Trump Mistakenly Thought Americans Knew Who Soleimani Was

[MineralMan]

They didn't. I mean, I follow this stuff somewhat, and I had never heard of him until Trump had him assassinated. The average American had never heard his name before.

And that's a problem. Trump was surprised when the public didn't lionize him for blowing the Irainian general up in Iraq. I mean, he "took out" a major terrorist, right? Except nobody knew that guy's name.

Remember Osama bin Laden? Everyone knew who he was, and his death was a big deal. Soleimani? Not so much.

So, Trump tried an Obama move that was widely celebrated. Except Trump wasn't in the Situation Room like Obama was. He was on the golf course, as usual. And nobody knew the person he had assassinated.

Bad Luck, Donwald. Bad planning, too.

And what did you get? Well, Iran retaliated by blowing up some buildings that were empty - deliberately. They also mistakenly shot down a Ukranian airliner, which got way more attention than your assassination of some unknown General.

Oh, well. And now, wait for it...Nasty Nancy is sending over those Articles of Impeachment to the Senate next week. So, your attempt to distract from that failed "bigly." What will you do next? We'll wait for your Tweet.

[Croney]

1. I must admit, my mind jumped to Suleiman, the villain

in Season 1 of Jack Ryan, played by the actor named Suliman.

[underpants]

3. Mine didn't but I do remember that

[MineralMan]

5. There are tons of people in the Middle East with names

that are some variation of old King Solomon. Suleiman, Soleimani, that kind of thing. It's like a guy in the States named Smith. Or a Muslim named Muhammad. It's not really a memorable name.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

12. I thought of Suleiman the Magnificent, ...

... long-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 16th century.

I guess it's a popular name, along with variants like Solomon.

[Wounded Bear]

22. IIRC he whipped some Christian ass...

[pnwest]

13. My mind went to Octo-mom. Remember her? n/t

[Control-Z]

24. That's who I thought of. eom

[underpants]

2. What was the guys name, the one who used to be the head of ISIS (I think)

I'd never heard of him. Many people here (I started a thread) said they knew of him. Okay.

Can anyone on the street remember his name?

Nancy waited and waited and waited. Next week it's all Impeachment all the time.

[mobeau69]

4. Not to diminish from the tragedy trump has caused, that's some funny shit.

Well put, MM.

[MineralMan]

7. Well, what happened isn't funny at all.

And Trump caused it all. Some sad sack junior officer sitting at an anti-aircraft missile launch desk got panicky and shot down an airliner. Why? Because Trump started some shit by blowing up an unknown "terrorist" General. Now, Soleimani was a bad guy, no question, but that's not why Trump had him killed. He had him killed so Trump would be the hero.

It didn't work. 179 people died in that plane. Iran deliberately blew up some buildings and warned of the attack beforehand so they could be evacuated. They responded "proportionately." Iran didn't order the airliner to be shot down. Now, they've admitted it and will no doubt try to make recompense, somehow, to the families of the dead.

It's Trump. He's responsible for those airline passengers. Not directly, but it's on him anyhow.

Yes, there's some humor there, but it's dark, sad humor.

[Totally Tunsie]

20. +++,

and that "sad sack junior officer sitting at an anti-aircraft missile launch desk" will take the fall and be prosecuted (executed?) while Chump runs free to do further damage in order to distract from his impeachment. This man has no soul.

[treestar]

6. exactly, and he's a general, too

so part of an army. Killing one general does not defang that army. And just where is any proof he was planning terrorist attacks? He was a general with an army, so why plan terrorist attacks? That's for people who don't have an army.

[Demovictory9]

8. Trump will want someone else killed - someone more recognizable

[MineralMan]

10. I certainly hope not. He's an idiot.

[LakeArenal]

9. Murder someone on 5th Avenue?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. His Lardship probably hadn't heard of Soleimani before last week, either.

