A soldier injured by an Iranian-backed terrorist attack said he hopes that Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s death will be the first step toward preventing future attacks against U.S. service members.
Shaun Garry, a former Army specialist, was subjected to five improvised explosive device attacks and several firefights while deployed to Iraq from 2007 to 2008. The last explosion occurred one foot away from the door of Garry’s vehicle, inflicting various injuries. He and other victims believe Iran, Soleimani, and the Quds Force were responsible for their suffering by supporting Iraqi insurgent groups during the U.S. occupation.
Garry is among the 2,800 injured veterans and Gold Star family members who are suing Iran for its role in supporting Iraqi terrorism.
“Most of us in this lawsuit joined in hopes of making it harder for terrorists to target U.S. service members in the future, and so that will be how we ultimately measure the success of this airstrike,” Garry told the Washington Examiner. “For us, it’s less about retribution than about reducing Iran’s ability to destabilize this region and continue to do harm.”
The fact that Soleimani was killed along with Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iraq’s Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces and the founder of terrorist group Kataib Hezbollah, shows that Iran has pursued a “policy of coordinated violence to undermine Iraqi sovereignty,” Garry said.
“His death will temporarily slow Iran’s coordinated attacks, but it won’t be enough without additional efforts to strengthen the Iraqi government and people to protect their own sovereignty,” Garry said.
There is not one point of view among the people in the lawsuit, lawyer Gavi Mairone told the Washington Examiner. “But this was someone who now has been held accountable and brought to justice,” he said.
The Defense Department estimated last year that Iran was responsible for the deaths of at least 603 U.S. troops in Iraq, the families of whom are some of Mairone’s clients. In addition to small arms and monetary support, Iran supplied explosively formed penetrators to Iraqi insurgents — weapons which tore through American armor.
