The decision to assassinate Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, the second most powerful leader in Iran, is a declaration of war against the whole of Iran.

Mealy mouthed mainstream media coverage and official Foreign Office statements like that of Dominic Rabb are pathetic and puerile in the face of an unmistakable war crime, an act of war by one nation against another without United Nations discussion, debate or support. It is yet another example of United States unrestrained lawlessness and brutal bullying on the international stage. Donald Trump has sanctioned a war crime and every bulletin should call out this calculated Drone strike as the illegal act of war it is.

Like the obedient puppet of the US we have become over the last fifty years the UK’s Foreign Office statement was an exercise in smoke and mirrors cover up of yet another US war crime with a limp and lame set of words most probably dictated directly from Washington:

“We have always recognised the aggressive threat posed by the Iranian Quds force led by Qasem Soleimani. Following his death, we urge all parties to de-escalate. Further conflict is in none of our interests.”

US Act of War Should Be Condemned by International Community

Without an iota of international authority, discussion or attempted consensus the US President Trump ordered the killing of a hugely popular Iranian General and an Iraqi military leader in Iraq. While travelling in vehicles near to Baghdad airport these individuals were blown to smithereens by a deadly airstrike and instead of international condemnation of this act of terrorism, a war crime, we have the Western media and their political stooges refusing to condemn the US while calling for restraint from Iran. What utter cowardice and hypocrisy!

No wonder the world is in such a mess when one nation is permitted to act as it pleases and ignore all international rules and conventions regarding the sovereignty of other nations, while other nations are held to account on a wholly different basis.

Imagine the international condemnation if Syria had assassinated an Israeli General on Saudi soil or Iran had eliminated a member of the Saudi royal family during a visit to Qatar? Tensions do exist between Syria and Israel, and Iran and Saudi Arabia but unilateral action by either country to take out representatives of their opponents while on another country’s soil would bring down a cascade of condemnation and calls for international sanctions and coordinated retaliation.

Yet the US carries out just such an act of unilateral warfare and Western governments and the mainstream media shirk from condemnation and instead deflect attention to Iran and their alleged involvement in incidents across the Middle East which remain contentious and subject to fierce debate.

Iraq and Iran Have Been Attacked and Insulted by an Airstrike

The response of the Iraqi military to this airstrike is instructive. They condemned the killing of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the Iraqi paramilitary leader who died alongside Qasem Soleimani.

They said it was a clear breach of the US mandate in Iraq, according to a report by Reuters.

“The Joint Operations Command mourns the hero martyr ... who was martyred last night in a cowardly and treacherous attack carried out by American aircraft near Baghdad international airport,” it said in a statement.

“We affirm that what happened is a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty and a clear breach by the American forces of their mandate which is exclusively to fight Islamic State and provide advice and assistance to Iraqi security forces”.

In one deadly strike the US has taken out recognised military figures of two other sovereign nations on the soil of one of those nations. The US is not in a state of war with either of those nations but is supposed to be working alongside the fledgling Iraqi regime to help in a rebuilding exercise after its 2003 led invasion destroyed it and bombed its infrastructure to smithereens.

The US was an aggressor against Iraq in 2003 when it executed an illegal, bloody and brutal “shock and awe” missile assault and ground invasion which claimed in excess of one million civilian lives. Its role seventeen years later is supposed to be in aiding reconstruction. Yet as the Iraqi military statement above says clearly they have acted in a manner which flagrantly violates the sovereignty of Iraq.

If any other country carried out such an action they would be roundly accused of committing war crimes and made an international pariah. But not in the warped, corrupted and distorted world of US hegemony.

US Plan to Take out Seven Countries in Five Years Was Real

This latest act of US aggression should jolt everyone to recall the words of retired 4-star US General, Wesley Clark, who was at the helm as the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in 1999 when the West chose to obliterate Yugoslavia under the auspices of humanitarian aims which now stands exposed as a flag of deceit and convenience. Speaking candidly in a 2007 interview with Democracy Now! the General gave a rare insight into US strategic thinking and exposed the ‘rogue nation’ status which other western nations continually try to cover up. His words are worth quoting at length. Remember this is a former US General speaking, not an easily dismissed conspiracy theorist or academic of history with no hands-on experience of US military actions. This is a guy who sat round the top tables of government in Washington:

About ten days after 9/11, I went through the Pentagon and I saw Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. I went downstairs just to say hello to some of the people on the Joint Staff who used to work for me, and one of the generals called me in. He said, “Sir, you’ve got to come in and talk to me a second.” I said, “Well, you’re too busy.” He said, “No, no.” He says, “We’ve made the decision we’re going to war with Iraq.” This was on or about the 20th of September. I said, “We’re going to war with Iraq? Why?” He said, “I don’t know.” He said, “I guess they don’t know what else to do.” So I said, “Well, did they find some information connecting Saddam to al-Qaeda?” He said, “No, no.” He says, “There’s nothing new that way. They just made the decision to go to war with Iraq.” He said, “I guess it’s like we don’t know what to do about terrorists, but we’ve got a good military and we can take down governments.” And he said, “I guess if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem has to look like a nail.”

