Opinion| Syndicated Via National File | PATRICK HOWLEY |Pentagon sources told top radio host that the strikes would be coming
Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian Quds Force commander, was killed Thursday in an airstrike on Baghdad. After much speculation, the Pentagon confirmed Thursday evening that President Donald Trump ordered the attack, which also killed another Iran-affiliated leader.
“At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization,” the Pentagon stated.
“General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. General Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more,” according to the Pentagon.
“He had orchestrated attacks on coalition bases in Iraq over the last several months – including the attack on December 27th – culminating in the death and wounding of additional American and Iraqi personnel. General Soleimani also approved the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that took place this week,” the Pentagon stated.
“This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans. The United States will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and our interests wherever they are around the world.”
A proxy war is now playing out between the United States and Iran in Iraq, where the de-stabilization program of the Bush-Cheney and Obama administrations led to massive terrorist creation and the rise of Iranian influence on land once ruled by Saddam Hussein.
Radio broadcaster Alex Jones received a tip from the Pentagon earlier in the day that war was imminent, and announced it on his Thursday broadcast.
“We are at war with Iran. Iran’s leadership is decapitated,” Jones told National File on a conference call.
“They were working with the Obama Deep State, thinking they were untouchable, and Trump called their bluff.”
Jones also pointed out to National File that this strike comes one day after President Trump fired Obama-era employees at the National Security Council.
“That’s why Trump just fired all those National Security staff that have been leaking information,” said Jones.
“He’s had them all under surveillance. Trump is making his move, this is it.”
Jones stressed that his Pentagon sources said there may be limited boots on the ground to continue crippling the Iranian regime.
Trump skillfully handled the Iranian-engineered Shiite protester siege on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad without losing any U.S. troops.
Now, the President appears poised to take the Iranians on head-on.
CNBC reports: “The wave of protests in Iraq came hours after the U.S. carried out military airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against an Iranian-backed militia group on Sunday. Trump ordered the “precision defense strikes” on five Kata’ib Hizbollah facilities following a string of attacks on Iraqi military bases that host American troops. Last week, a U.S. civilian contractor was killed in a rocket attack on an Iraqi base near Kirkuk.”
Jones plans to release a video discussing the information provided by his Pentagon sources late Thursday night.
UPDATE:
