Breaking: Qassem Soleimani Confirmed Dead by Iraqi State Media

[anatolia]

your MBS has big passion .i think all of his problem is about Turkeyi like his father but this kid is soo unsympahtetic.

 

[khansaheeb]

US of course. Iran needs to act with restraint and not fall for the US trap. But if things escalate, I know what will happen next as far as Pakistan is concerned.

Obviously Neocons have calculated :
1. Trump is in need of help because of his impeachment
2. Iran is weak under sanctions
3. Saudis want Iranian blood
4. Peace was returning to the region
5. Another US recession is looming
6. Hawkes are in power
7. US arms industry needs more money
8. Trump was ordered by Netanyahu
9. US wanted revenge for cocky Iranian actions: attack on Saudis, Attack on ships, attack on US bases etc

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

your MBS has big passion .i think all of his problem is about Turkeyi like his father but this kid is soo unsympahtetic.

MBS is a great guy and visionary but like every leader he is not perfect. Under his rule/dominance, you will not believe how much KSA has changed and how quickly for the better. Ask any expat, whether Turk, Pakistani or Arab about the changes.

There are tons of Youtube videos nowadays with people from across the world visiting as tourists. Watch what they have to say and what they have witnessed. Do a bit of research.

2 trillion USD IPO last month too. The entire Western propaganda media were constantly saying this would be impossible. Similar with all the massive projects.

There is no problem with Turkey, it is Erdogan (who himself married an Arab and his obsessing about internal Arab events) that seems to want to make KSA into an imaginary enemy, although he seems to have woken up given the fact that KSA and Qatar are mending bonds nowadays.

Give it 1 or 2 years, and I predict that Erdogan will sing praises of KSA again and vice versa. There is no enemity between the people which is the most important thing here.

 

[gangsta_rap]

fight me irl

 

[ARMalik]

your MBS has big passion .i think all of his problem is about Turkeyi like his father but this kid is soo unsympahtetic.

So ME would be like Europe .... everyone drinking and having a good nightclub life there (Sarcasm).

 

[Saho]

It's safe to say that Iran got cucked and humiliated to the extreme. They pressured the Iraqi "govt" to get the US out of the country so Uncle Sam sent a message to show who is the real boss in the region by killing their general and ayatollah's right handed man then their leaders went into hiding.

Into hiding...Oh, the humiliation after showing off and flexing their muscles in the Middle East in the last 10 years.

Yet people have the audacity to scream WW3. They don't have the balls to respond as previews nations did when they made a declaration of war straight after their generals, leaders and ambassadors was killed by another nation.

 

[Stryker1982]

It's safe to say that Iran got cucked and humiliated to the extreme. They pressured the Iraqi "govt" to get the US out of the country so Uncle Sam sent a message to show who is the real boss in the region by killing their general and ayatollah's right handed man then their leaders went into hiding.

Into hiding...Oh, the humiliation after showing off and flexing their muscles in the Middle East in the last 10 years.

Yet people have the audacity to scream WW3. They don't have the balls to respond as previews nations did when they made a declaration of war straight after their generals, leaders and ambassadors was killed by another nation.

I'm gonna save your post so that I can embarrass you in a week or two.

 

[LeGenD]

How old are you? In 1980s US armed, funded and pressured Saddam into attacking Iran, convincing him that US would do whatever it can to make Saddam victorious. US were providing Iraq with intelligence and satellite coverage over our troops positions, chemical weapons, media propaganda, unlimited loan for arms. Meanwhile Iran was blocked from buying even simple SCUDs. US also shot down our commercial airliner, Iran air flight 655 and sank 3 Iranian frigates. Ever since they have threatened us with war, regime change, sanctions, boycotts and whatever they can to cripple our economy.

How old (and literate) are you actually?

Read and learn:

The collapse of the shah’s government in Iran in early 1979 impacted the entire world but no country was more affected than Iraq. Saddam Hussein’s regime was the shah’s deadly enemy and had hosted the Ayatollah Khomeini in exile for years, but Saddam became the top foreign target of the revolutionaries in Tehran once they took power. Many countries were caught off balance by the Iranian revolution but none got it as wrong as Iraq. Its response—war—led to decades of conflict which have yet to end.

