# US assassinates commanding general of Iran Quds force **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 3, 2020, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821 "2020-01-03T02:01:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/341 "2020-01-06T02:03:57Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > So, in the instance of a man like Soleimanei - who was responsible for hundreds of American deaths - what exactly \*should \*be the U.S. response? > > Some might say, “Bush should never have invaded Iraq in 2003 and then none of this would have happened,” but that’s besides the point. Should someone like Soleimani get immunity just because he is a member of a formal national government/military? I dunno about immunity, but I don’t think a summary death sentence is right. One that kills other people isn’t even close to right. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/342 "2020-01-06T02:18:16Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > If in fact > > 1. Iraq insists the USA get out, and > 2. The US complies instead of just taking the Iraqi government over and shooting a few politicians, > > Trump will just shift the troops to Saudi Arabia and then tell the Trumpists that he brought the troops “Home.” They will believe it. I cannot stand the Cheeto in Chief, but I see no downside In that for US interests. When _were_ we going to leave Iraq? The consequences stark for being there, and end never in sight. In Saudi Arabia we are still close and yet not ‘occupational’. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/343 "2020-01-06T02:23:03Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > BOOM. And there’s the truth. The US Navy is the single most powerful projector of force we have, and we have a LOT of Navy. The rest of the nations of the planet COMBINED cannot defeat it. But the Iranian navy doesn’t have to defeat the US navy – they fully understand that they can’t win a military battle against any division of the United States military. But you know what they can do? They can push the US out of Iraq – actually, that’s about to happen. You know what else they can do? They can grind the flow of global energy supplies to a halt for up to weeks or even months and send the global economy into a tailspin. You wanna know how wars are won and lost? A war is won or lost when country A breaks country B’s will to fight. The United States obliterated Vietnam, laying waste to its countryside and probably killing more than a million VC. We lost 58,000 troops. And guess what: **we lost**. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Falsely. Thanks. I already knew about their little limpet mine distributing fast boats that are part of the reason Iran finds itself here. Let’s not forget: THEY did this to themselves. This is the most brazen and outrageous answer to their brazen sabre rattling and lower level operations they’ve been conducting for DECADES. Fuck them. Great, but that attitude doesn’t make us stronger; it makes us weaker. Question: which country is trying to project its power 8,000 miles away from home? ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/344 "2020-01-06T02:23:19Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The best answer I have is that when the US Army Air Force killed Yamamoto with P-38s, the US was at war with Japan. We are at war with Iran? ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/345 "2020-01-06T02:24:48Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > My US passport has my place of birth on it, so any naturalized Iranian-Americans would be easy to spot. It shows my nationality (USA) and place of birth (NY, USA). Americans of Iranian descent born in the US would be trickier to discriminate against, I guess. When you hand your US passport to a guard/agent/cop and they run it through a scanner, do you know what information shows on their screen? Do you know whether or not your family history pops up? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/346 "2020-01-06T02:25:53Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > I cannot stand the Cheeto in Chief, but I see no downside In that for US interests. When _were_ we going to leave Iraq? The consequences stark for being there, and end never in sight. In Saudi Arabia we are still close and yet not ‘occupational’. I will acknowledge that maybe this really is a face-saving way out for King Cheeto. He spanks Iran and then we get out of Iraq before they have a chance to slap us back. America leaving Iraq (i.e. ceding ground to Iran) is the only way we can possibly de-escalate in the short term. They still might want revenge but that might satisfy their thirst for retribution in the short term ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/347 "2020-01-06T02:33:43Z")
If the end result is that we leave Iraq and everyone starts behaving better, it ends up being a win for us. One of the most dangerous people in history is removed from the world stage and all we had to pay was to get out of Iraq? Who wouldn’t take that deal if that’s how it turns out? Besides, it’s not like Iraq and even Iran won’t welcome us back if the Sunnis get frisky again. The whole reason we’re fighting again is because the threat of ISIS has receded. If they come back, we’ll put our issues on the backburner again and deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/348 "2020-01-06T02:42:57Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > If the end result is that we leave Iraq and everyone starts behaving better, it ends up being a win for us. One of the most dangerous people in history is removed from the world stage and all we had to pay was to get out of Iraq? Who wouldn’t take that deal if that’s how it turns out? > > Besides, it’s not like Iraq and even Iran won’t welcome us back if the Sunnis get frisky again. The whole reason we’re fighting again is because the threat of ISIS has receded. If they come back, we’ll put our issues on the backburner again and deal with it. And if Iran decides to start actually building nuclear weapons, as their announcement on JCPOA might imply? Still count that as a win? ---
