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Yahoo News report: Inside the Trump administration's secret plan to kill Qassem Soleimani...
"In the six hours before Soleimani boarded his flight from Damascus, the Iranian general switched cellphones three times, according to a U.S. military official"... https://news.yahoo.com/conspiracy-is-hard-inside-the-trump-administrations-secret-plan-to-kill-qassem-soleimani-090058817.html
"In the six hours before Soleimani boarded his flight from Damascus, the Iranian general switched cellphones three times, according to a U.S. military official"... https://news.yahoo.com/conspiracy-is-hard-inside-the-trump-administrations-secret-plan-to-kill-qassem-soleimani-090058817.html
"In Tel Aviv, US Joint Special Operations Command liaisons worked w/ their Israeli counterparts to help track Soleimani’s cellphone patterns. The Israelis, who had access to Soleimani’s numbers, passed them..to the Americans, who traced Soleimani + his current phone
to Baghdad."
to Baghdad."
"Members of the secretive Army unit..Task Force Orange were also on the ground in Baghdad that night, said the military official, providing 'knob turners' — close-range signals intelligence experts — to help home in on Soleimani’s electronics for the tactical portion of the op.
"This article, based on interviews with 15 current + former U.S. officials, reveals new details about the Soleimani strike + the Trump admin’s long-running deliberations about killing the Iranian general and other top Iranian officials and proxies..."
"[P]lans to kill the Iranian general date back to the early days of the Trump admin. Not long after Mike Pompeo took the helm of the CIA in 2017, he assembled a select grp of agency leaders, incl frm CIA’s Counterterrorism Mission Center+its paramilitary Special Activities Center
"The CIA officials, who wanted to hide the U.S. hand
in any such operation, discussed various possible plans for killing Soleimani, recalled this former official...
in any such operation, discussed various possible plans for killing Soleimani, recalled this former official...
That same year, Pompeo at National Security Council meetings also broached the subject of killing Iran’s top military brass, as part of a potential leadership decapitation strategy. The plans, which wld;ve involved the US military, were resisted at the time by other NSC officials
"...some of whom worried about the legality of such actions."
...
“Pompeo said, ‘Don’t worry about if it’s legal; that’s
a question for the lawyers,’ recalled this source"...
...
“Pompeo said, ‘Don’t worry about if it’s legal; that’s
a question for the lawyers,’ recalled this source"...
"At the White House, discussions about killing Soleimani picked up during the summer of 2018, around the time
the administration formally announced it was withdrawing from the Obama-era nuclear deal + reimposing sanctions on Iran as part of its 'maximum pressure; strategy...
the administration formally announced it was withdrawing from the Obama-era nuclear deal + reimposing sanctions on Iran as part of its 'maximum pressure; strategy...
"...But by this time, NSC planners were looking toward
the Pentagon’s special operations units, and not CIA paramilitaries or their proxies, to carry out the strike.
Still, there was resistance from within the Defense Department...
the Pentagon’s special operations units, and not CIA paramilitaries or their proxies, to carry out the strike.
Still, there was resistance from within the Defense Department...
The president “wanted options, but they were always watered down” by the Pentagon, recalled Victoria Coates, then the deputy national security adviser for the Middle East...
Things took a more serious turn by mid-November 2019...
Things took a more serious turn by mid-November 2019...
"With tensions heating up across the region, NSC officials received 'the call from the top that they needed to make sure options were in order' for killing Soleimani around
that time, recalled Coates. 'We were tracking Soleimani pretty closely...
that time, recalled Coates. 'We were tracking Soleimani pretty closely...
And..."plans were sent to Trump’s desk after a
rocket attack by Iranian proxies killed a U.S. contractor
in northern Iraq in late December 2019, said former
senior administration officials...
[+] Officials settled fairly quickly on the airstrike option...
rocket attack by Iranian proxies killed a U.S. contractor
in northern Iraq in late December 2019, said former
senior administration officials...
[+] Officials settled fairly quickly on the airstrike option...
"Questions of where to kill Soleimani — in Iraq or elsewhere in the region — ultimately took up more discussion time than the best way to do it. (Special Operations Command declined to comment.)"
