PORTSMOUTH � Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg says he�s worried President Donald Trump hasn�t �thought through the effects of his decision� to kill Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani.

Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, warned during an editorial board meeting Friday with the Seacoast Media Group, "We must not let uncontrollable escalation take place now.� He was speaking the day after the Republican president ordered a U.S. airstrike in Iraq that took out Soleimani � the head of Iran's elite Quds military force and one of the most powerful figures in the Islamic Republic.

The killing dominated 2020 campaign trail coverage Friday and at least for now has put the spotlight on foreign policy and national security, which have mostly taken a back seat as issues in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The president � on Friday � said Soleimani had killed or wounded thousands of Americans and touted that he �got caught� while planning to kill more Americans.

Buttigieg, like his rivals for the nomination, condemned Soleimani.

�I don�t think anybody in America ought to be mourning for Gen. Soleimani,� he said.

Buttigieg added Soleimani and the forces he controlled �were clearly disruptive, destabilizing, and worse, cost American lives. And we�re not talking about a good guy.� But he emphasized �taking out a bad guy is only a good idea if you have good strategy and know exactly what you�re doing and have thought through all of the implications of what happens next.�

Pointing to his service in the U.S. Naval Reserve, Buttigieg said, �As a military intelligence officer who was on the ground in Afghanistan, I was trained to assess all of the secondary effects of any decision or course of action or event that could happen. I�ve not seen a lot of evidence yet that this administration has thought through the effects of his (Trump�s) decision.�

Buttigieg warned that the killing of the Iranian general on Iraqi soil - which he termed as an �assassination� � �now appears we have made it almost impossible for the national government in Iraq to support continued U.S. engagement and presence shows you just one of the many secondary effects we�re going to create.�

He also criticized Trump for not consulting many in Congress or crucial international allies before carrying out the attack.

He said, �The biggest thing to think about right now � tonight � American citizens are in harm�s way and to be clear � this is not a conventional foe.�

Reacting to the news of new U.S. troop deployments to the Middle East, Buttigieg said, �I�m thinking about people I served with � and a generation of members of the military who have already carried the burden of two wars. We must not let uncontrollable escalation take place now. And we must not allow this to be the beginning of an endless war where that can be avoided.�

Buttigieg is the only member of the top tier of Democratic presidential contenders to have served in a war zone. Asked if that gives him a leg up on his rivals, the candidate told Seacoast Media Group that �it�s certainly useful experience.�

Pointing to his own experience in Afghanistan, he noted that �when it was a U.S. policy that sent you into a war zone, you think about the ramifications and the seriousness of decisions made in the Situation Room differently. And I also think it can�t hurt to have some familiarity with the issues on the ground.�

At 37, Buttigieg is the youngest candidate in the still large field of Democratic White House hopefuls. He�s four decades younger the former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. And with just two terms as mayor of South Bend, a city of just over 100,000 people, he lacks the deep experience in Washington and Congress many of his rivals can highlight.

Asked why he thinks he�s most qualified to serve in the White House, Buttigieg argued �entering the presidency is a leap for anybody who has not been president before.�

Pointing to his service running South Bend, he said �there are not a lot of jobs in government like the job of mayor of a city of any size.�

Adding �city of any size� seemed to be pushback against those who�ve jabbed at the relatively small size of his hometown.

Buttigieg emphasized that �I�m mindful that at no other time in the history of the Republic, would a candidacy like mine get here � what I have to offer matches the moment that we�re in.�

And pointing to his life in the heartland, he noted that �my party has struggled to connect in industrial communities. � I think coming from a community like where I come from is relevant. I think that it�s a good moment for new generation in leadership.�

Buttigieg also argued history points to his young age and lack of D.C. experience as an asset.

�Every single time my party has won the White House in the last 50 years, certain things have been true about the nominee. It has been somebody who�s been new on the national scene, hadn�t been nationally known for very long, hadn�t run for president before,� he said. �It�s been somebody who opened the door to a new generation of leadership. And it�s been somebody who either never worked in Washington or hadn�t been there for very long.�

The successful nominees Buttigieg was pointing to were Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.

The number one concern for Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire and across the country is choosing a nominee who has the best chance of beating Trump in November�s general election.

Buttigieg said the key to beating the GOP incumbent is to �deny him his special power of changing the subject, and the discipline which is going to be required of our nominee is to confront what�s got to be confronted at each turn and then immediately return to the topic at hand, which is not me or him, but you.�

He warned that �an equal and opposite energy is not going to work. If you�re on his show, if you�re playing his game, even if you�re winning, you�re losing.�

�We win on having a better answer on how your life is going to be different,� Buttigieg said. And he added that Democrats �have better answers on� crucial issues such as health care, retirement savings, paid family leave, preventing gun violence, and combating climate change.

Pointing to himself, Buttigieg stressed, �I�m actually from the kind of communities that he (Trump) claims to speak for ... There�s a big difference in my approach to service than his. We�ll be talking about that.�

The video of Buttigieg's meeting with the SMG editorial board in Portsmouth can be viewed on the Seacoastonline.com Facebook page.