Jan 19, 2020
Lessons from Soleimani's Death
A Guest Post by Dr Harold Goldmeier
Soleimani
grew to be a nuclear actor. Soleimani boasted in 2008 to U S General Petraeus:
“You must know that I, Qassem Soleimani, am in charge of the Iranian policies
concerning Iraq, Gaza, and Afghanistan.” He shipped arms, IEDs, and bombs from
Iran to kill allied troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Spy agencies and national
leaders from Canada to Japan, across Europe and the Middle East, even the UN,
labeled Soleimani a terrorist and placed sanctions against him.
The
neutralization of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani comes as no surprise
for readers of Shadow Strike: Inside Israel’s Secret Mission to
Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power (Yaacov Katz, St. Martin’s Press,
2019). Soleimani’s fate mirrors that of Israel’s decade-ago targeted
assassination of Hezbollah’s chief of operations, Imad Mughniyeh. He was,
according to Katz, “Iran’s primary terror emissary in the Middle East.” A joint
CIA-Mossad intelligence-sharing operation eliminated him. And now unconfirmed
reports are emerging the two agencies cooperated in targeting Soleimani.
There
are some important lessons to about the balance of terror on the international
scene in the fast-read engrossing book. Katz effectively uses stories and
conversations to highlight his lessons.
Katz
uncovers the details of why and how Mughniyeh was killed. First, there is the
lesson of patience. It took patience, persistence and verifiable espionage to
get the target at the right time in the right location to get the point across.
Eventually, a bomb was planted in the trunk of his car on the streets of
Syria’s capital by Israel’s super-secret Kidon unit.
Mughniyeh
was Iran’s liaison to the Syrians, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad. He met with
Soleimani who was responsible then for Iran’s “overseas activities.” Israel’s
message was clear to its enemies. “No one and nothing (the Syrian reactor) was
(sic) out of reach. If the Mossad could get its hands on Mughniyeh in the heart
of Damascus, they could get their hands on anyone.”
Soleimani
grew to be a nuclear actor. Soleimani boasted in 2008 to U S General Petraeus:
“You must know that I, Qassem Soleimani, am in charge of the Iranian policies
concerning Iraq, Gaza, and Afghanistan.” He shipped arms, IEDs, and bombs from
Iran to kill allied troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Spy agencies and national
leaders from Canada to Japan, across Europe and the Middle East, even the UN,
labeled Soleimani a terrorist and placed sanctions against him.
Another
lesson learned has to do with national self-interest. Nothing tops it. Israel
has a long reach and willingness to do almost anything to survive its hostile
neighbors. Self-interests override friendships and redefine international
rules.
The
strike on the nuclear reactor was a time-consuming espionage enterprise.
Verifications of information were necessary as new facts emerged. How might the
capricious leader of North Korea react after his substantial investment
explodes and to the possible death of his nationals helping build the reactor?
What about Turkey and Erdogan’s desire to lead the Islamic world? Might the
neutralization of Soleimani push Iran into a shooting war that media predicted
can trigger World War III?
Now it
seems unlikely Russia and China are going to war to avenge Soleimani just as we
learn from Shadow Strike that the Bush administration made
it abundantly clear to the North Koreans Israel’s airstrike was in its
existential self-interest. After the strike on the reactor, “interactions”
between North Korea and Syria were “no longer at the level that it had been
before the Israeli airstrike.”
Another
lesson the West poo-poos but dominates the Middle East is that the future
depends on the memory keepers. The influence of history directs current events.
For instance, Jews in Israel no longer view themselves in victim mode. The
Holocaust is past but remembered. Israel is the means “Not to forget. To rely
only on ourselves.”
“What
most people don’t know is that Israel is the only country in the world to have
attacked and destroyed two nuclear reactors in two different countries…(and)
Israel will always use military force to prevent its enemies from obtaining
nuclear weapons,” Katz reminds.
Allies
have to respect each other’s self-interests. Bush had reasons not to attack the
Syrian nuclear reactor. Israel allegedly wanted to neutralize the Iranian
general three years earlier according to emerging news reports but the Obama
administration thwarted Israel’s plans. With Soleimani posing no existential
threat to Israel her leaders deferred to President Obama’s purported
self-interests. Patience won out in this case when the Trump administration
took action. It leaves Israel publicly blameless thus avoiding an all-out
shooting confrontation with Iran.
ABC.net
News labels Soleimani’s neutralization as “a watershed moment in the Middle
East conflict.” Soleimani was more a traditional warlord than a modern general.
Let’s not aggrandize his memory but learn the lessons of dealing with a
terrorist state.
Dr. Harold Goldmeier writes about business, social and
political issues, public speaker, and Manager of an investment firm. Harold.goldmeier@gmail.com
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