“General Soleimani was key in the fight against regional terrorism the US, NATO and Israel support. That’s why he was targeted for elimination,” Stephen Lendman told Mehr News Agency in an interview on the threshold of General Ghassem Soleimani’s assassination.
US terrorists assassinated General Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi, and their companions by targeting their vehicles outside Baghdad International Airport on January 3.
The act of terror was carried out under the direction of US President Donald Trump, with the Pentagon taking responsibility for the strike.
General Soleimani is viewed by the world's freedom-seeking people as the key figure in defeating Daesh, the world’s most notorious terrorist group, in the Middle East battles.
As we are approaching the anniversary of the terrorist attack, we have reached out to American analyst and columnist Stephen Lendman to know more about the factors behind such an act of terror.
Here is the text of his interview:
How do you assess the US act based on international law?
The US operates exclusively by its own rules — consistently and repeatedly breaching international, constitutional and its own statute laws. It is guilty domestically against its own people, along with wars by hot and means abroad.
Throughout the post-WW II period, it has been responsible for numerous successful and unsuccessful assassination attempts — CIA hitmen almost always involved. They killed Jack Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King for their anti-imperial agendas.
The US assassinates anyone seen as a threat to its rage for controlling others. Anyone seen as threats to US rage for controlling other nations, their resources and populations are vulnerable to possible elimination.
On January 3, 2020, a statement by Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) said the following:
On this day, “deputy head of (Iraq’s PMU) Hashed, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and head of (Iran’s) Quds Force, (General) Qasem Soleimani, were killed in a US strike that targeted their car on the Baghdad International Airport road,” adding: “The American and Israeli enemy is responsible for killing the mujahideen Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani.”
They were killed for being redoubtable freedom fighters against US-supported ISIL in Iraq — not for any threat to US security. What happened was cold-blooded murder — far from the first time US elements killed targeted individuals.
The action and much more like it reflects how the scourge of US imperialism operates — a diabolical agenda against world peace, equity, justice and the rule of law.
How do you see Soleimani's role in fighting against Us and Saudi backed terrorism?
General Soleimani was key in the fight against regional terrorism the US, NATO, and Israel support. That’s why he was targeted for elimination.
How do you see his role in defusing the US plots to redraw the map of the region?
No one is able to change US Middle East policy that’s all about redrawing its map, weakening regional countries, plundering their resources, and sharing the spoils with imperial partners.
As long as it’s oil-rich, US military interventionism is there to stay.
Interview by Morteza Rahmani
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