Qasem Soleimani was a terrorist who, according to the Pentagon, was responsible for the
deaths of over 600 American troops starting in 2001. He was the commander of the Quds Force
of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, overseeing the paramilitary operations of over 15,000
personnel. President Trump was right to have him eliminated via drone strike near Baghdad on
Jan. 2.
The ensuing hyperbolic frenzy about the prospect of World War III following the event
was nonsensical, uninformed and a result of the drama and chaos the press and social media
armchair generals thrive on to keep our attention. There is not going to be a draft, a nuclear
holocaust or any other thing you’ve heard on TV or Twitter. Realistically, Iran is too weak for
any real threat of major retaliation.
The claims that the death of Soleimani violates international law are also incorrect.
Soleimani was actively operating as a hostile combatant in a designated war zone, making him
an enemy combatant by the standards of both American and international laws. This was not
only confirmed by our Department of Justice but also was confirmed independently by Dominic
Raab, the United Kingdom’s foreign secretary, according to an article by iNews.
Soleimani had just engineered an attack on the American embassy in Baghdad by an
Iranian-funded terror proxy less than a week before. Furthermore, according to Trump and
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, intelligence collected by our military suggested that Soleimani
was planning assaults on four more American embassies. By this definition, Soleimani was also
an imminent terror threat by both American and international laws, meaning the complaints
about Congress not authorizing or being informed of this plan are dismissible.
Lastly, we need to look at the monstrous record Soleimani spent years compiling. He first
earned the Ayatollah Khomeini’s favor by butchering Iranian citizens for the crime of protesting
government-sanctioned oppression of ethnic minorities. He killed hundreds of American troops
in Iraq and Afghanistan by planting roadside bombs and coordinating ambushes by local terrorist
proxies loyal to the Iranian regime. Most recently, he was leading the massacre of 500,000
civilians in Syria and over 50,000 civilians in Yemen.
Soleimani killed mercilessly and without warrant to please the warped mind of the
Iranian regime bent on regional hegemony and the destruction of “infidels.” His elimination is an
act of strategic deterrence that shows America will punish brutes who kill soldiers and civilians
alike.
