Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg said Friday he has “serious questions” over whether President Trump is prepared to deal with the consequences of his decision to launch the airstrike that reportedly killed Qassim Suleimani and said it must not lead to “another endless war.”
Mr. Buttigieg, a member of the U.S. Navy Reserve who served in Afghanistan in 2014, was the last of the top tier contenders for the 2020 presidential nomination to weigh in on the news that Iran’s top security and intelligence commander had been killed in a drone strike early Friday at the Baghdad airport.
“As a former military intelligence officer on the ground in Afghanistan, I was trained to ask the hard questions before acting. A Commander-in-Chief must do the same,” Mr. Buttigieg said in a statement.
“Before engaging in military action that could destabilize an entire region, we must take a strategic, deliberate approach that includes consultation with Congress, our allies, and stakeholders in the Middle East.”
Mr. Buttigieg said the role of Congress “must be respected” and that the Trump administration must let the public know “how we arrived at this point, the national security infrastructure we have in place and the basis for this decision.”
“Now we must deal with the consequences of this action, beginning with the immediate and very real dangers to American citizens in and out of uniform in the Middle East,” he said. “We must prepare for the impact on regional stability, complex forms of retaliation, and the potential for escalation into war.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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