Posted on 01/02/2020 10:02:30 PM PST by Mariner
WASHINGTON (AP) — The New Year’s Eve attack on the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad has exposed a deepening divide between the United States and Iraq over Iran’s role there, even as the Pentagon embarks on a more aggressive mission to counter Iranian influence across the Mideast.
“The game has changed,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Thursday, telling reporters that violent acts by Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq will be met with U.S. military force.
Esper spoke before Iraqi TV and three Iraqi officials said Friday that Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, had been killed in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport.
The officials said the strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. The PMF blamed the United States for the attack, but there was no immediate comment from the U.S. or Iran.
The U.S. had previously retaliated to a Dec. 27 rocket attack, which killed one American, by launching air strikes that killed 25 fighters of an Iran-back militia.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
But I'm sure I haven't heard everything.
So far, so good.
I guess now that Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani is toast, the rift is wider?
Tonight, the guy who ordered the attack is himself experiencing something of a “divide.”
Ya think?
The locals, in this case Iraq are responsible for external embassy security
That’s not the gist of the article.
By getting rid of Saddam Hussein we did Iran’s dirty work for free.
well the guy got picked up twice in one night in the same general area.. the first time from the plane by some vehicles and the second time with a shovel off the tarmac not long after
Guy got too cocky.
His bill was long overdue.
That is the past.
Today we see a new future.
The majority of Iraqi citizens are Shia Muslims.
Absolutely.
ASS press is hopeful
He ain’t toast - he’s the burnt crumbs that collect in the pan at the bottom of the toaster.
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