Jim Fetzer
[Editor’s note: This article was originally published in Farsi in Iran https://www.mizanonline.com/fa/news/585480/سردار-سلیمانی-موفقترین-استراتژیست-نظامی-ضد-تروریسم-جهانترور-سردار-سلیمانی-نقض-قوانین-بینالمللی-است.]
The stunning drone attack that killed Major General Qassem Soleimani and senior leaders of the Shia militia in Iraq was not only a violation of international law but of Iraqi sovereignty as well. Perhaps most disturbing, Iraq’s PM, Adel Abdul Mahdi, reported that Soleimani was on a diplomatic mission as the guest of Iraq at the behest of President Donald Trump, who used the pretext of receiving a Trump-Pompeo missive to take him out. The world has not seen an act of this degree of betrayal and treachery since Hillary Clinton as then US Secretary of State took out Muammar Gaddafi traveling under a white flag of surrender to a location specified by the DOS and had his convoy viciously attack, savagely killing him and sodomizing him with a bayonet.
General Soleimani was the most accomplished military strategist in counterterrorism the world has ever seen. In attempting to explain the Quds force to American audiences, I have suggested the rough equivalent of a merge of the US Marine Corps with Army Special Ops. His standing as the second most influential leader of Iran has likewise prompted me to ask how we would feel about the assassination of Gen. Douglas MacArthur or (perhaps even better) Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Circumstances suggest that Trump was encouraged to take this step by Benjamin Netanyahu, where Israel has had a major grudge against Soleimani since Hezbollah defeated the Israeli Army—ranked the world’s 4th most powerful–in the 33-day July War in Lebanon.
Bibi may have induced Trump to terminate him by offering a parallel with Barack Osama taking out Osama bin Laden. But Osama had died of his medical maladies in 2001 and was buried in an unmarked grave in accordance with Muslim tradition. Obama found it politically irresistible to resurrect him to die again in a staged raid on a compound in Pakistan in 2011, which positioned him for his triumphal reelection in 2012. Osama was actually “our man in Afghanistan” and had been instrumental in getting Stinger missiles into the hands of the mujhaideen, which they used to shoot down Soviet helicopters and planes to drive the Soviets out of the country. While he was already dead, Soleimani was very much alive and responsible for the evisceration of ISIS.
That Trump has taken personal responsibility, which is unprecedented, and that Netanyahu has insisted it was “an American act” and Israel had nothing to do with it reinforces the impression that, while Trump may have pulled the trigger, Israel targeted him. Trump’s declaration that he would take out 52 Iranian sites—including religious and cultural centers—was a monstrous proposition, which, had it been carried out, would have qualified him as one of the greatest war criminals in world history. Ironically, the vote by the Iraqi parliament for US forces to leave may also bring about their departure from Syria, fulfilling Trump’s campaign pledge to get the US out of these “endless wars in the Middle East” and lead to his own triumphal reelection in 2020.
ADDENDUM:
This new tweet from Haaretz.com confirms Israel targeted Soleimani, without spelling out Bibi’s call to Trump:
James H. Fetzer, Ph.D., is a former US Marine Corps officer, a retired university professor and the co-founder of moonrockbooks.com. He has frequently been interviewed on Press TV as well as on other networks, including (from time to time) Sputnik News and Russian State Television.
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/how-a-young-donald-trump-forced-his-way-from-avenue-z-to-manhattan-7380462 The late Wayne Barrett documented Trump’s corrupt activities for years:
“Similarly, in his deposition in the federal discrimination case, Trump refused to acknowledge responsibility for accepting or rejecting individual tenants. Those statements were a material part of his testimony since they went to the heart of the case — Trump’s ability to control the discriminatory practices of his companies.
Shortly after he’d given his deposition, he was interviewed by a field investigator for the secretary of state. The interview had nothing to do with the federal case; the investigator was trying to determine if Trump met the experience requirement for a real-estate broker’s license. The report states: “Mr. Trump further stated that he supervises and controls the renting of all apartments owned by the Trump organization…During my interview with applicant he showed me hundreds of files…Each contained numerous leases both for commercial and residential tenants…and rental records, all of which contained applicant’s signature and handwriting.” Trump’s lawyer, Mathew Tosti, also claimed in a letter to the secretary of state that Trump had “negotiated numerous leases for apartments.”
Yet he’d testified in federal court:
Government: “Do you ever have anything to do with rental decisions in individual cases?
Trump: “No, I really don’t.”
