Episode One: Pompeo tells the details of Soleimani's assassination...and considers the Tehran regime

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[size=52]Episode One: Pompeo tells the details of Soleimani's assassination...and considers the Tehran regime a "terrorist"[/size]

[size=45]"Fighting for America" ​​includes exciting details about a secret trip to North Korea and the relationship with the "Mossad"
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. The car Soleimani was traveling in was on fire after it was targeted by American missiles two years ago (AFP)
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Very interesting details laid out by former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in his book of memoirs, “Do not give any inch, fighting for the America that I love,” not only in his narration of the events and how he saw them through the eyes of the chief US diplomat during the era of former President Donald Trump, but also with the view of a director The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as the spy service of the most powerful country in the world: the United States. Pompeo revealed aspects of some of the formidable challenges he faced while ascending the ranks and positions in his work across the US administrations, revealing that the attack that targeted the headquarters of the US Marine Corps units (Marines) in Beirut in the mid-eighties of the last century “left a deep impact” that does not erase from his memory. . He almost said that his awareness of Iran and its tools from “Hezbollah”, “Islamic Jihad” and others, was formed at that moment. He stressed that he realized early on that "the Iranian regime is just a terrorist organization" that has put on a mantle and assumed the form of "a state with all its components." But his access to the upper echelons also revealed to him that the ruling elites in the United States, including Trump himself, did not intend to overthrow the regime and “cut off its head,” despite the exceptional decision that led him to the decision to eliminate the commander of the Quds Force. The Revolutionary Guards, General Qassem Soleimani, in response to his continued targeting of US interests. He concluded that the main headquarters of the "Al Qaeda" organization is in Tehran, and "it is not in Tora Bora, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq or Syria."[/size]
[size=45]Although Pompeo revealed some of the secrets of the meetings during which US policy options were drawn up during Trump's era, and the great efforts that were made to fix what was corrupted by the administration of former President Barack Obama and his then-Vice President, current President Joe Biden, Pompeo seemed cautious in crossing what could be considered "red lines." In the worlds of diplomacy and espionage. He did not hesitate in his interesting presentation of his first secret trip to North Korea, and his meeting with its leader, Kim Jong Un, in an attempt to make a breakthrough in efforts to get rid of his arsenal of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction.
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Bashar al-Assad (AFP)
"secret mission"[/size]
[size=45]Pompeo's memoir consists of 17 chapters in 438 pages, and begins with an account of a "secret mission" he carried out on Good Friday, March 30, 2018, that brought him as CIA director to Pyongyang; "One of the darkest places" on Earth, to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un; "One of its darkest inhabitants," explaining that his goal was to "correct the failed efforts of the past that did not eliminate" nuclear weapons and the mass destruction of nuclear North Korea, which "has really led to the present great threat." He revealed that "Trump told me that he was ready to take risks, and I, as director of the (CIA), was ready to do that as well." He stated that when his plane entered North Korean airspace, it was accompanied by hostile warplanes, noting that “usually, this act indicates aggression, and perhaps an imminent attack. However, our crew and I were confident that this was just a typical North Korean feast. described the name "Democratic People's Republic of Korea"; That is, the official name of North Korea, as a "lie", because "it is not a democracy, it is not a republic, and it certainly does not serve the interests of its people," adding that upon arrival at Pyongyang airport, the delegation was informed that Pompeo's guards could not take their weapons to the city center. When Pompeo got off the plane, he was at the bottom of the stairs, "one of the most hated men I've ever met"; Retired General Kim Yong-chul, who serves as vice-chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, the official name of the North Korean Communist Party. When Pompeo got off the plane, he was at the bottom of the stairs, "one of the most hated men I've ever met"; Retired General Kim Yong-chul, who serves as vice-chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, the official name of the North Korean Communist Party. When Pompeo got off the plane, he was at the bottom of the stairs, "one of the most hated men I've ever met"; Retired General Kim Yong-chul, who serves as vice-chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, the official name of the North Korean Communist Party.
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Qassem Soleimani (AFP)
"We ate grass for 50 years."[/size]
[size=45]Instead of shaking hands or welcoming his guest, Chul said, “We have been eating grass for the last 50 years. We can eat grass in the next 50 years. “Of course, Chol was not eating grass,” Pompeo said. Like all North Korean kleptomaniacs, he drank the finest alcohol and feasted on wangyo beef. Eating grass was for ordinary people,” he said, adding that he had taken a “calculated risk.” “General Chol, it’s nice to see you too. I'm looking forward to lunch. And I prefer steamed herbs.” Then he presented the details of the visit and its American conditions, including the rejection of any North Korean “trick” or “propaganda”, including through the airport and the road to leader Kim Jong Un’s office in Pyongyang, adding that his sister Kim Yo Jong, who accompanied Pompeo and his team through giant doors and ceilings High, all the way to Kim's office, who "was standing at the end of a long red carpet, dressed in (historical Chinese leader) Mao (Zedong)'s typical black suit in front of a bright orange wall." "The worst dictator in the world greeted me with a smile," he explained. Kim was quoted as saying, “Director, I didn't think you would come. I know you were trying to kill me.' Pompeo jokingly replied, "Mr. President, I'm still trying to kill you."[/size]
[size=45]This was just an intro to the first chapter in Pompeo's book, which "dived" into an extensive presentation of US foreign policies before the Trump era, criticizing Obama and his then vice president, Biden, in particular. Then he presented his transition from Congress to the CIA, and the accompanying “pitfalls” of US domestic and foreign policies, including the Arab Spring uprisings, leading to President Trump and Vice President Pence’s decision to appoint him first as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, then as Secretary of State.
