From Rezin for Congress:

Teddy Roosevelt Policy Alive Again—Speak Softly but Carry a Big Stick

Rezin: President Trump’s decisive action against Iranian General Soleimani is equivalent to our enemies in WWII taking out either Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower or General Douglas MacArthur

GURNEE, IL…President Donald Trump’s order to surgically kill both legendary Iranian General Qassem Soleimani along with General al-Muhandis who was the leader of the Iraqi militia that killed an American recently in escalating attacks against American bases in Iraq, could not have been more precise…more decisive…more impactful or more strategically brilliant.

This is peace through strength. Iranians only respect power and the will to use it. No U.S. response to the storming of our embassy in Baghdad would have emboldened Iran to escalate their series of recent attacks.

In response to numerous Iranian attacks against the USA and our allies in the Middle East over the past year, the President wisely turned the other cheek again and again and again. This included Iran shooting down a U.S. drone over international waters. But there comes a time when the tail of the tiger is pulled and the tiger needs to demonstrate the full force of its power. President Trump wisely did just that yesterday. And he chose THE most painful blow to the Iranian regime in killing their legendary General Soleimani and the Iraqi militia leader al-Muhandis who reported to him. No civilians were killed in the successful operation.

The question remains, just days after the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, what was the top Iranian General doing in Iraq? The answer seems to be planning more attacks. Americans need to also remember that over the past couple of months record numbers of Iraqi citizens have been protesting the Iraqi government because of Iranian influence at the expense of living standards for Iraqis. The demonstrations were so forceful that a few weeks ago they caused the resignation of the Iraqi Prime Minister who was under Iran’s thumb. After Soleimani’s death, Secretary of State Pompeo Tweeted that Iraqis were seen dancing in the streets.

It was Iranian-directed mobs who attacked the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad a few days ago. This crossed a red line. Embassies are recognized as territory of that country, even by evil regimes around the world. We have to remember it was 40 years ago when the Iranian regime allowed mobs to take over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and it was the Iranian regime who kept American diplomats hostage for over a year. To allow them to get away with violating another U.S. Embassy again would have turbocharged their resolve to keep up the attacks and provocations. Weakness invites aggression. 

Back in 1979 U.S. President Jimmy Carter exemplified weakness and the outrageous saga went on and on. The Iranians had a healthy fear of Ronald Reagan and released the hostages only minutes after he was sworn in as President.

Again, crossing the red line of attacking an embassy is a grave provocation. That is why the USA could not sit idly by while Iran reveled in yet another directed attack against a U.S. Embassy, this time next door in Iraq.

Only two days ago Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini taunted the USA by saying: “There is not a damn thing you can do.” Well he was wrong.

President Trump took out the most strategically and tactically brilliant Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, who was arguably the second most powerful person in the Iranian regime. His shameful terrorist feats are legendary. Both Soleimani and the Iraqi Hezbollah General al-Muhandis who was also killed were officially designated terrorists. Soleimani is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans in attacks over the past 20 years. Gen. al-Muhandis is widely believed to have directed the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait in 1983 and again, he led the Iraqi Shiite militia who we bombed a week ago in response to an escalating series of attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq that killed an American.

The most succinct Tweet was by U.S. Senator Ben Sasse who said: “This is very simple: General Soleimani is dead because he was an evil bastard who murdered Americans.”

It also needs to be noted that one of the top leaders of the recent storming of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was a man President Obama, Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hosted in the White House several years ago. The pathetic appeasement and weakness policies of both Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama are over. Teddy Roosevelt’s wise foreign policy advice of “Speak softly but carry a big stick” is back. 

President Trump did not beat his chest over the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. He simply said they will pay a heavy price. Then he took incredibly brilliant action against their mastermind terrorist General Soleimani only two days later. This action will reverberate as an invaluable lesson to all our enemies around the world. The hubris in Tehran of only a day ago when Khameini said “there is not a damn thing you can do” is now gone and painful reality is setting in. Their evil mastermind is gone and America freshly demonstrated its reach, intelligence capabilities, power and decisiveness in a precise but devastating manner that they did not see coming.

Now it’s time for Congresswoman Lauren Underwood to speak up. Does she support leaders in her party who want to take the disastrous Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama appeasement approach yet again?

Or support strategically finding the most painful way to demonstrate U.S. resolve to the Iranian regime and other enemies around the world, by acting as decisively as President Trump just did?

At least in foreign policy against a militant enemy that for 40 years has called America the “Great Satan,” can she be bipartisan for once?