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Trump Uses Rally to Defend Iran Policy as Democrats Decry It

Associated Press

   MILWAUKEE - As President Donald Trump rallied supporters Tuesday night
   by defending his decision to kill a top Iranian general, the Democrats
   vying to replace him used their final debate before primary voting
   begins to argue that doing so made the country less safe.

   With Trump firing up thousands in the battleground state of Wisconsin
   and the Democratic candidates squaring off in Iowa ahead of its Feb. 3
   caucuses, the political events were expected to offer very different
   visions for the country's future. But the contrast on Iran in nearly
   real time was especially stark.

   Trump spent much of his speech defending his decision to order the
   strike that killed top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, whom he
   labeled the "world's No. 1 terrorist."That move came under intense
   criticism from Democrats who said the president should have consulted
   Congress and raised questions about whether it really prevented an
   imminent attack, as some Trump administration officials have claimed.

   "The Democrats are outraged that we killed this terrorist monster, even
   though this monster was behind hundreds and hundreds of deaths,"Trump
   told the crowd in downtown Milwaukee -not far from where Democrats will
   hold their convention this summer. He added that Soleimani was "the
   king of the roadside bomb. Great percentages of people don't have legs
   right now and arms because of this son of a bitch.''

   The president also said Democrats "are doing everything possible to
   disparage what we did with the hit on this monster" and that the other
   party "should be outraged by Soleimani's evil crimes, not the decision
   to end his wretched life.''

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