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Trump and Kim at the dividing line between the two Koreas in June 2019 (AP)[/size]
[size=45]Middle East problem[/size]
[size=45]At a later point, Pompeo wrote that “the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, backed by Iran, invited Russia to the (Arab) neighborhood and used chemical weapons against his people, and Obama sent a bad message to America’s adversaries by weakly retreating from the red line he set there,” adding that Lebanon deteriorated after “ Hezbollah, a militia affiliated with Iran, has developed and placed thousands of precision-guided missiles on Israel's northern border. He said that "the Gulf states, while trying to balance publicly, were also afraid of American support for Iran," noting that "their trust in the United States had fallen to its lowest level" because of this.[/size]
[size=45]He revealed that his strategy for the Middle East “was based on a few main pillars: building policies that reflect a major truth: Iran is the biggest problem maker in the Middle East; restoring the relationship with Israel; And the establishment of a new Gulf-Israeli security partnership. He stressed that "the Middle Eastern mission, which required our immediate attention, is to inflict a fatal defeat on the caliphate of the state (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria." He explained that in parallel with developing military plans to fight terrorism, "we took first steps to move away from the Obama-Biden policy of failed favoritism and confront the Iranian regime." He stressed that "my number one task as director of the CIA is to ensure that we have the tools we need to confront (Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei) and his followers," adding that "while President Trump declared that regime change is not our mission, and I followed this directive, I knew Putting pressure on the regime will greatly increase the possibility of its collapse. He revealed that his mission was “overshadowed by a disagreement in the administration,” as Trump promised in his election campaign to leave the nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which President Obama concluded with Iran in 2015, regretfully, “because we did not back down from this failure as soon as we wanted.” . "The president's entire national security team -- Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, National Security Adviser H.W. McMaster - they believed that staying was the right choice, because withdrawing from the agreement was "very dangerous and could lead us to war," pointing out that as director of the CIA, "it seemed to him exactly like the thinking of former Secretary of State John Kerry and the director of the CIA." Previously John Brennan and Biden.[/size]
[size=45]As for the “second step in confronting Iran,” it was represented by “building international partnerships,” adding that “no relationship was more critical than the one America had, and it must continue with Israel and the Mossad.” Praising the head of the Israeli intelligence service at the time, Yossi Cohen, he said: “Unlike my situation, he is a real spy, with a job that has a story that began in the eighties” of the last century, describing him as “fearless, innovative, and attractive.” He believes that “Iran is the problem.” Bearing in mind that the CIA considered that “Iran is a problem” among many problems. He pointed out that they met for the first time in February 2017 at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem during his first international trip as director of the Intelligence Agency, stressing that they agreed that “our joint work to crush Iran must be 100 percent integrated,” in addition to building a very close family and religious relationship. .[/size]
[size=45]Beirut attack[/size]
[size=45]Pompeo recounted in his book that he found President Trump completely right when he said that “the world is a mean and bad place,” recalling how affected he was on Sunday, October 23, 1983, when he was at the American Military College, by the news of a “terrorist attack that killed and injured hundreds of people.” US Marines at their barracks in Beirut. At the time, he asked: “Who would do this to American soldiers? What was their motive?”, To other questions, he added, “We quickly learned that an early embodiment of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization carried out the bombing,” in which 241 US military personnel were killed and 128 others were wounded. "I have never forgotten that moment when the Iranians killed the American soldiers," he said. In addition, he mentioned the Iranian Islamic revolution led by the first guide, Ayatollah Khomeini, in 1979, then the attack on the American embassy in Tehran and the detention of its workers hostage for a period of 444 days, explaining that “the Iranian regime today is the force behind a network of terrorist groups fighting to establish a (Shiite crescent) for lands (…) It extends from Iran to Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.” He pointed out that Iran was behind the Khobar Towers attack in Saudi Arabia in 1996, when 19 US Air Force personnel were killed. And he believed that «the Iranian Shiite regime has established a common cause with the Sunni al-Qaeda organization. Forget what you think about the Sunni-Shiite rivalry that prevents their cooperation. He said: «The operational headquarters of (Al Qaeda) is not in Tora Bora, Afghanistan, or in Pakistan. Not in Syria or Iraq. He is in the capital of Iran,” accusing “the Iranian regime of being, in fact, a terrorist group.[/size]
[size=45]What Obama ruined[/size]
