Donald Trump delivered a wooden statement Friday where he claimed he ordered the assassination of Qasem Soleimani to "prevent a war, not to start a war." This follows on the heels of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's claim that assassinating the Iranian General was a de-escalation. (video above)
This would be an opportunity for cable news to acknowledge the errors made in 2003 and do a better job this time.
Alas, that doesn't appear to be the case.
Here's a thread of video clips from Media Matters' analyst Lis Power:
HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING!?
CNN Military Analyst: "In this day and age, it's hard to do this, but I'm going to say I trust the intelligence assessment of what Soleimani was doing ... So I'm sure that they had some really good intelligence on some potential attacks." pic.twitter.com/l5OLAG9NDj— Lis Power (@LisPower1) January 3, 2020
WE HAVE LEARNED NOTHING
Fox guest: It's "really sad" that Democrats "aren't willing to give our president and our military the benefit of the doubt in a crisis." pic.twitter.com/2z4x2JKkxf— Lis Power (@LisPower1) January 3, 2020
We have really really learned nothing
Anchor: What level of trust should the American people have in this admin given its credibility gap/given the fact this country went to war in Iraq based on intelligence that was flat-out wrong?
Guest: That's not a question that concerns me pic.twitter.com/pysodmr6Ey— Lis Power (@LisPower1) January 3, 2020
We have really really really learned nothing
CNN Guest: "I'll take it on face value that there was compelling intelligence reasons of an imminent threat to respond." pic.twitter.com/mvGL1s290s— Lis Power (@LisPower1) January 3, 2020
Just for good measure, the excuse they're giving for breaking all the norms with respect to assassination of foreign leaders is one we've definitely heard before:
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff GEN Mark Milley tells reporters there was “compelling” intelligence and clear evidence Soleimani was planning a “significant campaign of violence” against the US in the coming days, weeks and months, @barbarastarrcnn reports
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 3, 2020
There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for us to believe the crap they're throwing at us right now about "campaigns of violence." I'm sure there are numerous groups in that area who daily plan campaigns of violence against the United States for their unwarranted invasion of sovereign lands. We were lied to about weapons of mass destruction, and Trump lies daily about EVERYTHING, so why should we (or would we) accept these claims at face value.
UPDATE-DoD held BG call w/ sr officials on Soleimani death today:
• DoD won't specify Iran plot vs US that led to strike
• DoD won't say if Iraq got warned
• DoD won't name US law for strike
• DoD won’t say what it did to limit civcas
• DoD didn't say if more troops coming— Jack Detsch (@JackDetsch_ALM) January 3, 2020
Question everything. Accept nothing at face value.
