The United States killed top Iranian military commander, General Qasem Soleimani, in a drone attack on his convoy at Baghdad International Airport, in early hours on January 3. The reason behind it was to avert an imminent attack on Americans, a justification cited by the US establishment.
There is very less, if any, information available about what imminent attack, did America avert. An intelligence briefing, on Wednesday, left not only Democrats but also Republicans, unsatisfied. On Thursday, in an interview with Fox News, Mike Pompeo admitted that he didn't know precisely when and where Iran was planning its 'imminent attacks'.
What did Mike Pompeo say in the interview with Fox News?
On the day, the Iranian commander was assassinated, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, "We want the world to understand that there was, in fact, an imminent attack taking place". "The American people should know that this was an intelligence-based assessment that drove this", he further added.
In an interview with Fox News, he said, "There is no doubt that there were a series of imminent attacks being planned by [Qasem Soleimani]". "We don't know precisely when, and we don't know precisely where, but it was real".
Pompeo: “there were a series of imminent attacks, we don’t know when, we don’t know where.
— Jason Sparks (@sparksjls) January 10, 2020
🤔🤔🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/ig6dluI63C
On Wednesday, lawmakers called out the intelligence briefing regarding the reason for Donald Trump's administration to take such a step to assassinate a foreign official. Republican senator Mike Lee called it "probably the worst briefing I've seen, at least on a military issue, in the nine years I've served in the US Senate".
.@SenMikeLee
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 8, 2020
: "It is not acceptable for officials within the executive branch of government…to come in and tell us that we can't debate and discuss the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran. It's un-American. It's unconstitutional and it's wrong." pic.twitter.com/fVSE6b3EM0
Another Republican senator Rand Paul said after the briefing, "They have justified the killing of an Iranian general as being something that Congress gave them permission to do in 2002. That is absurd, that's an insult".
Sen. @RandPaul on Iran briefing: "They have justified the killing of an Iranian general as being something that Congress gave them permission to do in 2002. That is absurd, that's an insult." pic.twitter.com/ReCWW2Nbm3
— The Hill (@thehill) January 9, 2020
Democratic lawmaker Pramila Jaypal said, "There was NO raw evidence presented that this was an imminent threat".
Rep. Pramila Jayapal: "President Trump recklessly assassinated Qasem Soleimani. He had no evidence of an imminent threat or attack." pic.twitter.com/htYowEvXOM
— The Hill (@thehill) January 8, 2020
"I was utterly unpersuaded about any evidence about the imminence of a threat that was new or compelling," said Democratic lawmaker Gerry Connolly.
"I was — well, utterly unpersuaded about any evidence about the imminence of a threat that was new or compelling," Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said after being briefed on the strike that killed Qasem Soleimani https://t.co/nP8RzQyNut pic.twitter.com/2HxWJGOo7o
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 8, 2020
U.S.A.'s decision to kill top Iranian military commander Soleimani brought both countries on brink of war. On Wednesday, Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at Iraqi military bases which house American and coalition troops.