"The concern was on a bigger scale,” said the former official, namely that the Quds Force would try to “kill members of the Saudi or Emirati royal families,”
launch “attacks on oil infrastructure, or “foment coups”
in the region after Soleimani’s death....
launch “attacks on oil infrastructure, or “foment coups”
in the region after Soleimani’s death....
"Some CIA officials believed that the administration was trying to force an Iranian escalation, which would then allow the U.S. to strike back even harder against Tehran, said this person."
"There was a 'whole list of folks' the U.S. military had developed plans to kill, said former acting Secretary
of Defense Chris Miller, who was the top NSC counterterrorism official in the immediate leadup
to the Soleimani strike...
of Defense Chris Miller, who was the top NSC counterterrorism official in the immediate leadup
to the Soleimani strike...
"...The operation that killed Soleimani was 'a decapitation approach to take down as much as they could', said Miller, who supported the action."
"The justification for the killing was well-substantiated,
but 'highly classified', said a fmr senior admin official,
w/ NSC officials going 'through a lot of legal hoops' to get approval...Fmr officials declined to elaborate on how they knew Iranian attacks were...imminent"...
but 'highly classified', said a fmr senior admin official,
w/ NSC officials going 'through a lot of legal hoops' to get approval...Fmr officials declined to elaborate on how they knew Iranian attacks were...imminent"...
"But in leaked audio from Mar-a-Lago, Pres Trump suggested tht US officials captured Soleimani on some sort of audio surveillance or intercept. The Iranian general was 'saying bad things about our country', Trump told Republican donors..like, ‘We’re going to attack your country’”
By "late Dec 2019, Delta Force operators + other special ops members began filtering into Baghdad in small groups. Kurdish operatives, who played a key role in the killing, had already started infiltrating Baghdad Intl Airport by that point..as baggage handlers + other staff...
"After the strike, according to two US officials, a Kurdish operative disguised as an Iraqi police officer walked up to the wreckage of Soleimani’s vehicle, snapped photos and quickly obtained a tissue sample for DNA confirmation before walking away + vanishing into the night".
"By the end of the Trump presidency, there were 'no-bullshit threats' by the Iranians regarding senior US officials, said Miller, former acting Defense Secy: Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Kenneth McKenzie, CENTCOM commander, Pompeo + Brian Hook,
the admins top Iran envoy
the admins top Iran envoy
"While officials took Iran’s public threats of revenge seriously, the U.S also obtained an Iranian list from 'sensitive sourcing' that named specific officials + the positions they held as potential assassination targets
as revenge for Soleimani, said three former officials".
as revenge for Soleimani, said three former officials".
"Tucked into the appropriations bill signed by Pres Trump
in final days of 2020 was $15 million set aside to provide protective services to 'former or retired senior State Dept officials' who 'face a serious + credible threat from
a foreign power/the agent of a foreign power'..
in final days of 2020 was $15 million set aside to provide protective services to 'former or retired senior State Dept officials' who 'face a serious + credible threat from
a foreign power/the agent of a foreign power'..
"...because of the work they did while in office.
The language doesn’t name any specific officials
+ the @StateDept declined to comment...
But the provision was designed with two in mind,
said two former officials: Pompeo + Hook,
the administration’s top Iran envoy...
The language doesn’t name any specific officials
+ the @StateDept declined to comment...
But the provision was designed with two in mind,
said two former officials: Pompeo + Hook,
the administration’s top Iran envoy...
"The money is 'for Brian and Pompeo', said a former
White House aide. 'The Iranians are a serious risk
to those two'.” https://news.yahoo.com/conspiracy-is-hard-inside-the-trump-administrations-secret-plan-to-kill-qassem-soleimani-090058817.html
White House aide. 'The Iranians are a serious risk
to those two'.” https://news.yahoo.com/conspiracy-is-hard-inside-the-trump-administrations-secret-plan-to-kill-qassem-soleimani-090058817.html
And, here's the Jerusalem Post's report on this
Yahoo News story: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/israel-helped-us-track-qasem-soleimani-using-cell-phone-report-667620
Yahoo News story: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/israel-helped-us-track-qasem-soleimani-using-cell-phone-report-667620
