Trump Chooses War

In a little over a week, tensions in the Middle East have gone from high to fever pitch. What started with one American civilian contractor in Iraq being killed escalated to airstrikes on militia-controlled sites in Iraq and Syria, killing 24 people and wounding dozens more. Then, a siege at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad by pro-Iranian militia and a response by the Trump administration that killed Iran’s top military commander.

What went into the decision to assassinate Gen. Qassem Soleimani? And is the United States prepared for what comes next?

Guest: Fred Kaplan, Slate’s War Stories correspondent and author of The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War, out later this month.

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Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, Danielle Hewitt, and Mara Silvers.

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