The assassination on Jan. 3 of Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, was a reckless, unwarranted act.

In a news story published Jan. 13 on Page A1, Associated Press reporter Robert Burns wrote: “Defense Secretary Mark Esper explicitly said Sunday that he had seen no hard evidence that four American embassies had been under possible threat when President Trump authorized the targeting of Iran’s top commander, raising questions about the scale of the threat described by Trump last week.” In other words, there was no justification.

If Soleimani’s assassination had led to war with Iran – and we were on the very brink – that war would have been as costly as the Iraq War in human lives and suffering. Fortunately, we did not go to war, and on the surface, President Trump got off easy. There were no immediate U.S. casualties. But 176 passengers on a plane lost their lives because of heightened tensions. And what about the long-term effects of Soleimani’s murder-by-drone?

After his death, over a million Iranians took to the streets, many of them shouting “death to America.” Those citizens must feel as we might feel if another country had sent a drone to kill our defense secretary on his way to the airport. The United States will suffer, in yet untold ways, as a result of what President Trump and his advisers have done.

With every day that this president is in power, this country becomes less safe and less trusted in the world. President Trump is the imminent danger.

Eleanor Morse

Peaks Island

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