Donald Trump is a user of other users. The politician and his moneychanger feed on each other. The moneychanger trades private dollars for access to public ones. Trump, Sunshine, Lindenbaum, and their counterparts Carey and Beame are classic expressions of this relationship. The transactions that result are contained in the father’s story of Trump Village and in next week’s account of Trump’s Manhattan conquests.”
Prognosticator, Doug Kass, says this about trump’s 2020 chances:
Surprise #1 Trump Popularity Falters Badly, the Progressive Wing of the Democratic Party Fails to Catalyze Voters, Biden Easily Wins the Presidency and Democrats Have a Clean Election Sweep (As Women and Millennials Show Up in Droves)
According to PredictIt and most of the other polls, the general expectation is that President Trump will narrowly win the November election, the Republicans will retain control of the Senate and the Democrats will keep control of the House.
As in 2016, the (political) consensus proves to be mistaken in 2020.
To summarize, several trends become apparent early in the year, leading to Senator Biden eventually being named the Democratic party’s Presidential nominee. Biden’s lead in the polls climbs and Trump trails by a surprisingly large percentage by early summer. In another surprising election result (much like four years ago) – its a clean sweep for the Democrats – Biden easily wins the November election, Democrats narrowly regain control of the Senate and the Democrats maintain control of the House.
Here is how this and the other surprising political events leading up and into the November election could go down:
Democratic Progressive Presidential Hopefuls Fail and Fall Early – Biden Is The Nominee
Advertising money proves to be a major force in producing candidate support and votes. Both Bloomberg and Steyer climb into the top five Democratic candidates in the national polling as Senator Warren’s popularity wanes.
In the belief that only a centrist candidate can defeat President Trump in November, a surprisingly high number of Democratic voters move to the center (and to the support of non-progressive candidates) during the multiple state primaries on March 3rd.
The progressive left of the Democratic Party moves much lower in the polls and the electability of Senators Sanders and Warren comes into question. Sanders’ “hard ceiling” becomes reality as he finishes in only a weak second or third position in the early February Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. By the end of February, a surging Mayor Pete Buttigieg moves into a virtual tie for second with Sanders (and behind Senator Biden) in the national polls. Warren, seen as talking from both sides of the mouth on campaign financing, after releasing what many consider to be poorly constructed tax recommendations and following modification of some other extreme positions, falters and falls out of the top five behind Biden, Sanders, Buttigieg, Bloomberg and Steyer.
Warren, fearful of a further fall (out of contention), approaches Sanders (who essentially shares the same positions that drags down the Senator from Massachusetts – both are fighting a “rigged system”, “Medicare for all”, tax the wealthy, etc.). She proposes a “prepackaged” progressive ticket and political contract (with Sanders as President and Warren as Vice Presidential candidates – with some shared “Presidential” duties). U.S. stocks briefly tank in response to the possibility of a progressive Democratic Presidential nominee. Sanders initially considers Warren’s offer but rejects it and the contract unravels. Warren, with little money left in her campaign till, falls back further in the polls into seventh place (behind Andrew Yang) and drops out of the race. Surprisingly, many of Warren’s supporters fail to lean towards Sanders and move to the other, more centrist candidates.
Biden never falls behind and maintains his front running status throughout all of the primaries and into the Democratic convention.
Late in the race, Bloomberg and Steyer, recognizing the value of a unified Democratic party against Trump transcend their own personal interests and throw their support towards Biden. Stocks start a steady descent lower as investors view the rising probability of a Democratic President as market unfriendly.
Bloomberg (who is worth $58 billion and is the sixth wealthiest person in the U.S. and 14th in the world) commits “whatever it takes” to help Senator Biden defeat President Trump. In total, Bloomberg eventually spends over $2.5 billion on his Presidential run and later on Senator Biden’s campaign and on the key Senate election contests.
In an uncontested convention Biden is named the Democratic nominee. He selects Amy Klobuchar over Stacey Abrams as his Vice Presidential running mate.
Stacey Abrams delivers a riveting keynote convention address and Pete Buttigieg introduces Senator Biden on the convention’s final day.
The day after his nomination, Republican Senator Mitt Romney endorses Senator Joe Biden .
