President Trump’s military strike that killed the Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani has made Americans “less safe.” This was the assessment given by Robert Malley who was the adviser of former president Barack Obama for the Middle East, Newsweek reported.
U.S. forces targeted the vehicle carrying Soleimani on his way from the Baghdad airport killing the leader of Iran’s Quds Forces. The decision to carry out the strike was criticized by Democrats while the death of its top military leader caused Iran to threaten retaliation.
However, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated in an interview with CNN that Americans are much safer after the strike that killed the Iranian military leader was carried out. “The world is a much safer place today,” Pompeo said. “And I can ensure you that Americans in the region are much safer today after the demise of Qasem Soleimani.”
The Secretary of State also claimed that Iranians view America as a force for good. “But know this: The Iranian people understand that America is a force for good in the region,” Pompeo added. “And I'm convinced that the support we have provided to people in Iran and the support we will continue to provide for the people of Iraq will work to protect American interests and make lives better for those people as well.”
But Barack Obama’s former adviser disagreed with Pompeo’s statement. “Of course Americans are less safe today than they were before Qassem Soleimani was killed,” Robert Malley said. “In fact, less safe today than before the Trump administration took office.”
Malley even argued that a series of decisions made by the Trump administration actually made it riskier for Americans to stay in the region. “A series of decisions from walking away from the [Iran] nuclear deal, to imposing maximum sanctions and now killing Qassem Soleimani, all of those have made the lives of Americans, certainly in the region, more at risk than they were before,” Malley argued while criticizing Trump’s stance on Iran.
There are also concerns that the strike Qasem Soleimani might be unlawful. “The targeted killings of Qasem Soleimani and Abu mahdi al muhandi most likely violate international law incl human rights law,” UN Rapporteur on extra-judicial executions Agnès Callamard tweeted. “Lawful justifications for such killings are very narrowly defined and it is hard to imagine how any of these can apply to these killings.”