Fight against terrorism, or a new US crime in Iraq?

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BY OWN CORRESPONDENT On January 2 , during an airstrike by United States drones at Baghdad airport in Iraq, one of the most influential Iranian military leaders, General Qassem Suleimani, was killed. Sanctioned by the Trump administration and not coordinated with the Iraqi authorities, an air raid on the central airport of sovereign Iraq is […]

BY OWN CORRESPONDENT On January 2 , during an airstrike by United States drones at Baghdad airport in Iraq, one of the most influential Iranian military leaders, General Qassem Suleimani, was killed. Sanctioned by the Trump administration and not coordinated with the Iraqi authorities, an air raid on the central airport of sovereign Iraq is itself a war crime. However, Washington has long ceased to look back at international law in its actions. If the White House wants to kill someone, it does it without trial or investigation. So, it was with the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Remember how that time the leaders of the most “democratic” state, US President Barack Obama and secretary of state Hillary Clinton rejoiced in the brutal murder and inhuman mockery of the dead body of the head of the sovereign Libyan Jamahiriya. It also happened  with respected  Iran, Syria and the entire Middle East General Qassem Suleimani, who headed the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the special division “Quds”, struggling with an international terrorist organization Islamic state. The pretext for the brutal murder of Suleimani became the allegations of Tehran’s support of Iraqi national militia, blockading the US embassy in Baghdad at the end of December. And as usual, no concrete facts, no investigation. Only statements by US officials about the threats to the sovereignty and US interests (by the way, this state is located on the opposite of the Middle East part of the world) – and immediately the indiscriminate military operation by air had happened. But riots around the American diplomatic mission themselves came in response to the illegal operation of the US Air Force against pro-Iranian group “Hezbollah”, in which 25 people died. At the same time, according to American political analysts themselves, the US airstrike that led to the death of an Iranian general “could mark the most dramatic increase in tension in the Middle East since the Iraq war.” For his part , Iranian Foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif , in a tweet, called the US strike an “act of international terrorism” that had assassinated “the most effective force fighting Daesh (ISIS), Al Nusrah , Al Qaeda et al,” and an “extremely dangerous and a foolish escalation. ” Some experts suggested that what had been, until now, a low-level war between the US and Iran could soon explode. “We are moving into a period where there is a strong possibility of escalating war and direct conflict between the United States and Iran. The Middle East is already in flames from conflict and large-scale protest movements. It may now get much, much worse , ” Seth Jones, an expert on Middle East extremism and unconventional warfare at the Center for Strategic and International Studies .   The US action marks a dramatic escalation by Trump, who for many months has signaled that he wants to withdraw from the Middle East.  Last September, after announcing the United States was “locked and loaded” for attack, Trump declined to respond militarily to a devastating attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure blamed on Iran. He also stepped back from a planned strike following the shootdown of a US drone, disconcerting the Israelis and other hard-liners.   But in recent days, the administration has stepped up its rhetoric and readiness. Earlier Thursday, secretary of defense Mark Esper warned that the US might take preemptive military action if it received warning that Iran or its proxy forces were planning further strikes on US interests in the Middle East. Some critics, however, worried that the strike meant a whole new war in the region.  “A president who vowed to keep the United States out of another Middle Eastern war has in effect just issued a declaration of war,” said Robert Malley, president of the International Crisis Group. US senator James Risch, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, praised Trump’s action. “Congratulations to President Trump on his decisive action and the successful outcome,” Risch said in a statement.   But others suggested the act might amount to an unnecessary provocation. “Soleimani was an enemy of the United States” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote on Twitter.  “The question is this – as reports suggest, did America just assassinate, without any Congressional authorization, the second most powerful person in Iran, knowingly setting off a potential massive regional war?” Note that, the decision to use military force far beyond the borders of the United States and with completely non-humane goals is once again made without the approval of the US Congress, as required by American democratic principles and laws. In his turn, Iraqi TV reported that along with Suleimani the strikes killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis , the deputy commander of Iran-backed Iraqi militias known as with the Popular Mobilization Forces. Ironically, Washington has previously credited Suleimani’s militias with helping to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq. So at the end, what happens? The Americans, defending their own economic well-being, indiscriminately kill all the leaders who are objectionable to them, including those who are fighting against international terrorism? Apparently yes! After all, if terrorism, generated by the United States itself, is defeated, then under what pretext will Washington unleash new wars around the world? Wars, whose real purpose is to destabilize the situation in the regions for the subsequent US aggressions.