Trump’s Popularity Slumps Under the Weight of Impeachment and Revelations
In the first half of 2020, just as the impeachment hearings percolate, a New York Times investigation uncovers that President Trump directed the purchase of stock futures by the Fed, the Treasury and other parties (over a lengthy period of months) to buoy the U.S. stock markets and with the stated intent (later disclosed in emails) to improve the chances of his reelection. The discovery and publicity associated with stock futures buying policy (which began to be implemented in late summer, 2019) causes an uproar politically (as leaders of both parties are critical) and Congressional hearings are scheduled – sending markets abruptly lower as there was apparently less to the bull market run than meets the eye.
Though Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, Senator Susan Collins and four other Republican Senators demand the appearance of witnesses and more than 51 Senators vote to call witnesses in the impeachment hearings despite the threat of Executive Privilege by President Trump. The heated impeachment hearings (which includes Bolton’s explosive testimony which is recounted vividly in his NY Times best selling book), are extended all the way into March, hurting Trump’s popularity.
President Trump avoids being removed from office by impeachment by only one vote in the Senate
Consternation as to the President’s rationale regarding the Iraq military base attack intensifies – further dampening the President’s popularity. Over the past weekend in an interview on “Face The Nation”, the Secretary of the Defense Mike Esper seemed to contradict the President’s statement that there was an imminent threat to four American embassies, saying the justification for killing Soleimani was that it was “probably my expectation” that an attack was imminent. No wonder Republican Senator Mike Lee said Esper’s briefing to Congress was insulting. Pushback that the Administration called for the killing of a foreign leader because it is “probably my expectation” draws increased alarm of both Democrats and Republicans and the voting electorate. Based on testimony and uncovered emails, the evidence mounts that the President’s motivation for the attack was to distract attention from the impeachment trial and because some of the (Republican Senator) jurors in that trial pressured him to do so. (h/t Robert Hubbell) As written in a recent Wall Street Journal column, which chronicles the events leading up to the Iraq attack, the lede is buried deep (30 paragraphs into the analysis). “Mr. Trump, after the strike, told associates he was under pressure to deal with Gen. Soleimani from GOP senators he views as important supporters in his coming impeachment trial in the Senate, associates said.”
The Supreme Court reviews Trump’s assertion that the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution means he doesn’t have to reveal his tax returns. After oral arguments are heard in March, the Court rejects the petition for a writ of certiorari and orders the release of the President’s tax returns. The release of his tax returns clearly shows “questionable” transfers and a significant Russian involvement in his financial affairs (and in those of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump).
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump return to private life in New York City.
A Washington Post report discloses that Melania Trump and the President have essentially lived in separate quarters since late 2018. The Trumps separate.
Meanwhile, a slowing domestic economy and weakening stock market continue to adversely influence Trump’s polling against the Democratic opponent.
Under the weight of the pressure of running for reelection, a hectic travelling schedule and poor eating habits, President Trump’s health catches up to him. A significant health problem is disclosed in the spring forcing the President to curtail his political appearances for more than a month.
Faced with a unified and financially fortified Democratic Party, extended impeachment hearings, the release of Trump’s tax returns, the stock futures controversy, Russian business disclosures (providing a large amount of loans to Trump and buying inflated homes and condominiums from The Trump Organization), health and marital problems, a weakening stock market and slowing domestic economy – Trump continues to suffer badly in the polls.
Attracted to her recent pro-Trump support which culminated last Monday in a charge that “leading Democrats were mourning the loss of Soleimani” (See Peggy Noonan’s Wall Street Journal story this past weekend and desperate to revive his popularity, Trump dumps Vice President Michael Pence for former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. (PredictIt has a 90% probability that Pence will be Trump’s running mate).
Voter Turnout Rises Dramatically and Biden Easily Wins the Presidential Election and the Democratic Party Sweeps the Congressional Elections
Voter Turnout rises by over +6% (from 2016) – most of the incremental change is captured by Biden who wins 50.7% of the popular vote compared with 46.3% for Trump – a plurality of over 6 million votes. (That compares to 48% for Secretary Clinton and 46% for President Trump in 2016 – a difference of 2.9 million votes).
Senator Biden also wins a surprisingly large majority in the electoral college (304 to 234).
Though the Republican Party was a huge favorite to retain control of the Senate – the Democrats regain control of the Senate on the coattails of Senator Biden and the widening voter turnout.
Upon winning in November, Biden makes first move and nominates Kamala Harris to the Supreme Court to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg (who agrees to step down). Stacey Abrams is enlisted to become Attorney General . Pete Buttigieg becomes Secretary of Veteran Affairs. Michael Bloomberg is named Secretary of the Treasury. And, in a move of bipartisanship, Senator Mitt Romney is nominated to the post of Secretary of State.
