Dear Editor,

“A decent respect for the opinions of mankind” and the “Laws of Nature’s God” compels an alternate view to the 1-9 Our Opinion piece, which tried to justify the murder of high Iraqi and Iranian officials.

Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, deputy commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, kept the Islamic State out of Baghdad and went on to defeat them and multiple allied jihadist groups with the cooperation of general Soleimani.

Iraqi prime minister Abdul Mahdi told the parliament that he planned to meet Soleimani the morning the general was killed to discuss the ongoing negotiations Iraq was brokering between Iran and Saudi Arabia. He said that Trump personally thanked him for the efforts, even as Trump was planning the hit on Soleimani – thus creating the impression that the Iranian general was safe to travel to Baghdad.

Paraphrasing or quoting p. m. Abdul Mahdi’s talk to parliament:

Americans had ruined the country and now refused to complete infrastructure projects unless they were promised 50% of oil revenues – “Why I visited China and signed an important agreement with them to undertake the construction instead. Trump called to ask me to reject this agreement. When I refused, he threatened to unleash huge demonstrations against me that would end my premiership. Huge demonstrations against me duly materialized and Trump called again to threaten that if I did not comply with his demands, that he would have marine snipers on tall buildings target protesters and security personnel alike in order to pressure me. I refused again and handed in my resignation. When our minister of defense stated that a third party was targeting both protesters and security personnel alike, I received a new call from Trump threatening to kill both me and the minister of defense if we kept talking about this third party.”

The Saudis were not consulted regarding the U.S. strike on Muhandis/Soleimani. Their message: “Please spare us the pain of going through another war.” The attacking drone took off from Qatar, which immediately expressed solidarity with Tehran. The U.S. Congress was not notified prior to the attack, but Israel was. Bankrupt entities seldom tell the truth. Those advocating violence and war usually lie. The U.S. Government is both and has long ago yielded the ethical high ground to nations like Venezuela, Syria, Russia, and Oman. Only “righteousness exalts a nation.” We were better served under the policy of peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances or hostilities with none.

W. Christian McNeal,

Warren