The recent end of Mike Pompeo ‘s ruling at the state department has been as controversial and scathing as the rest of his 32 – month tenure, but it’ s unclear what traces will be left after he leaves.
The last days of Pompeo were played out in a flurry of self-congratulatory tweets, at a rate of two dozen per day, as he attempted to write the first version of his own history.
The former Kansas convener, with clear intentions for a primary run in 2024, has solidified his claims of success by frequent references to the previous administration, represented as unqualified appellants.
Some of the tweets have been downright factual, for example blaming Barack Obama for an arms control deal signed with Ronald Reagan.
Other claims are contradictory, as he has asserted that the U.S. has reversed a crackdown against Iran, along with its accusation that Tehran is a greater threat than ever. On Tuesday, he called Iran “the new Afghanistan”, insisting – without evidence – that it had become the center of al-Qaida’s activity.
While Iran’s economy has been successfully pumped by sanctions, as Pompeo points out, the stockpile of low-enriched uranium is now more than 12 times greater than it was when Pompeo took over as U.S. secretary of state in 2018.
“If the real US economic sanctions imposed on Tehran have escalated or at least halted the actual activities that were reversed by that policy, it is a matter of impact. not delivering a favorable outcome, “said Naysan Rafati, a senior Iranian analyst at the International Crisis Agency.
Similarly, Pompeo argues that Donald Trump’s conferences with Kim Jong-un led to a decline in nuclear war trials and long-range missile testing. But he doesn’t mention that Kim has ended that moratorium, and is now expected to have a much larger arsenal than when he started meeting Trump.
Pompeo’s painting of America Trump has been very different from recent events. Two days after Congress comes under attack of unprecedented violence by Trump-powered mob Pompeo tweet blithely: “The largest country on earth is not just about its amazing economy and strong weapons; it’s about the values we design for the world. “
Read more of Julian Borger ‘s review here: The last days of Pompeo: secretary of state lights up as rule ends