Killing Soleimani was in Israel’s interest, ‘not in the American interest’

Killing Soleimani was in Israel’s interest, ‘not in the American interest’ (says former Obama aide)

Goldenberg, who had a long career in the Obama administration, said explicitly yesterday that the strike was “not in the American interest” and was strategically a “major mistake.” Michael Koplow of Israel Policy Forum asked Goldenberg why in Israel “for the most part this [killing] is being universally cheered,” and why his Israeli counterparts are “calling or texting” to say it was “an unqualified good move” and to wonder why it is “not being universally cheered in the United States.”

https://mondoweiss.net/2020/01/killing-suleimani-was-in-israels-interest-not-in-the-american-interest-says-former-obama-aide/

Jeff Morley reports that Israeli security officials had recommended the assassination of Suleimani last year. “After Mossad targeted Soleimani, Trump pulled the trigger.” Morley reported last October that Israel appeared to be targeting Suleimani.

Last October Yossi Cohen, head of Israel’s Mossad, spoke openly about assassinating Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, the head of the elite Quds Force in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“He knows very well that his assassination is not impossible,” Cohen said in an interview. Soleimani had boasted that the Israel’s tried to assassinate him in 2006 and failed.

https://mondoweiss.net/2020/01/israel-played-a-role-in-us-decision-to-assassinate-iranian-general/

TV Pundits Praising Suleimani Assassination Neglect to Disclose Ties to Arms Industry

Jack Keane, a retired Army general, appeared on Fox News and NPR over the last three days to praise Trump for the strike on Suleimani. “The president acted responsibly,” Keane said during an appearance with Fox News host Lou Dobbs. “It should have happened a long time ago.” Keane has worked for military companies, including General Dynamics and Blackwater, and currently serves as a partner at SCP Partners, a venture capital firm that invests in defense contractors.

Van Hipp, chair of the lobbying firm American Defense International, which represents more than two dozen defense contractors — including Raytheon, Palantir, and General Atomics, the manufacturer of the MQ-9 Reaper drone used in the Suleimani slaying — published an opinion column on Fox News’s website praising Trump and suggesting increased pressure on the Iranian government.

https://theintercept.com/2020/01/06/iran-suleimani-tv-pundits-weapons-industry/

Israel Desperately Wants to Deny Iran Nukes, Trump May Have Just Ensured It Gets Them

During the decades preceding Trump’s election, both Israeli and U.S. leaders swore that their greatest wish was to ensure Iran did not obtain nuclear weapons. There was an argument between the two countries about the best way to do this, with U.S. presidents Bush and Obama refusing to use military force; while Israel argued incessantly that the only way to stop Iran from doing so was through a military strike.

I predicted here the same day that Soleimani was killed that JCPOA was dead. And indeed today the Iranians confirmed that they’ve abandoned it and will enrich uranium at its own pace, uninfluenced by outside interests. After reading former senior Obama Defense Department official, Frank Kendall’s analysis of this question, it’s clear that there are even bigger stakes. After Trump took the gloves off in murdering the most significant military leader in the Middle East, one of the most decisive steps Iran could take to respond is by renewing its nuclear weapons program, which it suspended in 2003.

https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2020/01/06/israel-desperately-wants-to-deny-iran-nukes-trump-may-have-just-ensured-it-goes-nuclear/

Trump Begins Iranian ‘Internment’

The Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA) is assisting more than 60 Iranians and Iranian-Americans of all ages who were detained at length and questioned at the Peace Arch Border Crossing in Blaine, Wash.

Many more were reportedly refused entry to the United States due to a lack of capacity for Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to detain them…

Those detained reported that their passports were confiscated and they were questioned about their political views and allegiances.

…Crystal, a 24-year-old American citizen and medical student was…detained and interrogated for more than 10 hours with her family at the Peace Arch Border Crossing before being released early this morning. “The vast majority of people being held last night were American citizens,” said Crystal. “We kept asking why we were being detained and asked questions that had nothing to do with our reason for traveling and was told ‘I’m sorry this is just the wrong time for you guys.’”

A source at CBP reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a national order to CBP to “report” and detain anyone with Iranian heritage entering the count

https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2020/01/05/trump-begins-iranian-internment/