An American magazine that traces Soleimani's bloody legacy inside and outside Iran (Translated)
English - Monday 16 January 2023 الساعة 02:46 pm
NewsYemen, special translation:
The American "National Interest" magazine shed light on the role of the former leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Qassem Soleimani, in establishing terrorist groups, outside Iran, and bloody wars against ordinary Sunni Iranian citizens.
The magazine said in a report, written by Farhad Rezaei - translated by NewsYemen - that the Islamic Republic (Iran) continues to invoke the killing of Soleimani for its malicious and self-interest purposes, three years after his death in an American strike near Iraq airport.
She added, "Many Iranians - perhaps most of them - despise Soleimani because of his opposition to reform and political openness in Iran. He participated in the brutal campaign of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard against movements demanding democracy and played a major role in suppressing Iranian demonstrators in the years: 1999, 2009, 2017 and 2019, which he described as" sedition.”
Report text:
Three years after the death of Qassem Soleimani, the notorious commander of Iran's Quds Force, the Islamic Republic continues to invoke his "martyrdom" for its own malign and self-interested purposes. Six months after announcing the ongoing plots against US officials, Iranian President Raisi reiterated the call on January 3, 2023, for revenge on the anniversary of his death. The broader veneration of the late general includes a range of titles, such as “leader of hearts,” “honest,” and “national hero” who “fought and destroyed ISIS in Iraq and Syria”—all schemes designed to bolster the regime's quick play and distortion of facts.
The facts speak of a completely different man. Soleimani did not fight ISIS as much as he presented his Shiite militias as the saviors of both Iraq and Iran. In fact, the violence he unleashed helped create the terrorist group. Nor is he a hero. In fact, many in the country view him as a tool of the oppressive state and despise him even for his participation in crackdowns on protesters over many years. Soleimani was also not impartial. Rather, he was a corrupt military figure who oversaw a mafia network and squandered national resources either for personal gain or for a kleptocratic regime.
Soleimani's role in the rise of ISIS is part of the intertwined story of his mission in Iraq, which kicked off with the US invasion in 2003. When US-led coalition forces occupied Iraq, Iran moved quickly to set up several Shiite insurgent groups in the country to force the Americans out in hopes of adding Baghdad to its regional "Shia empire".
Soleimani was assigned to oversee the mission. As part of a secondary effort, Soleimani specifically took revenge on Iraqi Sunnis, particularly former political and military figures of Saddam Hussein's regime, for Sunni participation in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war. Soleimani's death squads killed and kidnapped hundreds of former senior Sunni political and military officials, including 182 Iraqi pilots.
Shiite militias under his command also waged a bloody war against ordinary Sunnis, torturing, kidnapping and killing them and burning their homes. In the initial version of the ethnic cleansing, many of them were prevented from returning to their cities. Every month, hundreds of Iraqi Sunnis were executed or tortured to death by Soleimani's agents and butchers.
Soleimani's unimaginable brutality against Sunnis led to sectarian anarchy, sparking massive protests in Sunni towns, where residents held acute grievances against Shiites. In these extreme circumstances, al-Qaeda in Iraq, the predecessor of ISIS, emerged and turned sectarian strife into a virtual civil war. US forces have destroyed al Qaeda in Iraq, but the mistreatment of Sunnis has not ended. ISIS rose from the ashes of al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In the end, it took the US-led coalition 13,331 strikes to defeat ISIS in Iraq in a campaign called Operation Inherent Resolve.
If the creation of ISIS in Iraq was a by-product of Soleimani's sectarian movement, the creation of the terrorist organization in Syria was intentional. When in 2011 Bashar al-Assad's regime used a great deal of violence against Syrian protesters, Assad's tactic backfired and led to an armed rebellion that turned into a civil war. This was an unfortunate outcome for the Iranians, who viewed Syria as the "golden ring" of the "axis of resistance."
In fact, Soleimani's name is associated with "criminal activities" and "killing" of Iranian protesters. For example, in Kurdistan, Soleimani is known for his ruthlessness in slaughtering Kurds during the early years of the Islamic Revolution. When Kurdish rebellion broke out in 1979 against the new regime, and Ayatollah Khomeini declared "jihad" to crush unrest in Kurdistan, Soleimani was one of the IRGC commanders who took part in campaigns of killing against Kurds. Over 10,000 Kurds (including 1,200 political prisoners, including children as young as thirteen) were killed during the war, which lasted until 1983.
Many Iranians, perhaps most of them, also despise Soleimani because of his opposition to reform and political openness in Iran. He participated in the brutal campaign of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard against the pro-democracy movements and played a major role in suppressing Iranian demonstrators in the years: 1999, 2009, 2017 and 2019, which he described as "sedition".
During the 1999 demonstrations, a number of students were killed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, hundreds were injured, dozens of students disappeared, and more than a thousand students were arrested. In 2009, the IRGC and its affiliated Basij militia forces killed more than 200 protesters (unofficial reports indicate 700), injured 830 people with spinal cord injuries, and thousands were imprisoned, tortured, and raped. In 2019, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces killed 1,500 protesters, including 17 teenagers and 400 women, during two weeks of unrest. The suppression of all this social unrest was under the direction of the feared Tharallah Division, where Soleimani oversaw the brutal operations.
Moreover, Soleimani was among the twenty-four IRGC commanders who in 1999 wrote an open letter to President Khatami threatening him to take action if he continued his political reform, which in their view threatened "stability and peace in the country."
Soleimani's nickname, "Al-Nazih," was fabricated, like his other public personas. Soleimani was involved in huge financial corruption cases, such as the embezzlement of $3 billion by Yas Holding Company and used public resources in his favor by using his political and military influence. Soleimani oversaw a mafia network of embezzlers, smugglers, and money launderers, plundering billions of dollars in national resources. Soleimani's wife was also involved in 12 financial corruption cases and transferred ownership of several companies. The Tehran City Council had notified the judiciary of the investigation into the corruption case, but the judiciary closed the case for fear of Soleimani's retaliation.
The Iranian regime's efforts to preserve and promote the myth of Qassem Soleimani, as seen last week in renewed calls for revenge, is an attempt to manipulate the Iranian population. It is only the latest example in the long history of the Islamic Republic falsifying facts. Today, however, Iran is changing. The regime-led narratives about who should be honored are being replaced by stories of young men and women on the streets of Iran, who have no fame at all, but who risk their lives in front of the regime's brutal machine of repression. Their story is truly heroic and it must be told.
