Thousands in Baghdad mourn Iranian general killed by US

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and SARAH EL DEEB

BAGHDAD (AP) — Thousands of mourners chanting “America is the Great Satan” marched in a funeral procession Saturday through Baghdad for Iran’s top general and Iraqi militant leaders, who were killed in a U.S. airstrike.

Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds force and mastermind of its regional security strategy, was killed in an airstrike early Friday near the Iraqi capital’s international airport. The attack has caused regional tensions to soar.

Iran has vowed harsh retaliation, raising fears of an all-out war. U.S. President Donald Trump says he ordered the strike to prevent a conflict. His administration says Soleimani was plotting a series of attacks that endangered American troops and officials, without providing evidence.

An official with the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq said it has scaled back operations and boosted “security and defensive measures” at bases hosting coalition forces in the country. The official spoke on condition of anonymity according to regulations.



Mourners march during the funeral of Iran's top general Qassem Soleimani, 62, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Forces and fellow militant leaders, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2020. Thousands of mourners chanting "America is the Great Satan" marched in a funeral procession Saturday through Baghdad for Iran's top general and Iraqi militant leaders, who were killed in a U.S. airstrike. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)


Read more: https://apnews.com/73280065e4349e2d3bda1c0a0b5673fa

[safeinOhio]

1. Looks like Iran has been

more united than until the Shah was kicked out.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. Our former allies against ISIL

Let's see... Kurds, Shias, Sunnis - all allies of ours at one point or another.

[braddy]

3. All men.

[tblue37]

6. I was just going to mention that. No woman would be safe in such a crowd. nt

[lunasun]

4. And this is in the capital of Iraq ? Iimagine being on one of those coalition bases from a differen

nation now that the US pulled this crap . .

[Botany]

5. Trump has now made 2 Iranian Islamic Martyrs

Just like we all feared Trump is clueless and dangerous.

[agincourt]

7. Gee they're not all celebrating?

that's what great white Cletus bot told me on facebook.

[gab13by13]

8. The Iraqi Sunnis are celebrating.

As I said before, we picked the Sunni side during the surge.

[Igel]

9. You see 38 million people there?

I don't.

There's no claim that "all" were celebrating. So you're absolutely right.

You might point to Pompeo's tweet. But he never said that "all" Iraqis were celebrating. He said "some" were celebrating (although I think he elided the quantifier--we do that, and then eagerly insert the one that most makes us look good, instead of the one that most likely makes the sentence true)

But saying that all Iraqis were celebrating would be as false as to say the equivalent "No Iraqis mourn him."

The correct assumption in most cases is, "Some do, some don't." Then there's the more relevant argument about the proportions--1 9, 99:1, or the actual values in between.