Giant Toddler Offered Gun, Decides To Use It

There are apparently some dim- witted officials at the Pentagon who haven't been observing how unstable moron Donald "Rump" Trump makes decisions:

In the chaotic days leading to the death of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, Iran’s most powerful commander, top American military officials put the option of killing him — which they viewed as the most extreme response to recent Iranian-led violence in Iraq — on the menu they presented to President Trump.

They didn’t think he would take it. In the wars waged since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Pentagon officials have often offered improbable options to presidents to make other possibilities appear more palatable.

After initially rejecting the Suleimani option on Dec. 28 and authorizing airstrikes on an Iranian-backed Shia militia group instead, a few days later Mr. Trump watched, fuming, as television reports showed Iranian-backed attacks on the American Embassy in Baghdad, according to Defense Department and administration officials.

By late Thursday, the president had gone for the extreme option. Top Pentagon officials were stunned. [snip]

Mr. Trump, who aides said had on his mind the specter of the 2012 attacks on the American compound in Benghazi, Libya, became increasingly angry as he watched television images of pro-Iranian demonstrators storming the embassy. Aides said he worried that no response would look weak after repeated threats by the United States.

When Mr. Trump chose the option of killing General Suleimani, top military officials, flabbergasted, were immediately alarmed about the prospect of Iranian retaliatory strikes on American troops in the region. (our emphasis)

"Flabbergasted."  Who could possibly have foreseen the guy who doesn't pay attention to intelligence briefings (but watches a lot of tv), who is coming more unhinged every day due to his impeachment, who thinks he makes the best decisions and knows more than "his generals" -- who could possibly have foreseen this Giant Toddler choosing the worst possible option, one that you assumed was beyond the pale?

We're fortunate the "guardrails" are holding up, aren't we?

Iranian Military Leader Assassinated By U.S. Forces

(A vehicle burns at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in early Friday. The Pentagon said Thursday that the U.S. military has killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force. AP photo)

The killing by U.S. air forces last night in Baghdad of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran's Quds Force and powerful linchpin of Iranian military and political strategy in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, is a quantum leap escalation by the Trump regime following the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in recent days. One observer noted, the killing of Soleimani would be comparable to killing the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Director of the CIA, and Secretary of Defense. Also killed in the attack was Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, leader of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces militia. The killings were done on Trump's direct order.

There's no question Soleimani was a deadly enemy of the United States.  The question now becomes what Iran's response will be, and what unforeseen consequences will flow from this dramatic escalation.  We've gathered some reading for a quick look at what this all means:

--  Accounts of Soleimani's importance here and here;

-- Some questions about the killing and its implications, and what a former CIA official expects will happen;

-- What Iran's leaders are saying;  and

-- Democrats blast the lack of notification of or authorization by Congress and the greater danger the action brings to Americans in the region.

The State Department has already warned U.S. citizens to leave Iraq immediately.

BONUS:  As always, there are Trump tweets from the past to savor.