**Author:** ![2ManyTacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/3da27b/32.png) [@2ManyTacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ManyTacos)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/349 "2020-01-06T02:47:15Z")
Yeah, I too don’t see how the US leaving Iraq would be bad. Are we supposed to stay forever like in Afghanistan and South Korea? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/350 "2020-01-06T02:52:53Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > And if Iran decides to start actually building nuclear weapons, as their announcement on JCPOA might imply? Still count that as a win? Who is honestly scared of a ME nation that’s nuts trying to get nukes? Are you scared of North Korea? I’m not. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/351 "2020-01-06T02:53:17Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > We are at war with Iran? No, we aren’t, Einstein. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/352 "2020-01-06T02:54:38Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > And if Iran decides to start actually building nuclear weapons, as their announcement on JCPOA might imply? Still count that as a win? Iran deciding to resume their program is neither a win nor a loss especially since I don’t buy for a minute that they had ever abandoned their ambitions. We’ll just resume our campaign of sabotage, they can try building nukes under crushing sanctions, Israel and Saudi Arabia will keep assassinating their nuclear scientists, and even if after all that Iran gets a bomb, it won’t even do them any good anyway. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/353 "2020-01-06T02:56:35Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Who is honestly scared of a ME nation that’s nuts trying to get nukes? Are you scared of North Korea? I’m not. It is scary if they actually pull it off, but we have other ways of dealing with that problem to make sure that the cost of having nukes is unacceptable. Like North Korea, maybe Iran doesn’t care if their people starve. That’s on them. It’s not like they can use the bomb. It’s not even really a deterrent against anything but preemptive invasion, which wasn’t happening in either NK or Iran’s case anyway. But I actually think they can’t do it. There’s just too much pressure on them and they only got as far as they did thanks to AQ Khan, whose activities have been terminated. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/354 "2020-01-06T02:57:03Z")
I thought Iran and Iraq hated each other’s guts. They fought a war when Saddam Hussein was running things. Have we screwed up that much after “rescuing” Iraq from Saddam? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/355 "2020-01-06T02:57:46Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > America leaving Iraq (i.e. ceding ground to Iran) is the only way we can possibly de-escalate in the short term. They still might want revenge but that might satisfy their thirst for retribution in the short term Are you kidding? That’s a massive win for them. They give up one guy and the USA flees Iraq? The Iranians couldn’t have dreamt up a better result for themselves. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/356 "2020-01-06T03:01:39Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I thought Iran and Iraq hated each other’s guts. They fought a war when Saddam Hussein was running things. Have we screwed up that much after “rescuing” Iraq from Saddam? WTF, seriously? After we deposed the Sunni Hussein regime, the majority Shiites took over and they’re natural allies with the Iranians. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/357 "2020-01-06T03:03:28Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > When you hand your US passport to a guard/agent/cop and they run it through a scanner, do you know what information shows on their screen? Do you know whether or not your family history pops up? I have no idea, but I doubt it. My point is, that any naturalized citizens would be easy to hassle. Then, they could go by name after that, I guess, if they wanted. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/358 "2020-01-06T03:14:21Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Are you kidding? That’s a massive win for them. They give up one guy and the USA flees Iraq? The Iranians couldn’t have dreamt up a better result for themselves. Sounds like we both won, although from what I understand, this guy was irreplaceable as far as an outstanding general running Iran’s unconventional warfare strategies. And unconventional warfare on many fronts is kinda iran’s thing. If they don’t have a competent guy to replace him, then their efforts are majorly handicapped. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/359 "2020-01-06T03:18:48Z")
Graveyards are full of indispensable men. Think about it. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821/360 "2020-01-06T03:22:04Z")
Nevertheless, history has shown again and again that the deaths of some leaders have very significant effects. No one is truly irreplaceable in the sense that someone will take his place and manage Iran’s proxies. But that person certainly doesn’t have his experience or connections and almost certainly won’t have his skill. And in any case, his successor also has a pretty good chance of getting killed. The nature of Iran’s proxies is that they can’t be managed just by the Quds Force guy staying in Iran, so he’s going to be travelling, and vulnerable, and if Iran’s proxies actually do anything provocative, they’ll be looking for another guy pretty soon until they have to use the Quds Force chef. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-assassinates-commanding-general-of-iran-quds-force/845821.md?page=19)