Obama Nat. Security Advisor Defends Trump: Soleimani Decision Was 'Absolutely Correct'
A former national security advisor in the Obama administration did what congressional Democrats will not do — praise President Donald Trump for the decisive step Trump took in ordering the drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
James Jones, a retired Marine Corps general, was former President Barack Obama’s national security advisor in 2009 and 2010, according to the Washington Examiner.
During comments Sunday at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi, he said Trump made the right call.
“What the administration did in the Soleimani case is absolutely correct,” Jones told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble.
“This was a powerful step. We’ll see where it goes,” he added, as the Examiner reported. “It’s a complicated region, but I think history will say that this was the right thing to do.”
Although Trump has faced a partisan backlash, Jones said Sunday that Trump should tune out the criticism, according to Newsweek.
“I would not listen to the appeasers of the world who kind of want to calm the waves,” he said.
WATCH: Former Obama national security advisor Gen. James Jones praises @RealDonaldTrump decision to strike Iranian terrorist Soleimani as “absolutely correct” and a “potential game-changer.”
Under President Trump, the days of appeasing Iran are over!
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— Trump War Room — Text FIGHT to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) January 14, 2020
“As articulated by the president, it’s a potential game-changer,” he said. “I would not let up, though. I would not let up.”
Jones said it would be wrong to want to “get back to normal business and then you have Iran using its proxies to spread terror around the world, interdict shipping, shoot down drones and things like that.”
“Those days I think are over and I hope Iran understands that,” Jones said.
Jones said that during his tenure, the Obama administration had its focus on al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed in 2011.
“I think the Obama administration tried to find the terrorist that was the most wanted guy in the world,” he said. “Soleimani is now the next guy, so I give [Trump] credit for doing that and I think it was the right thing to do.”
Jones also said that Iran is now reeling, with domestic protests having flared up after the regime admitted to shooting down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing all 176 people aboard.
“It’s clear that the regime in Iran’s had a very bad couple of weeks,” Jones said. “And one of the things that people don’t talk about too much is the degree of unrest that there is in the country, which I think is significant.
“So, you take the removal of Soleimani, you take the accidental downing of the civilian aircraft coupled with the amount of popular unrest — the needle towards possible collapse of a regime has to be something that people think about,” he said. “It’s probably not politically correct to talk about it, but you have to think about it.”
Trump took a combative tone about Soleimani’s killing during a Tuesday rally in Milwaukee:
“He was the king of the roadside bombs,” Trump said, referring to the improvised explosive devices used against U.S. troops in the Iraq War.
“Great percentages of people don’t have legs right now and arms because of this son of a b—-,” Trump said.
“And the Democrats should be outraged by Soleimani’s evil crimes, not the decision to end his wretched life.”
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