Ayatollah Khomeini was sent into exile in Turkey by the shah in 1964 for his role in leading protests against Iran’s close relations with the United States. In October 1965, Khomeini moved to Iraq to the Shia holy city of Najaf. The Iraqi government had a bitterly disputed border with Iran. The two governments were on the opposite sides of the Cold War: Iraq was the beneficiary of large-scale Soviet military assistance.

The United States had built its Middle East policy around Iran and the shah. He was the anchor of the American posture in the Persian Gulf. Billions of dollars in arms went to the shah’s army. His downfall was a disaster in the minds of most Americans.

The United States had no relations with Iraq. It was a challenging intelligence target. The Iranians under the shah were quick to tell the Americans what they thought was going on inside Iraq: Its assessments were often way of the mark.

The Iraqi intelligence services helped Khomeini run a clandestine subversion operation from Najaf against the shah. The Iranian Shiite pilgrimage to Najaf was a useful cover for communicating with operatives inside Iran. Cassette tapes of Khomeini’s preaching were smuggled into Iran from Najaf.

In 1968 Saddam Hussein came to power in a coup. For the next decade he ruled Iraq behind the scenes. Saddam continued using Khomeini against the shah. For his part the shah backed a Kurdish insurgency against Saddam with the support of the CIA. Then in 1975, Saddam and the shah signed a peace agreement in Algiers which awarded Iran disputed territory along the Shatt al Arab in return for abandoning the Kurds.

Saddam did not abandon Khomeini along with the Kurds and he remained at the center of Islamic militancy against the shah right up to the start of the revolution. I was assigned to the Iran desk in the CIA in November 1978 amidst widespread allegations that the intelligence community had failed to anticipate the revolution.

Whatever the failing of America’s intelligence, the Iraqis had clearly not anticipated the strength and magnitude of the revolution that they had helped create by supporting Khomeini for years in Najaf. On October 5, 1978, Saddam expelled Khomeini from Najaf. The Ayatollah found new refuge in France outside of Paris. From Neuphale Le Chataeu, Khomeini commanded the final months of the revolution and triumphantly returned to Tehran on February 1, 1979. Saddam alienated the man who had been laboring for years against the shah just before the moment of his triumph. It was a monumental mistake.

Within weeks of the creation of the Islamic Republic Khomeini reverse engineered the smuggling routes he had used against the shah from Najaf to now try to subvert Saddam’s Ba’athist regime in Baghdad. At the CIA, we forecast in the spring of 1979 that Iran-Iraq relations were heading toward conflict. The new revolutionary regime in Tehran began sponsoring a wave of terror attacks inside Iraq aimed at toppling Saddam and creating a second Islamic (and Shiite) Republic in Baghdad. Border clashes became normal.

Saddam was determined to fight back. He invited disgruntled generals from the shah’s former army to Baghdad to arrange a coup to oust the Ayatollah. Both sides engaged in conspiracies and plots to subvert the other. Both sides also targeted minority communities in the other for subversion: Iran worked on the Kurds, Iraq on the Arabs in Khuzistan and the Baluchis.

After the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran the CIA Task Force on Iran redoubled efforts to monitor the Iran-Iraq border for signs of a coming war. Among the generals who were assisting the Iraqis was Gholam Ali Oveissi, who had been the shah’s last army commander. He left Iran in January 1979 for exile in Paris. He continued to have close contacts with the American military that had developed during his years with the shah. Oveissi trained in the United States in Virginia and Kansas.

In September 1980 Oveissi came to New York and I debriefed him. He had just been in Baghdad and seen Saddam. War was imminent, according to what he had been told. The Iraqi army was poised to invade. Oveissi promised Saddam that Iran was weak and its military in disarray. Of course that is what Saddam wanted to hear.

