Killing Soleimani isn't the concern -- it's Trump's suspicious timing: columnist

President Donald Trump has spent the majority of his presidency preoccupied with trying to get his promised wall built, rewriting NAFTA, bringing down the Affordable Care Act, and tariffs. While Trump was quick to pull out of the nuclear treaty with Iran, he hasn't done much to deal with concerns in the country.

It makes it all the more shocking Trump made the impulsive decision to kill the top Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani. As a former Shia militia analyst-turned Congresswoman explained, other presidents (George W. Bush and Barack Obama) have had the opportunity to take out Soleimani. Both presidents, however, decided it wasn't worth what Iran would do in retaliation.

As Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker explained, Trump's timing on the Iran attack is suspect.

"By most accounts, he deserved to die. He had American blood on his hands and was behind Iran’s deadly clandestine operations abroad. 'However . . . ,' said nearly every so-called expert snagged by American news programs to comment on a variety of hypotheticals related to Iran," she wrote Friday.

"Speculation was wild as a spring break: What would happen next?" she questioned. "Would Iran, which promised revenge, attack Israel? Would Iranian citizens feel emboldened and demand regime change? Does the United States remove a sitting president so soon after what some have called an act of war?"

Parter cited the old 1990s Dustin Hoffman film "Wag the Dog," where a president starts a fake war with a country to distract from a sex scandal, help increase his poll numbers and ultimately get reelected.

In past years, Trump claimed that former President Obama would do the same, and start a war with Iran because his poll numbers were low. Obama, of course, did the opposite, signing a treaty with Iran and guaranteeing a ceasefire. Now that Trump has launched bombs at Iran, it's prompting analysts to question whether he's doing what he accused Obama of.

"Given Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement — and his cage-rattling foreign policy — Soleimani’s death probably shouldn’t come as a surprise. A worthy speculation is: Why did it take so long?" Parker asked. "It is disturbing, nonetheless, to consider that Trump might have been prompted to act for reasons other than the nation’s best interest — such as his being mocked by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. On Wednesday, two days before the airstrike that killed Soleimani, Khamenei wrote this on Twitter:

“[Trump] has tweeted that we see Iran responsible for the events in Baghdad & we will respond to Iran. 1st: You can’t do anything. 2nd: If you were logical — which you’re not — you’d see that your crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan . . . have made nations hate you.”

So, the United States is ready for a war, just in time for the election.

Read her full column at The Washington Post.