With holes punched in his
earlier statement that Soleimani posed immediate threat to US embassies and the
contradictions in the statements by his officials, Trump in several tweets
Monday defended his decision to kill Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani,
contending Soleimani posed an impending threat to the United States.
President Donald Trump on
Monday showed exasperation with those questioning the reason he ordered the
assassination of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, almost triggering a Middle
east war.
He now said the threat
“doesn’t really matter” given the military leader’s history.
“The Fake News Media and
their Democrat Partners are working hard to determine whether or not the future
attack by terrorist Soleimani was ‘imminent’ or not, & was my team in
agreement,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
“The answer to both is a
strong YES., but it doesn’t really matter because of his horrible past!”
Democrats, who are trying
to pass legislation to rein in Trump’s ability to wage war on Iran without
lawmakers’ approval, sharply disagreed.
“You cannot take military
action against another nation without congressional consent unless to defend
against an imminent attack,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said on Twitter.
“It’s clear now this was an
illegal action. That also has made America less safe,” he said, noting an NBC
News report that Trump had authorised the killing of Soleimani seven months
ago.
Since confirming Soleimani
was killed by a U.S. air strike in Baghdad, administration officials have
claimed they acted because of an imminent risk of attacks on American diplomats
and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.
Democrats and a few
Republicans in Congress have questioned the justification of the attacks and
said they have not been given adequate, detailed briefings.
Some have also argued that
the U.S. Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the authority to
declare war, and called for the Senate and House of Representatives to act to
take that authority back from the White House.
Reflecting deep divisions
in Washington over Trump’s Iran policy, the House voted nearly along party
lines last week to pass a resolution that would force the president to seek
congressional approval for further military action against Iran.
Three of Trump’s fellow
Republicans backed the resolution and eight Democrats – who control a majority
in the House – voted against it.
A companion measure has
been introduced in the Senate but there has been no word on timing of a vote,
giving uncertainty about Trump’s impeachment trial.
Last week Trump posited in
an interview that Iran had been poised to attack four American embassies before
Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike on Jan. 3. But on Sunday U.S.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he did not see specific evidence that Iran
was planning an attack.
“What the president said
was that there probably could be additional attacks against embassies. I shared
that view,” Esper said. “The president didn’t cite a specific piece of
evidence.”
When pressed on whether
intelligence officers offered concrete evidence on that point, Esper said: “I
didn’t see one with regards to four embassies.”
No comments:
Post a Comment