By Mike Waller
Published at:
https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2020/01/02/qassem-soleimani-ran-ied-program-to-kill-and-maim-us-coalition-troops/

The Iranian military leader killed in a US drone strike was responsible for killing and maiming thousands of American and Coalition troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Major General Qassem Soleimani commanded the Qods Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) of Iran. The Qods Force is responsible for running terrorist and subversive operations outside Iran.

US forces killed Soleimani and others in a reported drone strike outside Baghdad airport on January 2. Soleimani had been running Iranian subversion operations inside Iraq.

American and European media reports are already calling Soleimani “revered” and “popular,” and the Twittersphere is swarming with praise for him having been a warrior against ISIS.

Let’s set the record straight.

The Qods Force ran Iran’s IED campaign against US and Coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both the Bush and Obama administrations ignored advice to retaliate against Qods Force leaders like Soleimani, instead of placing so much emphasis on the multibillion-dollar fly-swatting effort of the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization (JIDO, then called JIEDDO) that did not go after the source.

By terminating Soleimani, President Donald Trump has gone to the source of not only Iranian subversion in Iraq and elsewhere, but the source of the IED attacks that ruined or destroyed so many American and Coalition lives.