United Nations Day by GPA Photo Archive, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0/Original
You knew this was coming.
After a U.S. drone blew Iran’s lead terrorist into little bits, the left has gone into overdrive to spin it as a negative. Whether it’s claiming that the Pentagon was “flabbergasted” that Trump chose an option to kill Soleimani, an option that they presented to him, or just the general shilling that Iran was the victim in this instance, to say the response has be ludicrous, disgraceful, and partisan is an understatement.
Well, now the UN has decided to chime in.
Soleimani's killing "most likely unlawful," UN rep sayshttps://t.co/yYvDiBH3nL pic.twitter.com/zq6CBXWJ8y
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 5, 2020
The killing of Qasem Soleimani was “most likely unlawful,” UN Rapporteur on extra-judicial executions Agnès Callamard tweeted.
She said the targeted killings “violate international human rights law,” adding that “outside the context of active hostilities, the use of drones or other means for targeted killing is almost never likely to be legal.”
She further argued that “drone killing of anyone other than the target (family members or others in the vicinity, for example) would be an arbitrary deprivation of life under human rights law and could result in State responsibility and individual criminal liability.”
At least six people were killed alongside Soleimani in the drone strike. The UN Rapporteur said the killing of other individuals alongside Soleimani was “absolutely” unlawful.
The targeted killings of Qasem Soleimani and Abu mahdi al muhandi most likely violate international law incl human rights law. Lawful justifications for such killings are very narrowly defined and it is hard to imagine how any of these can apply to these killings. #Iraq
— Agnes Callamard (@AgnesCallamard) January 3, 2020
This is stupid for several reasons.
One, Soleimani was a designated terrorist. That happened earlier in the Trump administration after Obama had chosen to give the Iranian general exceptions from sanctions and basically allowed him to roam free, causing chaos and death. Soleimani found himself orchestrating attacks on a number of Middle Easter countries during that time and clearly deserved the designation. Legally, it was perfectly acceptable to take him out. Further, where was the UN when Obama was droning everything that moved?
Second, Soleimani was in Baghdad, not Iran. He was there to plan more attacks on U.S. interests after having propagated one against our embassy just two days earlier. This means he was an enemy combatant, in a foreign land, committing more acts of terrorism. Again, there’s no logic to say that killing him was illegal in this instance and those using the word “assassination,” as Democrats and the media are, are purposely parroting Iranian propaganda. Soleimani was no more assassinated than Bin Laden was assassinated.
But really, this isn’t about the law. This is the UN once again showing how useless of an organization it is. They’ve managed to pass resolutions against Israel on a monthly basis but can’t ever find the time to speak against bad actors like Iran, Venezuela, or North Korea. Heck, they’ve put the former two on the UN Human Rights Council because human rights is not actually a thing the UN cares about.
This is really just about #orangemanbad and slapping at the United States while previously letting Soleimani’s atrocities go unchecked. Not once did the UN pass a resolution condemning his rampant killings in the region or Iran’s imperialistic behavior.
Predictably, the American left are more than willing to play along with the UN’s garbage because they share the same goals.
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