After the election, there are violent demonstrations around the country by Trump supporters in mid- to late- November. Trump does little to squash or calm down the protests and instead holds a number of rallies against Democrats and the election results.
In December, 2020, President Trump announces his plans to launch Trump TV. Sean Hannity leaves Fox News – assuming a duel role as CEO of Trump TV as well as the station’s chief commentator. Rush Limbaugh and several Fox News commentators join Trump TV.
From this article on ZH:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/doug-kass-15-surprises-2020-biden-tops-trump-stocks-slump-auto-industry-dumps
OPENING NEW NOTE: [Editor’s note: While I believe that Michael Hudson offers a brilliant exposition of US motives, tactics and strategy in the Middle East, the assassination of Suleimani appears to have been a target of opportunity for Israel, as I have suggested in “The Assassination of Soleimani: What Really Happened and Why it Matters”. For anyone who missed the memo, the imminence of the threat he posed is a crucial issue of international law, since the UN Charter declares that one nation has the right to a preemptory strike against another only when either (1) it has the approval of the UN Security Council, which was not the case here; or (2) it confronted an imminent threat that demand an immediate response, which likewise does not appear to be the case, either. Even if it was consistent with US foreign policy and the Senate had approved taking him out, that would not override international law.]
Now there’s little doubt this was an Israeli op: (why not just put Netanyahu in the Oval Office and be done with it)
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/heres-why-trump-tipped-israel-soleimani-strike-they-helped-intel
Not some bad analysis from Fulford:
Messianic nut-case Iran gambit backfires, payback begins
By Benjamin Fulford
The recent events orchestrated by the U.S. government in Iran have backfired in a major way and the repercussions have only just begun, multiple sources agree. The worst result has been to force the British and the rest of the Anglo-Saxon world away from their alliance with the U.S. under its current administration, MI6 sources say. “Whatever happened should never have happened, and the Western powers need to vacate the Muslim world and contain Israel,” the sources say.
Even the Israelis are waking up to the dangers of the Evangelical Christian nut jobs they created, Mossad sources agree.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/netanyahu-distances-from-soleimani-slaying-says-israel-shouldnt-be-dragged-into-it-report
Of course, the rest of the world already views the U.S. as a pariah state, so now U.S. President Donald Trump is totally isolated on the world stage.
Before we go further into the fallout, let us summarize exactly what happened. Basically, it was yet another attempt to start World War 3 by the Messianic Jewish crazies who, for simplicity’s sake, we will call the Zionists. This time they orchestrated an escalating series of events in a vain effort to get their long-awaited Armageddon by:
Murdering an American contractor in Iraq and blaming it on the Iranians.
Convincing or blackmailing Trump into a disproportionate response.
Getting their Iranian agents and brainwashed dupes to riot at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
Forcing Trump to commit a war crime by murdering Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.
Remotely hijacking a Ukrainian airliner and flying it with transponders off towards an Iranian military base to fool the Iranians into shooting it down. (For those readers who do not yet realize this, in the late 1990’s the U.S. had remote hijacking equipment installed in all civilian airliners, supposedly as an anti-hijacking measure. This ability has been repeatedly abused for political purposes by the Khazarian mafia).
Now they are trying, and failing, to orchestrate regime change in Iran. Instead, though, this botched operation has succeeded in waking up a critical mass within the Western intelligence/military community to the fact the U.S. government has been hijacked by a fanatical cult that is trying to start WW3.
That is why the UK Defense minister Ben Wallace publicly announced his country was breaking away from its military alliance with the U.S.
https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-abandoning-trump-iran-us-withdraw-leadership-world-qassem-soleiman2020-1?utm_source=reddit.com&r=U.S.&IR=T&utm_source=reddit.com
There has also been a huge pushback by saner minds in the U.S. military-industrial establishment against the end-times fanatics centered around presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner and his Chabad cult. For example, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper publicly denied claims by Trump that Iran was planning to attack U.S. embassies.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-security-usa/pentagon-chief-says-no-specific-evidence-iran-was-plotting-to-attack-four-us-embassies-idUSKBN1ZB0KM
Pentagon sources say, “Despite the rhetoric, Trump has no choice but to pull U.S. troops out of Syraq, and eventually the Middle East.”
The reason Trump has no choice is, among other things, financial. The U.S. has wasted over 7 trillion dollars on endless war in the region and is now running out of money. This is the $7 trillion, by the way, that the Japanese were hoping to spend on ending poverty and stopping environmental destruction before the U.S. regime stole it from them.
