Congress needs to demand all records of the USA military in regard to their actions at the border, including shots fired and any injured or dead.
October 31, 2019
The day after anti-government protests (click here) erupted in Iraq, Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani flew into Baghdad late at night and took a helicopter to the heavily fortified Green Zone, where he surprised a group of top security officials by chairing a meeting in place of the prime minister.
The arrival of Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force and the architect of its regional security apparatus, signaled Tehran’s concern over the protests, which had erupted across the capital and in Iraq’s Shi'ite heartland, and included calls for Iran to stop meddling in the country.
The protests in Iraq and Lebanon are fueled by local grievances and mainly directed at political elites, but they also pose a challenge to Iran, which closely backs both governments as well as powerful armed groups in each country. An increasingly violent crackdown in Iraq and an attack by Hezbollah supporters on the main protest camp in Beirut have raised fears of a backlash by Iran and its allies....
...The day after Soleimani’s visit, the clashes between the protesters and security forces in Iraq became far more violent, with the death toll soaring past 100 as unidentified snipers shot demonstrators in the head and chest. Nearly 150 protesters were killed in less than a week....
...Iran has been largely silent on the protests until Wednesday, when Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the U.S. and its regional allies of fomenting the Iraq and Lebanon unrest, according to his website.
Khamenei, speaking at Iran’s Air Defense Academy, was quoted as saying that U.S. and Western intelligence services “are making chaos” in the region. He urged Iraq and Lebanon to prioritize national security and respect for law while also saying the protesters’ demands are “right.”
Earlier, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi offered Tehran’s “deep regret” about the scores of protesters killed in Iraq.
“We are sure that the Iraqi government, nation and clerics can overcome these problems,” he said.
