Drone strike assassination of Iranian general Soleimani splits US Congress along partisan lines

Zane Wolfang

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Political partisans on both sides of the aisle in Washington, DC reacted strongly to the assassination of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani by US drone strike.

The strike, which President Donald Trump authorized without seeking congressional approval, was praised by Republican legislators as an assertion of American strength in the face of Iranian provocation. 

Representative Mike Rogers, the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee tweeted through the committee Republican’s official account, “I commend [Donald Trump] for taking decisive action to eliminate a terrorist mastermind responsible for American deaths who was still plotting to harm us. Incredible work done by our Armed Forces and Intel Community.”

Representative Dan Crenshaw, a Republican former Navy SEAL from Texas, released a series of tweets praising the president’s actions and calling for unity:

“This swift and decisive act by the president is welcomed news, but we should expect a response from the Iranian regime and/or its surrogates… Now is the time to come together as a country to confront Iranian aggression and defend the tenets of freedom, as we always have.”

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Donald Trump’s staunchest allies in Congress, tweeted a mix of praise for the president and threats towards the Iranian government such as, “I appreciate President [Donald Trump’s] bold action against Iranian aggression. To the Iranian government: if you want more, you will get more.”

In contrast, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, tweeted only a quote by Sr. Martin Luther King Jr. which read, “We have guided missiles and misguided men.” 

Other Democratic members of both the House and Senate were more explicit with their criticism of the drone strike, castigating the move as a dangerous and disproportionate escalation of tensions.

Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the Democrat-controlled House, released a statement on her website saying, “American leaders’ highest priority is to protect American lives and interests. But we cannot put the lives of American service members, diplomats and others further at risk by engaging in provocative and disproportionate actions.” 

She also noted that president Trump did not seek the congressional Authorization of Military Force required by the US constitution and concluded her statement with a demand that the full Congress be briefed on the situation, including the deployment of additional US troops to the Middle East.

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, one of the candidates hoping to run against Trump in the 2020 election, tweeted a video condemning the drone strike and alluding to his long record of opposition to foreign wars, along with a caption that read, “I was right about Vietnam. I was right about Iraq. I will do everything in my power to prevent a war with Iran. I apologize to no one.”

Senator Joe Biden, who served as Barack Obama’s vice president and is another frontrunner for the Democratic nomination to run against Trump in 2020, also released a statement about the strike, stating that “No American will mourn Qasem Soleimani’s passing… [but] this is a hugely escalatory move in an already dangerous region.” 

He voiced concern that despite the Trump administration’s stated goal of deterrence against future Iranian attacks, the assassination of Soleimani would have the opposite effect, saying that Trump had “tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox”  and asking for an explanation of how the president intends to keep Americans safe.

While Republicans praise the president for showing decisive strength in the face of rising tensions with Iran and Democrats worry that the world is on the precipice of a new and dangerous conflict, both sides await the unknown time, place and scale of Iran’s near certain retaliation for the death of one of their most powerful leaders.

 

Correction: An earlier version of this piece stated that Representative Bennie Thompson is from the Bronx. He represents Mississippi's second congressional district.