Vermont’s congressional delegation spoke out Thursday against the killing of a high-ranking Iranian military leader by an airstrike ordered by President Donald Trump.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced the death of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, according to the Pentagon.
Sen. Bernie Sanders called the Baghdad airstrike “dangerous” and Rep. Peter Welch said it was “reckless.”
According to the Pentagon, 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,” the Pentagon said.
The killing of Soleimani comes after days of unrest in Iraq, where protesters, angered by previous U.S. airstrikes aimed at Iranian-backed militia bases in Iraq, stormed and attacked the U.S embassy in Baghdad on Dec. 31.
The Pentagon’s statement says Soleimani “approved” the attack, and Trump has since deployed 750 troops to the region. Friday afternoon, CNN reported that thousands more troops are set to deploy.
As the news of Soleimani’s death broke Thursday evening, all three of Vermont’s congressional delegates criticized the action.
In a statement released on his Twitter accounts, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said, “Trump’s dangerous escalation brings us closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East that could cost countless lives and trillions more dollars.”
Sanders, who is running for president, also challenged Trump’s promise “to end endless wars,” and says this action by the president puts the country “on the path to another one.”
“I will do everything in my power to prevent a war with Iran,” Sanders said in another tweet, while reiterating his opposition to the wars in Vietnam and Iraq.
In a statement Friday night, Sanders said he was introducing legislation to prohibit funding “for offensive military force in or against Iran without prior congressional authorization.”
Sanders hosted a town hall on Friday in Anamosa, Iowa, which he began by addressing Soleimani’s death. Sanders reiterated his concerns about having spent trillions of dollars on wars in the Middle East, saying there is nothing to show for it.
“Today, we have massive unrest in [Iraq],” Sanders said. “And now, Iraqis want American troops out.”
The Peace & Justice Center, a Burlington-based social advocacy group, is organizing a protest Saturday to demand the removal of U.S. troops from Iraq and to prevent a war with Iran.
“More than a million Iraqis have died during the past 28 years as a consequence of U.S. occupation, bombings and sanctions,” a Peace & Justice Center statement says. “Instead of taking the United States out of this endless war, Trump is building up U.S. forces in the region and threatening a war with Iran.”
Vermont National Guard spokesperson Capt. Mike Arcovitch said there are currently no Vermont Guard members deployed in the Middle East. Arcovitch also noted that in August, the Guard received notification that troops will be deployed in 2021. He said the deployment has nothing to do with the killing of Soleimani, and is expecting “upwards of 1,000” Vermont troops to be deployed, but more exact numbers will be announced at a later date.
At his town hall, Sanders raised the issue of the now-terminated Iran nuclear deal, saying if Trump had not pulled the U.S. out of the Obama era agreement, this latest escalation could have been avoided.
“The wise course would have been to stick with that nuclear agreement, enforce its provisions and use that diplomatic channel with Iran to address a wide range of concerns, including their support for terrorism,” Sanders said.
Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., called Trump’s decision “reckless and utterly without grounding in a coherent Middle East strategy.”
In doing do, Welch said, Trump has put American lives at risk by escalating tensions in the region. Welch and Sanders echoed a similar theme in demanding that Congress be made aware of, and have approval over, all military actions. Welch called on Trump and his administration to come before Congress and “explain its rationale for the attack.”
Welch is a cosponsor of two resolutions, H.R.2354 and H.R.2829, which would prohibit military action against Iran without the approval of Congress. Both have been in committee since the spring of 2019.
In both Sanders’ tweets and at his Iowa town hall, he did not comment on the specific actions committed by Soleimani, only Iran’s general support of terrorism, but Welch agreed Soleimani was a threat to U.S. interests.
“Make no mistake about it, Iran is a bad actor in the region. And [Qasem Soleimani] was the despicable mastermind of deadly and cowardly attacks on American soldiers during the Iraq war,” Welch said.
Finally, Welch said Americans don’t want another war in the Middle East, “certainly not one triggered by this impulsive and erratic president.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy also criticized the airstrike.
“No one here will shed tears over the death of such a ruthless killer as Qasem Soleimani,” Leahy said in a statement.
“But killing Soleimani in response to Iran’s recent provocations against U.S. targets in Iraq is not going to end Iran’s support of terrorism or attacks against Americans. It is more likely to embolden hardliners in Iran and to trigger a further escalation of violent counter attacks.”
Leahy said relations with Iran have gotten ” progressively worse” since the U.S. pulled out of the nuclear deal.
Trump should have consulted Congress and American allies first, Leahy said.
“It has become painfully clear that the White House has no viable strategy for deescalating tensions with Iran. His impulse, again and again, has been to scramble the board with no strategy to reset it. To make matters worse, the decision to kill Soleimani – a dramatic escalation – was conducted without consulting the Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress or our allies. They, like us, now have to prepare for whatever retaliatory action Iran decides to take and the possibility of a protracted armed conflict with Iran.”
Leahy, who has been in the Senate since the war in Vietnam, said he has learned “how easy it is to get into a war that no one wanted, and that wars never turn out as planned.”
“The initial bravado and rosy predictions soon give way to the costly realities,” he continued. “The Iraq War was supposed to be short lived, with U.S. troops greeted as liberators. Seventeen years later our forces are still there, our Embassy in Baghdad was attacked and partially burned by Iraqi Shia militias, and the Iraqi Government did nothing to stop them. “
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4:50 p.m. to include comments from Sen. Leahy.
