Sunday, January 5, 2020

The Bloody Legacy of Qasem Soleimani

Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani rose from a family of landless peasants in Iran's Kerman province.

Unlike many of the Islamic Republic's founders, Soleimani didn't avoid danger.

Soleimani and Mr. Khamenei are as responsible as Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin for the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Sunni Syrians and the displacement of millions.

Soleimani became a cult figure among Shiite holy warriors-in his heavily accented, halting Arabic, he exuded a menacing charisma-and even among more secularized Iranians who saw in him an Iranian paladin who made Sunni Arabs tremble.

Now Soleimani has become a martyr in the Islamic revolution's 41-year battle against the U.S. The men he trained and advanced will carry on.

Mr. Khamenei's close relationship with Soleimani probably revolved around the man-of-action fortifying the cleric's more ambitious inclinations.

It is fitting that the U.S. took down Soleimani.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-bloody-legacy-of-qasem-soleimani-11578093506?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

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