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| For Some Never Trumpers, Killing of Suleimani Was Finally Something to Like | |
| (about 8 hours later) | |
| WASHINGTON — Years before President Trump ordered the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former C.I.A. officer and prominent neoconservative commentator, had recommended taking out the notorious Iranian general. | WASHINGTON — Years before President Trump ordered the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former C.I.A. officer and prominent neoconservative commentator, had recommended taking out the notorious Iranian general. |
| Testifying before Congress in October 2011, Mr. Gerecht counseled that Iran would never respond to economic pressure. “I don’t know that you’re going to really intimidate these people, get their attention, unless you shoot somebody,” Mr. Gerecht said. That somebody, he offered, might be General Suleimani, the commander of Iran’s paramilitary Quds Force. “Go get him,” he said. “Either try to capture him, or kill him.” | Testifying before Congress in October 2011, Mr. Gerecht counseled that Iran would never respond to economic pressure. “I don’t know that you’re going to really intimidate these people, get their attention, unless you shoot somebody,” Mr. Gerecht said. That somebody, he offered, might be General Suleimani, the commander of Iran’s paramilitary Quds Force. “Go get him,” he said. “Either try to capture him, or kill him.” |
| More than eight years later, Mr. Gerecht got his wish when a drone strike ordered by President Trump killed General Suleimani in Baghdad, touching off an international crisis even as it delighted a cadre of Republican Middle East hawks who have been sharply critical of Mr. Trump on many other issues. | More than eight years later, Mr. Gerecht got his wish when a drone strike ordered by President Trump killed General Suleimani in Baghdad, touching off an international crisis even as it delighted a cadre of Republican Middle East hawks who have been sharply critical of Mr. Trump on many other issues. |
| “He surprised me,” said Mr. Gerecht, a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank that consults closely with the Trump administration on Iran policy. “I didn’t expect him to have the intestinal fortitude to do that.” | “He surprised me,” said Mr. Gerecht, a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank that consults closely with the Trump administration on Iran policy. “I didn’t expect him to have the intestinal fortitude to do that.” |
| But it was an unusual admission from Mr. Gerecht, who has regularly criticized the president, dating to the 2016 campaign, when he was among the dozens of Republican foreign policy insiders who added their names to a letter denouncing Mr. Trump as unfit to lead the nation and collectively came to be known as Never Trumpers. | But it was an unusual admission from Mr. Gerecht, who has regularly criticized the president, dating to the 2016 campaign, when he was among the dozens of Republican foreign policy insiders who added their names to a letter denouncing Mr. Trump as unfit to lead the nation and collectively came to be known as Never Trumpers. |
| “I don’t think it changes the larger analysis,” Mr. Gerecht cautioned, arguing that Mr. Trump remained a major disappointment on foreign policy issues like his criticism of NATO allies and his lack of support for Western democratic values throughout the Middle East. But, Mr. Gerecht added, “on Iran, which is the most important one in the Middle East, he is getting that one more or less right.” | “I don’t think it changes the larger analysis,” Mr. Gerecht cautioned, arguing that Mr. Trump remained a major disappointment on foreign policy issues like his criticism of NATO allies and his lack of support for Western democratic values throughout the Middle East. But, Mr. Gerecht added, “on Iran, which is the most important one in the Middle East, he is getting that one more or less right.” |
| It was clear on Monday that Mr. Gerecht spoke for many of his ideological comrades, who generally believe that military force can be a positive tool and not always a dreaded last resort, and that Iran in particular is likely to back down when confronted with strength. Many of them are collectively known as neoconservatives, or neocons, even if not all of them accept the label. | It was clear on Monday that Mr. Gerecht spoke for many of his ideological comrades, who generally believe that military force can be a positive tool and not always a dreaded last resort, and that Iran in particular is likely to back down when confronted with strength. Many of them are collectively known as neoconservatives, or neocons, even if not all of them accept the label. |
