Washington, Jan 4 (AFP/APP): President Donald Trump did Friday what previous presidents did not dare to do — eliminate a top Iranian general who aggressively expanded Tehran’s power while obstructing US efforts across the Middle East. Trump’s predecessors thought killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, would risk another war in the region while US troops were bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan. But after three years of vying with Soleimani’s proxies with deadly results, culminating in this week’s assault on the US embassy in Baghdad, the Pentagon decided that if it did not act, “we would be culpably negligent,” Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley said. Soleimani was killed in a drone strike just outside the Baghdad airport shortly after flying in to meet with local Iran allies. The US had “compelling” information of looming threats from Soleimani’s operations that were much greater in “size, scale, scope” than in the past, Milley said. “Is there risk? Damn right there is risk,” Milley said. “The risk of inaction exceeded the risk of action,” he said. – No small decision – Killing Soleimani was no small decision, said Max Boot, a national security expert at … Continue reading Killing Soleimani: Trump acted where other US leaders saw big risks