The intelligence community issued an immediate warning memo indicating that the Iraqis were going to invade and assessing the implications. The memo concluded that Iraq was not likely to win a quick and cheap war. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brezezinski summed it up crisply: “Iraq has bitten off more than it can chew” he wrote to President Jimmy Carter.

Oveissi was assassinated in Paris on February 7, 1984 by an Iranian hit team. The war lasted eight years and cost the lives of a half million people, another million injured and over a trillion dollars in damage. It set in motion the march of folly that led to three more wars. It all began with Saddam’s mistakes in 1978 and 1979.

Link: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/01/24/what-irans-revolution-meant-for-iraq/

Saddam regime had a problem with Iran after Iranian Mullahs toppled Shah regime in Iran while US looked the other way.

Secondly:

Abstract

Since the Iraqi invasion of Iran in 1980, numerous observers and scholars have alleged that the United States ‘green-lighted’ Saddam Hussein's decision to go to war. This article scrutinises the green light thesis by examining US and Iraqi documents that have recently become available to scholars. These records reveal that the green light thesis has more basis in myth than in reality. Preoccupied with issues such as the Iran hostage crisis and the implications of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Carter administration officials neither expected nor welcomed Saddam's attack on Iran. The Iraqi dictator, for his part, believed that Washington would oppose rather than support his war.

Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14682745.2011.564612?journalCode=fcwh20

Sorry to disappoint you but Iranian Mullahs created enemies of Iran when there were none.

 

[anatolia]

MBS is a great guy and visionary but like every leader he is not perfect. Under his rule/dominance, you will not believe how much KSA has changed and how quickly for the better. Ask any expat, whether Turk, Pakistani or Arab about the changes.

There are tons of Youtube videos nowadays with people from across the world visiting as tourists. Watch what they have to say and what they have witnessed. Do a bit of research.

2 trillion USD IPO last month too. The entire Western propaganda media were constantly saying this would be impossible. Similar with all the massive projects.

There is no problem with Turkey, it is Erdogan (who himself married an Arab and his obsessing about internal Arab events) that seems to want to make KSA into an imaginary enemy, although he seems to have woken up given the fact that KSA and Qatar are mending bonds nowadays.

Give it 1 or 2 years, and I predict that Erdogan will sing praises of KSA again and vice versa. There is no enemity between the people which is the most important thing here.

i think it was KSA asked Qatar to close Turkish base to normalize relationship and then you killed the guy in Turkey..so i think you should notjust blame erdogan..and good maybe Qatar can help us to improve our relationship..

 

[Pakistani Fighter]

The US struck Soleimani yesterday and the other PMU leaders today BECAUSE The US has lost effective deterrence by presence and posture.

The US decided to remix the equation(targeted assassinations) to see if this sort of violence will restore military deterrence with Iranian backed groups. Problem is, that has escalated things past "acceptable" for Iran.

I am making my prediction here and now: The US is flexing militarily and Iran is reacting quietly(for now),but US is more afraid of a conflict than Iran is.

Trump might have also acted extra aggressive here in order to restore his humiliation by Iranian military last year. Trump was provoked 2-3 times by Iran and he didnt do anything, so that might have made Iran more aggressive, and so now Trump is doing these assassination to put a lid on Iran's military activities and restore more effective deterrence against Iran.

Those of you who said Iran wont do anything, please save and screenshot those posts where you said that.

Iran cant beat US in a conventional war, let me state that loud and clear, because some people get triggered and start hallucinating your intent when you say anything that suggests or sounds otherwise.

BUUUT, when you consider the fact that Trump has given Iran the MOST effective reasons in a long time that creates unity for military action and aggressive behavior PLUS the fact that Iran is currently a matured, rested and competent military power PLUS the fact that US military priority is to focus on China(which is why Trump didnt strike Iran last year when he had multiple chances to do so), i worry that timing is on Iran's side. US military is 1) exhausted from long wars 2) doesnt have money for a war with Iran 3) Soldiers are fatigued and morale is good but not great 3) US public that doesnt want another war, and DEFINITELY not a war with a competent military power like Iran, i am afraid to say that Iran has the real military momentum now. I dont care that US flew in 200 C-17s. The fact is that America doesnt have the troop #s currently to have a serious clash with Iran in place. That is the fact. US at most has 30-50K soldiers ready now and able and US will need at least 200-500KK soldiers for an Iran contingency.

