Today, the United States, Israel, the Sunni Arab nations, and the free Western world should sleep a little easier, knowing that one of the world's most notorious terrorists, Qassem Soleimani, has been eliminated from the face of the Earth.  Known as the "shadow commander," Soleimani was a major general in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the commander of the notorious Quds Force and their clandestine external terrorist operation.

This is a major, significant development and indicates that the United States under President Trump can and will take bold, decisive, and precise moves when it comes to our national security interests.  It came about immediately after our men were attacked in Iraq and when hordes of Shiite forces were storming the U.S embassy in Iraq.

Soleimani was the master architect and chief implementer of a grand geostrategic design for exporting the Iranian revolution and for creating a Shiite religious theocracy and Iranian-controlled dictatorship throughout the Middle East, where he created a network of paramilitary terrorist organizations.  He sowed the seeds for the extreme chaos in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and Gaza.

In Syria, he helped to cement the brutal reign of Bashar Assad during its ongoing civil war and was instrumental in brokering the "axis of evil" among Iran, Russia, and Syria.  In Lebanon, he has armed, equipped, trained, and mobilized Hezb'allah and has, unfortunately, helped make it into the dominant force in Lebanon's government.  In Yemen, he has armed and trained the Houthis and helped them launch an attack on the Saudi oil fields.

He has been seen in photos embracing Hamas's Khalid Mishaal and has laundered tremendous amounts of Iranian money, which came about as a result of the $151.5-billion bequest from the Obama administration as a sweetener for signing the disastrous nuclear deal with us.  The missiles emanating from Gaza that have been used to terrorize Israelis would not have been possible without this Iranian largess and the imprint of this terrorist mastermind.

Thousands of U.S. troops serving in Iraq came home in body bags with IEDs with Farsi imprints on them.  Qassem Soleimani had his bloody signature on this.

There is a good possibility that Iran will retaliate, but it is obviously beneficial for free men and women everywhere that this evil genius who cannot be replaced easily has been eliminated.

It is patently absurd that the politicians — such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who enthusiastically applauded the elimination of Osama bin Laden at the hands of President Obama — are apoplectic about the elimination of Qassem Soleimani.  Their criticism is grounded in the fact that President Trump did not come to Congress for consultation before killing this terrorist mastermind.  However, President Obama never consulted with Congress before eliminating Osama bin Laden. 

When Osama bin Laden was killed, Republicans and Democrats alike praised the move by President Obama.  Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney had called it "a great victory for lovers of freedom and justice everywhere," and Governor Mike Huckabee exclaimed, "Americans and decent people the world over cheer the news that madman, murderer, and terrorist Osama bin Laden is dead."

What is missing today in our political culture are people with enough integrity to rise beyond their deep-seated animosity for President Trump, their intense party affiliations, and their fervent personal political aspirations to acknowledge that the world is a great deal safer today because of this action by the Trump administration.

When honesty and integrity trump these three factors, America can once again prove to have the unity it takes to lead the world with moral clarity, with precision, with the mettle and the resolve it takes to defeat the great menace of Iran that has been one of the most destabilizing factors in the world today.

Sarah N. Stern is founder and president of the Endowment for Middle East Truth, EMET, an unabashedly pro-American and pro-Israel think-tank and policy shop in Washington, D.C.