- As Impasse Trails Trial At U.S Senate
United States President, Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton disagree on many fronts, but the killing of a top Iranian General, Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike in Iraq Friday, is an action that has drawn some parallels between the two leaders while calling the shots as the supposed leader of the free world.
Trump’s latest action and his current political predicament are akin to Clinton’s over two decades ago. The two Presidents launched major airstrikes in Iraq amidst impeachment trial that punctuated their time while occupying the Oval office.
A 1998 New York Times front page with the caption: ‘Impeachment Vote In The House Delayed As Clinton Launches Iraq Airstrike..’ has been shared multiple times on Twitter since Trump ordered an airstrike to kill Soleimani at the Baghdad airport early Friday morning.
History doesn’t always repeats itself but it often rhymes. In 1998, Bill Clinton attacked Iraq while delaying his impeachment process and eventually escaped it. Trump is doing the same. #Iran #worldwar3 #WWIII #Soleimani pic.twitter.com/bNgQOQOPDd
— Vivashwan Singh ویوشوان سنگھ (@VivashwanSingh) January 3, 2020
People on social media believe President Trump may have borrowed a leaf from Clinton by escalating tensions with Iraq and across the Middle East at a time when his presidency is under scrutiny.
When Clinton ordered series of airstrikes against Iraq on December 17, 1998, the criticisms that trailed his action dwelled more on the timing of the attack seen as an attempt to foil the pending resolution to impeach him by members of the US House of Representatives. Hence, it was less about the manner of the attack as political watchers quickly linked the attack to his ongoing impeachment trial at the time.
Clinton said that the attacks were ordered because of Iraq’s refusal to live up to its promise, after defeat in the gulf war, to allow the United Nations to conduct on-site inspections for weapons of mass destruction.
In spite of the intrigues, on December 19, 1998, two days after he ordered the attack in Iraq, Clinton became the second American President to be impeached after Andrew Johnson (who was impeached in 1868), as the House formally adopted articles of impeachment and forwarded them to the US Senate. Perhaps, the attack on Iraq played some roles in swaying decisions as he would later be acquitted on February 12 by the Senate on the two counts against him — lying under oath and obstruction of justice following a sexual scandal involving a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.
In similar development, the attack that killed the Iranian General, Soleimani said to be the second most influential leader next to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei came amidst impeachment trial of Trump. After the House officially impeached the President last December, Americans and the rest of world are painstakingly waiting for the commencement of the trial at the Senate to complete the process.
However, the House is yet to send articles of impeachment to the Senate for the Senators to begin the second leg of the trial process and the attack on Iraq has thrown up questions on whether Trump’s motives for the attack are rooted more in his political survival in office than his claim of taking the action “to stop a war.”
Under President @realDonaldTrump, America's policy is unambigious toward terrorists who harm or plan to harm any American. pic.twitter.com/4rYsj2ZxSF
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 4, 2020
Blaming Soleimani for the death of hundreds of American civilians and servicemen, Trump said he should have been killed long ago to save many lives.
“For years, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its ruthless Quds Force, under Soleimani’s leadership, has targeted, injured, and murdered hundreds of American civilians and servicemen.
“Soleimani made the death of innocent people his sick passion, contributing to terrorist plots as far away as New Delhi and London,” Trump said while addressing newsmen in Florida on Friday.
The New Diplomat reported that some close observers and Iranians have hailed the US president for taking down Soleimani, however, world leaders, including UN Secretary General António Guterres, called for restraint by all parties to prevent another war in the region.
Hours after the US air strikes devastated targets in Iraq, concerns grew over the prospect of the action sparking another gulf war. Also, a number of social media users expressed worries on how it could fuel the embers of a third world war. “The great nation of Iran will take revenge for this heinous crime,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tweeted after the news was confirmed.
The flag of General Soleimani in defense of the country's territorial integrity and the fight against terrorism and extremism in the region will be raised, and the path of resistance to US excesses will continue. The great nation of Iran will take revenge for this heinous crime.
— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) January 3, 2020
Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans in the US Senate remain at loggerheads on how to proceed with the impeachment trial of President Trump as lawmakers returned from a two-week holiday recess on Friday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, accused House Democrats of developing a “cold feet” by choosing not to immediately send the articles of impeachment to the Senate after voting to impeach Trump in December.
“We can’t hold a trial without the articles,” McConnell said.
“We should address mid-trial questions such as witnesses after briefs, opening arguments, senator questions and other relevant motions,” he added, arguing that this would follow the precedent set in former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial twenty years ago.
But Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer countered that McConnell was setting a “trap” by waiting to consider witnesses until after opening presentations.
“There has never, never in the history of our country been an impeachment trial of a president in which the Senate was denied the ability to hear from witnesses,” Schumer said.
He has asked the acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton, as well as two other White House aides, to testify.
Trump maintains he did nothing wrong.
He is accused of abusing his office by soliciting Ukraine to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading candidate among Democrats bidding to run against Trump this year.
The President is expected to be acquitted by the Republican-controlled Senate. In the meantime, it remains to be seen whether the latest attack on iraq has opened another vista to the entire impeachment moves.
