The new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 features a mission in the singleplayer campaign that resembles a military operation by US forces from 2020. A drone of the US military killed Iranian officer Qasem Soleimani on January 2, 2020. Former US President Donald Trump later justified giving the order to “eliminate” the general. At the time, many feared it could trigger a new war. Activision Blizzard was recently asked about this.
Spoiler Warning: The article discusses the first minutes of the singleplayer campaign of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. If you don’t want to be spoiled, you can rather check out our checklist for Modern Warfare 2. We show you whether a purchase is worth it.
This was the assassination in the “real” world: On January 2, 2020, at 11 PM German time, Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was killed by a drone of the US military in Iraq (via. spiegel).
The order to eliminate him came from US President Donald Trump. He indirectly held the Iranian military officer responsible for militia attacks on the US embassy in Baghdad.
Soleimani arrived at Baghdad Airport on a commercial flight from Damascus. The convoy that was supposed to pick him up was attacked by an American MQ-9 Reaper drone with missiles. Alongside Soleimani, other military personnel were killed, as well as civilian airport employees and his son-in-law.
Trump justified “elimination” of the general
These were the consequences: The death of the general caused deep shock and sorrow in the Arab world. Subsequently, there were threats against the US. Many reporters feared a new war.
Trump later defended the killing of the Iranian general. He stated: “We acted to stop a war. We did not act to start a war.”
Soleimani was said to have been working on “sinister attack plans” against US targets and was therefore “eliminated.” If he had been killed earlier, many lives could have been saved, Trump said (via spiegel).
The Call of Duty campaign is often controversial:
Many see parallels to the assassination in the 1st mission of Modern Warfare 2
What is it like in the new Call of Duty? As the site middleeastmonitor reports, players receive the task to kill the Iranian general “Ghorbrani” just 5 minutes into the campaign in the “Strike” mission.
After the player has marked him, one guides a missile that launches from a stationary device to the general and kills him along with everyone nearby in an explosion.
This is seen by some as a direct reference to the attack on Soleimani – even though the name of the general has been changed.
Optically, Ghobrani with the white bushy beard somewhat resembles the Iranian general from the real world:
This is how Twitch streamer HasanAbi experienced the situation:
CoD is not based on actual events – but is inspired by them
This is what Activision Blizzard says: During an interview opportunity, narrative director Brian Bloom was asked about the ethos behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2:
It’s an entertaining adventure. As far as real people and things doing real things: It is not based on actual events. We do not comment on current events. We are inspired by them.
We want you to feel like while playing, it’s happening in the world you live in. Our heroes are there to do things that restore the world to the way it was before. They restore the world. And that’s the part of the ethos we embody in Modern Warfare.
As early as 2019, there had been strong criticism of CoD: Modern Warfare as the game had an overly political leaning towards some Russian players. Call of Duty is traditionally accused of doing propaganda for the US military:
Russian Twitch streamer quits CoD: Modern Warfare – in protest
