By Brittany Snow
Staff Writer

It was the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 that caused the United States to enter World War II. However it will be the months of American genocide in Iran that may lead to World War III. Qassem Soleimani, Iran military’s Major General, was killed in an American airstrike on Jan. 3 in Baghdad, Iraq. Although this may seem like a call for a counterattack, a line must be drawn when justifying retaliation and the assassination of a leader from another country.

Soleimani, responsible for the deaths of approximately 600 people at the time of his death, was behind the attack on the U.S. embassy based in Iraq on Dec. 31. However, the sudden retaliation was in response to the killing of a U.S. contractor and the wounding of service members on Dec. 27, during a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base in Kirkuk. U.S. officials later blamed Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia, for the attack.
On Dec. 29, the U.S. military carried out defensive strikes on sites in Iraq and Syria belonging to Kataib Hezbollah, which Washington said were in retaliation for the killing of the US contractor. Iraqi security and militia sources reported at least 25 fighters killed, 55 others wounded, and at least four Kataib Hezbollah commanders were killed following the air attacks.
President Donald Trump, who currently faces an impeachment trial while campaigning for re-election, ordered the precision strike as a way to “‘terminate’ [the] Iranian who was plotting ‘imminent and sinister attacks’ on Americans” according to an unnamed White House official to CNN.
This decision did not receive Congressional approval, as it was a hasty resolution following the image of an American flag posted on Twitter by Trump on Jan. 2. However, though the assassination may seem justified, it violates Article Two of the Constitution which gives Congress the sole authority to grant war, as well as “provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union.”
The assassination of Soleimani could be contrasted with the raid and killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011. Bin Laden was best known for his role in orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, which resulted in the deaths of nearly three thousand people. However, the plan to assassinate bin Laden took almost two years to fulfill.
According to CNN, the process began in early 2009 when intelligence sources identified the area in Pakistan where bin Laden and his family lived. It was not until February 2011 when Obama deemed the intelligence located near the Abbottabad compound strong enough to begin planning action. It was only after five National Security Council meetings and Congress’ approval that Obama could approve the raid and killing of the Al-Qaeda leader on May 2, 2011.
In Tehran, the capital of Iran, there was a candlelight vigil held on Jan. 11, to remember the victims of a Ukranian jetliner crash, a repercussion of the killing of Soleimani. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps admitted to killing the 176 innocent people aboard the jet as a result of “human error,” with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stating that they “regret this disastrous mistake” on Twitter.
We must take into account the uproar that would stem from an assassination of a U.S. official in retaliation to a considerable injustice such as the separation of immigrant families. If any Latin American country were to attack us as a people or an individual official based on an offense to their people, there would be an immediate call for war.
Although these decisions have been made as a method to protect our embassies, it is unfair to place civilian lives at risk. It is time that we stop justifying the murder of one person by the belief that we are saving a multitude. Contrary to popular belief, we are only putting innocent people in the face of danger by aiming our munition towards a country so militarily advanced, along with their forceful allies iwhic inclide Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria.
In this case, what Trump tweeted in 2013 may be true, “Be prepared, there is a small chance that our horrendous leadership could unknowingly lead us into World War III.”