ON A FINAL NOTE, to the crowd that says "Iran and ISIS are allies", you do notice that Russian and Iraqi govt officials both said that SOleimani fought ISIS. If Iran is friends with ISIS then why would an Iranian general be accused of fighting a friend of Iran? make it make sense!! NO LOGIC DETECTED.

Some Pakistanis are trolling on this thread and so is 1 Turkish guy with the eagle in his logo(he is trolling STEALTHILY but hard) but since its not a thread after recent Pakistan-India tensions/conflict, you dont get banned. On that thread, people who were non Pakistani and said anything Pakistanis didnt want to hear then got banned quick. But its all good..the truth will reveal itself completely. Let the chips fall where they may and may the best emerge the victor.

Lol US doesnt need to land on Iran. Strikes on Military and Oil related structures are enough

 

[BRAVO_]

about this entire incident my opinion is ..

1 ... General Qasim solimani was closer to many Americans too, when Sadam govt was taken down by Americans it was him who was dealing with Americans, further he was dealing with americans on Taliban issue later he was successful to establish a group of Taliban which was pro iranian , so its politics we should not connect everything with religion.
2...why he was killed ... in my opinion after rocket attacks on American base, america took action against iraqi hizbullah and killed their fighters, later at the time of funeral of those people attacked american embassy in which one american military contract got killed. killing a contractor mean business for americans they killed the general ....
3... the new appointed chief of al qudus force general ismail has a vast intelligence operational experience since he was looking after one or two arab countries but the most important country under his role was Pakistan, so pakistan must be careful
4... there will be no full scale war it does not suit anybody so the revenge which iran is talking about could be something different
for some general Qasim was a hero for others he was a villain but history will keep him remember as one of the most influential person of his time in iran ...

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

i think it was KSA asked Qatar to close Turkish base to normalize relationship and then you killed the guy in Turkey..so i think you should notjust blame erdogan..and good maybe Qatar can help us to improve our relationship..

Qatar is part of the GCC and their military is closely aligned to the GCC military command. Military exercises and intelligence are shared on a daily/weekly/monthly basis and Qatar already hosts the largest US base in the region (CENTCOM headquarters). The joint small Qatar-Turkish base is no threat for KSA and is a sitting duck. In fact Qatar does not pose a threat to KSA and never will or has. What this is about is complicated regime disagreements and foreign policy that this thread is not intended for.

All I can say is that negotiations are ongoing and that I will soon expect a breakthrough. The foreign minister of Qatar was in KSA not long ago. Remember that Qataris are basically Saudi Arabians. 99.9% of all the locals are originally from KSA, including the ruling family. They are our brethren and we consider each other as one people. This was never a people-people conflict, we always considered it a sham (the people).

Khashoggi was clearly a butched operation (probably they wanted to take him home to prevent him from using the Washington Post as a medium to attack KSA and convince him to stop) with the involvement of Saud Al-Qathani (not a popular figure among people, now luckily removed), anything else makes no sense, nor has KSA a history of killing regime critics, for starters Khashoggi was a patriot and far from an enemy, contrary to mainly Saudi Arabians in exile (Arab world and West) who are broadcasting filth from London, Washington DC., Paris etc.

Relations are not as bad even though they are not ideal. For instance KSA is not involved in Libya, we consider both sides to be equally bad and on loan and given the history of our Libyan brethren, they will never accept long-term foreign interference.

Problem is that Erdogan is aligned with the MB sect/organization and obviously it is hard to trust Erdogan 100% fully when the MB's goal is to remove every Arab regime and replace it with MB people. That is also where the Turkish-Egyptian hostility originates from. In the eyes of Egypt you are hosting wanted people/terrorists who are broadcasting from Turkey.

