Soleimani Killed

“The United States killed Iran’s top general and the architect of Tehran’s proxy wars in the Middle East in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport early on Friday… The Defense Department said it killed Soleimani because he ‘was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.’ It also accused Soleimani of approving the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad earlier [last] week.” (AP News)

The left criticizes the strike, arguing that it will result in retaliation and risks escalating into war.

“Let’s remember how we got here. The United States and Iran have been at odds for decades. America’s disastrous invasion of Iraq set off a new, deadly round of tensions when Iran organized attacks on American troops in Iraq, attacks often coordinated by Suleimani. But in 2015, the United States and Iran signed an agreement that successfully stopped Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons. Despite the threatening activity of Iranian proxies in places such as Yemen and Lebanon, the US and Iran both fought against the Islamic State…

“Then Trump took office, ramped up the pressure, and, in 2018, withdrew from the nuclear deal. Since then, tensions between the two countries have increased and multiple moments in 2019 alone brought the two countries to the brink of conflict. The Trump administration has brought us to the precipice we are at today, and that is why this assassination was so dangerous.”
(Michael H Fuchs, The Guardian)

The right supports the strike, arguing that it was necessary to push back against Iranian aggression.

“Mr. Trump is accused of violating the executive order against assassinations. But that long-time ban has never applied to terrorists, which Soleimani clearly was. He ran Iran’s Quds Force, which the Bush Administration designated as a terror group in 2007. He was also a general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which Mr. Trump designated as a terror group last year. If Mr. Trump’s drone strike was illegal, then so were Barack Obama’s raid on Osama bin Laden and his hundreds of drone strikes over eight years as President.” (Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal)