1. We get caught in the weeds of Trump lies and miss the obvious. The #qaseemsulaimani assassination violated US law. First, a listing as terrorist is an administrative act not an adjudication. The facts may be probable cause for an arrest but for killing it requires more.
2. If listing is used as a pretext for homicide the system is unlawful and unconstitutional. But the system is likely fine, it is the incompetent @POTUS @RealDonaldTrump administration that can't follow the law.
Three Iraqis were killed that shot that I can't identify.
Three Iraqis were killed that shot that I can't identify.
3. Where they non-listed persons such as airport personnel? You look at the shot from their perspective. What legal justification did @POTUS @robertcobrien and @SecPompeo have to kill them? It is appearing they had none and therefore they may have committed multiple homicide.
4. We see drone strikes on ISIS, Taliban & Al-Qaeda. Why are they legal? Because Congress has provided @POTUS
& @DeptofDefense 2001 AUMF and members of ISIS, Taliban & Al-Qaeda are arguably covered by it. Congress has given the President authority to kill them. What about Iran?
& @DeptofDefense 2001 AUMF and members of ISIS, Taliban & Al-Qaeda are arguably covered by it. Congress has given the President authority to kill them. What about Iran?
5. Iran is a sovereign UN member state. We may not like its government but we have a legal duty to respect our laws regarding how we deal with it. Gerald Ford banned assassinations when Iran was an ally. That EO12,333 was in effect when Trump assassinated an Iranian government
6. official. Trump had four options to get a legal authority to kill Soleimani but he didn't to it. So under US law applicable to Executive Branch authority to use military force to kill someone, Trump acted without lawful authority. The only savings that Trump and his team of
7. NatSec misfits have is if they can argue that Soleimani was an imminent threat to national security. That still would not change the need to change EO12,333 but the need to act to take out a terrorist would make it lawful from a criminal and civil liability perspective.
8. Iraqi PMF actions at the US embassy and Soleimani could have given the orders but that operation was over and there was no remaining imminent threat that would justify killing three apparently innocent people at Baghdad airport let alone Soleimani in the absence of a AUMF.
9. The solution I recommend will not be well taken by many members of my won party but the only workable solution I see is to give the DOD limited AUMF for Iran in Syria. Don't authorize it in Iraq but do authorize it in Syria. Do a Finding for Iraq. That will cover the spillage.
10. Iranians are not our enemy. The Iranian government is their enemy and our adversary and we must not let it spread it's terror to Syria. @SpeakerPelosi @EsperDoD @StateDept @StateDeptDSS @JimInhofe @senjackreed @RepAdamSchiff @MarkWarner @ODNIgov @DefenseIntel @SenateGOP
