"diplomacy only works when it is backed up by military strength and frank evidence of a willingness to defend one’s national interests. Reagan did that. Just a few days ago, so did Donald Trump."

Roger Kimball writes in American Greatness,

Trump has always shown that he prefers diplomacy to military action. At the same time, he understands, as did Ronald Reagan, that diplomacy only works when it is backed up by military strength and a willingness to exercise it.

...It’s not entirely clear why Soleimani was even in the vicinity of the Baghdad airport in the pre-dawn hours of January 3 since he was under a travel ban from the United Nations.

I say “it’s not entirely clear,” but of course nothing could be clearer. He was there—thumbing his nose, as does everyone, at orders from the self-important joke that is the U.N.—in order to plan further attacks against American interests in Iraq with his pal Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Iranian-backed Iraqi Popular Mobilization Force, who also got his ultimate one-way ticket punched courtesy those U.S. drones.

...The response of the anti-Trump fraternity, Left and erstwhile Right, to this beneficent act of fumigation was hysterical, in both senses of the word: funny and insane. The idea that the president of the United States somehow lacks the authority to authorize the strike was particularly bogus, as Andrew McCarthy shows with his usual clarity.

“When there are forcible threats to the United States,” he noted in The Hill, “the president has not merely the power but the obligation to repel them.” Indeed, “In large measure, that is why there is an Office of the President.” McCarthy elaborates:

Soleimani and al-Muhandis were in the act of making war on the United States. Not just plotting it, though there was plenty of that going on, too.

In late 2019, the Hezbollah Brigades [directed by al-Muhandis], backed by Soleimani, carried out repeated attacks on U.S. coalition forces in Iraq. There were 11 attacks on bases housing U.S. military personnel in just the last two months. As the Defense Department has recounted, these included “a 30-plus rocket attack on an Iraqi base near Kirkuk that resulted in the death of a U.S. citizen and injured four U.S. service members,” as well as members of the Iraqi security forces.

...Soleimani was a sort of real-world Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the fictional James-Bond villain who was head of SPECTRE, short for “SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion,” which is actually a pretty good description of what Soleimani’s “Quds Force” is all about.

With a strength of an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 personnel, the Quds Force is the special operations arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It specializes in “unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations. Responsible for extraterritorial operations, the Quds Force supports non-state actors in many countries, including Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Yemeni Houthis, and Shia militias in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.” All of your favorite bad guys. It is thought to maintain “sleeper cells” throughout the world, including in the United States.

It is worth noting, too, “al-Quds” means “Jerusalem,” and the reason for that is that “liberating” Jerusalem from Israel is central to its mission. Altogether, a nice group of folks.

...It has been a hallmark of the Trump presidency to end the seemingly endless foreign wars and “bring the troops home.” He has always shown that he prefers diplomacy to military action. At the same time, he understands, as did Ronald Reagan, that diplomacy only works when it is backed up by military strength and frank evidence of a willingness to defend one’s national interests. Reagan did that. Just a few days ago, so did Donald Trump.

Read more here.