The assassination of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani has been justified and spun by the media class and Trump administration in a multitude of ways.  In particular, there are 5 narratives the imperialist class has used in its continued effort to push for regime change in Iran.

Narrative #1: Qasem Soleimani’s assassination was justified because he was a terrorist and a bad guy

Members of the Trump administration and pundits who support the President’s assassination of Qasem Soleimani refer to him as a terrorist, a “bad guy”, and one of the world’s top evildoers.  Cartoonish headlines like this from CNBC, which claimed that Trump “took out the world’s No. 1 bad guy” have been used to sell the good vs. evil narrative to the American people in order justify the white-hatted Americans taking out the black-hatted Muslim terrorist.

Soleimani was a senior Iranian general and the commander of the Quds Force, a unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for special operations primarily outside of Iranian territory.  The unit is most closely analagous with America’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) or the CIA and is prominent in many of Iran’s proxy wars around the middle east, including their ongoing fight against jihadist groups associated with al-Qaeda and ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

So was Soleimani really a terrorist? Not by any definition the Americans have ever used to label men like al-Qaeda and ISIS leaders Osama bin Laden of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.  A terrorist is generally a non-state actor who commits or organizes acts of violence against civilians for some political purpose. Bin Laden, not a member of any state, who organized the attacks of September 11 to kill civilians, as well as many others, as part of a broader political goal, fits this definition perfectly.  Soleimani, on the other hand, is a top official for the nation of Iran, and although he has helped to kill many people in battle, was never engaged in anything that would be considered acts of terror to intentionally harm innocent civilians for political purposes.  

In fact, there is very little qualitative difference between Soleimani and top American generals like David Petraeus or James Mattis, or even men like Dwight Eisenhower or George Patton, who are considered heroes for their achievements in battle.  All of these men were responsible for many deaths, but would never be considered terrorists. The primary difference is that Soleimani works for Iran, which inherently makes him a “bad guy” in the eyes of American imperialists who believe the USA is blessed with moral impunity, while those who oppose its will such as Iran and anyone who supports Iran’s political or military goals, are unconditionally evil.

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