But Pompeo, hoping to bring about the Rapture, apparently persuaded him that killing this guy would be a super awesome thing to do. So Trump ignored the less extreme possibilities suggested by the IC and got all excited about how he could one-up Obama by killing an even worse bad guy than Osama bin Laden. Except, as you note, everybody knew of OBL - the mastermind of 9/11 - and hardly anybody outside the State Department and the military knew anything about Soleimani notwithstanding that he'd planned and coordinated quite a bit of mayhem.

So Trump didn't get the accolades he thought he deserved, and the Iranians, even those who opposed their government, were furious. Iran lobbed a few missiles just to prove they could, then stood down. Then it turned out that Iran accidentally shot down the Ukrainian passenger plane, which then caused the Iranians who oppose their government to oppose it some more. What happens now? Trump has a sad because killing an obscure general didn't make all of America bow down before his greatness, and the ayatollahs are back in the position of having a whole bunch of their people mad at them.

Maybe Iran wags its dog now? A little more Death to America stuff gets the people off the ayatollahs' asses. A few more missiles, maybe? Goad Trump to strike back to generate public support and take attention away from the plane crash? And Trump would take the bait; he always does.

[bullwinkle428]

14. He literally tried this several weeks ago with Al-Baghdadi, who in the grand scheme

of things, came across as a kind of cut-rate Bin Laden. Recall the whole "He cowered like a dog...he died like a dog!" official statement on a Sunday morning? He thought THAT would be his "Bin Laden killing", but that, too, was more or less an epic fail.

[malaise]

15. Not only that

This may appear simple but the General looked like movie star Omar Sharif.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

16. tRump subscribes to the "great man" theory of history (long ago discredited). But a

But a hundred Suleimans can arise. Especially if strongly enough motivated by an orange man who goes out of his way to antagonize people, as in this case.

[pnwmom]

17. I follow this stuff, and I couldn't have told you who he was before they killed him.

So I assume almost no Trump supporters -- who aren't as informed as any DUer -- knew of him.

[ProfessorGAC]

18. Until They Lie About It

In 5,4,3,2,1 the drones, not just the sycophants in DC, will lie about knowing all about this radical, moron nobody ever heard of.
They're full of it!

[not fooled]

19. Yeah

red don knows he is ignorant but I guess he gave the 'Murican people more credit, assuming they knew who Soleimani was.

His lackeys needed to do some propagandizin' beforehand to build this guy up into a widely recognized villain so that red don could play the hero.

Except that in this case, even with the credulous corporate media, the alarm would have gone off that there was something afoot if red don's henchmen started suddenly bringing this guy's name up.

[czarjak]

21. To be fair...

He knows anything goes.

[Wounded Bear]

23. Should drop the name and just call him the #2 guy in Iran...

Bush always got tons of press when he killed the #2 guy in Al Qaeda Iraq, 5 or 6 times. I forget how many times they took that guy out.

[The Valley Below]

25. I was very well-aware of who Qassem Soleimani was prior to his being killed.

He was a very bad guy who built terror networks and armed militia movements throughout the Middle East.

Assassinating him risks exploding an already volatile situation, but that doesn't alter the facts that this was a guy who masterminded the killings of many Americans and worked against peace in the region.

[MineralMan]

26. I don't doubt that for a second. However,

the American public didn't know who he was. So, Trump's assassination plan didn't get him kudos from the public like the killing of Osama bin Laden did. That was my only point, really. Trump did something he thought would lead to acclaim. Instead, it got a ho-hum and caused alarm.

[The Valley Below]

27. I make no pretense to know what Donald J Trump is "thinking,"

or if he is even capable of strategic thought, or what he expected to gain from this assassination--other than distracting from his impeachment.

He made a seriously risky move. How this plays out is yet to be seen. The armed groups that Qassem Soleimani set up are almost certainly going to seek retribution.

I do not trust Trump's judgement, which is a sentiment I know we share emphatically.