In the wake of the American attack that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, the current Iraqi Prime Minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, has claimed the general was in Baghdad as an envoy to deliver him a message from Tehran.

Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi further condemned the American strike as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and is labeling it as a political assassination. In answer to these claims, the Iraqi parliament voted on a non-binding resolution to cancel their request for a continued American presence in Iraq.

This information heightens the necessity for the Trump administration to make a clear case for their decision to kill Soleimani. Specifically, they must bolster their claim that Soleimani was involved in an imminent attack on American interests with compelling evidence.

The recent hostilities come as Iran has engaged in a continuing escalation of hostilities across the Middle East. General Soleimani has been a leading mastermind in extensive terrorist and disruptive military activities throughout the region. He is also responsible for human rights violations and numerous horrors in the brutal suppression of the Iranian people.

But while General Soleimani clearly represented a legitimate high-value target for anti-terrorism operations, the time, place, and manner of his death are important as it relates to maintaining good relations with our Iraqi partners.

Pressure must be brought to bear on the White House to ensure we are acting based on a credible and coherent strategy in the Middle East, and not simply proceeding at the whim of a President who does not know his own mind.

However, we should bear in mind that Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi has recently submitted his resignation to the Iraqi parliament in answer to a series of violent protests against perceived Iranian influence in the Iraqi government. There have also been some reports suggesting Iraqi security forces offered no resistance to the Iranian-backed militias that laid siege to the American Embassy.

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