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Lesson of the Strike that Killed Soleimani

(Wall Street Journal) Gen. (ret.) Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. - Four years ago this week, at the direction of the president, forces under my command struck and killed Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad. He was arriving there to coordinate attacks on our embassy and coalition targets across the region. It takes will and capability to establish and maintain deterrence. The Iranians have always feared our capabilities, but before January 2020, they doubted our will. Regrettably, the U.S. hasn't remembered the importance of matching demonstrable will with our capabilities. Even before Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, Iranian forces were launching missile and drone strikes on our bases across the region, acting through proxies that gave them a measure of deniability. Our response has consistently been tentative, overly signaled and unfocused. Iranian leaders work with Lenin's dictum that "you probe with bayonets: if you find mush, you push. If you find steel, you withdraw." Tehran and its proxies are pressing their attacks because they haven't confronted steel. The ability to stop such probing generally depends on a swift and violent counterattack. Delaying and equivocating usually means the response needed to re-establish deterrence has to be much larger than it would have been if it had been applied in a timely manner. Protecting free passage through such global choke points as the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait is more important than avoiding escalation. Taking strong action against the Houthis isn't likely to lead to theaterwide escalation. Unfortunately, it is the U.S. that is being deterred, not Iran and its proxies. The writer, who served as commander of U.S. Central Command (2019-22), is executive director of the Global and National Security Institute at the University of South Florida.
2024-01-05 00:00:00
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