EXPERTS ADVISORY

University of Michigan experts can comment on the implications of the death of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top security and intelligence commander, who was killed early Friday in a U.S. drone strike at Baghdad International Airport.

Julian Davis Mortenson

Julian Davis Mortenson is a professor of law, focusing on constitutional and international law. He co-authored “Executive Power and National Security Power” in which the authors take a comprehensive look at the evolution of presidential power from the U.S. Constitution until the George W. Bush presidency.

“The House resolution emphasizes the congressional role in the decisions about the use of force,” he said. “It seeks to establish that the president’s action does not set a constitutional precedent.”

Contact: jdmorten@umich.edu

Monica Hakimi

Monica Hakimi, the James V. Campbell Professor of Law, teaches and writes in the fields of public international law and U.S. foreign relations law. She can discuss U.S. war powers, the UN Charter and the use of force across national borders.

Contact: mhakimi@umich.edu

Ronald Suny

Ronald Grigor Suny is the William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor of history and professor of political science. He is also a senior researcher at the National Research University-Higher School of Economics in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

“While it is clear that Iran is not interested in a war with the United States, the killing of Qassem Soleimani makes war more likely,” he said. “In the last few days before the assassination, the Iranians seemed to be pulling back, ending the siege of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, but now the action by the Trump administration has created an incredibly unstable and unpredictable situation, one applauded by anti-Iranian hawks like former National Security Adviser John Bolton and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Why has the Trump White House and Pentagon decided to escalate this dangerous conflict, which began with the abrogation of the nuclear agreement with Tehran? One might fear that the crisis aids the president in his moment of vulnerability, when he has been impeached and faces a trial in the Senate, and when he is embattled in the upcoming presidential election. As he has done before, Trump is playing with fire, and in this case he appears to have chosen arson rather than a cool and careful strategy.”

Contact: rgsuny@umich.edu

Juan Cole

Juan Cole, the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History, studies the ongoing political change in the Middle East.

“Iran’s hard-line government appears to have been so pleased by the nationwide solidarity with the clerical regime produced by the Trump strike on Gen. Soleimani that the ayatollahs have decided to seek a major conflict with Trump in hopes of forcing Iranians to rally around the flag,” he said.

Cole also discussed Soleimani’s death on his blog Informed Comment:

“By murdering Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Jerusalem (Quds) Brigade of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, Trump has brought the United States to the brink of war with Iran,” he said. “Mind you, Iran’s leadership is too shrewd to rush to the battlements at this moment, and will be prepared to play the long game. My guess is that they will encourage their allies among Iraqi Shiites to get up a massive protest at the U.S. embassy and at bases housing U.S. troops.”

Contact: jrcole@umich.edu

Michael Traugott

Michael Traugott is a professor emeritus of political science and communication studies and research professor emeritus at the Center for Political Studies. He is an expert on American political campaigns and government operations.

“We don’t know very much yet about the decision to target General Soleimani—how much internal U.S. government deliberation there was or what consultation with allies took place—but it seems clear that congressional leaders were not consulted,” he said. “This raises the possibility that, in part, this was an attempt to distract from new disclosures about internal emails related to the withholding of aid to Ukraine and decisions about how to proceed with the impeachment trial in the Senate.”

Contact: mtrau@umich.edu

Margo Schlanger

Margo Schlanger, professor of law, is a leading authority on civil rights issues and civil and criminal detention. In 2010-11, she served as the presidentially appointed Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She can comment on allegations that immigration officials may have detained dozens of Iranians and Iranian Americans at border crossings.

“It’s not appropriate to make the ethnicity of American citizens a criterion for investigative or screening attention,” she said. “If that’s what happened, CBP needs to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Contact: 734-615-2618, mschlan@umich.edu

Melvyn Levitsky

Melvyn Levitsky is a professor of international policy and practice at the Ford School of Public Policy. A retired U.S. ambassador, Levitsky has served as officer-in-charge of U.S.-Soviet bilateral relations and as a political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. He can comment on U.S.-Russia relations.

Contact: 734-615-4262, levitsky@umich.edu