So I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time we were bombing in Afghanistan. I said, “Are we still going to war with Iraq?” And he said, “Oh, it’s worse than that.” He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, “I just got this down from upstairs” — meaning the Secretary of Defense’s office — “today.” And he said, “This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” I said, “Is it classified?” He said, “Yes, sir.” I said, “Well, don’t show it to me.” And I saw him a year or so ago, and I said, “You remember that?” He said, “Sir, I didn’t show you that memo! I didn’t show it to you!”.

Confirmation that US are Biggest Rogue Nation in the World

Not only this interview confirms that the decision to invade Iraq had nothing to do with links to Al Qaeda or weapons of mass destruction; it shows that the US does not merely respond to perceived threats to its interests and power across the Middle East and other regions of the world - they strategically plan their actions years in advance and implement those plans ruthlessly with the aid of pliable and billionaire controlled media who can always be counted upon to do the necessary whitewashing of events and create the convenient narratives to justify war crimes that were hatched and construed years in advance.

The US is the single biggest threat to peace and security across the planet. Their insatiable demand for power, control and cheap access to everyone else’s economic resources, primarily oil, explains its consistent military presence in the Middle East and interference in the affairs of other countries. The rogue military strike in Iraq by the US is not an exception to the rule of US engagement across the world - it is the norm, the confirmation of the rule.

Large scale ‘boots on the ground’ type engagements like Korea, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq are conventional wars with official declarations, or at least congressional authorisations for the ‘use of military force,’ but the reality of US imposed hegemony is the undeclared wars which deliver similar results in relation to instilling fear of the US and projecting power to facilitate large scale resource grabs.

A major academic study in 2013 attempted a more realistic definition of war in order to establish the real extent of US involvement across the world. Consider the definition of war put forth by Linda Bilmes (Harvard Kennedy School) and Michael Intriligator (UCLA), who defined war in their 2013 paper as:

"conflicts where the US is launching extensive military incursions, including drone attacks, but that are not officially 'declared.'"

By that definition, the United States is at war in at least six places right now: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and Syria.

Then consider the rare and rather clumsy revelation of truth by Trump in relation to US presence and involvement in Syria:

“Donald Trump has insisted that the US military presence in Syria is “only for the oil”, contradicting his own officials who have insisted that the remaining forces were there to fight Isis”.

US Militarily Secretly Active in 134 Countries across the World

The US military involvement in the manner described above is not the only form of involvement. Increasing Special Operations is how the US ensures governments close to their interests or willing to do their bidding get into power or stay in power. Extensive research now reveals that the US is actually militarily involved in 70% of the world’s nations through active and aggressive Special Operations in 134 separate countries:

“In the waning days of the Bush presidency, Special Operations forces were reportedly deployed in about sixty countries around the world. By 2010, that number had swelled to seventy-five, according to Karen DeYoung and Greg Jaffe of The Washington Post. In 2011, Special Operations Command (SOCOM) spokesman Colonel Tim Nye told Tom Dispatch that the total would reach 120. Today, that figure has risen higher still.

In 2013, elite US forces were deployed in 134 countries around the globe, according to Major Matthew Robert Bockholt of SOCOM Public Affairs. This 123 percent increase during the Obama years demonstrates how, in addition to conventional wars and a CIA drone campaign, public diplomacy and extensive electronic spying, the US has engaged in still another significant and growing form of overseas power projection. Conducted largely in the shadows by America’s most elite troops, the vast majority of these missions take place far from prying eyes, media scrutiny, or any type of outside oversight, increasing the chances of unforeseen blowback and catastrophic consequences”.

US Should be blamed for Consequences of their Attack

This illegal, secret, brutal, bloody and deadly deployment of US power across the globe is what should be put into focus by the most recent example of US war crimes in Iraq last night.

Iran and Iraq have been the victims of US attacks on their government officials which constitute acts of war. Iran in particular has been left no option but to retaliate. It is one of the oldest nation states in the Middle East. It is a proud and patriotic nation. Its dignity and prestige has been undermined by the killing of its second in command so retaliation is inevitable. It is a case of when and how not if?

An ugly and bloody conflagration of incidents could now develop into a full scale war. The mainstream media won’t highlight them or expose them but free thinkers across the world must point the finger of blame firmly and without fear at Donald Trump and the US for whatever now ensues in response to their illegal act of war.

The views and opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.