Alan Dershowitz, a Democrat and Harvard professor of constitutional law is being very clear about his thoughts on the targeted strike on Iranian General Soleimani ordered by President Trump. “The targeted killing of Soleimani was a lawful, proportional, preemptive military action against a combatant enemy who had killed and was planning to kill Americans,” he tweeted.
The targeted killing of Soleimani was a lawful, proportional, preemptive military action against a combatant enemy who had killed and was planning to kill Americans. See my book: Preemption: A Knife that Cuts Both Ways.
— Alan Dershowitz (@AlanDersh) January 3, 2020
While Dershowitz hasn’t been a very vocal critic of the president, David French is a well-known leader of the Never Trump movement and even considered running in 2016 as a foil to Donald Trump. He has earned the reputation of being a person not easily persuaded to say anything positive about the president. Even so, the strike on Soleimani brought him out in strong support of the legality of the action in the face of criticism from Democrats claiming the kill was illegal and should have gone through Congress for approval.
“It’s very important that Suleimani was killed in Iraq. Why? Because American troops are lawfully in Iraq–there by congressional authorization and with the permission of the Iraqi government. Moreover, they have a right of self-defense,” he wrote in a multi-part tweet.
It's very important that Suleimani was killed in Iraq. Why? Because American troops are lawfully in Iraq — there by congressional authorization and with the permission of the Iraqi government. Moreover, they have a right of self-defense. /2
— David French (@DavidAFrench) January 3, 2020
It’s a very important distinction that needs to be made loud and clear by the media. Soleimani was not sitting by his fire at home sipping a beverage in Iran. He was in Iraq, in a war zone, directing an attack on our embassy and violating all kinds of international laws. An Iranian general in Iraq running operations against U.S. forces and interests is entering the war we’ve been in for the last twenty years. F
rench continued, “and don’t forget they were reintroduced to Iraq by the Obama administration. The present military operations are a continuation of military operations initiated by President Obama. This is Obama’s deployment as much as Trump’s. It was proper then, and it’s proper now.”
By now we should all realize that anything Obama did is lauded and praised while the same action taken by Trump will be vilified because…orange man bad. (See children in cages that Obama built for an example.)
French continued to point out that the Iranian general was the aggressor in a war zone. “Iranian-backed militias attacked U.S. troops lawfully present in a combat zone under valid legal authorities. Moreover, America’s military response isn’t limited to immediate self-defense or tit for tat. It can act to remove the threat. That threat includes enemy commanders.”
And here’s the part that I don’t see any of the Democrats or journalists that are screeching about “congressional approval” acknowledging. “The true ‘act of war'” continued French, “was thus Iran’s–by putting one of its commanders, boots on the ground, in Iraq to assist in planning and directing attacks on U.S. forces. America is entitled to respond to that threat. Suleiman was an evil, evil man,” he wrote. “There is much American blood on his hands. And he was killed lawfully, in a properly constituionally-authorized conflict. There is much risk and peril to come, but Trump’s action was constitutionally legitimate, and that matters. A lot.”
Screenshot via Twitter
The media has put out a lot of hysterical hit pieces on Trump, but this narrative that he did something wrong in the aftermath of an attack on our embassy is the worst one yet. I guess they wanted the president to allow our embassy to be sacked and our ambassador dragged through the streets and murdered along with sacrificing the lives of Marines while Washington, D.C., thumb-twiddlers called for a stand-down. There were only two options available to the president. Strike back hard and let our military do what it does best by destroying the target, or let innocent Americans die, devastating more military families who have been stuck in this terrible war for two decades. We all know what the Democrats would have done.
If this crisis has shown us anything, it’s that Democrats and journalists care more about hurting Trump than they do about the safety of Americans overseas and the families here at home praying they return.
Megan Fox is the author of “Believe Evidence; The Death of Due Process from Salome to #MeToo.” Follow on Twitter @MeganFoxWriter
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