Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) praised President Donald Trump's decision to have the U.S. military carry out an airstrike that resulted in the deaths of Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iran's Quds Forces, and Kataib Hezbollah leader Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes on Friday.
The pair were in a car at Baghdad's international airport when the strike was carried out. Soleimani is responsible for many deaths, including around 600 Americans.
"This is very simple: General Soleimani is dead because he was an evil bastard who murdered Americans," Sasse said in a statement. "The President made the brave and right call, and Americans should be proud of our servicemembers who got the job done. Tehran is on edge - the mullahs have already slaughtered at least a thousand innocent Iranians - and before they lash out further they should know that the U.S. military can bring any and all of these IRGC butchers to their knees."
Sasse further defended Trump's decision after Connecticut Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy's criticism.
This tweet is simply drunk partisanship. Gen. Soleimani has killed hundreds and hundreds of Americans, and was actively plotting more. This commander-in-chief — any C-in-C. — has an obligation to defend America by killing this bastard. https://t.co/eQmiCgegxS
— Senator Ben Sasse (@SenSasse) January 3, 2020
The Department of Defense released a statement explaining Soleimani was in Iraq to plan and carry out attacks against Americans who were in the country. The strike, the DoD said, was also meant to send a message to not attack Americans anymore.
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"General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region," the DoD stated. "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. 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."
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