There was a meeting between a representative of the White Dragon Society (WDS) and a senior Asian secret society leader last week to discuss, among other things, a plan for the bankruptcy reorganization of the U.S.
And here is Stone (always to be taken with a grain of salt) pretty much backing up Fulford’s ideas. Again, to satisfy his request not to link his site, this is the full update:
Final summary of the Iran shoot down of Ukranian jet
This report has changed a lot as new info has come in. The info is complete enough so it likely won’t change again. Here is what happened:
Two minutes after take off, the transponder, communications, and lights on the aircraft were shut off, obviously via remote. It flew in this hacked configuration for approximately 4 minutes and 30 seconds before, in error, Iranian ground forces mistook it for a cruise missile and shot it down, with Iran’s top nuclear physicists aboard. The plane was sent out during a no fly order to get the most important people (and their families) out of Iran before a war broke out, which Iran was expecting.
The only question in this story now is who interfered with communications between the airport, the military, and the pilots, who went dark for a considerable length of time before the missiles were launched. Approximately 1 minute after the first missile was launched, a second one was launched though the first one probably would have downed the plane despite it not being on fire. Eight minutes after take off, it crashed.
My guess is Israel is the one that hacked the plane and shut the transponder, lights and radios off to force it to fly completely dark, the way a cruise missile would. They are the only ones celebrating.
As corrupt as Ukraine is, Iran SHOULD NOT turn over the black boxes until they have at least copied what is on the cockpit voice recorder. If whatever is reported to have come off that voice recorder does not mimic what I just said above, the wrong people will have “analyzed it”, you know, like how accurately American votes get counted.
Me:….This seems to be the best analysis so far. As more info comes in, of course things may change. Considering the protests now going on in Iran over their killing some of Iran’s top scientists, I would not put aside the premise that even the protests are part of a bigger plan to destabilize the regime in Iran. History repeats itself for damn sure.
It might be hard if he goes to jail
The U.S. is under corrupt Israeli control especially newly minted Jew Donald Adolph Hitler. The best way to cause a riot is to murder a beloved hero of any country. Criminals in Israel are likely behind it all. In 2010 Israel criminally attacked a flotilla in international waters, killing many innocent people. Why are they surprised when people hate them? They abide by strange rules where they are always right and everyone else is always wrong. They steal lands from others. Watch the 2016 video of former U.S. Marine Ken O’Keefe at LAX for some straight talk on the outlaws in Israel aided by criminal outlaws Donald Adolph Hitler and others in the U.S. The U.S. must stop aiding and abetting these criminals. By the way Israel did 9/11/01 but blamed it on Muslim patsies. Traitors Bush, Cheney and some four star generals helped them do it. They are masters at blaming others for their criminal deeds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqPofDjY0og
https://ehpg.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/israel_did_911.pdf
I couldn’t get onto the show today, so I rang Jim. I ran this stuff about Trump and Iran leader ganging up to kill the military guy. Jim said highly unlikely, I thought he would, he had ignored my emails. Anyhow, I think it is the case. I remember when that Ahmadinejad was always going to america.
I never thought about the scenario you suggest because it never occurred to me that the US might actually leave Iraq.
Does it really matter who is elected in the US? No, of course not. Jews control the politicians and Jews run the show.
But let’s get a laugh out of this if we can: If the US is somehow forced out of the mideast and Trump is hailed a hero and is reelected, his mindless supporters will claim (and actually believe) that Trump has been playing 5D chess all along and the rest of us were too stupid to realize it!
Off topic, but the it passed our government lower house and is being reviewed in upper house. Up to 2 years jail for spending more than $10000 cash.
https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-13/proposed-cash-ban-is-not-about-controlling-your-money-says-rba/11858104
File this under ‘abandoning ship”? ………..Maybe!
And now no less than Secretary of Defense Mark Esper appears to have publicly contradicted the White House’s rationale for taking out the “imminent” threat of Qasem Soleimani. Esper told CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday that he “didn’t see” specific evidence for embassy attacks, while adding that he still believes such an attack was likely.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/esper-contradicts-trump-didnt-see-specific-evidence-irans-plot-attack-4-embassies
Why is it all these supposed ‘villains’ seem to die horrific deaths…….bullets to the head……hanging,…..missiles up their rectums……sword sodomizing…..poisoning….rotting in prison (Assange)…and yet, we rarely see a Zionist die in those ways. Do they have a force field around them?