The MB will never gain power in the Arab world, even if the current regimes are removed (they will like any other regime) the people won't put the MB in power. It is a mostly Egyptian organization that has failed everywhere else even whey had democratic means to run for politics.

Erdogan has had a very erratic foreign policy in recent years. From a policy of no hostility and enemies to creating enemies left and right.

But yeah, no regime is perfect and they all commit mistakes, what is important is people to people relationship, history, civilizational, religious, linguistic, culture, custom etc. influences and simple geopolitics.

BTW speaking about Qatar, I celebrated their victory in the Asian Football Championship last January. Just like Qataris celebrated the Asian Champions League victory of Al-Hilal.

Recently we had a game in the Arabian Gulf Cup as well in Qatar with fans from both countries and zero problems.

I think that by 2020, unless foreign powers try to prevent this, a resolution will be found. That is my hope at least and that of every Saudi Arabian and Qatari that I know.

 

[lonelyman]

MBS is a great guy and visionary but like every leader he is not perfect. Under his rule/dominance, you will not believe how much KSA has changed and how quickly for the better. Ask any expat, whether Turk, Pakistani or Arab about the changes.

There are tons of Youtube videos nowadays with people from across the world visiting as tourists. Watch what they have to say and what they have witnessed. Do a bit of research.

2 trillion USD IPO last month too. The entire Western propaganda media were constantly saying this would be impossible. Similar with all the massive projects.

There is no problem with Turkey, it is Erdogan (who himself married an Arab and his obsessing about internal Arab events) that seems to want to make KSA into an imaginary enemy, although he seems to have woken up given the fact that KSA and Qatar are mending bonds nowadays.

Give it 1 or 2 years, and I predict that Erdogan will sing praises of KSA again and vice versa. There is no enemity between the people which is the most important thing here.

I seriously doubt your prediction on Erdogan, from his actions in the neighborhood, no secret he wants ottoman back and to be the new sudan

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

I seriously doubt your prediction on Erdogan, from his actions in the neighborhood, no secret he wants ottoman back and to be the new sudan

Well, I would like to travel at a higher speed than the speed of light, does not mean that it will ever happen. Dreaming is free and all.

Regardless what I predict or not, he has no other option than to seek cordial ties with us Arabs as we far outnumber him on almost every single front which this difference only becoming bigger in the future considering our large population and economic growth. For Turkey to play a role, let alone positive in the region, they need friendly ties with Arabs. Which they try to cultivate to gain influence as anyone can see.

And since KSA/Arabs and Turkey don't really have any existential/current day wars/conflicts/disagreements, that cannot be solved diplomatically, I see no reason to predict the worst scenario. Both of us have many other more important things to focus on and much, much bigger enemies/opponents.

That is why they invest so much energy in 1 tiny but wealthy Arab nation in Qatar. The same Qatar is helping/has been helping their industries and struggling economy while being part of the so far failed MB project.

But state relations and people to people relations are not the same thing (case in point KSA/UAE/EGYPT/BAHRAIN VS QATAR) limited to individuals whether they are named Erdogan, MbS or whatever else.

In 5-10 years time, Erdogan is likely no more. Who knows what will happen in KSA. MbS might be ruling, but might have changed his viewpoint on the MB and rather try to ally with them. This is the Middle East, it is a constantly changing region with some of the most complicated dynamics. States can appear to be hostile but in reality they can share many of the same goals/ambitions and work indirectly together. You need to be from this region while growing up with this mess to know what I am talking about. Similarly, KSA can change its foreign policy, depending on the administration that gains power. Compare King Abdullah with King Salman/MBS. Compare the King Fahd era with King Abdullah. Those could all be different countries/policies of totally different countries.

 

[925boy]

Don’t know you much on this forum, but what you said is what I wanted to get out as well. Well put.

I’m following you as well.

Cheers! I read your posts too and they were very well balanced and deep.... wish more on this forum were as objective as you are.