| Many of those hawks have long applauded Mr. Trump’s sanctions-based “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, but they had come to doubt the president’s willingness to use military force and were delighted to see him take action against someone responsible for consolidating Iranian influence at the expense of many American lives. | Many of those hawks have long applauded Mr. Trump’s sanctions-based “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, but they had come to doubt the president’s willingness to use military force and were delighted to see him take action against someone responsible for consolidating Iranian influence at the expense of many American lives. |
| Other frequent Trump critics who cheered the strike against General Suleimani include Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a frequent critic of Mr. Trump’s foreign policy who posted on Twitter shortly after the Iranian commander’s death that Mr. Trump was “was right to order decisive action to kill” him. | Other frequent Trump critics who cheered the strike against General Suleimani include Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a frequent critic of Mr. Trump’s foreign policy who posted on Twitter shortly after the Iranian commander’s death that Mr. Trump was “was right to order decisive action to kill” him. |
| Adding to the praise was Mr. Trump’s former, and at least somewhat estranged, national security adviser, John R. Bolton, who issued his own triumphal tweet: “Congratulations to all involved in eliminating Qassem Soleimani,” Mr. Bolton wrote, calling the strike a “decisive blow” to the Quds Force and potentially “the first step to regime change in Tehran. ” | Adding to the praise was Mr. Trump’s former, and at least somewhat estranged, national security adviser, John R. Bolton, who issued his own triumphal tweet: “Congratulations to all involved in eliminating Qassem Soleimani,” Mr. Bolton wrote, calling the strike a “decisive blow” to the Quds Force and potentially “the first step to regime change in Tehran. ” |
| Calls for regime change in Tehran — which Mr. Trump himself says he does not seek — are deeply unsettling to Democrats, as is the track record of Mr. Bolton and other Republicans applauding the strike on General Suleimani. | Calls for regime change in Tehran — which Mr. Trump himself says he does not seek — are deeply unsettling to Democrats, as is the track record of Mr. Bolton and other Republicans applauding the strike on General Suleimani. |
| Mr. Bolton has refused opportunities to call the Iraq war a mistake, and Mr. Gerecht said on Monday that he did not “regret the fall of Saddam Hussein.” Ms. Cheney’s father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, was a main proponent of the invasion and subsequent occupation, and she supported them both. | Mr. Bolton has refused opportunities to call the Iraq war a mistake, and Mr. Gerecht said on Monday that he did not “regret the fall of Saddam Hussein.” Ms. Cheney’s father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, was a main proponent of the invasion and subsequent occupation, and she supported them both. |
| Their backing for Mr. Trump in this moment not only scrambles Republican political lines, it alarms Democrats and noninterventionists who see some echoes of the worldview that led to President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq. | Their backing for Mr. Trump in this moment not only scrambles Republican political lines, it alarms Democrats and noninterventionists who see some echoes of the worldview that led to President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq. |
| “Washington has wanted war with Iran for decades. They’ve been working toward it. They may finally have gotten it,” said the Fox News host Tucker Carlson, a conservative commentator who has repeatedly spoken against military confrontation with Iran, in his opening monologue on Jan. 3. Mr. Carlson warned against “jumping into another quagmire from which there is no obvious exit.” | “Washington has wanted war with Iran for decades. They’ve been working toward it. They may finally have gotten it,” said the Fox News host Tucker Carlson, a conservative commentator who has repeatedly spoken against military confrontation with Iran, in his opening monologue on Jan. 3. Mr. Carlson warned against “jumping into another quagmire from which there is no obvious exit.” |
| Such commentary comes just after conventional wisdom in Washington and abroad had hardened around the notion that Mr. Trump was determined to avoid a new Middle East conflict. | Such commentary comes just after conventional wisdom in Washington and abroad had hardened around the notion that Mr. Trump was determined to avoid a new Middle East conflict. |
| Although it remains far from clear that Mr. Trump wants a full-scale conflict with Iran as he kicks off an election year — speaking to reporters on Sunday, he repeated his view that invading Iraq was “the worst decision ever made in the history of our country” — the concern is further stoked by similarities that some analysts see between his justification for the Suleimani strike and that of the Bush administration’s march to war in 2003. | Although it remains far from clear that Mr. Trump wants a full-scale conflict with Iran as he kicks off an election year — speaking to reporters on Sunday, he repeated his view that invading Iraq was “the worst decision ever made in the history of our country” — the concern is further stoked by similarities that some analysts see between his justification for the Suleimani strike and that of the Bush administration’s march to war in 2003. |
