The assassination of Qasem Soleimani, ordered by United States' President Donald Trump was a criminal act. Any country, including the United States, which claims to uphold the rule of law, should spare no effort to bring to justice President Donald Trump, and all the other perpetrators of that crime including Mike Pompeo and Mike Pence.
Qasem Soleimani, unlike the United States' Army had, with the Iraqi Kata'ib Hezbollah paramilitaries, effectively fought against ISIS in Iraq. Those paramilitaries are connected to the country's Popular Mobilization Forces that are part of Iraqi government's armed forces. Qasem Soleimani was adored by most Iraqis.
On Sunday 29 December, Donald Trump ordered attacks on the Kata'ib Hezbollah paramilitaries. As a pretext for his order to attack Iraq's armed forces, Donald Trump claimed that the Kata'ib Hezbollah paramilitaries had launched a rocket attack which had killed a U.S. contractor. Although the Iraqi government began to investigate the attack, Trump was not prepared to await the outcome of the investigation. 27 Paramilitaries were killed in that rocket attack as a result.
Subsequently, enraged Iraqis tried to storm the U.S. embassy and demanded that the U.S. army occupiers leave Iraq.
Then on Friday 3 January, Donald Trump ordered the helicopter strike which killed Qasem Soleimani and 4 Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) officers. The U.S., itself the world's biggest known destabiliser and cause of death and destruction, claimed that this assassination would somehow help stabilise Iraq.
Qasem Soleimani, unlike, the U.S. military, was in Iraq with the permission of its government. The murder of Soleimani would be found by any functional court of law to be a crime and its perpetrator imprisoned.
As well as acting to defend themselves against further U.S. aggression, Iraqi and Iranian patriots should also pursue all legal avenues, through international bodies like the United Nations and the International Criminal Court, to have Donald Trump brought to justice for this crime.
It is also well past the time that the Iraqi government told U.S. military forces to leave. Iraq would be well advised to also remove the U.S. embassy from its soil.
Qasseim Soleimani was inside Iraq with the permission of the Iraqi government. No-one guilty of ordering his assassination should be walking free, let alone running the United States.
See also : Donald Trump Murdered Qasem Soleimani (10/1/20) | by James Risen | The Intercept_, US legal experts say Soleimani assassination violated international law (4/1/20) | PressTV
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James Sinnamon
Mon, 2020-01-27 02:46
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The murdered Soleimani "Tehran's intimidating political fixer"?
From Donald Trump Murdered Qasem Soleimani (10/1/20) by James Risen | The Intercept. (The emphases in the quoted text below, are my own. - JS) :
Yet, further below, James Risen writes:
So, on the one hand, James Risen rightly states that President Donald Trump is guilty of murdering Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. This clear fact and the consequent need to at least have Donald Trump shown up for the murderer that he is at least before world public opinion, if not in a court of law, is, bizarrely, rarely stated, even in the Iranian PressTV, the Russian RT or other alternative newsmedia.
On the other hand, whilst acknowledging Qasem Soleimani's role in leading the fight against ISIS in Iraq, James Risen describes his tactics against ISIS as "horrific paramilitary actions". No specific examples are given, let alone the context in which those "horrific paramilitary actions" were used. He also labels Soleimani "Tehran's intimidating political fixer throughout the Middle East".
So, whilst condemning Donald Trump's murder of Qasem Soleimani and acknowledging his leading role in the fight against ISIS, James Risen still manages to depict Qasem Soleimani, who was mourned by many millions of Iraqis and Iranians before, and during, his funeral as a ruthless and unconscionable operator, feared by most Iraqis. So, in spite of his initial outcry against the murder of Qasem Soleimani, much of what James Risen has subsequently written, seems to provide some justification for that murder.
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