CNN ON OPIOIDS!

Analysis by Zachary B. Wolf and Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN

January 7, 2020  

…Killing a terrorist as a security matter is one thing.  Killing another country's general as part of a policy agenda is something else entirely. …Since those first public announcements about the strike, officials have refused to provide evidence of an imminent attack and instead have argued that Soleimani's previous actions meant he would continue to act the same way and that eliminating him was part of a larger strategy.

  "Well, this should have been done for the last 15 to 20 years," Trump said.  "Him in particular," he added, referring to Soleimani. "He was their real military leader.  He's a terrorist.  He was designated a terrorist by President Obama, and then Obama did nothing about it except give them $150 billion…"   And he named Bush when he mentioned Iran providing improvised bombs that killed Americans in Iraq during the Bush administration.  Those might be legitimate complaints.   But they are not imminent terror threats.    https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/07/politics/qasem-soleimani-reasons-justifications/index.html

………………………………………………………..………

1-3-20  Retired Army Staff Sgt.

Robert Bartlett who was the victim of an Iranian explosive device that left him severely injured and blind in one eye while serving in Iraq told "The Story with Martha MacCallum" that he celebrated the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani before showing the host pictures of his military colleagues who lost their lives in the Middle East.

  "All these guys... died at the hands of the Iranians in this current regime and some to the Quds Force and Soleimani, at his hands," Bartlett said holding up pictures of his comrades. "So for us, it's, it's retribution."

  "But it's finally policies that make sense and protecting the United States and its citizens and especially its military who serve in these conflicts," Bartlett added.

The Pentagon confirmed late Thursday that President Trump ordered the drone strike that killed Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force, at Baghdad International Airport early Friday.

  Bartlett defended the killing and made his case to those worried about “escalation."  "I say we need to send a message.  They've been sending us a message for years that they're at war with us.  We've done nothing.  We've sent money.  That didn't work.  We tried to buy a morality that didn't work.  We sent policies out, put sanctions on them, not at the level that they're at now.  But none of those things worked,”  Bartlett said.  "So how many times you got to ... stick your finger in this light socket before you realize it shocks you?” 

  Bartlett added that he believes "there are plenty of good Iranians" that would benefit from a regime change.  "You just get rid of this regime.  It would be wonderful if we can do that.  And if we can support those locally who are willing to live in today's society without terrorism, that's great.”  https://twnews.us/us-news/army-veteran-injured-by-iranian-explosive-on-soleimani-death-for-us-it-s-retribution