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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/opinion/trump-iran-suleimani-assassination-baghdad.html
Soleimani's Death Weakens Iran
(New York Times) Michael Doran - Taking out Qasem Soleimani, the architect of the Islamic Republic's long campaign of violence against the U.S. and its allies, especially Israel, will make Iran much weaker. It will embolden the country's regional rivals - primarily Israel and Saudi Arabia - to pursue their strategic interests more resolutely. It will also instill in the protesters in Iran, Lebanon and, especially, Iraq, the hope that they will one day wrest control of their governments from the talons of the Islamic Republic. The U.S. search for a modus vivendi with Tehran never comported with the reality of the Islamic Republic's fundamental character and regional ambitions. A strong and visible response to Soleimani's escalations was long overdue. I know from my own experience, as a former senior official in the White House and the Defense Department, that the U.S. had several past opportunities to kill Soleimani but each time decided against it. This restraint did not make the world safer. It only gave Soleimani more time to build his empire. The world to which we wake up today, rid of its most accomplished and deadly terrorist, is a better place. The writer, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, served in the departments of State and Defense, and on the U.S. National Security Council.