| Tamara Cofman Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former top State Department Middle East official in the Obama administration, said it was troubling to see a new administration “making a set of expansive claims about intelligence information and creating a sense of urgency that it’s not clear is actually backed up by the intelligence.” | Tamara Cofman Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former top State Department Middle East official in the Obama administration, said it was troubling to see a new administration “making a set of expansive claims about intelligence information and creating a sense of urgency that it’s not clear is actually backed up by the intelligence.” |
| Mr. Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others have insisted that General Suleimani was killed to pre-empt planning for attacks that could have killed hundreds of American troops and diplomats in the Middle East, but they have declined to provide details. In 2002, Bush administration officials distorted intelligence to claim, falsely, that the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. | Mr. Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others have insisted that General Suleimani was killed to pre-empt planning for attacks that could have killed hundreds of American troops and diplomats in the Middle East, but they have declined to provide details. In 2002, Bush administration officials distorted intelligence to claim, falsely, that the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. |
| “There are elements of this that on the surface look like 2002 and 2003,” said James Mann, who has written several books about how Washington thinking shapes American foreign policy. He cited the Trump administration’s claim that it acted pre-emptively and the conservative belief in the efficacy of military force. | “There are elements of this that on the surface look like 2002 and 2003,” said James Mann, who has written several books about how Washington thinking shapes American foreign policy. He cited the Trump administration’s claim that it acted pre-emptively and the conservative belief in the efficacy of military force. |
| Mr. Mann, the author of “The Great Rift,” a forthcoming account of Mr. Cheney’s rivalry with Secretary of State Colin Powell, added that it was difficult to say whether the strike portends anything about Mr. Trump’s evolving worldview. “What foreign policy thought? I find that Trump doesn’t seem to have an overall philosophy.” | Mr. Mann, the author of “The Great Rift,” a forthcoming account of Mr. Cheney’s rivalry with Secretary of State Colin Powell, added that it was difficult to say whether the strike portends anything about Mr. Trump’s evolving worldview. “What foreign policy thought? I find that Trump doesn’t seem to have an overall philosophy.” |
| Although Mr. Bolton is gone from the West Wing and Ms. Cheney has little sway there, Mr. Pompeo’s messaging often echoes themes from think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, including the importance of “restoring deterrence” against Iran. | Although Mr. Bolton is gone from the West Wing and Ms. Cheney has little sway there, Mr. Pompeo’s messaging often echoes themes from think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, including the importance of “restoring deterrence” against Iran. |
| Days before Mr. Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, for instance, Michael Rubin, a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington who also signed a 2016 letter opposing Mr. Trump on foreign policy grounds, wrote on the institute’s website that General Suleimani should no longer operate with impunity, and that Trump officials “should direct significant assets to seek the capture or killing of Soleimani.” | Days before Mr. Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, for instance, Michael Rubin, a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington who also signed a 2016 letter opposing Mr. Trump on foreign policy grounds, wrote on the institute’s website that General Suleimani should no longer operate with impunity, and that Trump officials “should direct significant assets to seek the capture or killing of Soleimani.” |
| On Saturday, Mr. Rubin, while expressing concerns about the regional fallout, wrote approvingly that Mr. Trump’s action would instill in the minds of American enemies “the idea that there is a possibility they could suffer such consequences.” | On Saturday, Mr. Rubin, while expressing concerns about the regional fallout, wrote approvingly that Mr. Trump’s action would instill in the minds of American enemies “the idea that there is a possibility they could suffer such consequences.” |