Vice President Pence linked Qasem Soleimani to 9/11 in a string of tweets Friday afternoon, and it seems apparent why: Not only is he emphasizing what a bad guy the United States just killed — which is unquestionably true — but he also seemed to be feeding the case that the Trump administration can attack people like Soleimani because Congress authorized force in response to 9/11.

That said, one Pence tweet in particular leaves plenty to be desired.

In the tweets laying out Soleimani’s sins, Pence said Soleimani “assisted in the clandestine travel to Afghanistan of 10 of the 12 terrorists who carried out the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.”


The first issue with the tweet is that 19 terrorists carried out the attack, not 12. Pence spokeswoman Katie Waldman later clarified that Pence meant to refer specifically to hijackers who traveled through Afghanistan.



The second, though, is that Pence’s contention doesn’t quite track with the known evidence — and could easily be misconstrued.

The 9/11 Commission report says hijackers did travel through Iran. It concludes that “there is strong evidence that Iran facilitated the transit of al Qaeda members into and out of Afghanistan before 9/11, and that some of these were future 9/11 hijackers.”

But the report also says, “We have found no evidence that Iran or Hezbollah was aware of the planning for what later became the 9/11 attack.”

U.S. administration officials, members of Congress and 2020 candidates reacted to news that a U.S. airstrike killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani on Jan. 3. (Blair Guild/The Washington Post)

Basically, it boils down to this: Iran adopted a policy of not stamping visas on al-Qaeda members’ passports, in part to improve relations with al-Qaeda after the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole. “For example, Iranian border inspectors would be told not to place telltale stamps in the passports of these travelers,” the report says. “Such arrangements were particularly beneficial to Saudi members of al Qaeda.” The hijackers essentially exploited a known policy.


So it’s technically correct to say that Iran “assisted” in their travel, but the impression could be left that it was knowingly assisting in what became the 9/11 attack.

But here’s the other thing: Pence’s tweet doesn’t just say Iran assisted them in their travel; it says Soleimani himself did. Pence’s string of tweets begins, after all, by stating that he will list “some of his” — referring to Soleimani’s — “worst atrocities.”

The 9/11 Commission report doesn’t mention Soleimani at all, much less say he was responsible for the passport practice. Soleimani was certainly a high-ranking official in Iran, leading the Quds Force’s operations outside Iran’s borders, but tying him to that decision is speculative.

Before he was killed in Baghdad on Jan. 3, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani rose from an impoverished childhood to lead Iran’s proxy efforts across the Middle East.
Asked what supported Pence’s claim that Soleimani was personally involved in the practice, Waldman pointed to the State Department’s document on Trump’s decision in April to label Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. The document, though, ties the travel of 9/11 terrorists to Iran as a country and not Soleimani or the Quds Force.


In addition, the idea that Soleimani would assist in 9/11 — knowingly or otherwise — doesn’t add up, given he was Shiite and the hijackers were Sunnis. In fact, after 9/11, Soleimani for a time actually cooperated with the U.S. government against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

So why would Pence say that, rather than just laying this at Iran’s feet more broadly? A pretty good guess is that he’s making the case that a use of force like such as that against Soleimani was approved by Congress in its 2001 authorization for the use of military force. The broad authorization states that the president can use “appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.” The word “aided” would seemingly be applied to Soleimani in this case.

It’s certainly an argument.

How the U.S.-Iranian confrontation heated up in one week
From the death of a U.S. contractor, the siege of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to the killing of Qasem Soleimani. Shane Harris explains how the events unfolded. (Luis Velarde/The Washington Post)

Tetehjewels:
It is clear Trump and his Vice Pence are bent on making sure they paint Suleimani as a terrorist out of desperation because they know he is not and wish to use lies to Justify his assassination.

Vortex369:


The reason Suleimani was taken out, is because he held a forum and he made a speech insulting Trump of USA, calling him a gambler and threatening that he will hurt US President and Americans.

That is not how a Military General who represents a country speaks, he was more supporter of APC than a Military Head of a Sovereign State, so he had to be taken out as a supporter of APC Militant.

Humans must decide what you want to be - He position was Military Head, but His Mind was Jajaweed. He deserves what he got.

Next Scene in the Movie. Iran should make some news abeg. No need for Netflix.

Vortex369:


The reason Suleimani was taken out, is because he held a forum and he made a speech insulting Trump of USA, calling him a gambler and threatening that he will hurt US President and Americans.

That is not how a Military General who represents a country speaks, he was more j.anjaweed than a Military Head of a Sovereign State, so he had to be taken out as a Janja,weed Militant.

Humans must decide what you want to be - His position was Military Head, but His Mind was J,ajanweed. He deserves what he got.

Next Scene in the Movie. Iran should make some news abeg. No need for Netflix.

Tetehjewels:


So it is because of a speech? I wonder what happened to freedom of speech in his own country? Something USA claims they champion right?

Incidentally, Trump was the first to make Threats to Iran which was why Suleimani got angry and made that speech about Trump being very disrespectful to Nations when he speaks.

Trump claims he was assassinated because he killed and was planning to kill americans.

Pence claims it was because he was a part of 9/11

Incidentally records show that Suleimani was an American asset in iraq and worked closely with USA in their fight against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan as well. So how can someone who cooperated with USA now be tagged a terrorist by the same USA whose orders he followed?

Same records show that Suleimani was not linked to 9/11. Not just Suleimani but Iran as a whole were not linked to 9/11. These records are from USA themselves.

So who is now lying?

PointZerom:


It is not only speech. He attacked US embassy in Iran few days ago before issuing threat statements against Trump and US.

Tetehjewels:


Stop with the lies. He never attacked the US embassy. It was a protest which got out of hand. How can you say He attacked the embassy? With what did he attack it with? With people chanting words and armed with sticks?

PointZerom:



They destroyed properties and set some parts of the embassy ablaze.

What do you call this?

Tetehjewels:


And i ask again, how was it Suleimani who did this? Can you link the civilians who went to the embassy to Suleimani for me please? I want to see how you linked them

PointZerom:



After the attack on US embassy, Trump issued a statement but Suleimani replied, in his reply..he insulted Trump and threatened US.
The US has intelligent report of all his wicked activities.

Tetehjewels:


And that is your link? His response to trump was due to the rather uncouth manner he felt Trump addresses other nations which was why he said "When trump speaks he sounds like a Gambler. When he speaks to China, Russia, etc he speaks like a Gambler" In other words he speaks like a man who simply does not care. His response was not due to the embassy issue.