For John, BLUF: The targeted killing of Quds Force Commander Qassim Soleimani has caused Democrats to become excited about the actions of President Trump in defense of Americans. I think they lack historic depth. We have always had very bad people abusing fellow human beings. Mr Soleimani is not unique. And killing such people is not unique. Nothing to see here; just move along.
SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich was attacked on 27 May 1942, outside of Prague (Operation ANTHROPOID), by Czech Partisans, supported by the British Government.
This information is from the Heydrich Wikipedia page.
Heydrich wore many hats in the Third Reich, including President of the International Criminal Police Commission (later known as Interpol). He was the founding head of the Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service, SD), an internal intelligence organization. He helped organize Kristallnacht, a series of coordinated attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938. Upon his arrival in Prague, Heydrich sought to eliminate opposition to the Nazi occupation by suppressing Czech culture and deporting and executing members of the Czech resistance. He was directly responsible for the Einsatzgruppen, the special task forces that travelled in the wake of the German armies and murdered more than two million people by mass shooting and gassing, including 1.3 million Jews. On 20 January 1942, Heydrich chaired a meeting, now called the Wannsee Conference, which formalized plans for the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question"—the deportation and genocide of all Jews in German-occupied Europe.
Here is Wikipedia on the assault on Heydrich:
In London, the Czechoslovak government-in-exile resolved to kill Heydrich. Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík headed the team chosen for the operation, trained by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). They returned to the Protectorate, parachuting from a Handley Page Halifax on 28 December 1941, where they lived in hiding, preparing for the mission.
On 27 May 1942, Heydrich planned to meet Hitler in Berlin. German documents suggest that Hitler intended to transfer him to German-occupied France where the French resistance was gaining ground. Heydrich would have to pass a section where the Dresden-Prague road merges with a road to the Troja Bridge. The junction in the Prague suburb of Libeň was well suited for the attack because motorists have to slow for a hairpin bend. As Heydrich's car slowed, Gabčík took aim with a Sten submachine gun, but it jammed and failed to fire. Heydrich ordered his driver Klein to halt and attempted to confront the attackers, rather than having his driver speed away. Kubiš then threw a converted anti-tank mine at the rear of the car as it stopped. The explosion wounded both Heydrich and Kubiš. Heydrich ordered Klein to chase Gabčík on foot, and Gabčík shot Klein in the leg. Kubiš and Gabčík managed to escape the scene.
A Czech woman went to Heydrich's aid and flagged down a delivery van. He was placed on his stomach in the back of the van and taken to the emergency room at Bulovka Hospital. He had suffered severe injuries to his left side, with major damage to his diaphragm, spleen, and one lung. A splenectomy was performed, and the chest wound, left lung, and diaphragm were all debrided. Himmler ordered Karl Gebhardt to fly to Prague to assume care. Despite a fever, Heydrich's recovery appeared to progress well. Hitler's personal doctor Theodor Morell suggested the use of the new antibacterial drug sulfonamide, but Gebhardt thought that Heydrich would recover and declined the suggestion. Heydrich reconciled himself to his fate on 2 June, during a visit by Himmler, by reciting one of his father's operas:
The world is just a barrel-organ which the Lord God turns Himself. We all have to dance to the tune which is already on the drum.
Heydrich slipped into a coma after Himmler's visit and never regained consciousness. He died on 4 June; an autopsy concluded that he died of sepsis.
Funeral
After an elaborate funeral held in Prague on 7 June 1942, Heydrich's coffin was placed on a train to Berlin, where a second ceremony was held in the new Reich Chancellery on 9 June. Himmler gave the eulogy. Hitler attended and placed Heydrich's decorations—including the highest grade of the German Order, the Blood Order Medal, the Wound Badge in Gold, and the War Merit Cross 1st Class with Swords—on his funeral pillow. Although Heydrich's death was employed for pro-Reich propaganda, Hitler privately blamed Heydrich for his own death, through carelessness:
Since it is opportunity which makes not only the thief but also the assassin, such heroic gestures as driving in an open, unarmoured vehicle or walking about the streets unguarded are just damned stupidity, which serves the Fatherland not one whit. That a man as irreplaceable as Heydrich should expose himself to unnecessary danger, I can only condemn as stupid and idiotic
Seems that they were both horrible people, from a civilization point of view. Both seem to have felt that all is fair in war. Both seem to feel that there was no action to base.
The difference is that Heydrich was internal until war broke out and then he operated in occupied territory. In contrast, Qassim Soleimani operated a great guerrilla group across the Middle East, operating in the territory of other nations, including Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. He seemed to feel free to poke at a number of additional nations, including Israel and Saudi Arabia. He supported the idea of "Death to America" (and Israel). And meant it.
It is always sad when a human dies. However, this was a person who engaged in this killing, in a big way.
Regards — Cliff