[size=45]The former Secretary of State wrote how Trump sought to fix “what Obama spoiled,” repeating the disadvantages of the nuclear agreement in particular and Iran’s support for groups such as “Hezbollah” in Lebanon, “Hamas” and “Islamic Jihad” in the Palestinian territories and the Houthis in Yemen, saying that “ The mastermind behind this sinister project is a commander in the Revolutionary Guards named Qassem Soleimani, who has become the focus of our resolute efforts to thwart Iran's agenda. This vision formed the focus of the sixth chapter of Pompeo's memoirs, which revealed that he once wrote a letter to Soleimani in which he said: "We will hold him and Iran accountable for any attacks against American interests in Iraq from the forces under his control," stressing that this was an indication of a "massive change" in the situation. The policy of the US administration, which before Trump was very lenient with American casualties in attacks launched by Iran-backed groups, adding that Soleimani never responded to his message. But “two years later, on December 29, 2019. I was sitting with President Trump at his stately Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, this time as Secretary of State. Next to me was the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. We were there on dangerous business: Mr. President, we have a recommendation for you - the target is General Qassem Soleimani. He added, “In just a few days, Soleimani and the Iranians will feel the full impact of our refusal to favor their evil. Instead, they will taste the American attack. He explained that "despite Soleimani's meager stature, he planted real fear in the hearts of Middle Eastern leaders," adding that he was "stiffened by being the spearhead of decades of Iranian military action in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. Since 1998, Soleimani has led the criminal Quds Force unit," which is "the reason." The main reason is why countries like Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen are in a chaotic state today. He held Soleimani responsible for the deaths of 600 American soldiers during the Iraq war. He revealed that he had gone to Baghdad one day and met with then-Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to persuade him not to obtain energy resources from Iran. Al-Abadi told Pompeo: “Mr. Director, when you leave, Qassem Soleimani will come to see me. You can take my money. He will take my life.'[/size]
[size=45]Then he talked about meetings with other Iraqi officials, including then-President Barham Salih and Adel Abdul-Mahdi, in light of the escalation of Iranian threats against American interests in Iraq, leading to his saying that “the consequences of our refusal to favor Iran by reversing the sanctions were also clear on September 14 (September). ) 2019. Almost two months after Iran shot down an (American) march, cruise missiles were launched from Iran to hit Saudi Arabia. The targets were major oil facilities belonging to Saudi Aramco, and thus the attack threatened global energy supplies. He referred to the cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia “to return the facilities to work. Aramco has done a great job »in this context. He added, “The Saudis also wanted to know what we were prepared to do at this dangerous time. I recommended to the president that we send air defense systems to Saudi Arabia.[/size]
[size=45]Eliminate Soleimani[/size]
[size=45]Not long ago, US forces targeted the Iraqi "Hezbollah Brigades" in response to an attack in which an American contractor was killed. After another attack, Pompeo participated in a meeting held by President Trump on December 29, 2019 in Mar-a-Lago, with the participation of Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chief of Staff General Mark Milley. Pompeo began: “Mr. President, Soleimani is traveling from Beirut to Damascus and then Baghdad. Fly on commercial flights and know his flight route. He is plotting to kill more Americans. We have the tools necessary to stop his leadership of these criminal efforts. They shot down two American marches, fired ballistic missiles at Saudi Arabia, and now they killed an American… all at the direction of General Soleimani. It's time to stop his criminal rule. This is a legitimate military target. Pompeo wrote, explaining that “going to attack by killing Soleimani would be a shocking event. Naturally, when America got rid of a terrorist leader in the post-9/11 world, the leaderless organization follows what American football coaches call the next-man mentality — the second-best on the field. In the case of Soleimani, another general will come, but no one has that combination of power, brains, brutality, and general charm inside Iran because trying to replace him is like trying to replace a Rembrandt with an imitation. He stressed that President Trump “understands the great risks. As we all did. But the time has come to pull the trigger.” He added, "Melle and Esper briefed the president on the proposed plan. And I added that we are ready to communicate directly with the Iranians after the attack in order to make it clear that this is not an attempt to decapitate the regime, but we are ready to escalate if this is their wish. Trump replied, "Come on." January 3, 2020, was set as the date for the operation, with Soleimani arriving at Baghdad International Airport, where he was received by the founder of Kata’ib Hezbollah, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. As his convoy set off, he wrote, “a marching American MQ-9 Reaper was trailing their every move. And with Soleimani's car leaving the airport (...) Hellfire missiles fell on it (...) the American deterrence was struck, and Soleimani will not harm anyone at all anymore.[/size]
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