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Death of General Soleimani: why has Trump struck now?

2020-01-03T10:59:26.911Z


The American President has ordered the killing of the very powerful Iranian official in Baghdad, ten months before the presidential election when


True declaration of war or simple military operation? The American strike which killed, on Friday morning in Baghdad, the powerful Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and another senior official of a pro-Iran militia, should in any event not be without consequences.

It was Donald Trump himself who decided on this intervention. "On orders from the president, the US military has taken decisive defensive measures to protect US personnel overseas by killing Qassem Soleimani," the Pentagon said in a statement.

"The next step was to hit even harder, he did it"

For several weeks, tension has escalated in the region between Iran and the United States. US contractor killed last week after series of attacks on US diplomatic and military personnel killed before militia supporters targeted U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday pro-Iranian Iraqi women. "Trump's reaction today may seem consistent when we put it back in this sequence of events. The next step was to hit even harder, he did it, ”notes historian Corentin Sellin, a specialist in the United States.

Since Trump's election in 2016, several episodes of tension had already broken out in this region of the Middle East. Last June, after Iran's destruction of an American drone, Donald Trump himself admitted to having ordered a military strike ... before canceling it, just ten minutes before the operation.

The fact remains that when he came to power, Donald Trump had assured that he was in favor of peace. "The rejection of war was massive in the United States, the American people no longer wanted to hear about these wars. Trump took up the Republican slogan at the beginning of the 21st century, "prosperity and peace," said Jean-Eric Branaa, researcher at Iris and specialist in the United States. "He is not an isolationist, he wanted to withdraw the troops on the ground when they were exposed, but he also had the idea of ​​using American technology to strike from afar, as we saw in Syria, which does not imply a lasting land commitment ”, nuance Corentin Sellin.

A "good move" in domestic policy

To understand why Donald Trump decided to strike today one of the top officials of the Iranian army, considered to be a terrorist, we must also take into account the internal political context in the United States.

In ten months, in November 2020, the American president will play for his re-election. It is therefore not trivial if, while he is usually very verbose on Twitter, Donald Trump was satisfied this Friday morning to publish a simple American flag. Official communication around the Baghdad raid was conducted by the White House and the Pentagon, via their own institutional broadcast channels.

pic.twitter.com/VXeKiVzpTf

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2020

"Trump wants to show that it no longer concerns him, but America as a whole. It calls for the patriotism of all Americans, ”says Jean-Eric Branaa. "He takes up Ronald Reagan's strategy in 1984, saying 'I am America, and everyone who is against me is against the United States'. He is trying to install the dividing line between the American party and the non-American party, ”adds Corentin Sellin.

When Trump was talking about Obama and a war with Iran

Elected Democrats, including those participating in the primary to be invested as a candidate for their camp against Trump, have also denounced the operation overnight. One of their main complaints is that the Congress was not associated with or even informed by the presidency. But nothing compelled Trump to do so, being a "simple" military strike and not an official entry into war. “They are necessarily a little embarrassed and caught in the crossfire, because they cannot defend Soleimani. It is a good political coup for Trump, "said Corentin Sellin.

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The American president, under the influence of an impeachment procedure (which has very little chance of succeeding), is himself perfectly aware of the electoral impact that a conflict can have in this region of the Middle East. In November 2011, a year before the presidential election in which Barack Obama was re-elected, he wrote on Twitter: "In order to be elected, Barack Obama will start a war with Iran. ". A year later, a few days before the election, he added: "Do not let Obama play the card of Iran to start a war in order to be elected. Watch out, Republicans! "

Don't let Obama play the Iran card in order to start a war in order to get elected - be careful Republicans!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2012

Source: leparis

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