jerusalem needs help from Washington to prevail in a terrible conflict’ https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/10/15/israel-idf-iran-nuclear-arms-weapons/
This link included another link to Uzi Rubin who set out the tumbling costs of the Iran/Hezbollah precision missile programme and how the smart phone has revolutionized the system, these systems used to cost many thousands, now he talks in terms of tens of dollars. Rubin talked about Greece as an example of a small state and how 225 precision weapons could make Greece unviable by hitting power stations, docks and water supplies etc. Left unsaid was the tiny state of Israel which would be even more vulnerable, he spoke about if Hezbollah had only 1000 precision missiles and with Iron done shooting down 90%, that 10% that got through would still do the job. Of course Theodore A Postal a physicist is professor emeritus of science, technology, and national security policy at MIT, estimated that the Iron Dome is not working, and that its success rate was only about 5%. https://thebulletin.org/2014/07/the-evidence-that-shows-iron-dome-is-not-working/ and that against Hamas bottle rockets.
The main deficit of any Israeli defence against precision missiles is sheer numbers which can saturate a target, then of course there is the cost at 100,000 dollars per defensive missile. The Israelis have faith in more F35’s [cost 100 million dollars each paid for by the US] assuming Hezbollas’s missiles cost a fraction of the Israeli ones per copy and consist of an aluminium tube filled with fuel, a warhead, winglets and a smart phone , then Hezbollah would have 1000 missiles [well hidden] for the cost of one F35 not well hidden and based at Nevatim Air base. The Foreign policy link and the Uzi Rubin link within it are highly recommended.